Winter tends to be a time of snow and ice although this weather tends to make it difficult to drive, there are other activities that these conditions allow you to do. 

  For example, in colder climates around the country it is not rare for people who live there to take advantage of the climate and pick up a new hobby or two.  

     According to Visit USA website skiing and snowboarding are among the most popular of these activities. In addition, Scope Shield Alaska says that one of the number one winter sports is figure skating/skating.    

      Statista stated in 2017 the number of snowboarders in the U.S amounted to “about 7.56 million” and the “number of skiers in the United States amounted to around 14.94 million”.  

  Among these 53.3 million skiers and snowboarders you could find freshman Kaili Bruso snowboarding on the slopes. 

   She’s been doing the sport for about nine years, she continues that her draw to the sport was when “I already was learning how to skateboard, and snowboarding is the most similar to skateboarding. So, I thought why not give it a try when it’s too cold to skateboard?” 

     As for the most infamous spots to go hit the slopes in the U.S Maryland isn’t one of them. These locations tend to be in the Rockies like Colorado and Utah. However, New York is the state with the most ski resorts according to Statista they have “51 ski operating areas.”  

     Even though Maryland doesn’t attract skiers and snowboarders from all around, it still has a couple options for its residents. For example, Roundtop Mountain Resort located in York County, Pennsylvania is one of the closest options for locals. Only about an hour drive away. 

      Another popular option is actually in state. Wisp Ski Resort is located in western Maryland in the town of McHenry. Wisp is about three and half hours away but is a beautiful drive out there winding through the Appalachian Mountains. 

     Bruso says she has taken snowboarding trips out to both locations. She described her trips as “spending a few days on the mountain so I can get a lot of snowboarding time in.” Getting a lot of time in on the slopes is very important because learning to snowboard isn’t easy. 

     The freshman said the hardest part about learning how to snowboard was “learning how to move without tipping the board over.” Stopping was also something that was difficult to learn she says “you must learn how to move so you can turn and stop. However, on the snowboard there are edges so if you turn to much and get your board stuck under the snow you can fall.” 

     Another extremely popular sport in North America is ice hockey, at North Harford Andrew Hartlove has been “playing/skating for about 6 years.” Ice hockey is famously known to be an aggressive sport.  

     Hartlove says he’s been hurt a lot in games, injuries happen a lot in Ice hockey, he describes it as “when you’re standing on ¼ of an-inch-thick knives with five other guys playing against five other guys that want to rip you apart, Injuries happen.”