The University of Wisconsin-Madison Hoofers Ski and Snowboard Club hosted their 58th annual Ski and Snowboard Resale this weekend.
Student volunteers and the resale directing team collected ski and snowboard gear from both the public and local vendors to sell at a discounted price to UW-Madison students as well as the local community, according to resale director Alex Riddle.
“It’s an opportunity for people in the UW-Madison community, whether they are students or not, to get good gear at a discounted price,” he said.
According to Riddle, most items at the resale were discounted 20% to 40% from their original retail price. This substantial discount attracts people from outside the Madison area, making it the biggest ski swap in the Midwest.
“We have people that get hotel rooms here at Union South and come up from Chicago, from pretty far away for the weekend,” Riddle said.
The biggest market for the resale is families with children rather than college students because the discounted gear is beneficial for families with kids who will soon outgrow it, Riddle explained.
“You see a lot of families and younger people that might not want to spend full retail price on gear for kids who will probably outgrow it in a year or two,” Riddle said.
The resale also attracts skiing or snowboarding beginners because student volunteers help pair them with the appropriate gear.
Sid Dicke, a member of the Nordic club team, said “it helps a lot of beginners get into skiing” and is an exciting opportunity for students on club teams who have been skiing for a long time to “help someone find a pair of skis that’s right for them.”
This resale also serves as a fundraiser for Hoofers’ multiple teams.
“It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year,” said Anna Klein, the director of the Nordic ski team. “We rely on it to fund our season.”
Dike echoes this sentiment, explaining how UW ski and snowboard teams get some of the profits from the resale.
“The local distributors bring a bunch of skis and then when we sell them we get a portion of the profits, so based on our volunteer hours, they split that up for each of the student clubs,” he said.
Student volunteer and Nordic Club team member Jane Scrake explained that the resale is helpful for the team because it “helps bring more awareness to the sport” and “supports the Ski and Snowboard Club and Hoofers.”
According to Riddle, this year’s resale went “really well” and there were long lines out the door of students and families excited to buy new ski and snowboard gear for the season. Furthermore, the volunteers stayed busy helping run the resale and waxing the gear.
“It feels very busy, it’s keeping us on our toes,” Scrake said. “Waxing has been pretty constant, and up on the floor with all of the selling there’s been a lot of customers getting into it.”
Last year’s resale was record-breaking due to high demand after they canceled the 2020 resale in response to the pandemic. Hoofers and student volunteers hope to continue this momentum and have another successful year.
“We are hoping to put up record numbers again,” Riddle said.
Those who brought goods to resell are able to check a live-updated list of the items sold to see if their gear was sold.
The items that were not purchased are available for pickup on Sunday, Dec. 4 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Monday, Dec. 5 from noon to 8 p.m. in the Alumni Room at Union South. After this timeframe, items can be picked up at Memorial Union’s Outdoor UW office from Dec. 6 to Dec. 9.
