Active Lifestyle

With any athlete’s success, there is always work done behind the scenes that helps push that athlete and his or her team to the next level. Michael Phelps has an entire team of trainers to rub him down after each event he swims, and David Beckham has no shortage of staff to maintain that prized leg of his. Colorado College has its own share of people behind the scenes; in addition to coaches, student managers have an influence on student athletes and CC teams.

The ski season in Colorado began early on Saturday thanks to a major snowstorm that blew through the state last week, breaking the record for the earliest resort opening in U.S. history.

Wolf Creek Ski Area in the San Juan Mountains, approximately four hours away from Colorado Springs, opened on Oct. 8 following a storm that occurred during the previous two days.

Over three and a half feet of powder fell at Wolf Creek, allowing them to open six hundred acres without the use of man-made snow. The resort was even forced to use avalanche bombs to ensure skier safety.

The Maroon Bells are often described as the most photographed Colorado mountains. The jagged, striated peaks located between Aspen and Crested Butte are indeed spectacular. Viewed from the Aspen side, they’re framed by mighty aspen groves and tower over crisp, clear and cold alpine lakes.

But the Bells offer much more than striking views from the Aspen side. A roughly 26-mile trail wraps and weaves around the mountains, climbing and descending four 12,000 plus foot passes in the process. Spectacular vistas await travelers wherever they look.

This weekend, Columbia, Missouri, is about to have a whole lot of spice introduced into its small town atmosphere as the CC men’s Ultimate Frisbee team travels to the city for the Missouri Loves Company tournament. The team, self-titled Wasabi, enters the tournament as a hot contender from last season, where they made an appearance at the Division I national tournament as a Division III team.

Colorado College has been a member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) since the formation of its collegiate hockey program in 1951. That arrangement will all change two seasons from now when the Colorado College Tigers begin their 2013-2014 season as members of the newly-formed National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). 

Over the past year, including this summer, there have been strange sightings of a six-hooped pitch on Armstrong quad. Three hoops stand at each end, all of varying heights. But that is not the strangest part about the field. There are also students running around with brooms between their legs and countless balls being tossed back and forth. 

How does one write an article on yoga? And should the word be capitalized? Ultimately, this is what I’m writing about. Yoga is the same as anything else —running, peeing, Adderall. Out of the mind and onto the page, or trail, or rock, or toilet seat – if you are looking for something in yoga, you might have already lost it. Yet, it’s been inside you all along. Have I lost you yet? Baby steps.

Sophomore Flynn McGuire takes a swing during an IM softball game on Armstrong quad. Photo compliments of Sam Landsman

After a quick rest over spring break, intramural athletes got back into action last week, starting the final season of the year. During seventh and eighth block, softball, inner-tube water polo and Ultimate Frisbee dominate the IM sports world at CC. Especially for the seniors, this season marks the last chance to get a coveted IM t-shirt. 

“Although it’s still a relaxed atmosphere,” said senior supervisor Gregar Chapin, “it definitely gets really competitive at times. It’s fun for everyone.”

The women’s team during a game in ‘09. Senior Captain Joycie Hunter waits for a pass. Photo by Catalyst Archives

Dear President Celeste,

The Colorado College women’s water polo team had no idea why we were asked to meet in the gym before practice on that warm day in March two years ago. We had no idea why the football and softball teams sat alongside us; neither did they. 

The moment we realized that the three sports were to be discontinued, all 76 student-athletes broke down. 

We were devastated. 

Remember how awesome our men’s Ultimate Frisbee team is? Well, they just got even better.

Over spring break, the men traveled to Texas to compete in the Centex Tournament. The result? You guessed right. They won. After being ranked 18th in North America in early March, the men’s team has now moved up to 9th. 

Unencumbered skiiers enjoying the wind and sun on bare skin. Photo compliments of Dan Rothberg

Closing weekend at Crested Butte: the last hurrah. For any who were there, you know what a scene it was: banana suits, superheroes, and the glory of DayGlo: basically, the gaper factor was off the charts. Some of the costumes were incredible; strolling into the warming hut during the afternoon, I was suddenly confronted in the doorway by Darth Vader, who leveled his lightsaber at my neck as he strode out onto the patio past the band, cape billowing in the wind over his ski boots (black, of course). 

Columnist Drew Thayer lounges in the Caribbean Shallows. Photos courtesy Martha Brummit.

The world is a thousand shades of blue. I’m gliding along the base of a reef, riding the gentle thrust from my flippers until I come to rest at a massive brain coral. This thing resembles a caricature from a “Pinky and the Brain” cartoon rather than a living organism. Upon closer inspection, the bulbous neon mass is a maze of tiny pathways, avenues snaking between polyp skyscrapers, kind of like the intro to “Spiderman”.

For the men’s lacrosse team, 2011 marks the start of a new era—one that will be met with great excitement for this group of Tigers. As the only Division III athletics program in the Rocky Mountain time zone alongside many small schools still bereft of a lacrosse team, Colorado College has spent the past decade as an independent team, playing without a conference. That left last year’s talented Tiger squad in the frustrating position of trying to prove themselves to a committee that decides which independent schools earn at-large berths to the Division III National Tournament.

David Spiegel, river-rat extraordinaire, points it off a waterfall toward a frothing pool below. Photo courtesy of David Spiegel

Within four hours of arriving in Pucon, Chile, I’m strapped into my boat, paddling down a class five rapid. The river is frothing and rages with a thunderous sound that envelopes our group of six. Below me the horizon line is barely visible, hidden behind a plethora of smooth boulders that wait to eat my boat. I’m not sure what awaits me downriver, but it sounds colossal—though the thundering in my ears may or may not be the sound of my own heartbeat.

Flyer courtesy of flyfishingfilmtour.com

Generally known for their sticky floors, beer-soaked crowds and atypical Springer death metal/punk rock, the Black Sheep will play host to a new, dare I say more refined, crowd — the fly-rod toting, wader-wearing fisherman of Colorado Springs. By Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m. the Black Sheep off Platte Ave. will have gone through a complete transformation to host the Fly-Fishing Film Festival.