The Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition will celebrate its 50th annual class ski trip this winter. The department is planning special events for the trip this year, including an alumni celebration dinner and a slideshow highlighting photos from past trips.

Dr. Lynn Luttrell, associate professor of kinesiology and nutrition, teaches Beginning Snow Skiing and Board in the fall and takes his students on a trip the week before the spring semester starts. Almost every year since the beginning of this class students have gone to Red River, New Mexico to learn how to ski.

The first group of students to attend the trip was in 1975, when Luttrell’s father-in-law taught the first class. Luttrell then attended himself just three years later, when his wife gifted him the trip as a graduation present. 

But the ski trip numbers have dwindled over the years – especially since the university changed its degree requirements. Beginning in 2023, the university no longer required students to take a physical education credit for their degree.

“We’ve got fewer students than ever that are in it for credit,” Luttrell said. “Next year, we’re going to have the third year in a row where nobody has to have a PEAC credit for anything to graduate from ACU.”

The department also offers a snow skiing and boarding class in the spring, and it is  taught by Dr. Odies Wright, associate professor of kinesiology and nutrition. That spring trip typically goes to different skiing resorts; but recently, not enough students have signed up for the class, which was canceled last spring.

Even though fewer students are taking the class for credit, many families, alumni, staff and friends attend Red River with the class. 

“I’ve got lots of students and I’ve got families that are just going along on the trip because it’s a good price for a fun trip to be off in the mountains for a week,” Luttrell said.

Students receive four days of lessons from the professional teachers at Red River, five nights of lodging and four days of skiing equipment rental for a discounted price.

“If you’re gonna pay for all the stuff we get, it’s outrageous for what it is at other places,” Luttrell said.

Luttrell said the class’s students spend the fall semester learning everything they need to know about skiing and other safety tips.

Both Luttrell and Wright said the best part of the ski trip is building relationships with the students, faculty and families that tag along.

“Because it involves students and faculty and friends, it makes for an enjoyable trip,” Wright said. “It’s just fun, interacting, and finding out things about people. People ask interesting questions, and I just enjoy the surprise of it all.”

For more information on the ski trip, contact luttrelll@acu.edu.

A summary of the trip is included below.