Let’s face it: on most Saturdays, teenagers sleep half the day away and spend the rest of the day watching television.

However, the Scandinavian Ski Shop provides Glenview teens, including South students, with the opportunity to go on day trips every Saturday throughout the winter for skiing or snowboarding in a program called Trolls.

According to Jeff Magnusson, current owner of the Scandinavian Ski Shop, this winter season marks the 47th anniversary of the Trolls Ski and Snowboard program. The shop has been around since 1964. Magnusson, who grew up in Glenview, remembers when his father started the Trolls program.

“It’s a family business,” Magnusson said. “I’ve been actively involved in the business all my life.”

Kids ages seven to sixteen are allowed to participate. Participants of the program pay a membership fee of $75, and then pay $65 for each Saturday trip they attend. Included in the fees are lessons, if participants wish to take them, and a lift ticket for the entire day.

The day trips rotate between three different locations: Wilmot Mountain in Wisconsin, Chestnut Mountain in Galena, Illinois and Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. The trips normally last from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Freshmen Madison O’Brien and Olivia Eigel have been participating in Trolls since they were in second grade, and were introduced to the program by their dads who both did Trolls as kids.

“You meet at Lyon school with all your gear at 7 a.m.,” O’Brien said. “It’s about an hour and a half bus ride and you wait until 9 a.m. when the lifts open. If you want to take a lesson, the lessons start right away otherwise you can just go ski and snowboard.”

According to Eigel, each Trolls ticket comes with a lesson, which each participant has the option of taking. They have different levels for the lessons so everybody can learn something.

“My first day of Trolls was my first day ever skiing, and I skied for four years of Trolls and then I started snowboarding,” O’Brien said. “It’s a really good place to learn to ski, because of the bunny hills and ropes and classes. I would not be nearly as good without it.”

According to O’Brien and Eigel, some of the best parts of Trolls are being with friends, being able to ski and snowboard every weekend, and all the memories from the program.

“We play Chinese downhill,” O’Brien said. “It’s a game, and it’s like football without a ball […] The object of the game is to tackle people and take off their snowboard. You tackle them and then unclip their bindings and try to send their snowboard down the mountain. It’s extremely bad, but it’s so fun.”

O’Brien and Eigel both highly recommend the program to others. In an Oracle-conducted survey of two hundred fifty five GBS students, 12 percent have participated in the Trolls program before.

“It’s also really stress relieving after a long week at school,” O’Brien said. “When you are just tired and want to get away. You feel like you are escaping Glenview.”

According to sophomore Nikki Moscinski, Trolls is also flexible and not mandatory to attend every single week.

“It’s really fun and it’s pretty lenient,” Moscinski said. “It’s not mandatory to attend every week, and it’s really fun to do with friends even if you don’t know how to ski.”

According to Magnusson, last year 317 kids were officially signed up. This year a second pick up station is being added in addition to Lyons School at the AC Nielsen Tennis Center for participants who live in East Glenview.

“[My favorite part] is just getting more kids involved in skiing and snowboarding, and adding fun to kids’ lives on the weekend,” Magnusson said.