First Person: It's The Most Wonderful Titus of the Year
St. Lawrence, like any university, has several massive defining days throughout the year. There is the anxious excitement of Matriculation, the camaraderie of the hockey game against Clarkson, the joy of Fall Fest and Spring Fest, and the reflective magnificence of Commencement. However, my favorite is the Outing Club’s Titus Weekend, or as it is formally known as: “The Final First Ever Eighth Annual Evolutionary Great Mt. Titus North Country Global Cool Down Wicked Weekend Ski Event.”
Being a guide for the Outing Club, I love our weekly trips into the Adirondacks or up into Canada, but there is a special place in my heart for the campus-wide events put on by the house. Similar to Peak Weekend in the fall, where we try to get a group of St. Lawrence students to the top of each of the 46 High Peaks, Titus is another event that brings a large number of students together. The theme is emphasized from the very start on Friday, with a rail jam on the Quad in the heart of campus. After several weeks of moving snow, there is a mound at the corner where skiers and riders begin their performance down onto the various rails and jumps dotting the quad. Anyone can participate - people who travel every weekend to ski in the park to beginners who have learned to hit a rail specifically for this event. Even if you don't ski or board, there is a cookout, carriage rides, and lawn games. The best part is that this is just the warm up for Saturday.
Along with bringing campus together, one of the main roles of the Outing Club is to share the outdoors with students with little to no experience. I love Titus because it combines these two goals, optimizing the role of our house. While I greatly enjoy meeting and introducing peers to a new hiking trail or paddling route, there is a certain wonder that comes with chartering 20 buses filled with students to a ski mountain. The Outing Club rents a portion of the mountain consisting of a lift, four trails, a terrain park, and a base lodge. Imagine going skiing, but you know everyone at the mountain! The ticket covers both the bus and the lift, and best of all, it is only a third of the price of a day ticket at Whiteface, the closest ski resort. Experts, beginners, people in banana suits, and retro clothing dating back to the 1960s; there is every type of skier in any style imaginable. Whether this is the smallest place you ski or the only day you ski in the winter, everyone is included in the shredding on the hill and the cheering from the lift. If you get too cold out on the slopes, you can always go into the lodge to warm-up with some dancing to the Max Ryder Band, which has been smashing classic covers here for the past seven years. The band enjoys Titus so much that it is the only day of the year that they come out of retirement. Titus is a great new St. Lawrence tradition shared between current students and recent alumni that shows how we value each other's company and our passion for doing rad things outside.
I love the community of St. Lawrence because it comes alive in the dead of winter. Instead of huddling in our rooms watching Netflix, we embrace the snowy North Country.
