By: ABAGAEL GILES
COLUMNIST
This week’s boot n’ paddle is somewhat of a public service announcement. It is, as you may have noticed on your last walk to Dana, that time of year when Canton becomes readily mistakable for the arctic tundra. Do not let short days, bitter winds, and a frostbitten nose get you down. Fear not: Titus is coming.
This year’s event will run a little differently than in the past, so stay tuned and bundle up. The event will now span two days from Friday, February 6th to Saturday the 7th, and realistically, factoring in late night dance parties and snowball fights, sometime Sunday morning.
The traditional rail jam and quad activities will occur on Friday evening. On Saturday morning, starting at 11am and going until 12pm, buses will be loading up and leaving for Mt. Titus Ski Mountain’s Upper Lodge, which we will have all to ourselves. This new lodge includes all of the amenities offered by the base lodge, but is separate from the rest of the mountain and has a separate lift system. Skiing and other activities will commence during the day and Max Ryder will play for several hours of dancing in the lodge. Come dark, Titus will shut the lift down and a second rail jam will ensue until we get back on the buses to go home for the after party around dinnertime.
What is new and different? This year, everyone must buy a lift ticket ($20-$25) in order to attend the event. There will be two kinds of tickets: Both will indicate that they are for the St. Lawrence Event and are good at the upper mountain. One will indicate that it is a bus ticket and the other will simply indicate that it is for a SLU event. You can purchase as many non-bus lift tickets as you want to, but bus tickets can only be bought with a SLU ID and each student can buy at most two bus tickets. This is to ensure that SLU students get priority for bus seats. Those who do not get bus seats are welcome to drive separately to the Upper Mountain, but should get directions from the Outing Club or look online because it has a separate parking lot.
Why the changes? Titus has asked that we manage and monitor who is coming to this event to cover liability and reduce damages to their facilities. Although Titus rocks and we all want to have a good time, we have to remember that any off-campus interaction we have with the greater community reflects on The Outing Club and most importantly, on St. Lawrence. Please have a riotous, raucous, good time getting weird, but let’s be respectful of the businesses that allow this whole shindig to go down.
This Saturday, The Outing Club will be sending a bus and a few cars up to Ottawa for the annual Winterlude Event. Sign up for a day of skating and festivities on the canals, of pub-crawls, beaver tails and possibly bruised tailbones that get better with a beer. Bring your passport and get ready to kick and push your way to Hans Brinker bliss.
That is all folks, so bundle up and get out there.