There probably aren't too many times when you might consider freezing temperatures and lots of snow to be a good weekend forecast.

Unless you happen to be a member of the Penn State Ski Team.

The Penn State Ski Team is just one of the many specialized club sport programs offered to students at Penn State. The team consists of 70 members, and although not everybody is guaranteed to race during the regular season.

Since it is a club sport team, everyone who tries out makes the team, Penn State Ski Coach Lee Gonder said.

Those who race every weekend and represent Penn State in postseason competition make up what is called the 'A' team, Gonder said.

There is also a 'B' team, which races every weekend, as well as a 'C' team, which only races if there is room in the competition. The club holds weekly races at Tussey Mountain for the rest of the skiers, known as the intramural team.

"The focus of the club sport team is ski teaching," Coach Renee Boeren said. "The racing is geared toward those skiers who want to improve their overall skills . . . and get some experience racing."

Ski Team President Craig Joyce said that although racing is a big focus of the team, it is not the singular goal.

"We want to win and learn how to ski better, but we also want to have a good time," Joyce said.

Skier Rob Cathcart agreed with Joyce, adding that he joined the team simply because he loves skiing.

"What I like best about the club is that it's oriented toward improving people's skiing," Cathcart said.

Although teaching is the emphasis of the club sport program, racing takes priority on weekends.

The ski team competes in the Allegheny Conference, which consists of 12 schools from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland. Some of the teams' rivals include Bucknell, Penn, West Virginia and Navy.

The team competes in Region 5 of the U.S. Collegiate Ski Association, which is basically the entire region south of New York, and includes teams from as far south as the Carolinas. Only the top four teams at regionals qualify for nationals.

Although many races are held in and around Pennsylvania, regional and national competition requires some extensive traveling.

So far this season, after three weekends of racing, the team is in good shape to qualify for regionals at Hidden Valley, N.J., on Feb. 27 and 28.

"We should have no problem qualifying for regionals," Gonder said. "When we get there, basically what happens is our whole season gets thrown out the window and we've got one chance at qualifying for nationals."

"There's no real pressure right now," skier Mimi Suppes said. "First we want to get to regionals . . . take it one step at a time."

Last year's team finished 13th out of 17 schools at the nationals in Lake Placid, N.Y.

"At nationals you run into some heavy duty schools," Gonder said. He added that many of those schools have university funded varsity skiing programs. "Some of these teams have guys with World Cup experience."

The ski team does, however, have a very strong tradition of making it to nationals, which are being held this year at Squaw Valley, Calif., in March. If this year's team qualifies for nationals, funding for the trip will have to come completely from the skiers, Gonder said.

The team has limited funding from the university. It relies mostly on fund-raisers for its travel expenses, Gonder said.

The university views the ski team the same as it does any other club sport.

"All clubs receive limited funding," Director of Club Sports Vance McCullogh said, adding that the ski team, like any other club sport team, does have the opportunity to request additional funds.

Joyce said this year's fund-raisers, which include T-shirt sales and raffles, have probably made more money than in recent years. Additional money comes in when the team has the opportunity to clean up Beaver Stadium after home football games.

With the exception of that money, the rest comes right out of the skiers' pockets.

The team fee is $385 dollars per skier, which includes a season pass to Tussey Mountain and the coaching fee. On top of that, skiers usually pay their own way for road trips.

"We usually plan to spend about $100 at most on a weekend," Joyce said. That amount includes the price of a weekend lift ticket, transportation, food and hotel expenses.

The team does have some innovative ways of dealing with the lack of funds though.

"A lot of times, what happens is we try to hook up with somebody's parents . . . and stay there," Gonder said, adding that the team stayed at his parents' house during a recent trip to Maryland. If nobody is from around the area, then the team tries to cram everybody into a few hotel rooms, Gonder said.

Traveling on weekends and practice twice a week means a lot of time spent away from school during the regular season. So being on the team not only requires skiing talent, but a lot of academic discipline as well, Boeren said.

Joyce, a three-time Academic All-American at nationals, said that most studying has to be done during the week.

"On weekends it's hard," Joyce said. "You just try not to get too far behind."

With all of the time the team spends together, it is hard to ignore how close-knit the group is.

"Everybody's been doing well," skier Tiia Sumera said. "We've all stuck together trying to reach our goal, which is nationals."

Joyce, who raced individually in high school, added that he enjoys the camaraderie.

"When you get to the bottom of the hill, it's nice to be congratulated by someone other than your parents," Joyce said.

All of this aside, though, what's it like going down the mountain?

"Adrenaline rush," Sumera said. "That's a good way to describe it."

Joyce sees it from another angle.

"At the start, it's mostly anxiety. Once you get onto the course you start thinking about certain spots . . . where you can gain speed," Joyce said. "But it's mostly anxiety."

"And hopefully, if it's a good run," Joyce added. "A feeling of exhiliration at the bottom."