As President Armand noted in last month’s newsletter, Hi Fujii had to give up skiing for health reasons, and his Atomic racing skis were available to any member who could use them. I’m the grateful recipient of Hi’s skis. My eight-year-old skis were probably outdated and had outlived their usefulness, and the length of HI’s skis was the same as my old skis. Being the recipient of such great, gently used skis, I had to go out and buy new ski boots to accompany them. Thanks to Karen Soo’s recommendation, I was able to find great boots that fit well.

Sydney’s Former Skis

Now I’m all dressed for the ball with nowhere to go. Although I signed up for all three weekend trips, I was disappointed to learn from Karen that Trip # 1 to Alpine and Squaw Valley was canceled because only 12 people signed up. Trips # 2 and 3 are in jeopardy, too. As Karen noted in her plaintive E-mail, “the end of an era might be upon us.” Therefore, fellow NSCers, please get off your sofas and sign up for Trips # 2 and 3 and tell your friends about our great weekend ski trips so they can sign up, too.  Give me a chance to do justice to Hi’s skis and bomb down those double diamond hills. Oops, sorry, I got carried away. Give me a chance to intelligently and elegantly ski down those hills, just like Hi would have.

Sidney Mar

 Karen Soo – NSC Trip Director

What an exciting weekend. The 49ers were the favorite to win the 47^th annual Super bowl in New Orleans. There was so much buzz after the famous stadium  “BLACKOUT “at the Mercedes Benz Superdome. Was it Beyoncé’s strut that pulled the plug or was it Alex Smith with devil horns that turned the power off? Every 49ers fan in the bay area was jumping out of their seats when they scored their two touchdowns in the 3^rd quarter.

Sorry for the reminder, but the 49ers did not win the Super bowl. They just ran out of time.  Jim Haubaugh will continue lead the the 49ers to more victories. Colin Kaepernick will continue to shine next year. The 49ers are a strong team and they will come back next year.

Are the Nisei Ski Club weekend trips coming back next year?? Well that’s another story.  We got the greatest snow conditions, we scheduled three weekend trips for the 2013 season and we had the dates and destinations picked out. One problem, we are not getting our 30 sign ups to fill the bus.

We had to cancelled Trip 1, (Feb 8-10) three weeks prior to the departure date because we had only 13 sign ups. It looks like trip 2 is not going to meet the quota either unless we get 15 more people to sign up by this coming weekend.

Trip 3 for Mach 22-24 weekend – same story here – A low turnout with only 12 people.

I even asked the members who signed up for trip 1 to see if they would be interested in going on a day trip.  Only 5 people said they are willing to try out a local Bay Area Bus Trips.

Could this be an end of an era?  I know the 49ers are coming back next year but will the Nisei Ski Club?? The NSC officers will continue to support the weeklong trips for 2014 until that loses interest too.

We will continue work on non-ski events during the off season.  Just a reminder that this is a volunteer job for each and all of the officers and board members.

If anyone wants to go skiing in the coming weekends, please send me an email.

Happy New Year to you and your family..

Karen Soo aka NSC Trip director

tripdirector@niseiskiclub.org

Happy 4710 to all!!

The new year has brought us plenty of snow in the Sierras and Colorado.  I, for one, am waiting with baited breath for Steamboat pictures and reportages.

Unfortunately, despite the abundance of snow in the Sierras, trip # 1 was cancelled for lack of interest.  I’ve signed up for trips 2 & 3.    I hope to see you then!

In this month’s newsletter, Sydney Mar pays homage to Hi Fujii & his skis.  See his article here >> Sydney’s Skis <<.

President Armand Gutierrez’s Message

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?
– For the rest of Armand’s mesage, click here >> Armand’s February Message <<.

Membership Activity

Our current membership stands at 52 members, which is the lowest membership that I have seen since I became a member back in 2002. This low membership has a direct bearing on the ability for the club to sponsor the weekend ski trips. Each weekend ski trip requires at least 30 signups, which was not a problem when the membership was 120+ people. But now, we’re nowhere close to that figure. Next year we may see a different NSC, one that will only be able to provide a ski week trip, and even this year’s ski week to Steamboat only had 28 people. Our summer activities probably won’t be affected because they usually don’t require any upfront money deposits and minimum signups.

Where is your Editor?

As for me, here are pics from my current wanderings

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.