Here is the monthly news for March. You will find the articles below by scrolling down or by clicking on the links:

President’s Message, by Armand Gutierrez

End of Season Social, by Tina Woo

Best Skiing Experience Ever!, by Margaret Wong

Year of the Boar

Skiing at 70

by Armand Gutierrez

Mother Nature sure has been busy this winter with record rainfall north of the Bay Area and snowfall in the Tahoe region. Is there such a thing as too much snow? Well, yes. Too much snow can affect lift operations and I-80, the main artery to Tahoe, has suffered numerous closures for days at a time and thus curtailing any ski trips to the Tahoe area. During the ski season, and when I’m not up at Tahoe, I view the webcams on I-80 (http://dot.ca.gov/d3/cameras.html) to see the current road conditions. Sometimes the roads are clear and traffic is moving smoothly, sometimes the roads are open with chain control and long lines of slow-moving vehicles, and other times the roads are full of snow and void of any traffic. Given all the snowfall you can bet that Squaw Valley will offer skiing on the 4^thof July (usually a traditional event). 

2019 FWSA Ski Week to Hakuba Valley, Japan

There are a number of ski places that are on my “bucket list”, and skiing Japan is one of them. This year FWSA is going to Hakuba Valley, Japan, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics. Hakuba Valley consists of 10 resorts at the base of Japan’s Northern Alps. The Northern Alps reach an elevation of 3000 meters and the resorts consistently receive a heavy snowfall with deep powder. The photo shows the Hakuba Cortina ski resort. I’ll be joining several fellow NSCers, including Sandy Kiyomura, on the FWSA Hakuba Valley ski week from 8-16 March and a second week in Kanazawa, Kyoto, and Tokyo from 16-23 March. As members of NSC you are eligible to take any BAC and FWSA ski trips that are offered during the ski season. And here’s something to think about – FWSA will be going to Davos, Switzerland in 2020. Details haven’t been released yet so stay tuned, and if you have an interest in going then drop me a line at president@niseiskiclub.org.

March NSC Weekend Ski Trip

Karen Soo, our trip director, has organized a car-pool effort for a weekend of skiing at Tahoe on 9-10 March. If you’re interested in going then contact Karen at tripdirector@niseiskiclub.org. 

Board Nominations

Now that it’s March it’s time to think about Board Nominations for the 2019-20 season. If anyone has an interest in joining the board for the next season and has questions about what it entails then just drop a note to any of the current board members, or perhaps you have someone in mind to nominate for the board. Please keep in mind that the Nisei Ski Club relies on volunteers to be on the board and undertake the running of the club. It’s not all work and no play. Board meetings are fairly informal and afterwards we usually go out for lunch and talk about skiing or upcoming club events. 

by Margaret Wong

Lucky me that I went to both the 2002 and the 2019 NSC Big Sky Ski Trips. I will say this year was my best skiing experience and surpassed my expectations. It was even better than the 2002 trip, when our 14 NSC attendees enjoyed accommodations at the Moonlight Cabins. This time, we had 41 members attending and huge amounts of fresh snow.

Big Sky is advertised as the “biggest skiing in America, a winter wonderland with 5800 acres of skiable downhill terrain!” This year at the Bozeman Airport, there were comments that our club must have brought the snow because the area was pretty brown the weeks before. Yes, it snowed everyday except for Tuesday when the sun came out. That meant lots and lots of new fresh, silky powder.

Being a California girl, I really “suck” at skiing powder, so I had to learn quickly so that I would not be left behind by my fellow skiers. Because the snow is so light, skis just slice right through the snow even if there are already tracks. It felt so wonderful and I love flying over those silky hills and bumps. On top of that, I had a wonderful time with all the many Nisei people I skied with. There were large groups nearly every day, and we managed to stay together most of the time. Besides the great skiing, there was lots of great food and socializing to be had almost every day. I thank all the people who skied with me…and all those who skied by and waved to me.

contributed by Sandy Kiyomura

The Chinese New Year in 2019 was February fifth: this corresponds with the beginning of both the sexegenary year of jǐ hài and also the zodiac year of the Earth Pig. The Pig is the twelfth of all the Zodiac animals. According to one myth, the Jade Emperor said the order would be decided in the order in which they arrived to his party. Pig was late because he overslept. Another story says he had to rebuild his house after the wolf destroyed it (sounds like the story of the Three Little Pigs!). When he arrived, he was late and could only take twelfth place.

The pig is also associated with the Earthly Branch and the hours 9 to 11 in the night. In terms of yin and yang, the Pig is yin. In Chinese culture, pigs are the symbol of wealth. Their chubby faces and big ears are sign of fortune as well.

Pigs have a beautiful personality and are blessed with good fortune in life.

contributed by Dan Lew

Below is a link to an interesting article about skiing when you are in your 70s. There is an interesting discussion on lift pricing, mostly due to the changes in lift equipment over the decades. For example, it used to cost $16 to ski at Aspen in 1979, which equates to only $56 in today’s money with inflation figured in, while the actual cost today is almost $200 at Aspen.

I particularly like this statement about “senior” discounts. Sugarbush in Vermont uses 90 years as its free skiing starting age. We do not know if we should consider this as “humorous or optimistic!“