Dining hall trays, cardboard scraps and laundry baskets carried students as they flew down Jefferson Way this Saturday. 

Following a night of snowfall and freezing rain, several students spent the day sledding on campus outside of Snell Hall. Among them was first-year Tona Murray, who shared why he wanted to come out sledding.

“I was bored, and couldn’t go skiing because the roads were bad, so I thought this was the next best thing,” Murray said. 

With most lacking access to traditional sleds, students became innovative in their approaches to sliding down the snowy hill. Murray found a cardboard sign on campus to use, however, others found luck elsewhere.

“Dining hall trays, those are the best for sliding,” said first-year Brady Dixon. 

Third-year Matty Shepard and fourth-year Will La Fond noticed the excitement when walking by and wanted to join in.

“We were like ‘We got to go over there and check it out,’” Sheppard said. 

Sheppard and La Fond practiced what they called the “belt method,” where two people ran on either side of a person sitting on a tray and used their belts like rope to hold on. 

“The smooth flat surface (of the tray) on top of the ice was pretty fun, and the belt method worked really well to pull each other,” Sheppard said.

First-year Kaylah Zalazar enjoyed coming to watch everyone sled down the hill with all the different creative methods used. 

“It’s literally hilarious. They’re so innovative, we have boxes out here, people are cutting stuff just to slide down,” Zalazar said. 

Zalazar explained how even though she felt cold, she was excited to see the snow.

“I’m from California so I never get to experience snow, I wanted to be out and about,” Zalazar said. 

La Fond shared the same sentiment and enjoyed the opportunity to get outside. 

“Most days in Oregon winter are just rainy and terrible but a snowy nice day out like this you got to get out there,” La Fond said.