This year’s international skiing trip was hosted by Bridges International. This event took place at the Andes Tower Hills, a great place for beginners to learn how to ski and snowboard. Bridges hosted this event to teach students how to ski and have fun while connecting with new people.  

Event Summary: 

On Feb. 17, 2026, the event began at the conference center, around a roundtable, going over the plan for the day and what we would be doing throughout the day before traveling to Alexandria Andes Tower Hills in Alexandria, Minnesota. Upon arriving in Andes, we checked in and rented out all of our gear. We were then greeted by our instructor for the day, who would teach us to ski, covering how to stop, turn, and maintain our balance. After learning from our instructor, we began skiing on the beginner slides to practice what we had learned. There were quite a few wipeouts, but that did not stop us from having fun and learning from our mistakes.  

Many people picked up skiing quickly and went on more advanced runs on different levels. My personal favorite levels were the Big Dipper, Paradise, Serendipity, and the  Milky Way, because you gained crazy speed, and some had awesome turns and jumps.  All of us had a lot of fun skiing throughout the day, taking lots of pictures and videos, and connecting with the new people we met on the trip.  

The sun started setting, and it was time to pack up and put our gear back. Before heading back to SMSU, we stopped at Pizza Hut to eat and talk about how cool skiing is. After talking and having fun, we headed back to SMSU. 

Everyone arrived safely except for the highway 59 beaver, which was unfortunately hit by a moving vehicle. R.I.P.