About Our Club
The Heriot-Watt Snowsports Club offers skiing and snowboarding to anyone interested in joining the club, from lessons for beginners to competitions for the more advanced. We also run regular social events throughout the year.
The club is run through the Sports Union by a committee of students who are all mad about skiing, snowboarding and everything that goes with it. We cater for everyone from total beginners to those who just want to ride around with their mates and even those who want to compete at a national level in skiing and snowboarding.
Our club charter
We aim to provide the following services to all our members:
- To provide an opportunity for any member to learn, practice or improve their skiing or snowboarding with the assistance of a coach or instructor.
- To provide a range of competitive opportunities to allow members to compete nationally for the University.
- To provide an opportunity for members to gain a worthwhile social experience through ride nights, social events, and trips.
Trip
We run a club holiday to a different resort in the Alps each year in January. This year we are partnering with Wasteland for one of our biggest trips yet. Anyone is welcome, whether you can ski or snowboard or not, HWU student or not. You can even book on to lessons on the trip, so you’ll get a chance to learn on real snow! The trips are a lot of fun, with great events alongside the skiing and snowboarding, including themed nights out, club meals in mountain restaurants and workshops for freestyle and backcountry.
Club Pathway
Taster Sessions
Freshers, listen up! Anyone who’s not a club member can attend our taster sessions in Welcome Week for free, suitable for total beginner all the way up to intermediate levels. We also have additional rec sessions during Welcome Week, and non-members that meet the standard can attend one race and/or freestyle session before making a commitment.
Lessons
For our less experienced members (total beginner up to int. skiers and boarders), we run lessons during Semester 1 ahead of the club trip in January, to help you on your way to our trip. Lessons run at the local dry slope, Midlothian Snowsport Centre (Hillend), just 15 minutes from campus. We run transport from Oriam for all of our sessions so there’s no need to worry about how you’ll get there. Our lessons come at a small additional cost but represent exceptional value for money and is definitely the cheapest way into snowsports.
Recreation
For those who can ski or board, we run rec sessions all year round at Hillend or Snow Factor (a real-snow indoor slope in Glasgow), and in the winter to the Scottish resorts. These are a great chance to dust off your kit during the off season or kill the post-trip blues!
Competition
At the top level, the competitive team take part in national university-level events throughout the academic year, including BUCS competitions. There are many major competitions each year and lots of smaller ones during both semesters and these range from dry slope and indoor to on-snow competitions.
The team trains once a week mixing up dry slope training locally and indoor snow training at Snow Factor in Glasgow. We run training for both race and freestyle skiing and can facilitate advanced practice for good snowboarders too. As long as you can confidently link turns and use a drag lift independently – no previous race or freestyle experience is necessary – you’re welcome to come along and try out!
Team members will find the following handbook useful with information about membership benefits and policies: Team Handbook.docx
Social
We usually have socials once every 1-2 weeks, ranging from activities such as bowling or mini-golf themed nights out, challenges with other SU clubs and supporting the team at major competitions. We post updates about the club weekly on Facebook and Instagram, as well as sending out periodic updates to our student mailing lists – these are the channels for the most up-to-date information.
Member Benefits
As a club member, you’ll get access to our lessons, rec sessions and day & weekend trips to Scottish snow, and to join the team for training and competitions. This is all heavily subsidised or included in your membership and we provide transport for all members for free to all of our events in the UK.
Additionally, we are partnered with a number of brands who very generously offer a discount to members on clothing, accessories and snowsports equipment. Discounts codes or cards are available from the club – please get in touch before you buy!
You will also get to book onto our Trip one day earlier than the general public, effectively guaranteeing you a place (they sell out very quickly otherwise!). Non-members pay a £15 fee anyway, so once you’ve got your Oriam membership, joining the club really is a no-brainer.
Equipment
Almost all our club activity takes place at venues where you can hire all the equipment you need at no extra cost. If it doesn’t and you want to be organised ahead of the session, or you want something a little more tailored, we have several sets of skis, snowboards, poles and gloves available for club members to borrow – this can be arranged so please get in touch.
Our equipment inventory also includes three full ski touring setups (avalanche safety packs & touring skis compatible with all alpine boots) which can be borrowed by members.
How do I join the club?
In order to be a member of any Sports Union club, students need an Oriam membership. Although we don’t use any of the facilities at Oriam as a club, this money still comes back into the club in the form of transport for members and subsidies to use the local artificial slopes. Oriam membership comes with many benefits to you as a student, too. Oriam is a world-class performance training venue with excellent gym facilities and many classes to choose from.
Competitive team members pay an additional fee, but this covers all training and competition fees as well as transport to events in the UK and accommodation where applicable and possible, which amounts to well over triple the team fee per person each year!