There’s No Skiing at Skiventure
There’s no skiing at Skiventure. More precisely, there is very little, and if there are any ventures out to the mountain, they’re on snowboards; at any rate, it’s not the point. To be fair, though, it did not start out with that intention. Several years ago, my friends planned a weekend to the Poconos to go skiing (and snowboarding) as a group. It garnered interest from many people in our circle and we booked a place off I-80 near Big Boulder-Jack Frost. With the large group, long weekend, and oversized house, the trip took on a grand scale and the term “Skiventure” was born. It was such a success that we’ve repeated the trip every year since. We’ve switched locations since the first trip, to Lake Wallenpaupack, but the spirit remains the same. That first year, though, was the last time I went skiing at Skiventure.
My group of friends is a special one. Like most friend groups, we have one large group chat where we arrange plans and discuss everything from whether or not a barge is a boat to local and national politics and all that lies between (and much that lies outside). However, unlike most friend groups, this chat is forty-eight members strong. That’s a lot of people, and every time I mention this to someone else, their reaction is always the same: “How do you have that many friends?” The answer is simple: good people and good rituals. Rituals like Skiventure.
