The notoriously chilly Chicago winter has officially set in. While Northwestern students are finding the quickest paths to class and back, WNUR’s Brandon Kondritz sat down with a few students who are willingly venturing into the subzero temps.
(natural sound: woosh of wind)
As winter quarter progresses, colder temperatures officially set in. Northwestern students with varying cold tolerances are donning their thickest coats, scarves, socks, and pants.
Amidst all of the efforts to get from one place to another as quickly as possible, I was curious. What can you do to get outside in the subzero conditions?
(music: “Inquisitive Orchestra” by Musictown)
ZIOTMER: You know, it’s Illinois and it’s the winter, so you’re kind of doubling down, but yeah, there’s certainly stuff to do for sure.
That’s Bienen/Weinberg second-year Daniel Ziotmer. He’s a member of the Northwestern Outdoors Club and likes to get outside anytime he can, no matter the weather.
ZIOTMER: I think just finding ways to hike—I think that there are, there are trails that are not too far from here, you know, a lot of people don’t have a car on campus, and there’s probably still access to them.
While the Outdoors Club hosts more trips and on-campus activities in the fall and spring quarters, members are finding creative ways to enjoy the cold or stay active.
ZIOTMER: The Outdoors Club just had a thing where they would reimburse people for going skating or like going to an indoor climbing gym.
(natural sound: skates scraping ice at skating rink)
Ice skating is a classic wintertime activity, and there are countless options in the Chicagoland area to glide across the ice. The Maggie Daley Park skating ribbon downtown is a popular choice, but don’t forget about Evanston’s own Robert Crown Center.
One of the main challenges many students face at the rink comes at the rental desk. Skate rental fees can sometimes be on the steep side. At Maggie Daley Park, weekend walk-ups are twenty-two dollars plus tax. But did you know there’s a little office on campus that can help?
(music: “Sneaky Stitch” by Kevin MacLeod)
LAMARRE: I’ve always known about Norris Outdoors. Since coming to Northwestern, I always thought it was really cool that our school had such an accessible option for people to get outdoor equipment.
That’s SESP senior Elise Lamarre. She works for Norris Outdoors, right next door to the game room on Norris’s underground floor. It’s a little-known resource at NU, but they offer countless rental options for you to enjoy when soaking up some vitamin D.
LAMARRE: It’s pretty season-dependent, but everything’s rented year-round. I guess it just depends when you can use it in Evanston. We have tents, backpacking backpacks, we have grills, we have tables, sleeping bags, sleeping pads. And then we have ice skates and cross-country skis.
Weinberg first-year and Norris Outdoors employee Adam Gribbins, an avid nature lover himself, says he’s seen lots of traffic in the office despite the cold temps.
GRIBBINS: The skates are very popular because they’re cheaper than the skates at, like, Millenium Park or skating rinks in Evanston. So a lot of students like to rent them out.
But you don’t need any equipment to get out and about. If you like to run, take a note out of Adam’s book, as long as the conditions are right…
GRIBBINS: I’m in the track club, so I go for runs. Not as often recently, because you have to watch out for ice. But depending on the days, we can still go for runs, depending on, like, what’s salted and what’s cleared.
No matter what you do, the three outdoor aficionados I chatted with had a common piece of advice to share…
GRIBBINS: Layers.
LAMARRE: Layer up.
ZITOMER: Just bundling up as much as you can, and trying to, like, push on forward with all the things you were going to do anyway.
(music: “Mountain Path” by Magnetic Trailer)
The bottom line: if you’re looking to get outside, there’s ample opportunity to do so. And even if you don’t know how to strap on a pair of cross-country skis, there’s no time like the present to learn.
LAMARRE: I would totally recommend trying. I knew how to cross-country ski but I went with my boyfriend—he had never done it before and picked it up really easy. It’s kind of like skating, but you just glide along.
And if you prefer to stick to the sidewalk, you might see others traversing campus with their skis—even the professors.
ZITOMER: I saw professors like cross-country skiing across the quads. How do you—there’s road in between everything. How do you do that?!
(natural sound: snow skidding)
For WNUR News, I’m Brandon Kondritz.
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“Sneaky Stitch” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0