At our April membership meeting (6pm Social Hour, 7pm business meeting) we will have a special guest speaker, Eric Hall, of Owen Cyclery. This is appropriate as more people are riding with the warmer temperatures, but also because we have our Virginia Creeper bicycle ride/Barter Theater event coming up on May 5-7. Also at this meeting we will have the election of officers for the 2022-2023 year. As with our other meetings at the Flat Duck, feel free to bring your own food and/or drink.
At our March membership meeting we announced the destinations and dates for our 2023 western ski trips. If you weren’t there, they are:
- Whistler, BC January 21-28, 2023
- Telluride, CO February 4-11, 2023
- Park City, UT February 25-March 4, 2023
We had planned to have everything but the airfare settled by the April meeting and have trip leaders/flyers/trip reservation forms ready so people could start signing-up for those trips. However, while we have trip leaders, we haven’t had their training session yet, and we still have a few minor details to work out for those trips. So unfortunately, we will have to wait until the May 3rd membership meeting to start signing up for these trips.
As we have discussed before, the airlines aren’t showing schedules/fares for the dates of our trips yet, so the initial information will NOT include the air costs. Also, information from Europe is a little slower getting in, but rest assured that our Trip Coordinator, Scott Kramer, is working on putting together a trip to Europe for 2023, so be on the lookout for that.
While we are on the subject of trips, the board discussed the pros and cons of the long-standing practice of having “pre-trip parties." At one time, this event served a critical function, handing out airline tickets and other information (the trip leader would mail packets to people who couldn’t make the party). Since airlines no longer use paper tickets and trip leaders are emailing information to the participants, these gatherings have changed to be primarily social. While we want to encourage social interaction, the board thought we could replace the in-person event with a Zoom call, which was done successfully on two of this year’s trips. This will reduce the cost of the trips slightly, everyone on the trip can attend (rather than just the people who live in Chattanooga and don’t have conflicts), and it reduces the work the trip leaders have to do (finding a venue, getting food and drinks, etc.). On the virtual meeting the trip leaders will ask everyone to introduce themselves to the other participants and then they will discuss the trip. The participants will still be able to ask questions, so hopefully, as most of us have gotten used to Zoom meetings, we won’t lose too much interaction.
How many chair lifts have you been on in your life? Well, I ran across an article from the Colorado Sun ( https://coloradosun.com/2022/03/03/peter-landsman-liftblog-skiing-chairlift/?pico=clean&utm_source=The+Colorado+Sun+Newsletters&utm_campaign=8448939c14-SUNRISER_2022-03-03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_61e0bd63dc-8448939c14-66963662&mc_cid=8448939c14&mc_eid=4ad3802761 ) that describes and then interviews a guy, Peter Landsman, who has rode every single chairlift, gondola, tram, platter lift and T-bar in the country, 2,381 of them. It has taken him 22 years to do this as each week he works four days as a lift supervisor at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, then visits new ski areas for three days. You may be wondering, how does he pay for this? (I know your first question is probably “why would he do this," but the cost would be next.) He uses revenue from advertising on his pretty neat website ( https://liftblog.com/ ). One question the interviewer asked was “So what is one of the more remarkable resorts you have visited?”. His answer surprised me: “There’s one ski area in Tennessee that stands out quite a bit: Ober Gatlinburg. It’s a ski resort and amusement park. It’s family owned and there are water slides and a grizzly bear exhibit and alpine slides and all sorts of different activities for all sorts of different kinds of people. And one of those is skiing. It’s one of the only ones I’ve been where you’re skiing, but then right next door there’s an ice skating rink and bumper boats and all sorts of other activities going on. All for a clientele in the South that isn’t necessarily only about skiing, you know.”
We have one new member, Betty Heatherwick, let’s be sure to welcome her to our club.
Stay safe everyone,
Bob
Event Listing
April Membership Meeting and Election of Officers @ Flat Duck Event Venue (7742 Three Notch Rd., Ringgold, GA 30736) – April 5, 2022 https://chattanoogaskiclub.org/event-4725013
Crescent Ski Council Spring Conference @ Myrtle Beach, Kingston Plantation – April 21-24, 2022 https://chattanoogaskiclub.org/event-4670718
May Membership Meeting @ TBD – May 3, 2022
Virginia Creeper Bike Ride – May 5-7, 2022 https://chattanoogaskiclub.org/event-3168543
June Membership Meeting @ TBD – June 7, 2022
July Membership Meeting @ TBD – July 5, 2022
Lake Party (& August Membership meeting) @ TBD – July 30, 2022 (tentative)
Hiwassee Raft Trip @ Webb Brothers Float Service – August 7,2022 noon – 6pm https://chattanoogaskiclub.org/event-3933037
SUP / Kayak Party Trail @ Club house @Harbor Heights Subdivision, 3789 Kings Road – August 20, 2022
September Membership Meeting @ TBD – September 6, 2022
Bourbon Trail @ Bardstown, KY – TBD (probably September)
October Membership Meeting @ TBD – October 4, 2022
Len Foote Hike – October 21-22, 2022 https://chattanoogaskiclub.org/event-3235020
Crescent Ski Council Fall Convention @ Gatlinburg, Glenstone Lodge – October 28-30, 2022
November Membership Meeting @ TBD – November 1, 2022
Crescent Ski Council Race & Learn to Ski/Ride Camp @ Steamboat – December 3-10, 2022
Christmas Party (& December Membership meeting) @ TBD – TBD