1971 Campus '71

              just "bashful."
Strattan spent the first week of his Christmas vacation on a
ski holiday at China Peak and the second week working at the
parking lot and ski lift there. His roommate, Steve Revetria,
has a China Peak bumper sticker tacked on a bulletin board in
their room. It says: "China Peak— you gotta ski it to believe
it."
A Commons Hall freshman, Strattan has skied consistently for
the past few years, but first began as a seven-year-old. "I
should've started earlier," he said. Strattan looks down on
"once a year" skiers for whom "the sport is not skiing" but
"social life at the lodge" instead. He is particularly critical
of those recipients of full ski gear on Christmas Day who don't
realize that the "good skiing is before Christmas." The "sunny
springtime" offers a better tan, he said, but poorer skiing.
Close to a dozen men on Strattan's floor in Commons have
an interest in skiing. Jim Miller, whose room has more posters of the sport than any of the others, paid the supreme sacrifice over Christmas by breaking his wrist and having to face
semester finals in that condition. There are also beginners
like Kris Southards who has gone down a slope twice, "three
times if you count when I fell off the ski lift."
With so many fellows on his floor interested in skiing, resident adviser Don Trethewey hopes to get in on the sport himself. He feels it's great so many guys are on to skiing. Now if
they could only get some girls interested ...
But the gals best better be sincerely interested or they're
liable to raise the ire of not only Strattan but fellow freshman
on the floor Fred Luchessa. Some females develop an interest
in expensive clothes and get all that equipment before getting
all that interested in actually working out on the snow.
Not that Luchessa has anything against female skiers. He
talks of one "foxy chick* a couple of years ago in Squaw Valley
who wore a bikini for light traveling down the slope on a warm
day. Luchessa said the day was not only warm but an accident-
prone one.
Tahoe and other Squaw Valley area slopes are most likely
the location of long weekend outings by Fresno students. For
the one-day ski trips, China Peak, a couple of miles before
Huntington Lake, and Badger Pass, a Yosemite attraction,
seem the places to go.
When asked for a statement explaining his enjoyment of skiing, Luchessa groped for the right phrases toexpress his profound pleasure.
"Skiing is the excitement... no, it's the adventure... no,
skiing is the exhilaration of going down..." Luchessa said between pauses.
"In other words,"said his roommate, novice skier Jim Campbell, "he got a buzz out of it."
Luchessa continued, "... of going down a steep slope and
later on sitting in the lodge and knowing you've accomplished
your goal and must go on to other challenges."
The F.S.C. Ski Club would appear to be challenging whatever
group now hold s the Most Active Club on Campus award. Of
course , on modern day campuses it doesn't take much activity
to win that particular honor. The club sponsored an all-campus
dance in mid-December. Members also biked up to Lost Lake
in another club event.
Skier John Loomis got in on a biking marathon along with a
good portion of the men on his floor in Commons. Loomis and
the rest took part in the record-making (there was no record
to break) "Fresno 500."
Led by resident adviser Dave McClintock, about three dozen
bicyclists rode a Schwinn donated by Green's Cyclery nearly
4,000 miles. They claim this as the American college continuous riding record. McClintock rode once a day, telling the
others "that leaves 37 of you to fill 23 hours.  Ride on."
They did ride on from Oct. 2 to the Sunday prior to Homecoming for a total mileage 1,000 short of the original goal.
While "Fresno 500" was wheeling-away in mid-October, some
600 bicycles were counted on campus.
Used for practical transportation purposes, bikes can be a
good recreation source, as with a couple of "Bicycle Happen
ings" in the fall. These bike hikes weren't sponsored by any
particular college group and their destinations were park areas.
A closer destination is the Student Union on campus. The
bottom floor recreation room offers billiards and bowling. A
course in pool prior to Christmas vacation that was offered to
females attracted a couple of dozen students, and one before
the Thanksgiving holiday also drew a heavy response. The
twelve-lane bowling alley is a favorite source of recreation for
foreign students from the Orient. Weekend nights they seem
to "swarm" into the alley, according to one attendant, transforming the rec room into one big China Bowl.
For those who'd rather stay off campus during leisure hours,
that opportunity does exist.
"If the weekend looks boring and Fresno is getting on your
nerves," philosophized Bill Trask, remember that some of the
most beautiful country in California and in the United States
is just a short distance away."
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