My first trip with NSC was on Trip 4 this year to Mount Rose and Squaw Valley. I was immediately impressed with the level of organization and "pitch-in" attitude of everyone on the trip. Karen and Nelson were great trip leaders and day 1 began with a joyful ride up to Lake Tahoe. A hot dinner of Chicken Thai green curry over rice was a nice way to start the evening ride, along with a yummy lemon bar for dessert. The fun and games only began to start with the playing of a "rodent related" trivia game that one of the fellow ski trippers cleverly created given the "Year of the Rat" theme. The trivia game was hard, especially given the fact that my brain stopped working officially at 5pm on Friday afternoon! Nonetheless our group of 4 was one point away from getting a prize! Yes, games with prizes who can believe that?!

As for skiing, well I am amazed that most of the people on the trip were well into the "advanced"/expert level, as far as I was concerned anyways! (anyone that does Chutes is an expert in my book) you might as well know blue runs still cause me to shudder at less confident moments which have been more frequently lately so I'm not exactly a "black diamond" skier by any means. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the trip because I were able to take lessons during the day and meet even more new people in my class who did "ski" at or around my level so I didn't feel intimidated or lonely on the slopes by any means!

The first resort was Mount Rose (where I had been to previously); it is even bigger than I remembered. The staff was friendly and I managed to score a semi-private group lesson since there was only one girl that showed up besides me at my "MVP" group lesson. In the afternoon, I took myself (unknowingly) beyond my comfort zone and hired a private instructor to take me down a "very steep" (to me) blue run. My heart was pounding through my ears but I made it successfully (without injury to beat!) So needless to say, it was a fun first day on the slopes!

Upon returning to the hotel, we enjoyed great food and spirits at the progressive pot luck party. Who knew what a party one could throw with just 3 hotel rooms and 2 microwaves, and a very (slow) ice machine -- but it worked. The company was great and it was fun to hear everybody's ski adventures for the day.

On Sunday, we were off to Squaw Valley which made Mt. Rose pale in comparison. Having the benefit of being here before I found my way around pretty easily and managed again to make friends in my group ski lesson, and take to the slopes with increasing confidence and ease. Although I was graciously invited to ski with some NSC members, I knew better than to push myself beyond my self-imposed (or at least self-protective instincts), but I appreciated the invitation all the same.

In the afternoon we were treated to snacks and potluck leftovers. On the way back to El Cerrito, we were treated to Nelson Owyang’s chili and rice, another great meal after a hard day on the slopes. I never thought I'd get decent chili and rice outside of Zippy's in Oahu, but Nelson's came in a very close 2nd! Again, a great dessert followed with a piece of mandarin cheesecake (Does anyone have the recipe?) Who could ask for more? Oh yeah, the DVD on the way back was "Balls of Fury" (I think) I was so tired I must have dozed off and missed at least half of it! I just remember Karen saying the name over and over again, and giggling...okay.

The bus ride to El Cerrito was like clockwork and the organization to unload luggage, and everyone's respective belongings was as well coordinated as watching synchronized swimming in the Olympics, especially since all the muscle aches and pain had caught up with everyone by then!

I safely left and returned to San Francisco due to the kindness and generosity of an NSCer alumni (Glenn Yamane) who offered me rides to and from San Francisco since it was my "first time" with NSC (Thank you Glenn!). I can only say that it was an enjoyable weekend and I thank NSC for a very memorable experience! Looking forward to more trips next year!

Wow, I survived my first season as your NSC Trip Director and Trip Coordinator. How did I do??

We had a terrific season with an average of 115 inches of snowfall in the Sierras. NSC planned 5 weekend trips and 2 were cancelled.

Here’s a quick summary of what happen for those who did not make it to any of our trips.

Trip 1 Heavenly, Heavenly — We had 36 participants; usually it’s a sell out. We read the surveys and most of you liked to “Sleep in”. What happen here?? Are we getting bored with skiing 2 days at Heavenly? Or is the price looking a little expensive?

Trip 2 Squaw Valley/ Sugarbowl Cancelled — Were people really burned out after the weeklong trip to Vail? There were over 12 feet of fresh snow in the Sierras that weekend. It was definitely a weekend to go skiing. The excuses that I heard “I didn’t do my laundry yet from Vail”, “I need a rest from Vail” OK, for 2008-2009 season, we will not plan a trip after the weeklong trip.

Trip 3 Alpine / Sugarbowl — We had 46 participants. Our biggest turnout for the season. Everyone came out of the woodworks.

Trip 4 Mt Rose / Squaw Valley NSC 50th Anniversary Pot Luck weekend. We had 36 participants. Another low turnout. What is going on here? Are we a ski club or not?

Trip 5 Squaw Valley/ North Star Cancelled — We had only 20 sign- ups.

We had one road trip to Squaw Valley and Northstar when trip 5 was cancelled — This was a Non-NSC event and we had 14 people who were willing to carpool. We didn’t get group rate on the lift tickets but at least we were skiing. Northstar had a special - $25.00 lift ticket prices. What a bargain.

We had an average of 13 -16 people who took advantage of the multiple trip sign up program. I want to give them a big applause and a great big Thank You for signing up early. You are our dedicated die hard skiers and boarders. We will bring this program back next year.

A big thank you to our trip leaders who stepped up to the plate and made sure the bus arrived on time, the hotel had our rooms and we got our group lift tickets — Thank you Judy Hom, Curtis Otaguro, Amy Tsuhako, and Nelson Owyang.

A special thank you to Morgan Hua, who is our supply coordinator. Next season, skip the Gordon Biersch Beers and get the Sierra Nevada.

A special thank you for those who help out with all the little details, like taking the luggage and skis off the bus, taking the garbage bag and walking it through the bus, helping out with serving breakfast and dinner, giving a warm welcome to the newbies. This is a team effort and we do need everyone to get involved. We constantly need new tour leaders to lead a trip. I’ve done it twice this season and it wasn’t stressful at all…

Don’t forget to fill out the NSC survey and let us know what resorts you like or dislikes. We are listening to our members. The more you let us know, the more we can plan our trips for the 2009 season which will start in September. I can tell you with sky rocketing cost of gas, lodging and group lift tickets, the weekend trip cost will continue to climb. We will try to keep our prices low, but we do need 40 people on the bus to break even. NSC lost money on trip 1 and 4; at least we did not cancel the trip with 36 people on board.

See you at the 50th Anniversary Party on June 7, 2008 Ciao Baby, see you next season

Karen (Your friendly NSC Trip Director):