|
 The Rental Center offers an assortment of outdoor equipment for all seasons, including snowboarding and skiing gear. Jake Barber/Argonaut
Moscow sits in the middle of the Northwest surrounded by miles of whitewater and mountains, perfect for outdoor recreation. The University of Idaho Outdoor Program’s Rental Center offers the access and availability needed for students, staff and the community to take advantage of the outdoor experience.
UI’s Outdoor Program was one of the first ten in the country to be run and managed professionally. It started in 1973 in the basement of the Student Union Building and since 2002, has inhabited the Student Recreation Center.
“For 35 years, we’ve been able to go from a little closet behind the Gem of the Mountains yearbook office, to where we are now,” Outdoor Program Coordinator Mike Beiser said. “We’ve been able to sustain a small but steady growth in participation and revenue.”
The growth of the program — its trips, events and activities — wouldn’t be made possible without the rental center.
Steve Mims, the manager of the rental center, said they’ve always been a popular entity on campus, even when located in the basement of the SUB.
“We’ve always done a really aggressive job of promoting the program and what we have to offer,” Mims said.
Snowshoes, cross country skis and snowboards line the walls of the rental center and camping equipment and raft gear fills the upstairs room.
Behind the glass garage doors, more than 40 rafts are stacked and ready for use. In the winter months, the garage is a ski and snowboard shop, offering full tuning, repairs and waxing, all at an affordable rate.
Mims said the rental center serves all facets of the university, the community and anyone traveling through the Northwest with outdoor equipment.
He said he enjoys the business aspect of the Outdoor Rental Center. He said it’s consumer driven and they’re constantly trying to meet the demands of the customer base they have, and that means adapting to the changes in activities.
“Years ago nobody knew what a snowboard was. Years ago, rock climbing was considered the lunatic fringe. Things come and go,” Mims said. “We’re constantly reacting to the changes in technology, changes in what people are doing to recreate, and changes in the demographics of people’s affluences.”
Mims knows the quality of the equipment they rent creates the experience people have in the outdoors.
“I’m pretty nit-picky about equipment being maintained,” Mims said. “The quality of the equipment we give people can ruin their weekend or give them an experience they’ll remember for the rest of
their lives.”
People from all around can rent from the rental center and Mims said they’re always aggressively promoting their equipment and their rates each year.
“It wouldn’t take much for a person with inclination to get outdoors to find out we exist,” Mims said.
The program rents equipment for all skill levels of outdoor recreation and for the Outdoor Program trips organized by Beiser.
“You have to have the equipment in order to blaze through with your program so that you can challenge people and help people grow,” Beiser said.
From waterfall ice picks to snowshoes avalanche transceivers to Dutch ovens, the rental center gives people the equipment and resources they need to enjoy the lifetime sports and experience wilderness activities.
For information about equipment and rental rates, visit www.campusrec.uidaho.edu/outdoor.
 Add as favorites (12) | Views: 279
|
