Gung Hay Fat Choy! Yes, the Year of the Snake.  I’m not particularly fond of snakes and we’ll get along well as long as they’re behind glass (like at a zoo). As the Chinese New Year begins and brings us a prosperous and good snow season, now is the time to take advantage of the good snow conditions up at Tahoe.

The ski season is in full swing and if you haven’t been to the slopes yet then what are you waiting for? There is plenty of snow up at Tahoe and January provided sunny skies and great weather for skiing. By now the Steamboat entourage has returned and I’m sure we’ll have photos and stories in the next newsletter.  I did check out Steamboat’s webcams a few times and it looked like they were blessed with some fresh snow and, hopefully, the famous champagne powder that Steamboat is known for.

Back in October Hi Fujii attended the NSC picnic and requested that his skis be donated to the club since he was “retiring” from skiing. The NSC Board decided that his skis would be donated to somebody that really needed a pair of good skis and that would put them to good use. Well, Sidney Mar became the recipient of those skis and now he’s looking forward to trying them out. You can read his story in the newsletter.

Unfortunately for Sidney, Trip #1 to Alpine and Squaw was cancelled due to insufficient sign-ups. Although those members have been rescheduled to Trips #2 and #3, there still is no guarantee that those trips will go. Last year all weekend trips were cancelled due to low signups, which was due to the fact that snow conditions were not very good. But this season there is plenty of snow and good weather conditions. The Board is very concerned that if all our weekend ski trips are cancelled this year, then next year might be no different and the club will only offer the ski week trip. Since the snow conditions are good then the main reason for cancelling our weekend ski trips can be tied to our membership. Clearly a membership of 52 cannot sustain weekend bus trips that require at least 30 signups. Once again I’m urging you to signup for one of the two remaining trips and help Sidney get on the slopes with his new boots and skis.

If you have any concerns on where the club is headed in the future then please drop me a line (president@niseiskiclub.org) and voice your concerns and questions.