Daniel Allsup
The Paw Print
It’s been a very cold winter so far, and the groundhog will tell us on Saturday that it’s going to be even longer. In Alamosa, it’s always a long winter. That’s what we signed up for when we came here, though. Alamosa is as cold as advertised, and no one wants to be outside longer than they have to. This is unfortunate because Colorado is a winter wonderland, there are many outdoor adventures waiting right in our backyard.
Adams State University has an adventure program set to utilize our slice of Colorful Colorado. A big focus of the program is outdoor events, to get students active, and of course to have fun exploring the great outdoors.
What are you doing next weekend? Probably nothing, right? Well, the Adams State Adventure Program has scheduled an overnight ski trip to Crested Butte, about three hours north of Alamosa.
The event is free of charge if you are an ASAP member. If you aren’t, ASAP can work something out. They have plenty of other events planned for this semester as well, like the women’s only ski trip to Wolf Creek on February 16. The week after that, there’s the Full Moon hike at Wolf Creek Pass. If winter sports and activities aren’t your thing, that’s cool. You can thaw out during spring and go backpacking with ASAP at the Grand Canyon.
ASAP also has its own minor degree plan, the Adventure Leadership Program. The program provides technical leadership skills for employment in adventure-based careers. The ‘classes’ are actually weekend workshops that give you flexibility with your other classes. Beyond the ALP and outdoor events scheduled every weekend, ASAP also offers services for those of you less eager to get outdoors.
You may have noticed the yellow bikes that students ride around campus. Those come from the ASAP. They are free to rent for seven days, and are easy to renew. All you need to do to rent a bike is go by the ASAP office, show them your ASU ID, and then you’ll have a bike and lock for seven days. The ASAP has also added five news bikes to their fleet for 2013, and all bikes have been refurbished.
Another part of the ASAP is the climbing wall in the Rex Activity Center. You can climb it during open hours as often as you please. If you have no idea how to rock-climb and want to learn, there will be a wall attendant there to help you. If you don’t have any climbing shoes or harnesses, they have that too.
The rock climbing membership is $20, as is the Rental Shop membership. The Rental Shop can rent you pretty much anything you need for an outdoors adventure — tents, sleeping bags, snow gear, rafts and cooking equipment.
The ASAP has made it so students don’t have a legitimate excuse for not getting outdoors. ASAP has got everything covered for you from free bikes to weekend ski trips. You can find the ASAP office on the northeast corner of the SUB, or call them at 719-587-7813. The ASU tagline is “Great stories begin here,” and a great way to create those stories is to get outdoors with ASAP.
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