The Student News Site of Central Oregon Community College

The Broadside

The Student News Site of Central Oregon Community College

The Broadside

The Student News Site of Central Oregon Community College

The Broadside

Winter Term Activities

Winter+Term+Activities

Intermural Sports

The field here at Central Oregon Community College has been iced over for the last month, but that is no excuse to sit around this winter. The Department of Club Sports and Intramurals has a variety of offerings to keep students moving.

Intramural basketball began on Jan. 11. The Basketball league consists of eight teams that play on Mondays and Wednesdays. The season concludes March 7 and 9 with all eight teams participating in a playoff for the league championship.

Intramural volleyball starts Tuesday, Jan. 19. Volleyball consists of eight Intermediate teams and eight advanced team. They play two separate leagues which are on Tuesday nights. Intermediate play is from 6:30–8:30 p.m. and advanced play is 8:30–10:30 p.m. These leagues conclude March 8 with a playoff to determine a champion for each of the two leagues.

The indoor soccer league begins Thursday, Jan. 21. Games begin at 6:30 p.m. Open play immediately follows the league games is available until 10:30 p.m.

The Club baseball program opens Friday, Jan. 15 with their first pitcher/catcher of the season. This will take place at 11 a.m. in the Mazama gym.

The season opener is March 5 and 6 vs. Southern Oregon University at Volcano Stadium in Salem, Oregon. The program is still welcoming students to try out. If interested, contact Matt Greenleaf at [email protected] or come by the Sports and Recreation office.

The Club Rugby program will begin practice in February. If interested, contact Coach Woody Benett at [email protected]

The Triathlon Club has started preparation for the spring season. The first triathlon race is the Beaver Freezer on April. 2 in Corvallis, Oregon. Any athlete interested in the club is encouraged to contact Rick Floyd at [email protected]

 

Tim Cachelin | The Broadside
(Contact: [email protected])

 

Project S.N.O.W. (Study Nature Outdoors in Winter)

Project SNOW is an educational program by Discover Your Forest, a non-profit partner of the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests, hosted by Mt. Bachelor. Discover Your Forest combines education with the outdoors to bring a well-rounded curriculum for students to learn about their environment.

Jim Elliott, a Ranger Guide, said, “There are opportunities to be outside every day of the year. We’ve got the snow. We’ve got the wonderful things in the wintertime. You could be outdoors every day doing something: hiking, biking, or you can come up to the mountains to ski and snowshoe.”

Forest Rangers equip students with snowshoes and head out on the trail with snow shovels, thermometers and pictures of wildlife that they may encounter during their wilderness trek. The kids and instructors hit the trail to explore the the old-growth Hemlock trees, and experience the natural beauty of the Cascades.

“The snowshoe program here at Mt. Bachelor has a couple different facets. There are free tours for the public, and that’s for anyone who shows up at our forest service hut on a weekend or holiday. But on the weekdays we focus our programs with the local schools. And that’s really the niche that fits my enthusiasm,”  Emily Prud’homme, a Forest Ranger said.

The Rangers teach students about the snowpack and how it impacts drinking water in the lower elevation levels.

“This is one of the fascinating examples to the children about the circle of life and how we must protect our fragile environment.” Elliott said, “90 percent of the students who attend Project SNOW have never been up to the mountain before. This is an exciting and new adventure for a lot of students and they are eager to learn.” Discoveryourforest.org explains how  Project Snow is committed to educating kids about the Central Oregon lifestyle and why this program is important.

 

Kali Chapin | The Broadside
(Contact: [email protected])

 

Dawn Patrol

I lurched into the parking lot behind Cascades Hall just a few minutes after 5:30 a.m. I slid out of the truck and, while rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, made my way to the back of the vehicle to get my skis. Before I had even dropped the tailgate, Jeff Meyers, advisor for OSU-Cascades Adventures, made his way to the truck. He wished me a good morning and then traded me a liability waiver for my skis, which he took to the van.

Fifteen minutes later, we pulled out of the parking lot. There were eight of us in total who thought the Dawn Patrol was a reasonable thing to do on this particular morning. We were headed up to Mt.Bachelor to get a few turns in before classes began.

We pulled into the lot at Mt.Bachelor while the sky was still completely dark. The van was efficiently unloaded, and ten minutes later we were ready to begin our ascent. We pointed our skis uphill, and began the arduous task of skinning. Skinning is a method for traveling cross country is snowy terrain using skis.

Just a few hundred feet up the hill, I realized that this was not going to be as easy as I imagined. I stripped a layer of clothing, took a deep breath, and kept moving. Although I was definitely one of the slower members of the party, on account of my physical shape, inexperience, and the weight of my alpine touring setup, I never felt like I was holding anyone up. It’s just one foot in front of the other, a member of our group reminded me.

As I settled into a pace that worked for me, the only noises to be heard were the swishing of my skis and my own breath. Occasionally I would catch a snippet of conversation from in front of me or behind me; but other that, it was just myself, the hill, and the quiet snowy calm that precedes the day.

Given the wide range in abilities in our group, we inevitably separated into two parties. Eventually, the second party and I came to a stop and waited for the first party’s descent. I took a second to take in my surroundings. As I stood there catching my breath amidst the falling snow and the start of a new day, I finally became certain that I had not made a mistake. I was actually glad to be here on the cold side of a mountain at dawn, rather than in my warm bed.

We stripped the skins off of our skis and, once the first party arrived, pointed them downhill for the first time. After some exhilarating turns, we reached the base of a cinder cone and put our skins back on our skis. I was very clumsy skinning in the powder, but after a heavy dose of a advice from Meyers, and some deliberate practice, I made it to the top of the cone.

For the last time, we pointed our skis downhill, through the trees and towards the van.

We quickly packed our snowy, satisfied selves into the van, and headed back down the hill to classes, work, and the stress of the day.

I am not a particularly talented skier and, given the choice, I’m not really a morning person either. That aside, I had an absolute blast with the Dawn Patrol. If students or faculty are looking for a way to sneak a couple turns into their busy day, Dawn Patrol is definitely worth the lack of sleep.

 

Tim Cachelin | The Broadside
(Contact: [email protected])

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