by Armand Gutierrez

The month of March will be remembered for a variety of events that have affected people on a grand scale. Primarily, the spread of the corona virus that is now keeping us in our homes in order to halt the spread of the disease and curtailing our daily activities. Then, much to our dismay, all of the ski resorts were closed and thus shortening our ski season. All of the FWSA participants, including four from NSC that went on the Davos/Portugal trip, were delayed by one day on returning home. We were fortunate for had it been delayed one day longer then it would have been much more difficult for us to return to US soil.

During the year we have regular Board Meetings in order to run the club for the season.  Normally the meetings are held on a monthly basis, but sometimes a month, or two, will be skipped if there are no pressing issues. Our March board meeting was held as a videoconference, a first for NSC. I’ve always been a proponent for face-to-face board meetings and a videoconference was the next best thing. The one thing we did miss was going out to lunch after the meeting.

 April is here and that generally means the end of another great ski season. However, our ski season actually ended mid-March. At our March board meeting the decision was made, based on the shelter-in-place mandate, to postpone upcoming events that includes our Annual June Picnic, another Tea Dance (last year’s was popular), and a Thai Cooking Demonstration. As we progress through the remainder of the year we will try and hold these postponed events.

2020 FWSA Ski Week to Davos, Switzerland

Judy Bracken, Elaine Graves, Roland Lee, and I had a great skiing experience in Davos: plenty of fresh powder, hardly any lift lines, and tasty Swiss cuisine on the slopes. The funicular (pictured left) was adjacent to our hotel, along with the Parsenn Sports shop where we rented skis. The return trip from Portugal was a bit of a nightmare for Judy and I, and others on the trip. Our Portugal flight to Zurich was cancelled and that caused us to miss our Zurich-to-SFO flight. Kudos to Debbie Stewart, our FWSA trip director, for spending hours on the phone with the US Embassy, Swiss Air, and the travel agency for procuring flights for our return home, albeit a day late. To complicate matters due to the impending corona virus travel restrictions, Swiss Air was the only airline with flights from Zurich to the US: Boston and Newark (NJ). We were fortunate to return to the US prior to travel restrictions and corona virus screening were implemented. See Judy’s article for her perspective on her first FWSA international trip.

Board Nominations & Elections

Well, it’s that time again for holding our board nominations and elections for the 2020-2021 season, and an email for making your nominations for the board has already been posted.As you know,volunteers run this club, and without them this club would cease to exist, and it’s been in existence for 60 years! You are encouraged to take this opportunity to nominate an individual for one, or more, of the board positions. All individuals that accept the nomination(s) will go through an election process in May, and final results will be announced in the June Newsletter. Normally the results would be announced at the annual June picnic, but due to current shelter-in-place requirements the June picnic is postponed. Many of you have served on the board in the past, and your efforts were greatly appreciated and perhaps you would like to join the board again. For those that have never served then perhaps now is the time to consider a board position and provide new ideas and useful experiences.

2021 NSC Ski Week to Breckenridge, CO

Next year’s ski week will be at Breckenridge, CO from 23-30 January, 2021. Breckenridge is part of Vail Resorts so you can pick up an Epic Pass for the next season. Once again, Sports America will be offering the Epic Pass promotion-lodging rebate of $30 for an Epic Local Pass and $50 for a Full Epic Pass.

For 2020-21 Breckenridgewill be on the Epic Pass, and is also good for Northstar, Heavenly Valley, and Kirkwood. Here is what you need to know about the Ikon and Epic Passes for the Breckenridge trip:

  • Purchase the Ikon Base Pass(Squaw/Alpine) from Sports America and receive a $30 discount, or purchase the Full Ikon Pass and receive a $50 discount on the Breckenridge trip. However, the Ikon Pass cannot be used at Breckenridge. Go to this link to purchase: www.sportsamerica.com/ikon-nisei.
  • Purchase the Epic Local Pass(Northstar, Heavenly, Kirkwood) and receive a $30 discount, or purchase the Full Epic Passand receive a $50 discount on the Breckenridge trip. The Epic Pass can be used at Breckenridge for unlimited access. Go to this link to purchase: www.sportsamerica.com/epic-nisei.
  • Purchase both the Ikon/Epic passes and you will receive a combination discount based on the type of passes you purchase.

If you have any questions about either of the passes then drop me a line at president@niseiskiclub.org.