Happy 4712, the Chinese Year of the Horse! 

Per the www.travelchinaguide.com website, people born in the year of the horse have the following characteristics:

” Strengths
People born in the year of the horse have ingenious communicating techniques and in their community they always want to be in the limelight. They are clever, kind to others, and like to join in a venture career. Although they sometimes talk too much, they are cheerful, perceptive, talented, earthy but stubborn. They like entertainment and large crowds. They are popular among friends, active at work and refuse to be reconciled to failure, although their endeavor cannot last indefinitely. 

Weaknesses
They cannot bear too much constraint. However their interest may be only superficial and lacking real substance. They are usually impatient and hot blooded about everything other than their daily work. They are independent and rarely listen to advice. Failure may result in pessimism. They usually have strong endurance but with bad temper. Flamboyant by nature, they are wasteful since they are not good with matters of finance due to a lack of budgetary efficiency. Some of those who are born in the horse like to move in glamorous circles while pursuing high profile careers.  They tend to interfere in many things and frequently fail to finish projects of their own. “

NEW SNOW in the Sierras!!! Drought, Smought!  While the current drought is quite dire, there has been promising recent snowfall in the Sierras!  Northstar ski reports 17 inches of new snow within the past week (See: http://www.northstarcalifornia.com/snowreport.asp) while Heavenly Valley reports a phenomenal 27 inches of snowfall during the past 7 days!!! (see http://www.skiheavenly.com/the-mountain/snow-report/snow-report.aspx)

On the subject of Heavenly Valley and the drought, our ever busy trip director, Karen Soo, reports on her recent sojourn to Heavenly Valley. As you can see from this picture, there was plenty of natural and man made snow at Heavenly.

Here is the link this month’s trip director report: “Drought or No Drought?”

Your intrepid N.E. (Newsletter Editor) and ex-president Morgan Hua, schlepped off to Winter Park recently in search of powder.  I suspect that our trip brought luck to Tahoe as it started to snow in Tahoe shortly after our return! We spent much of our time skiing glades at Winter Park and its sister resort, Mary Jane.  My new Rossi Soul 7 skis floated through the untracked powder within the trees with relative ease!

Presidential Affairs

And speaking of powder, I expect the imminent Sun Peaks trip in British Columbia will fullfill your powderhound dreams!  Club president, Armand, will be leading this trip this weekend!  Armand also pays tribute to the Chinese New Year among other subjects in his February President’s Message and reports on the current state of our membership as well as the Sun Peaks trip in his Membership & Sun Peaks report.

BAC Person Of the Year – this year, the NSC board has decided to participate in the Bay Area Snow Sports Council (BAC – what happened to the “S”s???) “Man/ Woman” of the Year program. Here’s the link to Armand’s nomination: BAC Man or Woman of the Year.
To quote William Tecumseh  Sherman (1820-1891) :

If nominated, I will not run;
If elected, I will not serve

April 6 St Joseph’s Hike – Join Hoyt as he leads another of  his always interesting sylvan hikes to  the Saint Joseph’s Open Space Preserve in Los Gatos.  See his article here: St Joseph’s Hike.

Where Am I? where is your N.E.?

 ~ President Armand Gutierrez ~

Welcome to the Chinese Year of the Horse! Yes, the Chinese New Year started January 31st and if you were born under the sign of the Horse then you have a love of wide-open spaces (a big ski bowl, perhaps?) and considered a hard-working individual with efforts that pay off handsomely.

Let the ski & snowboard season begin! Well, for some of us it started back in December of last year. Others, well, they were waiting for some decent snowfall and the recent winter storm, albeit a small one, did bring a fresh layer of snow to the Tahoe resorts. However, I know that many of you still haven’t skied yet and perhaps the Sun Peaks trip coming up on 8-15 February will be your first foray onto the slopes. That’s OK, because Sun Peaks has a base of over 55” and the cold temperatures (in the 20-25 degree range) keeps that snow nice and soft and fluffy.

If you’re not on the Sun Peaks trip then you better be on the Squaw Valley/Northstar weekend trip slated for 28 Feb – 2 March.  Signups are on the low side (less than ten people as of the end of January) and we need at least 18-20 signups in order to make this trip a go. Click here for the << Sign Up form>> within the NSC Trip Schedule page.

In the past few years, I’ve become more attuned to the FWSA/BAC activities. Starting with my first trip with FWSA to Chamonix, then to Innsbruck, and now a return trip to Zermatt, Switzerland.

Recently I received email about the BAC Man and Woman of the Year nominations. This nomination is designed to bring recognition to a member of the club that has performed outstanding duties and contributes to the success of the club. All nominees from the various clubs in BAC are also considered for the BAC Man and Woman of the Year contest. As far as I can recall NSC has never participated in this event, until now. This year the Board decided to nominate a club member for Man of the Year. Take a look at the Man and Woman of the Year Nomination article to find out who has been nominated.

~ Da Prez, Armand Gutierrez ~

Membership Activity

NSC Members!

Not much activity for January, although we did get one returning member that needed to join NSC so he can be on the FWSA trip to Zermatt, Switzerland. Hopefully there may be a few more membership signups as we get closer to the weekend ski trip to Squaw Valley/Northstar on Feb 28 – Mar 2.  Our membership currently stands at 51 (LI) members.

Sun Peaks Ski Week

The Sun Peaks ski week is around the corner and all arrangements are in place – air/ground transportation, special NSC welcome reception, and the Farewell Dinner. As a reminder to everyone, be sure to arrive at the airport early for check-in and make sure you have your passport.

If you have any questions regarding the trip don’t hesitate to send  Email : president@niseiskiclub.org

All the winter storms are hitting north of us and Sun Peaks now has 55” at the top of the Crystal Chair (my last report indicated 46”). 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

 ~ Karen Soo – Trip Director ~

The howling wind with accompanying snow flurries is music to my ears as I sit here writing the NSC article here in Tahoe. Finally, we got a decent snow fall of 12” during a year where storms have been few and far between. So I hope you have faith that this year will turn around and you decide to sign up for NSC’s Ski trip this year. Snowmaking at Heavenly and Northstar has made a big difference during this drought year, so skiing is not as bad as you may think.

~ Armand Gutierrez, NSC President ~

One of the ongoing traditions of the Bay Area Council (BAC) is to have all clubs nominate a man and a woman that they feel have done the most for their club that year. In the past Nisei Ski Club has never been part of this traditional nomination, until now.

The nominee can be an officer of the club or it can be a club member who has gone above and beyond to make the club successful. This can be through volunteering to help at multiple events, hosting events, doing a job for the club like newsletter or website, etc.

Once a year, BAC then names a Man and Woman of the Year from one of the clubs. The BAC contest uses formal criteria and the BAC Man or Woman of the Year must agree to go to the FWSA convention and represent BAC in their Man and Woman of the Year contest. Since there is a convention attendance requirement, it is optional for the Club Men and Women to enter the BAC contest.

As a further perk for being named a club’s Man or Woman of the Year, BAC invites all to attend a dinner in their honor, regardless of whether or not they decide to enter the contest. BAC will announce the Club’s Man and Woman of the Year names at a BAC meeting in March and also list them in the BAC newsletter.

At our January Board meeting this topic was discussed and we decided to nominate Dan Lew for Man of the Year. Dan was selected because, as webmaster, he ensures that the NSC website is updated in a timely manner, uses his creativity to enhance the articles that are submitted (witness the touched-up photos), provides colorful commentary on current events, and has also added a variety of helpful articles (i.e., last month’s ski goggles tutorial).

Congratulations Dan for a job well done. As I mentioned to you previously, your excellent efforts could possibly result in a permanent webmaster position.

Latest pic of Dan & his clones