Everybody’s favorite volunteer activity is coming sooner than you think.  We need lots of folks to procure, cook and prepare our famous Chinese chicken salad and lots more to sell and otherwise put on the biggest NSC moneymaker of the year.  We will meet Sat. AM May 30 at the Mtn. View Buddhist Church (575 N Shoreline Blvd.) and Sun all day at the SJ Buddhist Church lot (640 N 5th St.)  Come and renew old friendships while you help your club. Contact Alice Horio at vicepresident@niseiskiclub.org for details and to sign up for a shift on either or both days.

50 NSC members just returned from our weeklong trip to Keystone, CO.  We hit the best snow in 14 years according to the locals.  Even during the trip, members were already asking where we’re going next year.  This year was a La Niña year, which according to the experts stacked storms in the Pacific and pound the Northwest and Northern Rockies this winter.  Talking to people on the lift chair, there wasn’t enough snow in Taos or Telluride, but plenty at Vail and Keystone.  According to weather reports, La Niña will be over by this summer.

Banff was brought up by members as possible destination, but due to the fluctuating Canadian exchange rate travel agencies are reluctant to lock in prices.  When we went to Whistler last year, Joel had problems locking in a price.  We could book the trip, but the price wasn’t guaranteed.   Just like how airlines can add a fuel surcharge if the price of jet fuel goes up, travel agencies wanted the right to increase the price if the US dollar dropped against the Canadian dollar.  A bit outrageous.

I’m thinking of three options: Mammoth, Sun Valley, or Jackson Hole.

FWSA is also going to Jackson Hole in 2012 on the last week of January.  So, if we go to Jackson Hole, we may join the FWSA trip.

If you have a destination suggestion, please contact me:  president@niseiskiclub.org

I’ve added a new page on the website listing all the past weeklong trips: NSC Presidents and Weeklong Trips

Click on each image to see the full size image:

Mozart at top of Dercum Mountain

Cat Dancer at top of North Peak

Spill Way at top of North Peak

Snow Fort at top of Dercum Mountain

Top of Outback looking down the North Bowl side

If you have pictures or links to your photo album you want to share with others who went on the Keystone trip, send them to me at president@niseiskiclub.org and I’ll post them on the website.

Many Asians consider the upcoming New Year’s holiday (according to the lunar calendar) to be the most important in the year.  We on the NSC board therefore wish all members and friends (Oriental or not) a most happy and prosperous New Year of the hare (except in Vietnam, where it is the year of the cat).

For some who may not know much about this holiday, I compiled a few interesting (at least to me) facts.  Some implementations (which may vary from place to place in the Far East).  Please help me if I say anything wrong! Read the rest of this entry »

1. The Von Trapp family of “Sound of Music” fame established a ski hotel in the US.  Which resort?

2. Eastern Boilerplate describes what condition?

3. Which was the first N. American resort to stage a Winter Olympics?

4. What, or who is Ullr?

5. What are vertical gate combinations in a ski race called?

6. At what ski resort did Sonny Bono run into a tree?

Answer to Last Month’s Puzzle:

With 2 candles, devise a way to determine when 3/4 hour has passed within a few seconds.

1. Light both ends of candle #1 and just one end of candle #2 (as close together as possible).  Assume that holding the candle sideways doesn’t change the rate of burn.)

2. When candle #1 is all burned out (after 1/2 hour), light the other end of candle #2.

3. When candle #2 burns out (after 15 mins more), it will be 3/4 hour from the beginning.