The season for snow trips is here again — the past two weekends have seen dorms across campus packing up to make the trek to the Tahoe area, leaving the drizzly Stanford climate in search of powder.

Several dorms, including West Florence Moore Hall, Cedro and Junipero, took advantage of the three-day weekend over Martin Luther King Day for their snow trips. While the trips were successful overall, heavy snow on Saturday, Jan. 14 made transportation very difficult.

Junior Charlotte Helvestine, a resident assistant in Cedro, commented on Saturday’s inclement weather.

“We had a lot of skidding and sliding and chain problems and a few accidents but luckily no permanent damage,” she said.

Theo Polan, a freshman in Freshman/Sophomore College who attended West FloMo’s snow trip, called the transportation “an unmitigated disaster.”

On Saturday, he said, the traffic stopped four times to the point that the vans turned the engine off for an hour. The trip took a total of 12 hours instead of the usual four.

“We got out of the car and had a snowball fight in the middle of the interstate,” he said.

Despite several transportation snags, residents said they still had a good time.

“The skiing was awesome,” Polan said. “It was unbelievable snow and perfect conditions, sunny and warm.”

Many residents took the opportunity to go downhill skiing, sledding, ice skating or to simply play in the snow. The freshly-fallen powder was a benefit for most outdoor activities, but the heavy winds from the storm on Saturday forced the cancellation of some activities, such as snow tubing.

For many, the snow was the main attraction, but hanging out with friends away from campus was also an integral part of the experience.

Emily Grubert, a freshman in Cedro, said, “If college is like a sleepover, snow trip is an even bigger sleepover — it’s a lot of fun.”

Junior Donner RA Jasmine Hanifi said she really enjoyed the times “when we were all hanging out in the kitchen, eating food and talking.”

Most of the problems dorms encountered were weather-related; others were relatively minor. Helvestine said the minivans Cedro rented didn’t hold up well in the storm. Overcrowding also presented an issue.

“Staying clean at Tahoe was the biggest problem we encountered because the bathrooms were usually occupied,” Hanifi said. “Cooking for 80-plus people was quite a chore, but the freshmen handled everything really well, partied responsibly, cleaned up on time and thoroughly impressed the staff.”

Helvestine agreed that the trip was a success.

“Overall our trip went very well, which was definitely a relief because I know the staff was very stressed out in the weeks leading up to the trip,” she said. “We knew that if anything went wrong, we had to make the decisions for the group, and that’s a big responsibility to take on when you’re leading 70 freshmen up to Tahoe for the weekend.”

In past years, some dorms have been kicked out of their accommodations for exceeding their capacity limits. This has not yet occurred this year.

Polan said they had six people in each hotel room — rooms designed to house four — and that “the hotel probably knew but just didn’t care.”

Helvestine said one of the major differences from past trips was the ban on alcohol, enforced by Cedro staff members.

“I really feel like the residents bonded much more without the alcohol,” she said. “Without the alcohol, people that don’t usually hang out together were mixing, and everyone seemed very happy.”

Helvestine advised other dorms that pasta is one of the easiest meals to cook for large numbers of people. Polan suggested “employing a bus company that has been to Tahoe before and has experience with snow and chains.” And Grubert reminded people to bring board games to play at the house.

Overall, most said they planned to go on snow trips again in future years.

Gladys Jimenez, a freshman in Gavilan, called her trip an “unforgettable adventure,” adding that it was the first time she had seen snow other than man-made snow at Big Bear and Mammoth.