Winter sports have started up and the season is in full swing except for one: competitive skiing. While the team does its best to prepare itself for upcoming competitors, the one foe that is winning the battle thus far is none other than Mother Nature. The only cause behind the delayed start of the Ranger ski team is the lack of snow which is becoming very frustrating for the student-athletes on the team.

When it comes to the weather in Michigan, no one is able to truly know what might happen. One day it might snow, and the next day it might be 60 degrees. Of course, the Grand Rapids area was hit with 18 inches of snow before winter was anywhere close to starting, but ironically now that it’s December, the ground is bear and there is no snow in sight. This is a problem for the ski team and has been for years.

The first day for the ski team to be on the hill is scheduled for January 3, but this is a tentative date. Many students on the team were hopeful for this date because of the large amount of snow Cannonsburg received before the Thanksgiving holiday, but now it’s all gone. Although he is new this year, freshman Grant Mclean still knows how important the snow is.”I was hoping for Cannonsburg opening before its usual start date because of the early snow, but now it seems like Cannonsburg opening isn’t going to be for a while,” said Grant.

Even if Cannonsburg is able to get or make enough snow to open for the public, it will still cause issues for the ski team. Junior captain Molly O’Meara explained why there needs to be an ample amount of snow. “The snow needs to be deep enough so that the screw at the bottom can fully twist into the snow and not dig into the dirt.” If this doesn’t occur, Molly goes on to explaining what could happen. “Skiers hit the gates, and if they are not fully into the snow, they can bend and not bounce back up and come out of the snow,” said Molly. If full gates cannot be used, stubby gates will be used instead and while these might be good for practice, you cannot use them in races. This causes some of the early races to get canceled which will push back the season even farther.

For now, the team is still getting together and working out, but that is not what the majority of the athletes on the team joined for. Students such as junior Mickey Mehney look forward to working on their technique on the ski hill, not in the gym. He explained why it is vital that the team practices outside at Cannonsburg. “Practice on the hill is important so all the skiers can get used to it before races and know the speed they can reach,” said Mickey.

A white Christmas would be nice, but for the FHC ski team, they would like to see snow as soon as possible. Hopefully, Cannonsburg will be able to open soon so that the racers can start skiing once again, but for now, the team will continue to workout in the weight room.