The ISU Ski and Snowboard Club members don’t shy away from the cold winds and falling snow — they welcome it all with open arms.

The 200-plus member club, which also boasts more than 800 members on its mailing list, braved the mountains of Crested Butte, Colo., over winter break. Two buses carrying 139 members, along with several students who drove themselves, spent four days on the slopes during the six-night vacation.

“The snow was great since Crested Butte had received over three feet of snow just before we got there,” said club president Jason Norris, senior in production/operations management.

The Crested Butte trip was one of a handful of trips the club has planned for the school year. The club took 23 members to Breckenridge over Thanksgiving break and expects to travel over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend and spring break.

After taking only 48 members last winter break, Norris said the outpouring of travelers was a nice increase.

“I think the main reason for the huge increase is that we had a change of leadership this year, and the mood of the club has changed for the better, which brought back some past members and helped to recruit new ones,” he said.

The group has also had several informational sessions on various topics related to winter sports including a workshop on tuning equipment and working your body into skiing shape.

A training session for safely and properly equipping oneself for going into the back country, including how to use avalanche beacons, is planned for this semester.

These demonstrations are held during the club’s meetings, which take place roughly every other Friday.

“The locations of our meetings change occasionally, but they always include free food,” Norris said.

The spring break outing is currently being planned, but a location hasn’t been set as of yet. It should be decided by the time Winter Club Fest rolls around on Jan. 28.

“Our spring break trips are always a great time. People don’t realize that at that time of the year in the mountains, it’s actually warm,” Norris said.

“I would go skiing in a T-shirt and shorts if I knew that I wouldn’t fall, because the snow is a little too cold to bare skin.”

And don’t worry spring-breakers, you can still get a tan, even if you’re 10,000 feet in the air on a snow-covered mountain.

“You don’t see people sun tanning on the beach like down south, but instead they are in swimsuits mid-mountain, getting a tan on beach chairs,” Norris said.