Hundreds of Cal fans showed up for the annual Tree Chopping Rally on Sproul Plaza Tuesday and cheered on a group of axe-wielding students. It was part of Big Game Week festivities, which include a Cable Car Rally at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and a Bonfire Rally at the Greek Theatre. To psych up the campus for the 117th Big Game, Saturday against Stanford, the Cal logging team showed off their chain sawing and chopping techniques, used to fell trees symbolizing California’s triumph over the Stanford Tree, the mascot of the Stanford band.

How does one learn to brandish an axe like these students? You can become a member of the Cal logging team, part of the Cal Forestry Club. The club manages invasive species and uses the logs they’ve cut to line trails and create hillside steps. Since being established in 1912, their mission has been to educate men and women to work as experts in the management and conservation of forest ecosystems. Find out more about the Cal Forestry Club.

Throughout the entire week, the Berkeley Rally Committee decorates the campus with blue and gold, while getting rid of as much Stanford red as possible. There’s even a red t-shirt exchange, where people who donate a piece of red clothing and a can of food are given a Big Game Week blue and gold T-shirt. The clothes and food are donated to local charities.

The Big Game takes place at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 1 p.m.

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