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October, 2014
EXECUTIVE ORGANIZATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President – Toby Kravet –
808-224-1065
Vice
President – Jonathan Carr
Treasurer - Geoff Chu
Secretary - Paul Ferguson
Rene "Fergie" Ferguson
Roy Manzoku
Bill Hodges
Cathy Lau
-----------------------------------------
Club
Historian
Jo Yee
Newsletter Editor
Toby Kravet
(Click on Contacts for e mail addresses)
CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
Additional events, such as concerts, hikes, excursions, may be added. Watch your email for possible updates.
Every Monday evening
(except on holidays): 4:30 P.M. A group of ski club members and their friends
play
tennis at Keehi Lagoon courts, off Lagoon Drive. Stay in
shape and share refreshments afterwards!
September 27 (Saturday) 7:30 A.M. Volunteering at Lanakila Meals on Wheels.
October 2 (Thursday) 6: P.M. Annual Kick-Off Meeting at Geoff's Condominium in Waikiki with free food, raffle gifts, and a good time. Bring friends who may be interested in joining as well as your checkbook to "re-up" for the new year.
October 16 (Thursday) 5:30 P.M. Board Meeting at Henry Loui's.
October 24 (Friday) 4:30 P.M. Pau Hana at Murphy's Bar and Grill.
November 6 (Thursday) 6 P.M. Highly probable General Membership Meeting at Seven Palms.
November 27 (Thursday) Traditional Ski Club volunteer activity to help the Salvation Army feed an early Thanksgiving dinner to the needy at Blaisdell Center. We also have a traditional tailgate, potluck brunch for any members, whether or not they are volunteering, who want to drop by the parking structure and join the volunteers after the activity. More information forthcoming.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE:
It's that time of year again folks. Time to renew your membership in the Club. You can bring your check and application to the Kick Off meeting on October 2 or mail it in to Hawaii Ski Club, P.O. Box 3004, Aiea, Hawaii 96701-8504. The application form can be found on our website www.hawaiisnowskiclub.com . Just click on the "Sign Up" link, right click it, and print. If your browser does not allow you to shrink it to one page, which we would prefer if possible, highlight it, paste it into a new page on your word processing program, and change the font size to 8 or 9 point to get it on one page. If all else fails, we'll take it as 2 pages (but prefer not to).
As of our Board Meeting last Thursday, we had fifty members committed to the ski trip to Steamboat, five seats still available on the plane, and room availability getting a bit scarce. If you are interested in joining us on the, trip, please contact Jonathan, jonathan@hawaiisnowskiclub.com . I wish I was one of "us" as Steamboat has always been one of my more favorite places, but I just had surgery to try and get some more flexibility in my left ankle, the jury is still out, and I'll be missing the signup deadline.
A few months ago, I updated you all on the situation at Park City, a favorite destination for a number of our members. As you will recall, Talisker Corp., the owner of the upper mountain, which also owns Canyons next door, was evicting Powder Corporation which leased the upper mountain and ran the upper and lower mountains as the "Park City" ski area. Vail Resorts, which leased and operated Canyons, wanted to buy Park City, but Powder Corporation was balking and threatening to tear down the lifts. Well, it's all settled. Powder Corporation sold the Park City ski area to Vail, Vail will be operating both Canyons and Park City this coming year, and will be connecting the two areas next year. Vail agreed to hire existing Park City staff and will be honoring all previously purchased passes. No worries----except for snow.
See you at the meetings and activities.
TOBY
UPCOMING SKI CLUB ACTIVITIES:
COMMUNITY SERVICE EVENT
AT
LANAKILA MEALS ON WHEELS
September 27 (Saturday) 7:30 A.M. - 10:30 A.M.
From Lanakila Meals on Wheels’ website:
"Lanakila Meals on Wheels’ Home Delivery Service is
available to homebound individuals who are 60 years of age or older and are
unable to prepare their own meals due to cognitive or physical challenges."
"We are Hawaii’s largest and only island-wide meal service
for seniors. Bringing more than a nutritious meal, our team of volunteers also
serves as a connection to other local services, helping seniors maintain their
independence, in their own homes, with dignity."
Come and help on our next community
service event on Saturday, September 27, beginning at 7:30 am.
You can choose to deliver hot meals to
clients (2 people per delivery) or to pack frozen meals to be delivered by
others the following week.
Meal Delivery: Come in at 7:30 am and be done around
10:30. Depending on the route, it may take anywhere from 1hr to 1 ½ hr. to
deliver.
Frozen Meal Packing:
Come in 7:30 am and be done by 10:30.
We will meet at:
Lanakila Meals on Wheels
Meal pick-up area & Packing Room
1809 Bachelot Street
Ph. 808-356-8519
www.lanakilapacific.org
mealsonwheels@lanakilapacific.org
After this event, we will meet for
lunch at a nearby restaurant to be designated.
If you are able to help, please call
(779-1452) or email
roy@hawaiisnowskiclub.com.
If you did not receive the separate email announcement with a map and photograph
of the parking area, please let me know.
ROY
ANNUAL KICK-OFF MEETING
ALOHA TOWERS CONDOMINIUM, DIAMOND HEAD TOWER
2215 ALOHA DRIVE, WAIKIKI
October 2 (Thursday) 5:00 P.M.
For our annual Kick-Off Meeting, the one General Membership Meeting of the year when the Club pays for the grinds, rather than hold the event at Seven Palms or another Restaurant as had been the custom until 2011, we will again be returning, for the third year in a row, to the Recreation Room at Geoff's "condo" complex. By buying all the food ourselves, rather than paying a restaurant to cook and serve it, we should be able to feed, without problem, all the prospective new members we hope you will be bringing with you (along with your checkbook to renew your membership) and be able to afford more gifts to raffle. The drinks, however, are still on you: It's BYOB. Start thinking about whom you might bring. Free parking, by permit, will be in a nearby lot off Kuhio, between Lewers and Kaiolu, with entrance on Kaiolu, just a short two blocks away. We will be sending permits to those who RSVP that they are coming, so please RSVP to me, pres@hawaiisnowskiclub.com if you plan to come.
TOBY
PAU HANA AT MURPHY'S BAR AND
GRILL
2 Merchant St., Honolulu
October 24 (Friday) 4:30 P.M.
Murphy's, on the "Irish Corner" of Merchant and Nuuanu Streets (O'toole's Irish Pub is right across the street on Nuuanu) has been a downtown fixture for a long time, has oodles of cachet, and was the home for Ski Club meetings back in the early 80s. For those who have never been there, it IS right at the corner of Merchant and Nuuanu. For those who don't want to look for parking on the surrounding one way streets, you can park in Harbor Court where public parking is allowed, at public rates, above the 5th or 6th floors (I forget which) in the structure. The entrance to the structure is on Bethel: You go Ewa direction on Queen St., turn right on Bethel where Queen ends at Nimitz Highway, and loop right into the structure. See you there, and we can hoist a Guinness together.
TOBY
FEEDING THE NEEDY ON
THANKSGIVING DAY
November 27
(Thursday)
Assisting the Salvation Army with feeding an early Thanksgiving Dinner to the needy at the Blaisdell Center has been a Ski Club tradition for, seemingly, forever. The "dinner" actually begins before noon which gives volunteers plenty of time to complete their duties and go to their own planned Thanksgiving celebrations. All Hawaii Ski Club members, however, are encouraged to join the volunteers at our own potluck brunch on Thanksgiving Day. We meet outside the Blaisdell arena near the parking structure. It's a beautiful way to start off a day of Giving Thanks with friends and great food. More details to follow, but if you want to sign up now, email roy@hawaiisnowskiclub.com
HAWAII SKI WEEK 2015
AT STEAMBOAT
The Hawaii Ski Club is going to
Steamboat Resort (
http://www.steamboat.com
) in Colorado for the 2015 Hawaii Ski Week, January 30 – February 7, 2015. The
Steamboat ski area comprises 2,965 skiable acres with a vertical drop of 3,668
feet. The elevation of the village at the base of the gondola is 6,900 feet.
They average 385 inches of snow per year. The ski terrain is described as 14%
beginner, 42% intermediate and 44% expert. They started a night skiing program
in 2014. You can explore the mountain with the Ambassador ski guides, Director
of Skiing Billy Kidd, mogul expert Nelson Carmichael (yeah, right), or with the
Over the Hill Gang (that sounds more like it). They have a First Tracks program
for the day that all the powder is there for the taking.
In addition to skiing, the resort
offers snowshoeing (including a guided, gourmet snowshoe luncheon), sleigh
rides, snowmobiling, tubing, etc. The town of Steamboat Springs is 3 miles away
by free shuttle. The town is cowboy themed, and they do things like tow skiers
down the streets behind horses. In town and nearby there are two different
natural hot springs, which might make for a fun excursion.
Our transportation and lodging is
being booked by our familiar travel agent, Ski.com.
Our flights are as follows:
United-383 S Depart: HNL 1/30/2015
09:00 pm Arrive: DEN 1/31/2015 06:46 am
United-328 W Depart: DEN 2/7/2015 11:30 am Arrive: HNL
2/7/2015 04:07 pm
We may change these flights if we can obtain a reasonable
and convenient flight into and out of Hayden (HDN), Colorado, which is only a 35
minute bus ride from Steamboat. We should find out about this in late May, when
the airlines “load” the fares and schedules to Hayden. Otherwise we will have to
put up with the 3 ½ hr bus ride to and from Denver. (I understand it is very
scenic though).
We are mainly staying in the Phoenix Condominium, which is
a block away from the gondola. The Phoenix
(http://www.thephoenixatsteamboat.com) offers 2, 3 and 4 bedroom condos, two
outdoor hot tubs, a heated, outdoor pool, free Wi-Fi, exercise room, co-ed
sauna, clubhouse and meeting rooms. The condos all have fireplaces, a washer and
dryer, and some sort of sleeping arrangement in the living rooms. Many of the
condos are on two levels. They have many more 4 bedroom condos with single
bedding than 3 bedrooms, so consider the 4 bedroom with larger common areas for
your mini-groups.
For those of you who want to stay in a hotel, we are
offering the Ptarmigan Inn, which is two doors down from the Phoenix. The
Ptarmigan (http://www.steamboat-lodging.com/about-the-ptarmigan-inn) is
slope-side with true ski/in ski/out access. They have an outdoor hot tub and
pool, ski shop (Christy’s) and a popular restaurant. The rooms feature one king
or two queen beds, free internet and a refrigerator. The Ptarmigan is $200 more
per person that the 2 bedroom units at the Phoenix. A daily breakfast buffet is
available for $80 for the week.
We will have the traditional ski club activities –
reception, pot luck, pizza party – and a few more that the Trip Committee may
dream up. On Sunday, February 1, 2015, your après ski experience can include
viewing of the XLIX Super Bowl between the Detroit Lions and Oakland Raiders.
The prices for all this are on the
Registration Form which has already been emailed to current members. If
you have not received a form please contact Jonathan (
jonathan@hawaiisnowskiclub.com ). If you are
not a current member and wish to join the Club, the membership form can be found
on our website
(
www.hawaiisnowskiclub.com ). Please fill
out the Registration form carefully and mail it in with your first payment (due
June 15). The flights and rooms are limited so mail in your forms as soon as you
can. Don’t worry if you do not have roommates lined up yet; that can be worked
out later. If you cannot read or print the Registration Form, please contact
Jonathan.
Trip insurance is available from our travel agent. It is possible to pay for
your trip with a credit card, but there is a 3% surcharge. Let Jonathan know if
you want either of these options.
TRIP COMMITTEE
PAST SKI CLUB ACTIVITIES:
PAU HANA AT THE MONKEYPOD
KITCHEN
KO OLINA RESORT
Hey! Nobody told us that there was this Japanese band called Arashi, with thousands of fans from Japan who had flown here for the concert, playing at Ko Olina on September 19, the night of our Pau Hana at the Monkeypod Kitchen. It took me 25 minutes to drive the 22 miles from my house to the highway exit and another 25 minutes to get off the exit at Ko Olina. Still, the restaurant, in the small shopping Center, wasn't that far from the exit, and the drinks and pupus were pretty reasonable at happy hour prices. Only six of us made it, the "usual suspects," we sat outside, and I wish I hadn't had to leave early to get back into Honolulu to watch a Wahine volleyball at the Stan Sheriff. What I learned was----if you are going somewhere distant on the freeway, it doesn't take you much longer to get to where you are going than if you were going into town only to spend time looking for parking: Something to remember as we dream up venues for activities.
TOBY
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
THE WAIKIKI AQUARIUM NEEDS VOLUNTEERS
Up until three years ago, if my memory serves me correctly, a whole contingent of volunteers from the Hawaii Ski Club assisted the Waikiki Aquarium at their summer concert series and, sometimes, at other special events such as Sea Hunt, an annual program promoting ocean awareness for youngsters. More recently, there are only three of us from the Club, and the Aquarium is now looking for more people (not just from us) to volunteer. Work for the concert series (which is just about to end) has included, but is not limited to, setup and breakdown of tables, chairs, and tents, ushering, and policing the gates. For those who are interested and can commit to regularly scheduled activities, the Aquarium also uses volunteers to serve as docents and perform other work more closely aligned with the aquarium's mission. Continuing volunteers have been rewarded with a limited number of passes for their friends and family, a free volunteer luncheon every year, the intangible joys of working with a great bunch of people, and, if they are working at events with entertainment, the opportunity to enjoy some of it themselves (when their duties permit). If you are interested, let me know and I will put you in touch with the appropriate staff person.
TOBY
FREE TEE SHIRTS FOR NEW MEMBERSHIPS
Effective May 15, 2014, for a limited period of time, one free Ski Club tee shirt will be given to all new "Memberships," i.e. one per Membership, individual or family.
THE HAWAII SKI CLUB IS ON FACEBOOK
If you are on Facebook, add the HSC as a “friend.” You will be up-to-date with recent HSC activities that members upload. The HSC Facebook page has photos from members on ski trips and at Club activities. You can also include your personal photos and announcements relating to the club for all HSC members to view.
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Contributions from the membership to future newsletters are encouraged and will be greatly appreciated: Please e mail them to Toby (see Contacts) no later than 9 calendar days from the end of the month. Thanx much.
Updated club info available at http://www.hawaiisnowskiclub.com/