On Saturday, January 7^th, the long trip arrived in Steamboat, Colorado to a beautiful blue sky & warm sunny day.  It was awesome outside! The resort had been pounded by new snowfall over the past several weeks and our party of 76 skiers had visions of “butter-like” corduroy for our opening day of skiing.  Since we flew directly into Hayden and within a short period of time SCSC members could be found anywhere from the aisles of the local grocery store directly behind our ski-in/ski-out condos to the ski shops that swarmed around the gondola at the base.  All within walking distance. Cool!  Most of us enjoyed a few glasses of wine from Terry Sports as we checked out the latest gear.  In the mean time, the airport shuttle service & condo staff had unloaded our luggage and delivered it all directly to our rooms.  Sweet!  Even Kayleen Kill’s skis eventually made it to the resort after a slight detour.

Expecting groomers, we hit the slopes on Day One after over 10” of new snow fell while we anxiously tried to sleep. Surprise!  At lunchtime, we saw that Bob Wray must have added on an additional 5 lbs of snow & ice that had built up around his beard as the snow continued to fall.  Speaking of falling, Dan Hoffman, who snowboarded for the first time, was overheard saying that he lost count after the first 100.  Along with Shelly Dunham, James Parise, and Ray Davis, SCSC had a few boarders who loved the powder days, or at the least the soft landing it provided.  John Zavala wins the ski demo contest after experimenting with over 6 new pair of skis.….all within a few hours.  Whoa! 

Cindy Moore and Gaynell Blasé, arriving quite late for the Welcome Party, used their feminine wiles to make the gondola operators restart the system to get them up the mountain.  Later in the week, Cindy represented SCSC very well by winning the TSC scavenger hunt which produced a windfall of prizes. 

On January 10^th, our short trip of 28 arrived very late but they are ready to ski.  Totally!  One by one they entered Bear River Grill for our early club breakfast at 7:30 AM the next morning roaring to go.  We had 4” of new snow the previous day so the mountain was ready for them.  They were “Gone in 60 Seconds”, tearing up the freshly groomed corduroy.  Jimmy and Joanne Breeden welcomed their longtime ski buddies to join them on this trip.  All the way from Maryland, Toni Thomas, Cheryl Bauer, Edward Schmidt, David Hall, and Charlie Brent had a taste of Texas hospitality and Colorado champagne powder.  Awesome!

Back to more skiing stories, Marnie Lamb and Gaynell Blasé held their annual game of “Follow the Butt Trails”.   Stuck on a steep blue run and not wanting to risk a fall,  Marnie blazed the trail and Gaynell followed her butt trail down the mountain in like style only to then find herself stuck in knee deep powder and created quite a show crawling out.  Pilar Gonzales had quite a ceremony when she was promoted to the “Big Dogs” category.  Frank Adams, Bob DeBell, Dennis and Melinda Hughes, Hartley Chelin, Cathy Phillips, Janet McKenzie, Sam and Sandra Cornelius all had a good laugh as Pilar barked when she was presented with a “Big Dog” Necklace.  Morris Covin was glad nobody was around to laugh (so he thinks) when he performed his “double release” skiing down a black mogul run.

There was much camaraderie amongst the Texas clubs.  Members of Lubbock’s Twisters club were seen partying at the condo of  Kayleen Kill, John Rice, Robert Clements, Bruce Lowther, Kenny and Carynre Prater just long enough to deplete their liquor supply and then weren’t seen for the rest of the week.

When we said wear your crazy hats to our Crazy Hats Club Dinner, people took us seriously and wore their crazeeee hats!  Judging was difficult but in the end, the top 3 prizes went to Sue Prater, Peter Kubik, and Ray Naudain.  We’re not sure what’s crazier, the hats or the people who wore them?  Prizes also went to John Rice and Merlyn Harger.  Even though the rest of the club did not win prizes, we were all treated to delicious appetizers and a very nice sit-down dinner in a quaint setting complete with a huge stone fireplace which served Carmen Mikhail just fine.

Every good thing must come to an end and so must our trip to Steamboat.  Someone needs to show Randy Kratz how to set an alarm!  In his enthusiasm to meet the 5:30am mandate to have luggage outside the door, had his condo mates Rita Cardenas, Anne Nettles and Leyla Ozkardesh up and going at 4:30am….a mistake in the setting…yeah sure.

It’s hard to believe a whole year has flown by and you will have a new president in May.  I have truly enjoyed serving as your president.

I have had a very cohesive and easy going group of officers and directors to work with this year, which helped to make it such a great experience.  I would like to thank each one of them for their hard work and support.

My appointed Director of Communications, Bruce Lowther, has provided tremendous support.  As our web master, he implemented many great new improvements to our web site including PayPal and a more user friendly web site.  He also has sent out all of the club emails and helped me countless times with my SCSC email account.  SCSC simply couldn’t have functioned without all of his hard work this year.

My sincere thanks goes out to the Vice President of Programs Jose Arujo and Jessica Halter his Director of Programs (your incoming VP of Membership); Vice-President of Trips Kayleen Kill and her DOTS Hope Flynn and Patty Finch; Vice-President of Membership Jeannine Jiral; Vice President of Publications Pat Piech (your incoming VP of Trips); Secretary Brenda Soileau, and Treasurer (your incoming president) Gary Ladd.     

SCSC is already planning ski trips, activities, and general meetings for next year.  Please help your incoming officers and directors by volunteering to lead trips, activities and help with the general meetings.  Although they will be your leaders, your volunteer efforts are essential to making  this club a success.

We also had a wise and active Board of Directors who were instrumental in guiding us through this year.  I would especially like to thank and recognize John Rice, who rarely missed an excom or board meeting this entire year.  Although his last official board meeting was in March, maybe we can entice him to be on the board again next year?  John, along with Sean O’Brien, were extremely valuable mentors to me.  Last years officers also kept us on track and within the constraints of the Standing Rules and the Bylaws.  John Rice and his nominating committee also worked endless hours finding our terrific officers for next year. 

As the Chairman of the Board for the upcoming year, I  will be looking for a few energetic board members that will commit to attending all of the board meetings and as many excom meetings as possible.  If you have been a past officer of SCSC, and are a member in good standing, you are eligible.  Please contact me if you are interested.  

WoW!! The skiing season is over and now we are in a full blast of non-skiing activities!! As promised in the last magazine, Jessica has gathered a great group of volunteers to stage a new era in SCSC programs…the Grand Finale to the 2005-2006 VP of Programs presents non-skiing activities - New York City for sure, Vegas is looking strong, perhaps hiking in Breckenridge, or weekend jump to Fredericksburg are just a few of the things to keep your eyes out for.  Just check our Calendar of Activities and mark the dates!

Many of our standard (and always fun) activities continue. 

• Our Happy Hour will include a Darts tournament on Thursday April 13^th coordinated by Lovely Lively Laura Carmin.  I’ve never thrown a dart in my life…so stand clear of me. 

• General meeting is on Monday April 17^th at Chateau Crystale. !  It’s so special that instead of calling it the April General Meeting, it has a Special title:  SCSC Presents and Hosts Houston’s Sports & Social Extravaganza coordinated by Barbara dellaLonga.  This is sizing up to be a TREMENDOUS evening.  Barbara is contacting many local clubs to come to our meeting, bring their members and we’ll all just meet and exchange ideas and join other clubs and they’ll join ours and oh what fun we will all have. We hope to have up to 30 different organizations to represent themselves at this very special meeting. It will be a prime opportunity to meet other active Houstonians, learn about other clubs to join and hopefully other clubs will become interested in our club  I’ve heard rumors of door prizes, too.  Hmmm…free stuff is ALWAYS good!

• Thank you to Bob Olsen and Laura Ritter for coordinating the SCSC Golf tournament on April 22^nd when Clear Creek will have us enjoying their greens!  There may still be time to sign up, so be sure to get with Bob or Laura.

• Diane Stotz will take us for a hilarious evening with Radio Music Theatre on April 27^th!!   Rumor has it that this is the final season of RMT and  I know I will miss their wonderful performances.  Perhaps you’d like to see them one more time.  Or if you’ve never seen the show…be ready to laugh yourself to tears…it’s that funny!  A Houston tradition, soon to be gone, but not without one more visit from SCSC.

• John Thayer aka Galveston Mardi Gras King EZ will lead a wild and crazy bunch to the sandcastle competition.  Watch for those sign-up details.  Another great activity and party.

• The traditional Volunteer party preparation is underway with location and date to be included in the invitation to our beloved volunteers. It will be a great day full of fun and games.

• And truthfully, I’m floundering about how to do the May meeting.  Any and all suggestions would be greatly welcomed.  I so want something fun, but just not sure what novel idea I’ve not considered that maybe you have in mind.  So don’t be shy.  Help me out.  Anyone want to take over a committee to oversee it all?

There are a few of our traditional  and not so traditional SCSC activities in need of a volunteer.    How about Paint Ball, or Laser Tag?  Maybe a short overnighter to Lake Charles Casinos, or even just a day trip?.  The possibilities are endless.  And if you plan the trip, you generally travel complimentary (that’s FREE folks!) as the trip coordinator.  So what do you wanna do?  Don’t be shy.  Let’s make this the most active SCSC summer EVER!

We are so pleased to present several non ski activities and trips.  Some are still in planning stages, but several are ready for your deposit NOW.  I have to warn you though, if you want to go to New York with AC Penny Chancey, or Las Vegas with AC Craig Campbell,  or Breckenridge in the Summer and/or Fredericksburg over Memorial Weekend with AC John Sims, be sure to NOT DELAY in getting your first payment in.  The spaces are limited and will fill quickly.  We purposely wanted to keep the trips quaint and cozy…not too large.  Again, it’s not something that we recall in recent SCSC history, so let’s just jump out there and make it happen,  We think year-round trip opportunities could yield new members to the club, as well.

We are always working on activities that our members will enjoy, so please check the web page and read the e-blasts.  You do not want to miss ANY of the fun that is coming your way!.

Finally, remember to send me any SCSC past files, memorabilia, documents or items.  My e-mails are vpprograms@spacecityskiclub.org or jaraujoy@msn.com and Jessica’s e-mail is jessicahalter@yahoo.com

It’s hard to believe it is actually over.  The last few months have flown by and the club has gone on one great trip after another.  At the February meeting, those who had just gotten back from Big White couldn’t stop raving about it.  The next weekend, someone described the Finland trip to me with one word, “Magical!”.  And last night I was at a meeting where those who had just returned from Breckenridge were laughing about the great time they had.  (And that was even though they arrived at the resort at 2:30 am and were walking around in the dark trying to find their condos). 

Many, many thanks go to my Directors of Trips, Patty Finch and Hope Flynn, and to all the TC’s and ATC’s who worked so hard on the trips.

And now we are already into the planning for the next year.  By the time you receive this issue, we will probably be at the Texas Ski Council BidFest where the Council trips are decided. 

We DO already know that for Thanksgiving 2006 (Winter Shootout), we will be going to Breckenridge.  This past Thanksgiving we had an awesome trip to Keystone which featured the Youth Camp and the Learn to Ski program.  Breckenridge will be offering similar programs.  A BIG BONUS to those who had children in the Youth Camp was that the Texas Ski Council Youth Foundation reimbursed them $100 per child that participated in the camp.  This is a new entity that TSC has started to encourage new skiers.  SCSC had 14 children participating in 2005 in the Youth Camp and I hope we can have double that in 2006.  So start making those holiday plans.  By the way, those who went on the trip but didn’t have children said that any concerns they had about the number of children on the trip didn’t materialize.  The kids were SO tired after the camp that they went to bed and didn’t disturb the adult activities.  So it sounded like a win-win situation for everyone.

I just participated on the Pre-Select Committee that narrowed the trips down to those that will be presented at the BidFest.  For Traditional (January), it will be between Vail, Park City, Sun Valley and Lake Louise.  For Winter Shootout (February), the choices are Crested Butte, Sugarloaf (Maine), Panorama (British Columbia) and Aspen.  The March trip (Final Showdown) has Sun Valley, Jackson Hole and Banff.  The choices for Winter Expedition are Engelberg (Switzerland), Nagano-Hakuba (Japan), Neustift (Austria) and Salzburg (Austria).  The delegates at the BidFest will also decide if we want take a Summer Expedition for 2007.  If we do, the choices are an Alaskan Cruise, a 4 day trip to New York City (not to be confused with the club 4 day trip in 2006), and a 9 day trip to Thailand (2 nights Bangkok, 2 nights Chiang Mai and 4 nights Phuket).  Having looked at all the bids I’m excited about all the great possibilities.

Once the TSC has determined their trips, the new VP of Trips, Pat Piech, will be working on what club trips we will offer in addition to the TSC trips.  Your input is very important to her.

Lastly, I want to encourage you to GET INVOLVED.  Pat will be needing volunteers to lead and assist on next season’s trips.  I’ve done a number of jobs for SCSC, and I have to honestly say running a trip is the one I enjoy the most.  Although we have guidelines that all trips must follow, we try to let the TC and ATC put their own individual flavor onto the trip, so we allow flexibility, particularly in the parties.  Plus it is the opportunity to meet a lot of great people.  Every trip seems to have a mix of the old standbys you see on a lot of trips and those new people who are on their first or second trip with the club.  Although I appreciate the former (after all, I am one), the latter is part of what makes running a trip so much fun.

Finally, thanks to all the SCSC members who went on a trip during the season.  We do it for you.

Here’s to a great next ski season.

The Big White/Kelowna ski trip sponsored by the Texas Ski Council lead by Terry Lippold was an adventure for the avid skier with the opportunity to ski three mountains and partake in some of the best wines in Canada.  Five clubs participated: Austin, Clear Lake, Lone Star, St. Bernard and Space City.  First Tracks was offered at Big White on Sunday and Monday mornings.  The highlight of our welcome party was Big White Idol with Jerry Montgomery and his back up singers up for the challenge.  Big White entertainers Dan and Drew were a delight at our welcome party; they have been invited to join us in San Antonio at our bid dinner.  Big White, especially Amber French gave a big Canadian welcome to TSC members, hospitality was wonderful and the ski conditions were the best.  The snow-encased pine trees called “Snow Ghosts” were magical to see from the lifts and to ski between.

“Down is not out”, might be the new slogan for our Club.  Our three lady Racers in the TSC individual races all fell on one of their runs.  Despite this mishap, we came home winners.   Winning metals were Ellen Eastham, Silver, Pilar Gonzalez, Bronze, Marti Turner, Bronze, Mike Murphy, Silver, Alan Bitzer, Bronze, Dale Albritton, Silver, Bill Bomberger, Bronze and Keith Kirkman, Bronze.  Space City won first in TSC Division 1 finishing with 480 points.  Many thanks to Marti and Nelson Turner for serving as race assistants.

On Wednesday the group moved to the 5-star Grand Okanagan Resort in downtown Kelowna.  We were given royal treatment at the mid-week party “Taste of Kelowna” hosted by Kelowna Tourism at the Laurel Packinghouse.  Special thanks to Joan Niemeir and Sheila Oclen who arranged the live music, food and of course the wine. 

Part of the group enjoyed the one of the world’s most spectacular wineries at Mission Hill and enjoyed lunch at Quails Gate.  Ellen Eastham, Johanna Kuang and Ron Hayes indulged in early morning (2:00 a.m.)grape picking for Quails’ Gate Estate Winery.   The Quails Gate owner, Tony, fixed breakfast for the group and gave them each a bottle of Ice Wine.  Ellen’s motto is, "IF YOU SNOOZE, YOU LOSE!"   Other members of the group enjoyed the ski hosts at Sliver Star and the challenging runs at Apex.  Word has it that the women’s Canadian Olympic team was practicing at Apex.

Friday came too soon but ended the week with a great awards dinner and as usual Space City kept the DJ working until the very end.  The group enjoyed great wine hosted by Summerhill Winery.

The following are some memorable moments from trip participants:

Gail Clayton noted that this was her first SCSC trip and she enjoyed meeting new people and teaching Trish Ramirez how to play poker.  She also learned a new phrase from Roger Holzman – “catch and release”.  Trish Ramirez who was a first time skier loved the glitter effect of the snow at Big White….oh and mastering the greens, especially Hwy 33.

Many thanks are in order for our trip leader Jerry Montgomery  for organizing such a great trip and Peggy Montgomery for her support.  Beyond Boundaries’ Dick Howard, Doug Lofland and Ute Jahnke worked diligently for the group as well as the team from Big White; Amber French, Jim Loyd, Rob Crickton and Josh Foster.  Sliver Star was superb with their ski guides, many thanks to Robin Baycorft and Blair Ireland for the hospitality.   SCSC must return to these beautiful and magical ski mountains.