Marquette Mountain Devils Head Cascade Vail/Beaver Creek Skiing Alternatives Telluride Lake Tahoe Winter Park Racing results	Unofficial IHSC Skiing Classifications By Karsten Koepke Novice [n ME, fr. MF, fr. ML novicius, fr. L, new, inexperienced, fr. novus - more at NEW] 1: a person admitted to probationary membership in a religious community.  Also, one who; Doesn't know enough to complain; Fears the tow rope; Doesn't understand the bus tunes; Brings own music (Percy Faith); Is afraid to go the the back of the bus; Calls home every night; Can't hold their liquor; Follows Burlys down the hill (once); Thinks "Stem-christy" is something BillyvJoel does; Believes a "Powder Run" involves a controlled substance; Thinks Lonnie Mack is a new sandwich; Thinks a beer sling is used for broken bones; Skis in tube socks; Waxes poles; Thinks NASTAR is a communication satellite; Asks "who farted?;" Can't read a trail map, (but it doesn't matter 'cause they can't get there anyway); Skis in blue jeans; Aspires to intermediate.

Intermediate [n (1650) ML intermediatus, fr. L. intermedius, fr. inter- +medius, mid, middle - more at MID] 1: being or occurring at the middle place, stage, or degree or between extremes. Also, one who; Knows enough to complain; Smoothes out ruts on NASTAR course; May venture to the back of the bus, but only to pee; Often vomits; Keeps all lift tickets; Is acquiring some understanding of the bus tunes; Thinks they know who farted; Wears medals to work the next day; Thinks that a "Head Wall" is found in a toilette; Aspires to advanced.

Advanced [n (1668) ME advauncen, OF avancier, fr (assumed) VL abantiare, fr L abante before fr. ab- + ante before - more at ANTE] 2 a: progress in development.  Also, one who; Almost always complains about snow quality; Spends obscene amounts of money on coordinated outfits; Waxes skis for each NASTAR race; Hums many songs; Makes enough visits to the back of the bus so as not be labeled an Intermediate; Knows who farted, but is afraid to accuse the guilty; Always consults a trail map; Accepts any medals; Practices unweighting; Knows that a "Fall Line" is not this seasons newest fashion; Aspires to expert.

Expert [n ME, fr MF & L; MF, fr. L expertus, fr. pp. of experiri] 2: having, involving, or displaying special skill or knowledge derived from training or experience.  Also, one who; Visits the back of the bus often; Rarely complains; Knows most of the bus songs; Drinks reasonable amounts; Will accept silver medals, but with excuses; May occasionally fart, but pretends not to notice; Can compute competitor's handicaps while running the race course; Removes ski jacket to reduce drag; Possesses a Lonnie Mack CD; Always practices safe skiing; Aspires to elite.

Elite [n F elite, fr. OF eslite, fr. fem. of eslit, pp. of eslire to choose, fr. L eligere] 1 a: the choice part or segment; esp: a socially superior group. Also, one who; Spends money on equipment & drinks not clothes; Stands or sits at back of bus; Knows all of the words to all of the songs; May occasionally fart, but blames the Burlys; May or may not drink; Piously accepts gold medals; Removes jacket to reveal drag; Does a lot of waiting; Worst nightmare is becoming burly.

Burly [n prob. fr. the name Burley (1881) or adj ME] 2: heartily direct and frank: BLUFF, FORTHRIGHT.  Also, one who: Doesn't care about anybody's  sensitivities; Farts openly; Drinks anything in a bottle; Skis ice, crud, rocks, grass, powder ..; Acquires new and novel songs; If they sleep, sleeps standing up at back of bus; Knows that the Kandahar Barn is not in Iowa; Knows why to peek through the hole in the floor of the Kandahar Barn; Never needs a trail map; Divides time on slopes and time in bars about evenly; Resembles Lonnie Mack; Does a lot of weighting; Skis in blue jeans; Shuns silver medals, doesn't even acknowledge the existence of bronze medals.  Female Burlys are Burlesque

Marquette Mountain, Michigan

Nearly all the of the Marquette Mountain. trip participants (hereafter known as "Marquetteers") showed up at the bus on time:  at 4:30 pm that is.  While all were trying to find their bus seats, our beloved Club President, Rey Maa, graced us with his presence to send us off on the legendary "Party Trip" of the club - Marquette Mountain.  Wishing us a safe and fun trip to Marquette and back, Rey informed the many newcomers on the trip (and reminded us experienced Marquetteers) of the history of this trip and all of the Marquette Mountain. ski trip "traditions" that must be carried on....singing the IHSC version of "Lucille" at the bar at the end of each ski day; getting "sung to" on the bus for being late or doing some stupid/silly thing that someone else happens to notice; the "Biz Bag"; the "Dead Fish" bus tradition; telling a joke to get into the bathroom; partying on the bus, etc., etc. After all that, we set forth on our journey!

After the Fearless Trip Leader, Tammy Ahlert, mentioned a few logistics, the music started up in the back of the bus, conversations drowned out the hum of the bus motor, and partying took on a new meaning!  I'm proud to announce that the first time Marquetteers did a mighty fine job of keeping up with us "old-timers" (no offense intended)!  However, we did wind up having some electrical difficulties with the music system, manned by #1 Marquetteer - Jim Kuhn, whom did his best wiring job to get us some volume for our music.  All in all, much fun was had by most (if not all)!

We arrived in Marquette, Michigan around 2:30 am Saturday morning after an unannounced scenic tour of the business district and residential/college campus areas of Marquette.  Thanks to Tim Quayle, a misplaced Marquette native, we ended the tour soon thereafter and found the Ramada Inn.  Surprisingly, there were only a couple of mishaps when disembarking the bus:  Kevin Fitzpatrick picked up Susan Ulatoski's bag instead of his own and Dustin Wirgau, who passed out due to an alcohol induced nightcap (more like night bottle!), left his backpack in the middle of the parking lot.  In a drunken stupor, he knocked on several hotel doors (rooms 211 through 217 to be exact) before he found his room.   He and his buddies, Dean McMillen, Tim Quayle & Tom Cosley, all decided to take a dip in the pool at 3 am Saturday morning (shortly after we arrived at the hotel).  There was only one problem, Dean forgot to pack his swim trunks and had to swim in his white boxer shorts.  What a sight that must have been!  Scott Gentry and Mark Nierzwicki also forgot to pack their swim trunks.

It was seriously cold when we arrived, minus 51 degrees Fahrenheit wind chill factor with an actual temperature of 9 degrees below zero!  The temperature didn't rise much at all during the day either.  It got to a balmy 5 degrees below zero for a high with a wind chill factor of minus 45 degrees!  Needless-to-say, it was a cold one!  But, lots of brave souls bundled themselves up and laughed at the cold weather (one hour at a time)!  One good thing about the cold weather though....we practically had the mountain to ourselves.  Not many locals braved the cold weather to ski Saturday.  We came to ski and, darn it, we skied!

I heard several ski stories I'd like to share.  Being the dramatic person that she is, Holly Gu made an early exit off the ski lift, falling off of the lift at the bottom of the hill and hung there, mid-air, half on the lift, half off of the lift, until a lift operator helped her down.  I'd say that was a 9.9 on a 10.0 scale, wouldn't you?  Speaking of dramatic, Dean McMillen fell down trying to "spray" his friends Dustin, Tim & Tom ruining the whole effect.  And while Kurt Nusbaum was fooling around in the powder, saying "Look at me, YaHoo!", he immediately bit the dust in an exploding yard sale!  Good job Kurt!   And another ski lift story...Anju Malone and Howard Hooper were riding the lift together to ski this particular trail that has two lift stations where one can get off to enter the trail.  Howard told Anju which of the two lifts to get off on, the last lift station at the top of the mountain.  Anju proceeded to exit at the mid mountain lift after repeated reminders not to get off there.  Alan Graves and Brian Gough were witnesses who can testify to this event.  Ooppss!   And Howard gets another mention:  while he was skiing backwards trying to teach someone something, he skied backwards right off the trail into a ditch!  Poor Howie!

Several people signed up for private and/or semi-private lessons Saturday afternoon with a great instructor named Sue.  She gave us pointers and mentioned things to work on after scrutinizing each of our unique skiing styles. Sue was very helpful and a lot of fun, so your Fearless Trip Leader (FTL) invited her to our pool side wine & cheese party Saturday evening.

Speaking of the pool party...your FTL was so incredibly proud to see yet another IHSC tradition carried on....group back massage in the hot tub!  The Marquetteers arranged themselves along the outside (and inside) walls of the hot tub in boy/girl/boy/girl fashion, each person rubbing the back/neck of the person in front of them.   Good Job!  Thanks to Mark Nierzwicki, we had some tunes to listen to while we relaxed in the hot tub.  Somehow, though, cheese chunks were found floating (just barely) in the hot tub!  Couldn't be that Mary Schonder was trying to toss cheese chunks into Tammy Ahlert's open mouth!  Another significant hot tub story involved a little boy's beach ball and Christian Giannotti, Nimmi Shamdasani & Mary Schonder...tickling the little boy while he was attempting to retrieve his beach ball back from "the grown ups in the hot tub"...and the little boy's mom asking for her son's beach ball back!  How old are we?  Hahahaha!  Nimmi Shamdasani forgot to bring a towel with her to the hot tub.  So, she stood there, soaking wet, waiting for someone to get her a towel.

After a great dinner in a freezing cold Ancestor's Room (the thermostat for the room was not working), there were several partying options to choose from:  the new, hot spot in town - The Washington Street Pub, Shamrock's, Harley's Lounge at the Ramada, or Fitzpatrick's Place across the street.  A big group of people decided to check out The Washington Street Pub.  It was so incredibly cold, that we asked our bus driver, Bill, to drive us to the pub which was only four blocks away.  Bill was great and agreed to drive us.  Most everyone was admitted into the pub, except the few people who forgot to bring their IDs,   Judy Brashler, Gary Wilkins, Sandy Stern, just to mention a few (ooppss!).  I heard bits and pieces of some other stories... something about Maureen Hilado's foot and a taxi cab's door, Eddie Maubach getting kicked out of the local Food Mart for heating up a burrito in a slow microwave oven, Randy Heinz falling down the stairs at Washington Street Pub, Christian Giannotti walking backwards on the stairs, and Mike Dulski and a smashed up snowmobile (?).

Well, day two came (Sunday, that is).  The temperature did get above freezing that day, not by much though.  5 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill factor of only minus 25.  This is going to be a great day for skiing, we thought.  And truly, it was.  There were a few more people at the mountain, but by far, it was not crowded.  Your FTL, Tammy Ahlert, gets a boner nomination for letting the bus leave the hotel without Catherine Buckley and Phil Thistlewaite, after they specifically asked her to wait for them while they got something from their room.  Big Ooppss!

The NASTAR race and the "Party on the Hill" were held on Sunday.  Alan Graves needed 3 runs down the NASTAR course before finally recording a time.  On the third run, the NASTAR official announced:

"Alan Graves on hopefully his final run!".

I THANK all who attended the trip for it was YOU that made this trip possible.  A huge THANKS goes out to Jim Kuhn for all his help with the beer, music, loading/unloading equipment and bags, and ever faithful #1 Marquetteer!!!   I'd also like to thank, Alan Graves for his help and coordination of the NASTAR race, Lisa Kwilas for the creation of the new Boner Award Nomination Forms (awesome job!), and everyone else who helped make this trip happen.   Hope to see you all again next season!

Devils Head, Wisconsin

My First Ski Trip as the Trip Leader - A story from the Trip leader's perspective...

4:30 am. God it's early! Who the hell scheduled a ski trip this early in the morning? Oh yeah, now I recall – I did. Slap me next time I agree to do something like this again. In fact, take a note… next time I run this ski trip remind me to schedule the trip to leave at 9:00am instead of 5:45am. Although I'd love to hit the snooze bar just once, my brain starts kicking in reviewing my mental checklist of all the things that must get done before the bus takes off. The first item on the list is to get my butt out of bed and into the shower in an attempt to wake up the rest of my body. After that it's off to Dunkin Donuts to get the muffins and bagels which everyone on the trip will be screaming for.

5:15am: One thing good about 5:15am in the morning – NO TRAFFIC! Everything is going according to plan so far. I'm up and on my way to the donut shop and should make it to the bus stop before anyone else. Just as I start to get complaisant the mobile phone rings. OK, this can't be good news. I've only given my mobile number out in case of emergency. I answer the phone and guess what – it is bad news. The bus driver is calling me to tell me he's lost and needs help finding the pick up point. Great. Now I have to pick up the donuts and then go find the bus because the driver is not familiar with the area – I might as well just drive the damn bus myself. I only hope he can find the ski hill.

5:40am: I find the bus driver parked in a gas station up on Butterfield road and lead him to the pick up point. The plan originally called for the bus to be at the pick-up point at 5:15am so that anyone arriving early can begin packing the bus up so that we can get on the road by 6:00am. The bus and I get to the pick up point at 5:45 and find six cars already waiting for us so what else can go wrong?

6:08am: OK, everyone is on the bus and we're pulling out. Not too bad, only eight minutes late. All and all everything is going smoothly. Time to make all the mandatory announcements and then settle in for the 3 hour bus ride up to the hill. Only 2 minutes out and the first BoneHead award is awarded and guess what - the award goes to…. The Trip Leader! Who else! Next time I create an agenda remind me to be sure to get the date correct. Instead of listing the trip as January 14^th, I put down February 14^th. Who cares! Everyone got to the bus on the right date and on time so what's the big deal. Oh well, it just gives everyone the opportunity to hassle me – but they would have found something else to hassle me about so nothing was lost.

6:30 am: Time to get everyone to fill out those obligatory release forms. Ever try to fill out a release form in the dark on a moving bus – an exercise in digit dexterity – plus, everyone is half asleep at this time and the last thing people want to do is to do anything that requires a little brain work. Although everyone is complaining that they are too tired to do paper work, they're not too tired to find mistakes on the release form, so it's now that the second boner award goes out and the winner is… the IHSC Officers. We'll at least I'm off the hook for this one – partially. In handing out the liability forms, it's discovered that the forms do not have a place for people to print their names. The officers were supposed to review this form at the beginning of the ski year and none of them, including the trip leader, ever noticed that the form left off an area to have participants write their name in. Oh well, just gives people another thing to blame the trip leader for.

9:00am: The natives are getting restless. It's 9:00am and according to the schedule we're supposed to be pulling into the ski area. Engineers, they all take agendas too seriously. We're about 20 minutes out – at least from my recollection, but the bus driver is telling me that it's another hour to the ski area. Either I'm totally lost or the bus driver has no idea where we're at – and I don't think I'm lost so it must be the bus driver, not a good sign. Besides, he couldn't even find where to pick us up this morning so he doesn't have much credibility at this point. The bus driver thinking we're another hour away now wants to stop for petro. Now I'm thinking that it probably takes a while to fill up the gas tank of a bus, and now is no time to be thinking about stopping for gas – especially when I have 34 anxious skiers who are likely to lynch the trip leader if they even suspect something has gone wrong with the agenda. Time to earn the big bucks. I confer with the IHSC president – Rey - and we make the decision to hijack the bus, preventing the driver from making his precious fuel stop – who needs fuel anyway, I've got 34 skiers to push the bus just in case. Let me tell you, the bus driver was not happy with our decision to push forward, but hey, I'm the trip leader so who cares. We push onwards, braving the unknown, pushing our luck to the extreme and guess what? The ski hill is just three miles up the road – chalk one up for the trip leader.

9:20am: Bus pulls up to the ski hill. Off in the distance I see two other busses pulling up so I know it's a race to the group ticket office. If I don't get there before the other ski clubs then I know I'll have to stand in line and wait for our tickets. Not good news when I have 34 skiers who are in sight of the hill and now extremely anxious to get off the bus and hit the hills. It's something out of an OJ commercial – Chuck Borcher, the IHSC treasurer, and I race towards the group ticket office leaping over small kids, knocking young women and old men over in an effort to reach the office first. Success! We make it there in the nick of time, quickly secure the tickets and head back to bus to distribute our prize possessions.

9:30am: Everyone has their tickets and are heading for the ski slopes. But the trip leader's job is not yet done. I have eight people who are signed up for lessons and rentals and I must make sure that they get their rentals and reach the ski school safely. Talk about mass confusion, there must be 200 people waiting in line for rentals and guess what… we're in the back of the line. Guess we're going to miss our 10:00am lesson. Take another note – next time be sure to get people to rent their skis back home as opposed to renting at the hill, saves a lot of time and headaches. The only good thing about having a mass of people trying to rent skis at the same time is that everyone else who has scheduled lessons is also late. In the mess of things I'm running around with my clipboard trying to get those ski club members renting and taking lessons situated and out the door to the ski school. I guess I must have looked official or something because everyone in the rental place is mistaking me for a Ski School instructor and asking me questions concerning rentals and ski lessons. Must be my athletically good looks and air of authority – maybe I can star in the next "Aspen Extreme" movie or something – if I could be discovered….

10:15am. Okay. Everyone in our club who was renting and taking lessons has successfully negotiated the hardest part of skiing – getting outfitted and stumbling out to the ski sckool. No w that they have been taken care of, it's my time to get rentals. My original plan was to rent a snowboard and boots and work on my snowboarding form but guess what? All the snowboards and boots are rented out. Who would have guessed that? 200 people in the rental line and I didn't stop to think that some of them may be renting boards. Bad news for me since I left my skis on the bus, and guess where the bus is? At a gas station somewhere getting gas. I guess I should qualify myself for the next bonehead award since I'm now forced to rent skis – great planning on my part.

12:00pm. LunchTime! Most of us meet at the cafeteria at the pre-arranged time and place for a byte to eat and to swap stories. From the sound of things, everyone is having a good time. The snow is decent for this time of year and the lift lines aren't extremely long. After a quick bite and something to drink, everyone heads back out to tear up those ski slopes.

4:30pm. Time for everyone to meet back at the bus for trip home. A quick count of heads shows that everyone managed to negotiate the slopes safely and made their way back to the bus. Damn! Didn't lose anybody – guess that means that I'll get asked to lead a trip next year.

5:30pm. On the way back we stop for some roadside refreshments. [plug on] After a long hard day of skiing, nothing looks and smells better than Burger King [plug off]. Ask Maureen Hildo if you don't believe me. In fact she loves Burger King so much that she that she decided to leave a departing gift for the BK staff and in doing so receives the next bonehead award. As everyone is beginning to load back on the bus after their culinary meal of Whoppers and fries, Maureen decides that she should probably get a lid for her cup of coffee so that she won't spill. She persuades one of the younger male members of our group to fetch her a lid (I guess she's too tired to get up and get one herself). After painstakingly securing the lid on the cup of coffee and boasting about her cleverness she proceeds to get up and drops the full cup of coffee on the floor. Well of course it doesn't matter how securely the lid is attached because once the cup hits the floor it proceeds to expload coffee all over the place – a nice little thank-you for the BK staff. Thank goodness there was no alcohol in the coffee (or was there???). A definite bonehead award to Maureen.

9:30pm. Finally we pull into the parking lot. After a long hard day of skiing, good friends and fun times everyone is ready to get of the bus and head home – I know I am. As everyone is unloading the bus and pulling out, I stop to reflect on the experience and decide that it was worth the effort to coordinate this trip. And if asked to do it all again, I'd do it in a heartbeat. From the conversations I'm overhearing as people are departing, it sounds like everyone else had a good time and will remember the trip for quite a while. So if you're thinking about one day Mid-West trips, think about hitting the slopes with the Indian Hill Ski Club next year.

Additional Bonehead awards

1. Scott Gentry for agreeing to pay for the trip on the bus and then forgetting to bring his wallet.
2. Olive Wells for adjusting her headband on the way up the chairlift and dropping her ski pole.
3. Floyd Stanley for slamming into the side of the slope (that should have been a great one to watch)
4. Floyed Stanley for being the last person on the bus on the way back for DH and missing role call.
5. Kurt Nusbaum for showing a video on the bus starting with the end credits first.
6. Brian Gough for showing a cayaking video on a ski trip
7. Maureen Hilado who was heard to comment that she liked the way the ski lift slapped her butt on the way up since it caused her to build up butt muscles.

Cascade, Wisconsin

The IHSC spent an interesting day traversing the slopes at Cascade Mountain. For many of the skiiers, this was their second time on skis and for most of us, this was our first time to truly experience spring skiing. The weather was unseasonably warm. The only snow that could be seen for miles was on Cascade's slopes, and it was a bit slushy. However, being the troopers that the we are, all 33 participants made the best of the snow conditions and a good time was had by all. Because of the opportunity to practice their new found skiing skills, many of our participants expressed their hopes for joining us next season in our adventures on the slopes.

Vail/Beaver Creek, Colorado

Following in the tradition of the last five years, IHSC kicked off the 1997/1998 season with a return visit to the Vail Valley to experience the winter fun at Vail and Beaver Creek.

As was expected the trip was almost filled to occupancy after the day of the signup. For those lucky folks that were able to signup for the trip the following mid October snow report was provided by a former IHSC member who is now working in Vail.

"Well if you havn't heard by now, it's snowing!!!! It has snowed all weekend and the runs are looking white. They started making snow this weekend. I heard the blowers going when I locked up this weekend."

Most definitely the early snow report served as motivation to the group to start their ski practice sessions using the following `tips' that Ann came across and had passed along to the group.

Before we knew it the pre-trip party at Kicks was history and we were boarding the direct flight to Denver at O'Hare.

After arriving in Denver we gathered our baggage and departed for Vail by charter bus. Fortunately the storms that had deposited ~24 inches of snow during the last five days had moved out of the area so the roads to Vail were clear. After arriving at the Landmark condo's we were initially unable to open the gate to the parking lot using the keycode provided by the management company. So here we are at 1:00 AM trying to figure out how to get the combination. Fortunately an employee from the Chart House Restaurant in the condo complex leaving from work was able to provide the correct keycode.

So Boner #1 goes to Heather, Sales Manager at Destination Resorts Management for giving us the wrong keycode for the parking lot gate.

Before we knew it the sun was rising Friday morning and the scramble was on to get to the lifts once the lift tickets were passed out and the rental equipment was picked up. Among those picking up rental equipment was your fearless trip leader who opted for a snowboard figuring that since the last two days on board last season were punishing how could the third day be any worse. Most stayed at Vail for the first full day of skiing which for many was also the first full day of skiing for the season. That evening we all met for our "Wine and Cheese" party at one of the more popular bars in LionsHead. After unwinding for a while at the bar most left for dinner but a few remained in the bar listening to the live music, some not by choice.

Boner #2 goes to Bob, Ari, Ann, Bob, Gary, Kevin, and Rich for "ditching" Blaine, Hide, and Noriko after the Wine and Cheese party. As we learned later, Blaine, Hide, and Noriko were also planning to join us for dinner but we dashed out the door while they weren't looking. Sorry about that Blaine, Hide and Noriko.

On Saturday one group caught the early bus to Beaver Creek hoping to miss the weekend rush at Vail while the others remained at Vail. The Beaver Creek group later found out that there wasn't a crowd at Vail on Saturday. But Beaver Creek was featuring the Jeep King of Mountain Race and an opportunity to watch the pro's zip down the Centennial run at 60+ miles per hour. The race was taped for a later network broadcast so if you happened to watch the race on TV maybe that familiar face you may have seen was one of us. Dinner at Beaver Creek wasn't served without a reservation so we ended up eating at a deli while some of the folks that stayed at Vail ate at the Eagle's Nest mountain top center.

Boner #3 goes to Rich for leaving his boot bag unattended at Beaver Creek just long enough for Blaine to play a practical joke and "borrow" it just long enough to get Rich's heart to skip a beat.

Boner #4 goes to Bob for trying to tag along with the skiers while on a snowboard and muttering under his breath each time a stretch of flats needed to be traversed. Trying to keep a board moving on the flats is a pain since you can't skate and there are no poles to help push along.

Sunday was a repeat of Saturday with part of the group heading to Beaver Creek and the others staying at Vail. Snowboard lessons for Bob, gotta be able to keep up with the skiers. Some of the Vail crowd rode the gondola to Eagle's Nest to have dinner at either the Wine Stube or at Terminal Pizza.

Boner #5 goes to Bob for accidentally crashing during the lesson while getting off a lift and taking out the other student in the group. Fortunately we learned after contacting the hospital after lunch that the other student did not suffer a serious injury but was requested to take the remainder of the day off.

Since we had three day lift tickets and most folks skied on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the last day was filled with various activities. Some opted for a fourth day of skiing at Vail with a group venturing to the back bowls. Another group had made reservations with a local snowmobiling tour operator and spent the morning touring in the mountains. Another group took the bus to Vail Village for some last minute gift shopping. Just as the charter bus pulled up for loading for the trip back to the airport it began to snow. This was the first snow the fall during our visit and we were all off the mountain, how's that for bad timing. But we really can't complain since it dumped just before our visit and the sun was shining each day that we were at Vail. We watched "The Saint" during the bus ride and before we knew it we were picking up our baggage at O'Hare.

Boner #6 goes to Bob for lugging his skis to Vail and spending all four days on a snowboard.

Boner #7 goes to Ann for having an expired drivers license thereby requiring the ticket agent to follow a "different" procedure. You know, the one where they ask you to step inside the office.

Boners #8-#100 exist in the trip participants memories.

In summary the kickoff trip was a blast, with great snow and weather and no injuries. Stay tuned for the 1998/1999 IHSC schedule. If history is any indication the kickoff trip for next season may be to Aspen!

Skiing Alternatives

What, another business trip? I don't want to go to New Jersey. I want to go skiing. Well, perhaps it is not as bad as it seems. Depending on your destination, it might be possible to combine business and pleasure. In fact, there are a number of common business destinations that allow easy access to skiing at least as good as that found in the Midwest. New Jersey doesn't seem like a skiing paradise, and it isn't. However, if you visit North Jersey in the winter, you might be able to get in some reasonable skiing. If you are able to take a day off, try Hunter Mountain, about 2 hours north in New York. Just take 287 and the NY Thruway to the Catskills and drive up to Hunter. On the weekend, it can be really mobbed, and the snow is not up to the standards of Utah powder, but Hunter has a decent mountain. They have a number of lifts, including quads, a reasonable amount of terrain, and a respectable vertical drop. One side contains slopes that are reminiscent of an area in the Midwest. The other has considerably more challenging slopes.

If you can't take a day off, or if you don't want to drive to Hunter, there are three areas in North Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania that you could visit. Vernon Valley/Great Gorge, now owned by Intrawest, is the closest. Camelback and Shawnee are a little farther. You can even check out night skiing at some of these places.

You probably know there is good skiing in New England, but you may not realize that it is only a few hours drive from Boston. The Vermont and New Hampshire areas in the southern two-thirds of those states are easily accessible from Boston, particularly if you are visiting the northern suburbs (like North Andover.) These areas vary from a good Midwestern area (Waterville Valley) to something you might find in Colorado (like Killington.) Be prepared for cold weather and hard snow conditions. I have found that many Eastern areas groom most of the trails immediately after a storm to help preserve the snow, so don't expect to get much powder. You can also find some places unlike any you will see elsewhere in the United States. For example, Stowe has a proto-typical New England tourist town, and Cannon Mountain has narrow twisting trails that have been the same since they were cleared by hand. There is also a lot of XC skiing in New England. Waterville Valley has a lot of National Forest trails, and Stowe has four separate XC areas, all with linked trails.

For people working international projects, there are also some nuggets. If you visit Nuremberg, Germany, you can fly to Munich and drive to Nuremberg for your meetings. Not only do you get the experience the Autobahn, but you are also poised to take some time off and drive to Austria for some skiing. The Munich airport is only a few hours from Garmisch in Bavaria, and from Innsbruk in Austria. Information on European areas is available at www.tiscover.com. You could ski in Austria even in the summer by going to the Hintertux Glacier in the Ziller Valley (Zillertal.)

Do you ever go to Albuquerque? If so, you are about two hours from Ski Santa Fe, and three hours from Taos Ski Valley (taoswebb.com/skitaos). Taos is the closest thing in North America I have seen to the villages in the Austrian Alps. There are a few lodges at the Ski Valley. Most require a weeks stay, and include meals in the price. If you want to save money, you can stay in the town of Taos, where there is a large selection of hotels and restaurants. Taos is about 18 miles from Taos Ski Valley. This is the place to go if you like steep runs or you really want to improve your skiing. The ski week and super ski week programs are outstanding and quite a bit of fun. Even the super ski week provides plenty of vertical, with 13000 to 20000 vertical feet making up a typical full day of instruction.

Of course, there are the obvious destinations like Denver with the I-70 corridor (Loveland, Winter Park, Eldora, Keystone, Breck, A-basin, Copper Mountain, and Snow Mountain Ranch/YMCA of the Rockies (XC).) Vancouver (Whistler), and Salt Lake City (Park City, Deer Valley, The Canyons, Brighton. Solitude, Alta, Snowbird, Snowbasin, Sundance, etc.)

If you travel, look for those hidden skiing opportunities. Not only will you make the trips more pleasant, but you may find a ski area you really like and will visit again and again.

Telluride, Colorado FAM trip

Telluride... Local legend claims that this mining town in southwestern Colorado was so named by the conductors on the narrow gauge railroad who would announce "To hell you ride" because of the difficulty of the trip. Actually, the name derives from the metal tellurium which was common in the ore extracted from the gold mines in the mountains that surrounded the town. Now days the gold mines are abandoned, but there is new gold in them-thar-hills: skiers. I spent a few days in Telluride this last ski season courtesy of the Tours De Sport travel agency. This report documents my experiences.

The Indian Hill Ski Club last visited Telluride during the 1992-1993 ski season. Several notable improvements have taken place since that time. A new gondola system now connects the town proper with the mountain village. It runs from 7 am to 11 pm. weekdays, and to 12 am. Friday through Sunday providing free transportation. Several new lifts have been installed, opening more acreage to skiing. Most importantly, though, is what has not changed. The town is still small, only 4 blocks wide and 10 blocks long, surrounded by the mountains on three sides. Everything is within easy walking distance. Best of all, the skiing is still superb.

Because the town is located at the end of a canyon, there is no more room to expand. This has been solved with the addition of the mountain village, located up and across the ridge above the south side of town. Condominiums, shops and restaurants are being built as you read this article. The ski school office and meeting area are also located here. For those needing rental equipment, Telluride Sports has a couple of stores in town, and also in the mountain village.

As a major resort, Telluride offers terrain that suits all visitors regardless of their skiing ability. Ski boards are welcome as well. Some statistics: 68% is beginner and intermediate terrain, average 300 inches of snow yearly, and a 44-acre showboard park and competition half-pipe. A unique feature of the Telluride resort is a special "first tracks" program. For an extra fee you can ride the lifts about a half hour before the lifts open to the general public - a terrific opportunity after a fresh snowfall. Additional activities include the free mountain tour each morning, snowmobiling, hot air ballooning, snow shoe hikes, cross country skiing, dog sledding, fly fishing, and dinner sleigh rides. Personally, I rate Telluride along with Jackson Hole as my favorite resorts.

On my second day, I took an all-day ski lesson. The group was very small - only four of us with our instructor. We concentrated on improving our balance in the morning. After lunch we headed to the bumps, and finally concluded our day with a run down one of the double-blacks which provide part of the scenery as one looks up the mountain from town. Did it help? I'll have to wait until next year to see how much I remember and can put into practice.

The snowmobiling trip was, for me, the most memorable. I shared the trip with representatives from various ski clubs mostly from the East Coast. A great group of people, but it included the most inept snowmobile drivers I've ever come across.

The snowmobiles were furnished by Telluride Outside, an adventure outfitter located a short distance outside of town. They picked us up under the clock tower of the old courthouse on Main Street. We were issued our boots and helmets, and then given a short lecture on the operation of the snowmobiles. Then, we were off. A snowstorm overnight had dropped about two feet of fresh snow. Everything went well until the first tight turn. Oops! One of our drivers tipped over on the turn and needed help getting the machine upright. Was this an omen? I think it was. When we stopped to regroup, another of our drivers dropped his glasses into the fresh snow. Too bad! Good-bye glasses. Setting out again, we almost made it to the ghost town which was one of our destinations. Another sharp turn at the top of a gully spelled disaster for another driver. He missed the turn and drove up and over the snowbank and down into the gully with a stream at the bottom. Fresh snow, a steep drop off - I think he would still be in that gully except for the help of another one of our drivers. The sides of the gully were too steep for the snowmobile to climb, so good-bye snowmobile. That's one. One of our guides had also taken his machine to the scene during the rescue. Alas, while attempting to ride his machine downstream, he had to jump across a twelve-foot drop to the creek. He missed. That's two. After all this, it was finally time to head back. As a final insult, our hapless driver, who had driven his snowmobile into the gully and was riding as a passenger with one of our guides, was flipped off as we crossed a road and climbed the embankment left by the snow plows. Whew! What a trip. Go hiking above Telluride this summer, and perhaps you will find the two snowmobiles emerging from the snow drifts that they were buried in.

Telluride definitely offers all that we look for when we chose a trip destination. Perhaps we will come again for the 1998-1999 ski season.

South Lake Tahoe, California

What a trip! It was spring skiing at its finest. Lake Tahoe offered us everything, great skiing, beautiful scenery, sunshine everyday, great shopping, super food, gambling, and the chance to make new friends.

Thank You to all who went on the Tahoe trip, it was an excellent week, it was easy being the trip leader with such a great group!

Winter Park, Colorado

Where can a group of skiers from a little mid-western town go in the middle of February to find that most important natural resource, snow? How about a large mountain, near Denver with a tradition of plenty of snow and difficult runs? And where would you find some old friends, you know, like people that haven't skied with the club in maybe 5 or 10 years (like maybe Pete Hsu, Steve & Nanette Zeile, Rich Bagley)? Well, we went to Winter Park and found enough snow and terrain to keep us happy for at least the four days we were there. We also found some of those long lost friends. For those that have never been to Winter Park, here's a little background: the ski area is about 1.5 hours from Denver and consists of 2 ski areas (Winter Park and Mary Jane). Winter Park has most of the easier runs while Mary Jane has the more difficult runs. At the top of Mary Jane is the Parsenn Bowl, a vast expanse of snow covered mountain with both groomed runs and hugh mogol fields. Some of the runs lead the lucky skier to pine tree lined glades. A new area was opened the weekend we were there, known as Vasquez, it provides the most difficult terrain at this ski area. Unfortunately, there is no lift serving this area, you have to walk to it from the top of the Parsenn Bowl chair.

Compared to the last trip I was on, Aspen December, 1996, the trip to Winter Park was amazingly easy! We got to Winter Park late Thursday night where your trip leader made his first boner! The office closed at 10PM and we got there at 11:15PM. How do we get the keys to our condos? There was a lock box with a combination lock on it and an emergency phone number. I had no combination to the lock and wondered if the travel agent was supposed to supply me with it. Well, I called the emergency number, woke up the person on the other end and eventually coaxed out of her where the combination was written (in an envelope next to the lock box). After this demonstration of my diplomatic skills, we got to our condos sure we'd have a great weekend of skiing ahead of us.

Even though it was February, some of us hadn't skied this season until we got to Winter Park. But, skiing is like riding a bike, once you learn, you never forget! It's amazing what the loss of 60 pounds can do to your skiing ability (not to mention the change in attitude). Most people skied in small packs on Friday to get their legs and lungs working. After skiing all day a pack of 10 or so decided that they hadn't had enough excitement for one day so they set up an impromptu snowmobile party for Friday night! At Winter Park you rent snowmobiles at the ski area and drive them on the trails you just finished skiing after the lifts close! You'll have to ask Debbie, Brian, Kathy, Cathy, Scott, Terri or Anju what it was like, since I didn't go. Instead, when I got off the hill and in my condo, the phone was ringing. This is the first instance of contact from a distant friend, Kristi Picton, who has moved to Denver. She said she would be at Winter Park all day Saturday. Her company was sponsoring a ski party at the hill. They were going to take the ski train from Denver, early in the morning complete with a breakfast buffet, skiing, a train ride home and a big dinner.

After getting of the phone, Jim and I went to Fontenot's Cajun Restaurant for a little ettoufee and jambalaya. After dinner, we wandered the town, looking for others from our group. Nobody seemed to be out! We ended up at Smokin' Moe's (where we would later have our group dinner) checking out the pool table and scenery.

Since Lisa T. and I skied all day Friday together we decided to find out where some of the others skied and tagged along with Brian & Scott who promised to lead us to the powder! Lisa & I were pretty cool about not saying anything about the `powder' we managed to find on Friday (there was some at the top of Parsenn Bowl in the mogol fields). When Brian and Scott led us to the top of Parsenn Bowl and then started on a long traverse to some runs into the trees, Lisa & I were trying to figure out why they needed to ski so far away from the chair!. Just before going over the edge, B & S warned us that there was a long ski out after going through the trees. Gee, it was so long, we had to take a second chair just to get to the base of the Parsenn Bowl! All was forgiven by lunchtime when we met up with Kristi. Guess what guys, Kristi is engaged and couldn't be happier! She got the question and the ring on Valentine's Day. A lot of people showed up for lunch at the designated spot, where we took some pictures, fed the ptarmigans and enjoyed the sun.

Saturday night and nothing to do -- no not quite! Dinner for 24 or 30 was planned at Smokin' Moe's. Everybody including our president, Rae Maa, got to meet two of the legends of our club, Pete Hsu & Steve Zeile, who along with Steve's wife Nanette were at Winter Park at the same time we were. Milo Orsic, one of our strongest skiers met up with them on Friday and they along with Rich Bagley, skied poor Milo's legs off! After much beer, many ribs and pieces of chicken and some beef brisket the stories started to fly. Unfortunately, the host and hostess at Smokin' Moe's didn't understand the need for people to sit around and talk after a big meal. They only cared that they had another group that wanted dinner at our tables. With no tack, they came up to us and asked us to leave!!! Not because we were being rowdy, but to let this other group sit down. They didn't offer us an alternative to continue our conversation, just the door! Fortunately there are other places to sit and talk in Winter Park, so we left after we allowed the hostess to vent one more time, that we weren't welcome back at moe's. We let her know it wasn't our loss, but her's. After commiserating at another bar, Lisa suggested that we take the shuttle bus back to our condo. At night we were to take the `black' bus. It stopped out in front of the bar we were at, so we jumped on it. It took us into Fraser and made the round trip of all of the condos in the hills around Fraser. When it became apparent that we were on the wrong bus, we asked the driver what to do. He suggested that we get off at the Fraser bus stop and wait for the other `black' bus, which was due for one more run to Fraser that night. By the time we got to the bus stop, our driver realized he had nothing better to do (we were what seemed to be the only people still out), so he drove us back to our condos.

Sunday, ski, ski, ski!!! That's all there is to say. I skied with someone other than Lisa (sorry Lisa). Anju, Kathy & Dean headed off to the top of the mountain (Parsenn Bowl) and I tagged along. The idea was to ski some more of the bumps with Dean and suggest some other runs to Anju & Kathy. Eventually, we skied over to some trees where I thought Dean wanted to ski. I skied off expecting to be followed, only to find myself in the middle of a pine forest by myself! Remember, this was only a few weeks after the Kennedy and Bono skiing deaths! DON'T SKI TREES BY YOURSELF!!! Doh! I had no choice. I eventually skied down Kinnikinnic and emerged on Edelweiss where I waited and waited for my partners to show up. They never did! I figured they would be at lunch at Snoasis since I gave everybody a voucher towards lunch and where our group picture would be taken. Guess who was there, Anju, Kathy & Dean. They didn't see me ski out of the trees, so they took off. Lisa was also there nursing a bruised thigh. Since she didn't ski with me but instead skied with B & S again, Brian played bowling ball to her bowling pin. After lunch, a bunch of us (Milo, Dean, Brian, Scott, Rae, Lisa W., Kathy, Anju & I) went out to prove we could ski anything. We got to the top of Hugh's (a very steep blue-black run) and started down. Kathy & Anju went a different way and were lost for the rest of the afternoon. From, Hugh's we hit Mulligan's Mile (an even steeper black run) where Rae had a small yard sale that ended up as a large sale after Scott tried to spray snow on him, but instead managed to run into him as he was trying to get put back together. (No injuries here, just the need to understand that there is an art to spraying snow on someone, just watch one of the burly skiers.) After this little escapade, Brian suggested that we ski some bumps over on Mary Jane. He led us over to Sleepy Hollow, where he showed me some relatively benign mogols, so I said, `Sure, I'll ski those with you.' Milo and Dean had no trouble making their way through them and I followed with Brian right behind. But what should happen, Brian hits the first bump, crashes and twists his knee. Being the good, conscientious trip leader, I waited for him and helped him back to our condo. Once we arrive at the condo, we find Lisa T. with her hand wrapped in a towel with ice. She had a really sore wrist. She reported that it happened when she took off her boot when she got back to the condo.

Monday, our last day in paradise, and what do we awake to: beautiful powder, up to a foot of it!!! My usual skiing partner is laid up with her soon to be diagnosed broken hand, so I need someone to go out with. Since I had met Debbie on the Aspen trip the year before and shared the condo on both trips with her, I had never skied with her before, so why not!!! We had a marvelous day on the hill in all the powder. Debbie received my usual ski pointers, aim down the hill (don't look at your boots!) and trust me!!! We went down a bunch of the green runs she took on the previous days, only this time there was a lot of snow on the ground. I took her on a couple of blue runs that she hadn't seen before where she found that skiing something that didn't have a green dot wasn't too bad. The others had great days skiing the powder (learning what that was like). Unfortunately, there wasn't enough snow to close the road back to Denver, so when the bus showed up to take us to the Denver airport later Monday afternoon, all we could do was leave.

Annual Race Results

Results From: 1998 Marquette IHSC race
Date: January 11, 1998
Par Time: 19.47

BIB #	Name	Class	Best Time	Lowest Handicap	Adjustor	Adjusted Handicap	Place- 1/2/3/FM/FF	Nastar Medal
11	Lis, Chester	NOV	48.27	148	-15	133
5	Hilado, Maureen	NOV	49.54	154	-10	144	*
12	Nehrlich, Wayne	INT	28.00	44	-15	29		S
4	Sequeira, Ricardo	INT	27.01	39	-5	34	*	B
6	Giannotti, Christian	INT	26.84	38	0	38	*	B
3	Thistlewaite, Phil	INT	28.93	49	-10	39	*	B
15	Kuhn, James	ADV	24.61	26	-5	21		S
13	Gough, Brian	ADV	24.76	27	-5	22		S
1	Anderson, Dean	ADV	24.83	28	-5	23	*	S
14	Hooper, Howard	ADV	26.98	39	-5	34		B
10	Borcher, Chuck	EXP	24.51	26	-15	11		G
17	Graves, Alan	EXP	23.51	21	-5	16	FM	S
2	Buckley, Catherine	EXP	26.58	36	-15	21	*	S
16	Nusbaum, Kurt	EXP	24.67	27	-5	22		S

* Denotes first race with IHSC. Placed in class as shown.
# Denotes racer bumped to next class.
FM Denotes fastest male racer.
FF Denotes fastest female racer.

Copyright © 1998 Indian Hill Ski Club Back to the home page.

Sat Aug 8 18:16:24 CDT 1998 Mail Dave Bodenstab with questions/problems about this site.