Fund Started For Campus Ski Slope, Out Of Commission Due To Storm Damage
Snow skiing is hard to come by in Central Texas, even more so now that a campus fixture is out of commission — Mt. Aggie, located on West Campus and home to over 50 years of skiing classes and special events.
Frank Thomas, associate department head for kinesiology and sport management and chair of the Physical Education Activity Program (PEAP), said Mt. Aggie was destroyed in a windstorm last November.
“The surface was ripped up and when we tried to repair it, we found extensive damage to the substructure,” he said. “It was damaged to a level that made it nonrepairable.”
Prior to that, the structure had been used for kinesiology classes, beginning in 1971 with KINE 199. More classes were added during the last decade, and Mt. Aggie was also open to the community to rent for birthday parties and other celebrations.
Thomas said he was happy to see The Association of Former Students’ recent nod in Texas Aggie magazine which noted former students’ fondness for the Mt. Aggie experience.
Michayal Mathew ’19 wrote PEAP staff following his semester on Mt. Aggie, saying, “I’ve been interning in Colorado all summer and I finally tried my hand at backcountry skiing, in the dead of summer. Because of your class, I didn’t totally eat it on my way down!”
Hoping To Rebuild
Thomas said he hopes the Mt. Aggie tradition can be restored through its new partnership with the Texas A&M Foundation.
The current bid to completely renovate the entire structure is $800,000, he said, and that includes demolishing all the substructure, replacing the plywood with cement, reshaping the mountain and adding all new surface material.
“An account has been set up to start trying to get the funds to fix everyone’s favorite mountain in Aggieland,” Thomas said.
“No amount is too small, however there is also the potential for a naming opportunity if anyone might be interested.”
