Cassie Sheridan |
In case you missed it, a snowpocalypse occurred over the weekend causing an early closure on Friday, terror on the roads, a late start on Monday and general snow hysteria throughout campus. Now that the 7-inch blanket of snow has melted and campus is a sea of hunter boots and NorthFace jackets, no one is instagramming photos of slushpocalypse. The melting of the snow and subsequent rain could cause flooding on campus that could range from marshy puddles to Lake Union fairly quickly. Luckily, Physical Plant has been working endlessly on both snow removal and flood prevention.
“We aren’t expecting severe flooding at this point,” said Physical Plant assistant director Fay Beeler. “Our crews have cleared all major areas where flooding has occurred in the past and the snow runoff has already mostly happened. We are just really happy that all the students got the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful snow with no significant complications on campus.”
Over the weekend students celebrated the snow with a wide range of activities. Some embraced the snowfall and ran right into the storm instagramming and tweeting as they went, others locked their doors, ordered dominoes and binge-watched Netflix. Whatever your way of coping, may we all remember Snowpocalpyse 2014 and try to forget the slushpocalyptic consequences.
Also, everyone with “sleds” hiding under their beds, Bauccio Commons wants their trays back.
Trimet stops running, students get stranded
On Saturday night, a group of students from Schoenfeldt Hall celebrated the snow by attending a Winterhawks game at the Moda Center. Unfortunately, due to heavy snowfall and the subsequent delayed public transportation, the students were stranded outside for nearly an hour and a half post-game.
“There was about twenty of us and public transportation was obviously really spotty,” said Schoenfeldt Resident Assistant Nolan Ripple. “The MAX stopped running altogether and the buses that are normally running back to UP weren’t coming. We finally managed to get home after a really great bus driver was willing to drop us off at the end of his route.”
According to Ripple, the game ended at around 9 p.m. and the students finally got back to UP around midnight.
“It was obviously a bummer,” said Ripple. “We weren’t dressed properly to stand outside for that long in the ice and it was really frustrating not having correct bus times or knowing what the public transportation situation would be.”
The students called Public Safety for assistance. However, due to road conditions they couldn’t be picked up from any further than New Seasons.
“In situations as this, students can always call us and we will do whatever we can do given the circumstances to assist them in getting home safely,” said Public Safety director Gerald Gregg.
Despite the frustrating end, Ripple still declared the event positive.
“The game was still really fun,” said Ripple. “In situations like that one, where things are just really awful it becomes kind of funny. We got home eventually and we de-thawed and now we can laugh about it.”
Snowcapades
Many students embraced the snowfall and enjoyed a plethora of snow activities, the most popular of which was sledding. Students were sledding on the hill by Physical Plant, the hill behind Corrado, the new path going down the Bluff and at Cathedral Park. Many students cited the sledding and snow activities as great bonding among friends.
“Sledding at Cathedral Park was packed,” said junior Clare Munger. “My entire house went together for a little snow bonding time and you had to be careful to not hit other people, which caused some severe wipe-outs.”
The word spread quickly that Cathedral Park was the place to be for good speed.
“We got the word that Cathedral was where the fun was,” said junior Mary Kate Knill. “You could meet some local kids, some UP kids, and take advantage of the snow.”
The Mehling hall Resident Assistants used the snowfall as a means of further bonding and took to the Physical Plant Hill.
“We got really excited when there was so much snow,” said Mehling RA Regina Iriawan. “We all just ran outside and started throwing it at each other.”
Junior Clara Leeways and her housemates developed sledding innovation on the Corrado Hill.
“We discovered that creating a sort of trash bag diaper provided superior speed,” said Leeways. “We tried out a lot of different techniques that were all conveniently free, but unfortunately not impact free.”
For some students the sledding hills weren’t enough and took to the mountain.
“The snow gods gave me a gift and I had to take it,” said junior biology major Nicole Lawton. “I loaded up my 4-wheel drive Subaru and drove right into the eye of the storm to go skiing at Mt. Hood. There was powder up to my waist all day. No regrets risking my life with snow like that.”
Cabin Fever and Depleting Rations
Some students loved the snow less than others. Due to the dangerous road conditions, many off-campus students found themselves trapped in their homes for most of the weekend and experienced some mild cabin fever.
“I did suffer from cabin fever,” said junior Grace Powell. “I live at the top of a hill so driving was out of the question. I tried to go on walks to get coffee but you can only drink so much coffee. I deep-cleaned my apartment, reorganized everything, and became a little frenzied. I was definitely ready for the snow to melt.”
Other off-campus students confronted the problem of depleting resources. Junior Michelle Wilcox was unable to get to the grocery store, so she and her housemates bonded through staying indoors and cooking together.
“We combined our food and cooked dinners together,” said junior Taylor Tinley. “We just stayed indoors, watched the Olympics, and cooked.”
However, come Sunday the house realized they were nearly out of food, eating chip crumbs and the last of their vegetables.
“It got a little tense towards the end,” said junior Morgan Robertson. “We were all definitely ready for the snow to melt.”
On campus, Bon Appetit served food throughout the poor weather with no significant setbacks.
“Our biggest concern is always just trying to make sure we have staff,” said General Manager Kirk Mustain. “We have to stay open because we are the students’ only option. So we just assess what we can keep open and staffed. We closed early on Saturday so our staff could be sure to get home safely, but otherwise everything went very smoothly.”
Hometown’s Impact on Snow Excitement
For some students, Friday’s snowfall was a rare weather experience making the snowpocalypse all the better. Junior Issa Santos grew up in Guam and before coming to UP never experienced snow.
“I love when it snows,” said Santos. “It’s so unbelievably beautiful and makes me so excited.”
For others, snow hysteria is more of a running joke. Amelia Segler, a Kenna Resident Assistant, grew up in North Pole, Alaska, where a blizzard is when it snows a foot overnight.
“It’s always kind of funny because the second snow starts falling people just start assuming everything will shut down,” Segler said. “At home in Alaska, it could snow triple the amount Portland got and nothing would stop. I have never even had a snow day at home.”
The unsung snow Heroes
Those paths through campus didn’t just magically appear. Physical Plant worked continuously to remove snow, so students and faculty could move safely around campus.
“We had 14 people in on Saturday to clear pathways so students can move safely from their dorms to the Commons,” said Physical Plant assistant director Fay Beeler.
Some students may have noticed less parking availability in the main parking lot due to stacked snow. However, when clearing that large of a surface that is usually the only option.
“It takes a long time to move snow in that big of a lot,” said Beeler. “We had to sacrifice some parking spots in order to clear the rest of the parking.”
There was no issue on campus with frozen pipes and only two UP off-campus houses had any snow-induced problems, which were cleared up quickly.
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Engineering Classes pay off on Sledding Hill
UP students displayed their ingenuity at attaining speed while sledding on a budget.
“Anything flat was fair game,” said Iriawan.
Items reported as being used:
Cafeteria trays (used for the first time ever)
Cookie trays
Laundry Baskets
Cardboard boxes
RISE up signs
Trash Bags
Senior Day signs
Cardboard
Shovels
Trash can lids
Pots or pans
Really big books (BLASPHEMY)
Each other
Actual sleds (snooze)
