Welcome to my penultimate newsletter.  NSC will be having its elections soon and before long, it will be out with the old and in with the new!

RIP 2014-2015 Tahoe Ski Season – may next season bring us bountiful snowfall.  As of the end of March, only Kirkwood, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows are still operating, albeit in”Spring Operations” mode.  Kirkwood’s backside is closed, however.  Squaw and Alpine have May 5th planned closure dates – it remains to be seen if they can sustain operations that long.

For more info, see the Tahoe Best website.

A couple of interesting ski resort tidbits came across the editorial desk yesterday that you might find interesting:

• BRIXEN IM THALE TO BUILD WORLD’S FASTEST CHAIRLIFT
  Brixen Im Thale in Austria is building purpotedly, the world’s fastest chairlift, the Jochbahn, which is planned for opeation in time for the 2015-2016 season. It will be an eight seat (Yes!! EIGHT!!) detachable that will reach speeds of 20 feet per second which is equivalent to 13.6 miles per hour!!!!BUT, for me, the speed is not the most impressive factor, it’s the HEATED SEATS which will also have a comfort suspension AND weather protection hoods!!For more information, see the SKIWELT website.

• Vail Resorts to Acquire PERISHER, the largest Mountain Resort in Australia
  While Vail Resorts buying another resort is not really newsworthy, after all, Vail Resorts already owns some of the biggest mountain resorts in the US, such as: Heavenly Valley, Northstar, Kirkwood in California; Vail, of course, Beaver Creek, Keystone , Breckenridge in Colorado as well as the Canyons in Utah.  What caught my eye is the resort’s name “PERISHER”.At first glance, this seemed to be a very ominous name for a snow resort for a sport that many uninformed view as a dangerous sport. – perish the thought (pun intended!)!!

Merriam-Webster defines PERISH as : “to die or be killed“, but further research revealed that the word “PERISHER” in Australian English means: “bounder, chap, fellow”. So, never fear, skiing or riding at the PERISHER will not mean you will PERISH!! ~ as an English friend once said, “we are people separated by a common language!”.

Now, onto club business –

PRESIDENT’S CORNER

First off, we have president Armand’s President’s Message and Membership Reports.  Armand laments the end of the ski season and teases us with the location of the 2015/2016 week trip.  Can you guess where it will be??  Hmmm, seems to me that he already revealed the location after the Jackson Hole trip, but maybe he was being obtuse??!  Maybe it was just my imagination (running away with me).

UPCOMING EVENTS

SF STAIRWAY WALK #1 – On May 3, Hoyt Nelson will graciousy host his FINAL San Francisco Stairway Walk #1 .  Quoth The Raven , “Nevermore” will Hoyt lead this particular walk.

Some of the walk highlights are:

• Climb the Coit Tower neighborhood that many people have been close to, but never seen.
• Explore expertly-manicured gardens along some of the many hidden stairways in town.
• See Diego Rivera’s political mural at the San Francisco Art Institute on Chestnut.
  and MORE!!!!
  

Here are the details : NISEI SKI CLUB: SF STAIRWAY WALK #1.

NSC RIDES THE ALAMEDA BAY TRAIL – Karen “Ms Giro” Soo and Sandy “Ms Derailleur” Kiyomura will be our randonneurs extraordinaires on May 30 on the Alameda Bay Trail.  Come one come all, all are welcome, including minors accompanied by an adult.

Whether you’re a seasoned Alpe D’Huez veteran (I’m taking about you, Allen!) or an occasional rider, drag out your stingrays, beach cruisers,or carbon superbikes – it matters not, come and enjoy the scenery and company while getting some exercise.

Here are the details : NSC Alameda East Bay Bike Ride.

Until next month, and get your taxes done soon!  Ed….

~ President Armand Gutierrez ~

It is sad to say that my ski season has officially ended. I went from skiing Northstar last Monday and Tuesday (March 23-24 ) to making my first hang gliding flight of the new season on Friday. However, I must say that Northstar had received 3”-5” of sweet powder Sunday night and Monday’s day on the slopes was one of the best days I’ve had all season. Although some of my favorite runs were still closed there was enough powder coverage to venture into the trees and make fresh tracks.  Couple that with hardly any lift lines and beautiful sunny skies and you’ve got a great day on the slopes. Hard to believe that it was such a good day at the end of a not-so-great season.

Since it’s the end of the ski season, it’s time to start having our spring NSC events. Coming up, we have a Bike Ride  through Alameda and a Stairway Hike  in San Francisco. Be sure to gander at the flyers in this month’s newsletter for details.

Ski Week 2016

Now that my ski season has ended it’s time to focus on our ski week for next year. I’ve been looking at a few resorts but one has constantly returned as the best choice for next year. Where, you say? Come on now, that would be far too easy to let you know this early. But, I will give you a few clues:

• This resort is combining with another resort to become the largest in the U.S. (7,600 acres).
• The Epic Pass from Vail Resorts will include 5-day lifts at this resort.
• There will be a new gondola to connect the two resorts.

Well, those are the clues. Figured it out yet? One side note regarding the Epic Pass – the Epic Tahoe Local Pass  (Heavenly, Northstar, and Kirkwood) is currently selling for $479, and that includes six Buddy passes. But, you have to purchase the pass by April 12th. If you ski at least 4 days at any of these resorts then it would be worthwhile to pick up this pass for next season AND use it for five days on our ski week. Purchasing after the 12th will probably be at the same price (for several months, anyway) but might not offer as many Buddy passes.

Nominations & Elections

The nominations process has been completed and the next step is elections. The elections chairman tells me there were quite a few responses and people nominated for the various positions. Of course, not everyone that was nominated accepted his or her nomination but that was expected. But we do have a slate of nominees for you to elect for the 2015-16 season and you will be getting an email informing you to vote online using SurveyMonkey.

Membership Activity

For the month of March there were no new signups. Currently we have 94 members in the club.