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November, 2024
EXECUTIVE ORGANIZATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President
– Toby Kravet – 808-224-1065
Vice
President - Anita Hodges
Treasurer - Jonathan Carr
Secretary - Sandra Robbins
Michiro Iwanaga
Alan Teramura
Caroline Sluyter
Mike Tsutsui
Karl See
Nicole De-Witt
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Newsletter Editor
Toby Kravet
(Click on Contacts for e mail addresses)
CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
Every Monday evening (except on holidays and, of course, during Hawaii Ski Week), at 4:30 PM, a group of ski club members and their friends play tennis at Keehi Lagoon Courts, off Lagoon Drive. Stay in shape and enjoy a "careful social hour" afterwards.
October 24 (Thursday) 4:00 pm Pau Hana at Kona Brewing Company, Koko Marina Center, Hawaii Kai.
November 7 (Thursday) 5:00 pm General Membership Meeting at Mangiamo.
November 28 (Thursday) time Traditional Thanksgiving morning volunteer activity to feed an early Thanksgiving meal to the needy at Blaisdell Center. There will also be a pre-event potluck for all members of the club whether or not you are volunteering.
December 14 (Saturday) 5 pm Annual Christmas party at the Esplanade in Hawaii Kai (see below for details).
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE:
I hate to start off with business, but if you are going on one of our trips next year and haven't yet renewed your membership, please get it in ASAP. Also, if you secured a roommate who signed up through our travel agency for the trip but did not yet join the club, please make sure they do. All trip participants need to be a member of the Club at the time of the trip. Now that that's out of the way, I would like to welcome new members Barry and Faye Kurren, Raphael and Cookie Nolan, and Doug Moore from Kailua. I had to do a double take on Doug because, last month, I welcomed Douglas Moore from Kauai: Confusing, yuh? I was - - - for a bit. Quite by accident this morning, I ran across a listing of the 10 highest ski areas in the world (top of the highest lift I believe), and would you believe that the club has been to 3 of them? They are Breckenridge which, at 12,841 feet, was rated #3; Telluride, at 12,569 feet, which was rated #9; and Aspen/Snowmass, at 12,510, which was rated #10. And what was the highest? A resort in China, named Jade Dragon, checks in as #1 at 15,420 feet: I can't imagine skiing at that altitude. A ski friend of mine, who lives in Utah, just bailed out of a trek to Everest Base Camp (17,598 fit), when she got bad altitude sickness at 16,000 feet. So close yet so far! Speaking of Utah, the snow is starting to fall and opening day at Alta is November 22, only a month from now. That's where I usually go after our Hawaii Ski Week, and I forgot to buy my pass. If you are going to Sun Peaks with the Club this coming January, I'm sure you won't want to miss the short video, discovered by Michael Shintani, which provides a tour of the area (see link below in the "Trips" section. Aloha for now and hope to see many of you at our upcoming meetings and activities.
TOBY
UPCOMING SKI CLUB ACTIVITIES:
KONA BREWING CO.
HAWAII KAI PUB
KOKO MARINA CENTER
7192 KALANIANAOLE HWY
HAWAII KAI
Thursday, October 24, 4:00 pm
The search of my ski club
folder indicates that our last Pau Hana at the Kona Brewing Co. was in
April, 2012 so I guess it's about time. If I remember correctly,
Ledward Kaapana was the entertainment when we went back then, but I'm
absolutely sure it's no longer the case. For those unfamiliar with Koko Marina Center, it is on the
residential side of Kalanianaole Highway just before Lunallilo Home Road.
For those coming from east Honolulu side, you would want to allow some extra
time to get through the H1 "parking lot" between, approximately, Likelike
Highway and Punahou St. (I have to deal with this all the time), but it
should keep moving after that. The Kona Brewing Co. does not take
reservations so the early arrivers will have to score tables. See you in
Hawaii Kai on October 24.
TOBY
GENERAL
MEMBERSHIP MEETING
MANGIAMO BY 604
NAVY MARINE GOLF COURSE
943
VALKENBURGH ST.
November 7 (Thursday), 5 pm
Following the October Kick-Off Meeting, we are back to our customary haunt, Mangiamo, for November. Although the meeting itself won't start until 5:30 PM, we'd like you to get there a bit earlier so you can get situated and order your food and drink. We like to get our business out of the way before the live music starts and makes announcements difficult. If you haven't yet been to Mangiamo, it is opposite the airport and off of Valkenburgh Street which runs between Nimitz Highway (under the viaduct) and Radford Drive. Drive almost all the way to Radford Drive and you'll see the entrance to the right. Mangiamo is on the second floor of the golf course's club house. See you there.
TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING VOLUNTEER ACTIVITY
SERVING AN EARLY THANKSGIVING DINNER TO THE NEEDY
AND PRE-EVENT POTLUCK
Blaisdell Center
777 Ward Ave.
November 28 (Thursday),
9:30 - 11:00 am for tailgate, 11:30 am - 12:45 pm for volunteer activity
Our ski group has traditionally signed up to be waiters (or servers) for the 11:30-1:15 shift because the lunch begins at 11:30 (ish) and ends around 12:30 or 12:45. The 1pm spot is for clean up only. The earliest shift (9:30-11:30) is for set-up. The middle time slot we like to take is the most popular since we can interact with the community.
This will be the 51st Annual Salvation Army
Thanksgiving Day Dinner at the Blaisdell Center and the 29th year that the
Hawaii Ski Club has volunteered at this event. We will join over 1000
community members from a variety of civic groups and schools who volunteer
to make this event special for those people who are less fortunate. This is
an event where “it feels better to give than receive.” You’ll appreciate
your own family Thanksgiving dinner much more after you have served meals to
the elderly and poor of our community. Our club volunteers will work
for about 2 hours, as servers/waiters between 11:30am and 12:45 and will
have the reminder of the holiday to share with family and friends.
Prior
to our volunteer shift, our club has a pre-event tailgate potluck brunch
from 9:30-11:00 am outside the auditorium, in the grassy area between the
parking structure and the arena. ALL SKI CLUB MEMBERS are invited. This is
an annual tradition where we enjoy the fellowship of other ski club members
before we serve dinner to others. At least we won’t be hungry later when we
serve turkey dinners and pumpkin pie! Every club member is invited to join
this tailgate even if you are unable to volunteer inside the auditorium.
If you plan to attend the potluck, please email Anita.
anita@hawaiisnowskiclub.com
with your potluck contribution/dish.
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ANITA & TOBY
ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY
The
Esplanade, 500 Lunalillo Home Road
December 14 (Saturday) 5 PM
Sylvia "Sam" Wright is, again, welcoming us to the ground floor recreation room/terrace at the Esplanade for our annual Christmas party. This is both pot luck and BYOB. Also, if you want to participate (almost all do) in the traditional gift exchange, bring a grab bag gift with approximate value of $20.00. You will be given a raffle ticket, and when your number is called, have the option of choosing a gift from the "pile" or one that has already been chosen, thereby forcing the original chooser to choose from the pile again: This can get pretty funny, satisfying, or frustrating depending upon whether you are victor, victim, or spectator----at that particular moment, and victors can turn into victims at the next ticket pulled. Also, (Trumpets, please), this is the same date as the annual Hawaii Kai Christmas Boat Parade in which boats, adorned like Christmas trees, sail through the waterways, and we should be able to view it from outside the building. The formal "festivities" will probably be starting at 6:00 PM, but we may want to get there earlier, which is why we say 5:00 above, due to others looking for parking to view the boat parade: To get to the Esplanade, turn left off Kalanianaole Highway at Lunalillo Home Road, the last traffic light before the highway goes up the hill towards Hanauma Bay. drive in the mountain direction approximately .8 of a mile, and look for the looming white building complex on the left. While parking is limited at the building (eleven guest stalls in the circle at the entrance) there is normally plenty of street parking available on the other side of the street and on side streets off the other side. The recreation area is right on the ground level beside the lobby.
TOBY
SKI TRIPS FOR 2025:
CANADA
Ski Week 2025 - Sun Peaks Resort, BC
- 1/18/25 to 1/25/25
Revelstoke Extension (optional) - 1/25/25 - 1/31/25
As of this writing, we have 53 going to Sun Peaks and 24 going on to
Revelstoke. Due to schedule changes by Westjet, we are back to Air
Canada with some of the group flying into Kelowna and others to Kam Loops
with ground transportation following from both locations.
One of our members on Kauai, Michael Shintani, has found an
interesting video tour of Sun Peaks which can be accessed via
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
TOBY
JAPAN
Japan Trips Update: Shiga Kogen 2/15-23
and Rusutsu 2/22-3/2, 2025.
In my last update, I reported that we had 37 registered for Shiga Kogen and
48 for Rusutsu. Since then we were able to add several more rooms in Rusutsu
to accommodate 15 late registrations for a total of 63 registered. Rusutsu
resort is now totally sold out on the week we are there. The final count is
now 100 registered for the two Japan trips. We are organizing a mid-week
excursion to visit the famous snow monkeys in Shiga Kogen as an optional
tour. Depending upon interest we are also planning on a one day excursion to
ski Niseko. More details later.
Tentatively we are planning for a Pre-Japan Trips
Party on Saturday, February 8 at the Esplanade in Hawaii Kai, with food
hosted by the Club.
ALAN
PAST SKI CLUB ACTIVITIES:
ANNUAL KICK-OFF
MEETING
RAINBOW BAY MARINA
57 Arizona Memorial Drive
(next to Restaurant 604)
PEARL HARBOR
October 3 (Thursday) 5:00
pm
44 ski clubbers found Rainbow Bay Marina without much difficulty and, again, enjoyed the superior barbecue mastery of Geof Chu along with some Chinese take out. New members introduced themselves, updates on our 2025 trips were given, and members seeking roommates for Sun Peaks found each other. A good time was had by all, and 8-10 members were still carrying on when I left around 8:15. Another successful Kick-Off meeting.
TOBY
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
HAWAII SKI CLUB IS ON FACEBOOK
Facebook is the best way to keep current on the Hawaii Ski Club. On your Facebook page on your computer, type "Hawaii Ski Club" into the search box on the top left. On your mobile device, tap the magnifying glass at the top to get the search box. Pictures from Ski Club activities and other items are posted as they are submitted. You can submit your own Ski Club pictures and other items you wish posted by emailing them to anita@hawaiisnowskiclub.com
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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 and on our Facebook page.