UMD Dawg House Jam Jan. 31 12-5 p.m. blends snow sports, music

Skiers and snowboarders converted a large pile of campus snow into a rail jam behind Malosky Stadium on January 31, with live music and free public admission drawing spectators to an afternoon of tricks and informal competition. The event combined student organizing with campus recreation resources to stage a community-facing winter celebration.

The Dawg House Jam was scheduled for 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and was free for spectators, participants and the public. The event was hosted primarily by the UMD Ski and Snowboard Club and the UMD Techno Club, with campus recreation involved in logistics and approvals. Both amateur and professional ski and snowboard competitions were part of the program, and riders included local athletes and regional competitors, with some traveling from the Twin Cities.

Planning for the event was improvised and iterative. Reece Wickland, president of the UMD Techno Club, described the origin and late approvals: “A couple of months ago, me and Nick, the president of UNB Skiing Board, we got together and we wanted to have a cool event on campus. Originally it was going to be at Bagley, but that got shut down pretty quick. And so, yeah, he wanted it to be an Ordean court, which is never going to happen. But yeah, we just found the biggest pile of snow on campus and said, let’s run with that. We met with the facilities guy like 10 times, just like trying to figure it out, and it finally all came together on Thursday.” That account underlines the informal, student-driven nature of the jam and the practical negotiations required with facilities staff and campus administrators.

Photographers captured a range of action from flips to instruction. One image caption read, “A man doing a flip while snowboarding down a small hill.” Photos appearing with the coverage were credited to Dan Williamson. Organizers positioned the Dawg House Jam as one piece of a broader slate of winter activities on campus and in the city; an extreme cardboard sledding competition took place the same day on Rock Hill in the Bagley Nature Area.

For residents and students, the event illustrated how small, student-led projects can mobilize campus resources to create public programming that boosts winter activity and campus-community connections. The clubs said they plan to carry the momentum forward with another rail jam in March at Spirit Mountain, offering another opportunity for regional riders and local audiences to engage.

For accessibility questions about public files related to broadcast partners, contact Vicki Kaping at (218) 727-6864. The Dawg House Jam showcased grassroots event-making on campus and signaled continuing opportunities for community participation in winter sports and music programming this season.