FSC President's Messages, 96/98
(Updated 10/11/99)
Dennis Chin
President, May 1996 to April 1998
Elections for the club�s board of directors will be held at the April 16th meeting. Nominees were posted in the March newsletter and will be listed again in this Cheer Lift. Craig Phillips withdrew so unless someone gets nominated between now and the meeting it looks like the nominees will be automatic. It�s not too late to make the elections more suspenseful. You can still call me to volunteer or nominate someone at the meeting. Thanks to Shirley Wood and Charlie Edwards for doing a great job of contacting club members to fill our slate of nominees.
Please join us for several worthwhile events this month. April 19th the club will be walking for MS in Fredericksburg and on April 26th the club will be trying to clean up a section of Route 1 in Falmouth (see separate articles for details.) Also, please consider attending the Spring Fling auction to benefit Disabled Sports, USA on April 25th.
This is my last president�s message. I want to thank the BOD for their assistance during the last two years while I�ve served as club president. Special thanks to Mike Redding for his thoughtful advice and willingness to sub for me in a pinch and for continuing as editor and publisher of the Cheer Lift while becoming our first Web master. Also special thanks to Bob Cote who continued as treasurer and has volunteered to do it again. His experience as a long time board member was always helpful at the BOD meetings and for assisting trip leaders dealing with their responsibility for collecting money and meeting the club�s contractual obligations with the trip vendors. Unsung heros were Linda Wilkinson and Margarethe Andersen for auditing the clubs financial records for the past two years.
Good luck to the new board of directors and officers who will be elected on April 16th.
It�s time to elect the club�s officers for the upcoming season. Shirley Wood and Charlie Edwards are this year�s nominating committee. I know they�ve been trying to call everyone but if you didn�t get the message you can call them and give them your nominations. Most of the board is willing to continue serving for another year but there are several vacancies and a little competition is always appreciated. The list of candidates will be announced at the March 19th meeting and will appear in the April newsletter. Elections will be held at the meeting on April 16th, nominees from the floor will also be accepted at the meeting.
Here are some events we�re considering for the Spring and Summer months. A Walk for MS on April 19th in Fredericksburg, highway cleanup day, a hike up Old Rag in May and the summer picnic in June. More details in upcoming newsletters. Any one with more ideas and willing to lead an activity can call me with their suggestion and it will be discussed at the next board meeting.
Thank you Wally for a great article about shaped skis in last month�s newsletter. I tried shaped skies this season but only for three hours. They did seem to make it easier to ski under a variety of conditions. The big problem was going back to my regular skis for the remainder of that same day. I�m putting a pair of shaped skies on my Christmas list for 1998.
Hope everyone got to ski as much as they wanted (or could) this ski season.
Going back a month, Leo and I joined the Columbia Ski Club for the Race Week at Killington, Dec 7-12. The weather and snow conditions were great for the entire week including the two days prior to the 7th when Leo and I, having arrived early, were warming up our legs for the race camp. Five days of skiing with a coach, learning and practicing racing techniques was a bit grueling for me since I�m basically a lazy skier. Each day was challenging and by the end of a full day of coached skiing I was plenty tired but glad I had participated and felt like I was improving and learning something new each day. On race day, at the end of the week, I was pumped and ready to go. Unfortunately, I crashed on my first race and jammed my pole into a rib and ended up with a creaked rib for my racing efforts. Leo and the rest of the Columbia team had a great race day. Our female roommates took 1st and 5th overall for the entire race camp.
Congratulations to Lois Rose for the great article she wrote in the Free Lance Star describing her ski trip to New Zealand during the summer of 97.
The January 22nd General Membership Meeting was a big success. We had several new people attending and joining the club and an outstanding guest speaker, Dr. Jeff Kamper. Jeff spoke about exercises to help avoid ski injuries and ACL awareness and provided us with handouts on both subjects. Thank you for inviting him Suzy and thank you Brian for providing the TV and VCR.
We all read the ski mags to get information about the top rated skies, boots, bindings, etc. I even searched for any info on the best snack bar to boost energy. This year 2 magazines rated Mt. Lift snack bars as a good choice but the tasters had a difference of opinion. One said peanut crunch tasted best and the other said to avoid peanut crunch. I tried all the flavors and I�ve decided to avoid the peanut crunch. It�s a matter of taste... Mt. Lift contains gingko biloba which is supposed to assist oxygen flow and stimulate circulation to the brain (possibly reducing mountain sickness) and it stays soft in the cold. You can find a variety of these bars at the supermarkets in town. I bought mine at Shoppers.
Just got some early info that the Aspen trip was a blast and everyone from the FSC returned without injury. Guess Jeff�s talk worked for those who attended the January meeting. Early word was we did well again with the race medals. Go team...
There are still 2 FSC trips to go on this year. Seven Springs, Feb. 20-22. and Sunday River, March 1-8. If you can�t make one of these be sure to check out the other clubs in the area that are allowing FSC members to join them on their trips without paying any extra club dues. Have a great rest of the year skiing...
Visiting my daughter in Florida is my excuse for not writing a message in the last Cheer Lift. I was planning to E-mail Mike a message but things got too hectic before and after my daughter gave birth to the first granddaughter in our family. I was taking care of my 3 year old grandson and that was all I could handle. All went well and I had the joyous opportunity to bond with baby Hannah during some of the 2am feedings.
Reading the list of potential ski trips being offered by our club, the BRSC sanctioned trips and our association with the three northern Virginia ski clubs can be overwhelming. If you can�t find a ski trip to your liking then you probably can�t or don�t want to ski this season. The FSC still has spaces available on our Seven Springs and Sunday River trips. Seven Springs is my favorite local ski area because they have more variety and plenty of things to do apres-ski at the lodge. They�re rated 8th in snow making acres by Snow Country magazine and Sunday River is rated 4th. In addition to great snowmaking and grooming Sunday River has 8 mountain peaks to explore with a variety of terrain to please everyone. Hope to see you on one or both trips.
Super-sidecuts are all the rage and practically the only skies available this season. All the ski magazines are writing articles about how they can improve your skiing skills and the need to learn to ski them properly. I haven�t made the switch yet but for those of you that have made the commitment please consider writing an article for the Cheer Lift describing your experiences.
Looks like I�ll miss the annual Christmas Party for the first time since joining the club. I want to thank Bob and Laurie Myse for providing their beautiful home again this year and to wish them the best Christmas ever. I also want to wish all of you a happy and healthy holiday season and hope that you finish your Christmas shopping early and have the opportunity to ski as often as you desire this winter. You could give yourself a ski trip for a present this year.
Our thanks to Marianne Merrow for hosting the September tennis social. We had a small group which allowed for plenty of court time and more than enough food for everyone. Thank you Mike and Lois for sharing your New Zealand trip experiences with us. The articles in the August and September newsletters were great. Hope others will share their ski trip experience with us in the future.
We had a very good turnout at our September membership meeting. The new place (College Heights Pizza Hut) is going to be fine. We used the smaller room this time and it was filled to capacity. The agenda was short and we moved right into the ski trip description and then had plenty of time for socializing. Several new people were present at the meeting and we added two new members to the club. October 16th is the BIG Fall membership meeting. Don't forget to tell your friends and neighbors about it. We're serving free pizza (beverages are on sale) and giving away 2 FSC caps for door prizes. We�ll keep the business meeting agenda short and sweet again and give the trip leaders time to update everyone about their ski trips and handout flyers and trail maps. And once again there will be plenty of time for mingling. If you�re planning to go on a FSC ski trip this season you need to sign-up soon. We estimate the number of spaces our club will need for each of the major trips based on past experiences and we make several payments in advance. If we fall short or go over we need to notify the travel broker as soon as possible so we can extend or cancel spaces to avoid losing money.
A reminder about the Ski Expo being held November 7-9 in Ballston Common. You�ll get to see Warren Miller�s latest ski movie, lots of exhibitors plus demos, clinics and door prizes and a ski swap. What a great way to get in the mood for the upcoming ski season (that is, if you need help). If you have access to the Internet don�t forget to visit the FSC Web site at www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/8971. Thanks to Mike Redding we�re now a cyberspace ski club.
Wishing everyone an exciting and healthy Fall season and the resolve to decide which ski trip(s) you want to go on and to sign up soon...
Hope everyone had a great Spring and Summer of �97. It certainly was one of the cool and dry ones in my memory and it�s even continuing through late August and early September. I love it... I�m anticipating some great ski weather this Winter. Someone told me that the Farmer�s Almanac is predicating lots of snow for the East this winter. This could mean we can ski more days locally than we did last winter. This one�s on my wish list, I even bought a snow blower with one the my neighbors so I can be sure to get the car out the driveway.
I want to thank Brian Baker and Suzy Kelly for hosting the summer cookout and pool party at their house. Everyone had a great time eating all the goodies people brought to share, lounging by the pool, eating, playing volleyball and eating. Some of us even enjoyed their hot tub as the evening temperature dropped on another exceptional summer day.
We heard Lois Rose and Mike Redding had a blast on their ski trip to New Zealand in July and they brought back some great memories which they are sharing with us in the August and September newsletters and on the Net. They also took some professional looking snapshots which they will share with us at the September membership meeting.
This Fall�s activities will begin with a tennis social lead by Marianne Merrow on September 20th. Doug Dougherty is planning another hike up Old Rag in October and I�m planning another trip to Skateland. Also, don�t forget to join us for our semi annual cleanup day on Route 1 in Stafford County. Any ideas and/or volunteers to lead other activities are welcome, just contact one of your friendly board of directors.
Mike Redding has agreed to continue as the club�s newsletter editor/publisher/distributor and Bob Cote is continuing as treasurer for another year. Rich and Ginny Lorey have volunteered to operate the club�s ski clothing store again and are kicking off the season with a great bargain at the September meeting. Baseball caps with the club logo will be available for $8.
The big ski trips planned for the winter of 1998 are Sunday River in early March for the east coast and Aspen/Snowmass, January 31 - February 7 for the west coast. Weekend trips begin with Snowshoe, WV the weekend of January 9 and we hope to have a weekend trip to Pa. this year as well. We�d like to have more weekend trips available this season but we need volunteers to lead. Wednesday day trips will also be an option for those who like to ski locally on uncrowded slopes with no lift lines.
Hope to see you on one or more.
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