First Run:
March 2010
By Frank
Arnold
Whoever coined the phrase “half the fun is getting there” obviously did not have our annual day bus trip to Swiss Valley in mind. We were originally scheduled to go on Saturday, February 6 and were in the Meijer parking lot early in the morning ready to go. Unfortunately, our bus was not. It never arrived due to an accidental deleting of our reservation by the bus company, which meant the trip was postponed.
Fortunately, the bus company acknowledged their mistake and apologized for it in a big way—by allowing us to use the bus for FREE for the rescheduled date, which was
Saturday, January 20th. I’m sorry to say that some of the people who were there to go on the 6th couldn’t make it on the 20th, but we were also able to pick up several people who weren’t originally able to go on the 6th. So we went on the 20th instead, and it turned out to be a very good day for skiing. Overcast skies, some fresh powder, light winds, and a 30 degree temperature meant that we had fine conditions. For the many first-timers and beginners among our group, it was a good time and place to learn. For more advanced skiers, Swiss Valley now has a mogul run that while short is also very good practice. And for the experienced skiers assisting the beginners, it was a win-win situation. Photos of the trip are attached.
While there is generally a fair amount of sleeping on our bus trips, I think it’s safe to say that this year’s return trip had the highest percentage of participants sleeping the highest percentage of time of any of them. Granted, part of this was due to the fact that our DVD player wasn’t working, but I think it had more to do with the fact that many people skied long and hard that day. Thank you to all of our trip participants for another great trip: Frank Arnold, Janet Beagle, Ashley Benedict, Nick Black, Dave Dull, Karen Foster, Maya Foster, Helene Freiser, Ana Juan Garcia, Steve Kelley, David Liu, Haocheng Liu, Jiovanna Povis, Tobin Silver, Jenny Sturgis, Den Upatising, Vie Upatising, View Upatising, Vip Upatising, Wave Upatising, John Whelan, Liang Zeng, and Michael Zordan.
As of Wednesday, February 24, the USA Olympic team has won 8 medals (4 men’s, 4 women’s; 2 gold, 3 silver, and 3 bronze) in alpine events (downhill, super-G, downhill/slalom combined, giant slalom, slalom) which represents our best showing ever at an Olympic games. Despite the roller coaster ride that is the nature of competitive skiing, this has certainly been a successful games from their standpoint—especially Bode Miller. Hopefully this will lead to more interest in the sport both at the spectator and more importantly, the participant levels. The state of the economy combined with sub-par snowfalls in many parts of the Rockies this year has led to lower turnouts, so hopefully their success can help turn things around next year.
I know that this is short notice, but we’ll be holding it Friday, February 26th, at 7:00 P.M. at the Akropolis in Lafayette . Non-board members are not eligible to vote on any items where a vote is needed (not likely a vote will be needed at this meeting), but they are still welcome to attend and add input to the discussion.
Wednesday, March 3: Monthly meeting at 7 PM at Monical’s near Petsmart in Lafayette . It’s a great chance to reminisce on previous trips, learn more about skiing, discuss possible summer activities, talk about the upcoming Park City/Deer Valley/Canyons trip, and enjoy good food and good company.
Monday, March 8: 7:00-9:00 PM, Ice skating at the West Lafayette rink (weather permitting). The last three nights (first day of winter, MLK Day, President’s Day) have had excellent weather. It’s a fun and novel way to beat cabin fever. Since weather can be a hit-or-miss proposition this late into winter, we’ll skip the pre-skate dinner.
Park City/Deer Valley/Canyons trip: Sunday, March 14--Saturday, March 20: FYI: We usually take our March trip during the spring break for Purdue and the West Lafayette School Corporation, and this year is no exception. This promises to be a great trip. Note to participants: since I won’t be going on the trip this year, it will be up to you to provide me an article about how the trip went for the April edition of “First Run”.
Any photos you have of previous ski trips can be sent to our webmaster, Dave Dull at dave@dullville.com. Just be sure that the location and date of the trip is mentioned in the email. Given the juggling act that occurred with the day trip and the fact that I’m an Olympics junkie, I haven’t gotten around to the club survey regarding summer activities and 2010-11 trips. But it will come in due time.
Lake Tahoe 2007 Ski Trip Report <PDF>
October 2004 Newsletter
<PDF format>
(~580K)
August 2004 Newsletter <PDF format>
(warning: 480K ... but it looks great! :)
If you are interested in the Lafayette Ski Club and wish to request a free copy of the newsletter, please contact our newsletter editor.
Brian S. Olehy
olehy@sugardog.com
If you have anything that you would like reported in the next newsletter, please send it to our newsletter editor by the 15th of the proceeding month.