About 35 years ago, George Jessup brought skiing and mountain sports to College Station when he came up with the idea to build a turf mountain for Kinesiology purposes. Since its inception, Mt. Aggie has transformed from a tiny hill to a thrill ride. It has moved spots three times, from Spence Park to near the old tennis courts, to its present location, next to the George Mitchell Tennis Center on West Campus.
Mt. Aggie was started as a kinesiology teaching facility. It now, along with serving as an outdoor classroom, is the home of the Aggie Mountain Sports Club.
"I remember most everyone out there was excited to ski," said Rick Hall, senior associate director at the Student Recreation Center and former ski teacher. "It really helped them to hone their skills, and it was really neat to see progress. I personally loved it because I was getting to be with students even as an administrator."
In addition to having beginning and intermediate skiing classes, Mt. Aggie is open to all students, former and current, who join the Aggie Mountain Sports Club. Members are allowed to ski for free Thursday nights from 7 to 9 p.m.
"Students that may be interested in skiing have the chance to learn the basics of skiing," said kinesiology professor Frank Thomas. "Mt. Aggie is an excellent place to begin to learn the skills needed to be successful on the slopes. The thing I like most about Mt. Aggie is that the skill that the students develop there will more than likely be used throughout their lives and possibly passed on to their children as they continue to vacation to a sport they grew to love from a start at Mt. Aggie."
If students do want to take part in Mt. Aggie without becoming a member, they can purchase private sledding parties. There is also a yearly skiing trip put on by the Mountain Sports Club every winter.
"It's a pretty cool idea," said junior civil engineering major David Pretorius. "I mean, where else can you go skiing in southeast Texas?"
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