~~ President Armand ~~

Can you believe that Boreal opened up for a weekend of skiing before Thanksgiving? Typically, Thanksgiving weekend is when resorts open given enough snowfall. It may have been limited skiing but at least some people were able to get on the slopes and start off the ski season. Hopefully the weather patterns will continue to bring in cold fronts heavy with moisture and below freezing temperatures, which is just the right recipe for light, fluffy powder. Now that is Mother Nature at her best!

On Monday, November 11^th (Veterans Day), Karen Soo, Frank Chang, and I attended the 5^th Annual Bay Area Snow Sports Council Winter Festival Celebration Meeting at the Englander Restaurant in San Leandro. There were representatives from several ski resorts, raffle prizes, a silent auction, and a great dinner. Dennis Heffley, former President of BAC, gave recognition to all the veterans in attendance and then talked about the upcoming ski season and the offers from the various resorts. This was my first time at this event and it was a pleasant surprise to see some familiar faces from my previous ski week trips with FWSA (Chamonix and Innsbruck).

The FWSA Bay Area Council booth at the annual Snow Bomb Ski & Snow Festivals held at ATT Park and the San Jose Convention Center were well represented by Karen Soo/Curtis Otaguro (ATT) and Gary Lyon and myself (San Jose Convention Center).  Lots of people, lots of retailers, and quite a few people leaving with skis/snowboards, boots, and other ski-related goodies that they had just purchased. For details take a look at the Snow Bomb Festival write-up.  [Snow Bomb article]

Due to lack of signups the NSC Event at the Sports Basement in Sunnyvale on Friday, December 6^th has been cancelled. Perhaps a Friday evening wasn’t the best night to pick.

It’s been snowing up at Tahoe and I’m hoping to get some tracks in before Christmas. Let the season begin!

~~ Armand, Da Prez ~~

1.     Membership Activity

NSC Members!

As expected membership has pretty much slowed down now that signups for Sun Peaks is complete, although there may be a few more signups as we get closer to the weekend ski trip to Squaw Valley/Northstar on Feb 28 – Mar 2.  We did get one new member at the annual Snow Bomb Ski & Snow Festival at ATT Park, and talked to a number of potential members at the San Jose Festival. Our membership currently stands at 49 members.

2.     Sun Peaks Ski Week

The Sun Peaks ski week is progressing on schedule. Ground transportation has been secured and paid for. I’m currently arranging a suitable restaurant for our Farewell Dinner. Sun Peaks has quite a number of good restaurants and I’ve been reviewing a number of menus and dinner options. There will be a Sun Peaks Orientation meeting in January (2^nd or 3^rd weekend) so look for the Evite in your email. If you have any questions regarding the trip, don’t hesitate to send me an email (president@niseiskiclub.org).

Just to get you excited about skiing, Sun Peaks is already open and reporting 30” of snow at the top of the Crystal Chair. Don’t look at these webcams if you think you can’t handle the beauty and nature of what Sun Peaks has to offer:

http://www.sunpeaksresort.com/weather-and-cams/web-cams

On November 9^th Karen Soo and Curtis Otaguro attended the Snow Bomb Ski and Snow Festival held at ATT Park in San Francisco. Karen and Curtis worked alongside other members of BAC at the BAC booth and also met quite few people who were in attendance. The ATT Festival lasted two days, which gave everyone a great chance to pick up bargains on ski equipment, clothing, and free stuff. Karen and Curtis also had an opportunity to tour the ATT field.

On the heels of the ATT festival, Armand Gutierrez and Gary Lyon represented NSC at the Festival held on November 23^rdat the San Jose Convention Center. Yes, it was another well-attended evening with Any Mountain occupying the most floor space with more ski equipment, clothing, and accessories all at discount prices. Gary and I had a great time meeting members of the Snowdrifters and Apres ski clubs at the BAC booth, and somehow we managed to latch onto a few empty glasses and managed to partake in the free beer tastings. Yes, it was a great evening! Our roving photographer, Bill Lee, showed up and managed to take a few pictures. This was my first time for this event and now I’m thinking about attending next year’s event.

SnowBomb San Jose
Nov 23,2013

Karen Soo – Trip Director

Thanksgiving weekend just passed and in 3 weeks Christmas will be here. Most of the ski resorts are already open for business. Our weekend trip for 2014 is all set. We need everyone to do a rain dance or clean their cars so we can get more snow in the Tahoe area.

The signup sheet can be found on the Nisei Ski Club website , or use this link: Trip Schedules.

If you sign up early, before January 15, 2014, please take off $5.00 off your cost.

Just a reminder, the weekend trip is February 28 to March 2, 2014.

One major update, we lost our overnight weekend parking at the 4^th Street Bowl.

We are looking at options on where to park for the weekend. One idea that was brought to our attention is parking somewhere along the San Jose’s VTA Light Rail line or CAL train parking lot. (TAMIEN STATION)

Do you work in an office in San Jose with a parking structure where we can park 12 cars over night for the weekend?

Maybe someone who works at Google or Oracle? Perhaps?

Please send me an email for options on where to park for the weekend.

Have a very safe and joyous Christmas with your family and friends.

Happy New Year, See you in 2014.