University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanook Recreation: Providing Holistic Health and Wellness Experiences in the Subarctic

Mission

The mission of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanook Recreation is to provide the university community with opportunities and facilities to lead active, healthy lifestyles through sport and recreation on campus and out in the beautiful wilderness of Alaska.

Facility(s) Description

Student Recreation Center

Built in 1994, this facility includes three multi-sport courts, one eighth mile track, a 28-foot climbing wall, fitness studio, locker rooms, and offices along with weights, cardio and selectorized equipment. It also holds our Outdoor Adventure center.

Patty Ice Arena: This is an NHL-sized rink that seats 1,500 in the bleachers. It’s a practice rink for our D1 Nanook Hockey program in addition to open for student and community use.

Patty Pool: A six-lane 25-yard tile pool that hosts the D2 Nanook Women’s Swim Team in addition to student and community use.

Ice Tower: a 30-foot outdoor ice climbing wall positioned outside the Student Rec Center next to the sledding hill and outdoor skating rink.

Outdoor Adventure Center

Students and the community can rent cross-country skis from the Outdoor Adventure center in the Student Rec Center and walk right outside onto a 25-mile trail system that is groomed for skiing. This trail system includes the home racecourse for cross-country running and skiing programs. The course is FIS certified.

Programming Highlights

Any student taking one credit or more gains access to our facilities and programs. In addition to this faculty, staff, alumni and public community members can purchase memberships at different price points. Being the only college campus within 360 miles, we work hard to bridge the gap between our community and campus.

Students can try ice climbing on our tower for free with all the equipment and instruction provided. Take a trip to a natural waterfall near Denali National Park to try more authentic ice climbing. Next they could take a one-credit class to learn the details of anchor building and rappelling. Finally, they can rent ice climbing gear to go out on their own.

Many students continue their winter adventures beyond ice climbing towards the bigger mountains. University of Alaska Fairbanks offers two different paths to get training on ski mountaineering. Many students have taken this opportunity to gain the skills needed to climb Mount Denali, the tallest peak in North America.

For students who enjoy the climate-controlled environment, we offer many fitness and strength classes to help students better utilize our facilities to achieve their personal fitness goals.

Intramural volleyball and basketball are staples each semester. And like everywhere in the country, pickleball is hot. Being the only indoor pickleball facility in town makes us popular in the winter months.

Our Mondo indoor track is admired by casual walkers and Boston Marathon trainees. People in Fairbanks, Alaska will run outside all year long, but even at -40F degrees, common sense takes over and runners will log long miles on our track to be ready for spring races.

Fun Facts

University of Alaska Fairbanks is a Land, Sea and Space Grant institution performing research all over the arctic. In order to help field researchers do their work more safely, our Outdoor Adventure program provides numerous trainings each year including technical skills training — including avalanche safety, motorboat safety, swiftwater rescue and crevasse rescue —and also soft skills like camp management, Green Dot, QPR and Implicit Bias.

Students can buy day passes to two local ski areas through our rec center online portal for $10. Compared to $55 at the mountain.

Our indoor climbing wall has three auto-belays, 10 top-ropes and a boulder wall. We currently host and lead climbing nights twice a week. Routes are reset weekly by volunteers and paid student staff.

This year’s Winter Carnival weekend will include kick sledding, dog sledding, ice climbing, ice skating, snowball fight, XC skiing and a Polar Plunge.