Official Publication of the Chicago Metropolitan Ski Council Table of Contents 2009/2010 Directory Features Editorial & Advertising Office Skiers & Snowboarders . 6 621 Plainfield Road, Suite 406 Willowbrook, IL 60527 Blind Skiers Tackle Park City . 12 P 630.794.0696 O East: Sugarbush . 17 F 630.794.0652 O [email protected] Midwest: Boyne Mountain . 19 O West: Banff-Lake Louise-Sunshine . 22 Publisher – Jeffrey Gayduk Tips From a Chiropractor . 34 [email protected] Managing Editor – Randy Mink [email protected] Departments President’s Message . 4 Executive Editor – Nettie Napravnik 708.704.4828 CMSC Board of Directors . 10 [email protected] Regional VP’s and their Clubs . 11 Director, Design & Production – Alpine Racing Schedule . 13 Robert Wyszkowski Chicago Week 2010 . 14 [email protected] Trips By Destination . 26 Advertising Sales Club Directory . 28 630.794.0696 Associate Members Directory . 43 [email protected] Editor’s Letter . 46 Chicago Metropolitan Ski Council Club Profiles PO Box 189 Wood Dale, IL 60191-0189 400 Ski Club . 35 Moraine Valley Community www.skicmsc.org Alpine Ski Club . 35 College Ski/Snowboard Club . 39 Midwest Skier is published semi-annually by Premier Aqua Adventurers . 35 Nordic Fox Ski Club . 39 Tourism Marketing, Inc., and is the official publication of Battle Creek Ski Club . 36 Piccadilly Ski Club . 39 the Chicago Metropolitan Ski Council. Copyright 1999-2009. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this publication may be Bloomington Normal Ski Rivercity Ski Club . 40 reproduced in any form without approval of the editor. and Snowboard Club . 36 Sanctuary Ski Club . 40 Midwest Skier serves as a means of communication Champaign Ski Club . 36 Schussboomers between CMSC and its intercouncil clubs, making it invalu - Chicago Friars Ski and Snowboard Club . 40 able to all Midwest skiers. Copies are available free of Ski and Bike Club . 37 charge at CMSC general meetings, general meetings of Sitzmark Ski Club . 41 member clubs, Chicagoland area ski shops and sporting Chicagoland Club 50 . 37 Skunk Hollow Ski and goods retailers and public libraries. To display Midwest Four Winds Ski Snowboard Club . 41 Skier in your establishment or request more copies of this magazine, contact 630.794.0696, email and Social Club . 37 Snow Hawks Ski Club . .41 [email protected] or visit www.skigrouptrips.com. Greater Grand Rapids Snowseekers Ski/ We welcome article submissions and letters to the editor. Ski Club . 38 Snowboard Club . .42 Ibex Ski and Thunderbird Ski Club . 42 On the Cover Snowboard Club . 38 Vagabond Ski and Fresh powder and blue skies prevail in Banff. Photo by Henry Georgi/Lake Louise Ski Area LakeShore Ski Club . 38 Social Club of Milwaukee . .42 www.skicmsc.org O 2009/2010 DIRECTORY MIDWEST SKIER O 3 Message from the President Bail Yourself Out: Join a Club and Head to the Slopes! Keith L. Fanta If you’re dreaming about getting away to the slopes, but the If you’re looking for a club to ski or ride with, check out the economy has you down, it may be time to seriously consider clubs listed in this magazine, or check out the same clubs on a ski and snowboard club. our website. Either way you’ll have the opportunity to hit the slopes with like-minded people, people who don’t want to Chicago Metropolitan Ski Council has over 70 different ski hibernate the winter away. The trip listings on our website are and snowboard clubs that manage to put a lot of value sortable, so if you’re interested in a specific destination you Iin trips to the slopes. There are trips that never leave the can start your surfing there. You can use our maps to locate Midwest, trips that head East or West, as well as trips a club close to where you live or work, and the club listings overseas. include descriptions of each club. The best part is that club trips have more value built in than Whatever you do, don’t give up on a trip to the slopes this trips you arrange yourself. A trip with a club often means winter. Our clubs put value in their trips, and once you travel that: with a club you won’t want to hit the slopes alone again. • A lot of the work is handled by someone else Have a Great Winter, (unless you’re the trip leader). • There are a lot of people who are willing to help out Keith L. Fanta President — 2009–2010 (if you are the trip leader). Chicago Metropolitan Ski Council • You’ll either pay less for lodging or stay at nicer lodging than you would have if you’d gone alone. • You’ll get a better deal on lift tickets. • There will always be a group of people with similar abilities as you. Thank You to Our Advertisers • There will be high-fives all around when you finally master that run that’s been kicking your butt. Aspen Skiing Company/ Ski.com ...............................45 • You’ll have more friends when you return home than Aspen Snowmass ................45 Ski Dazzle .............................7 Big Sky Resort .....................23 when you left. Snowbird Resort ..................33 Hotel Park City ......................31 Sports America ...................11 No matter how you measure the success of a vacation, Jackson Hole Mountain Resorts .................23 Steamboat Ski & Resort they’re always better when you have more people to share Association ............................9 Mammoth Mtn Ski Area .........5 them with. Club trips are definitely shared trips. Stowe Mountain Resort ........18 Nub's Nob ..........................20 Sun Valley c/o Penna Park City Chamber ................2 In addition to the trips, our clubs hold other activities. They Powers Brian Haynes ...........47 Quebec Ski Alliance ...........48 may be oriented towards sports like golf, canoeing, tennis, Telluride Ski Resort .............25 Shanty Creek Resort ..........21 rafting, volleyball, sailing, hiking or cycling. They could be Williams Ski Haus ...............21 Silvertree Properties ............33 social activities like bars of the month, festivals or concerts. Winter Park Resort ................9 They might even involve non-snowsports travel to destina - Ski Banff .............................24 tions you might not attempt on your own. 4 O MIDWEST SKIER 2009/2010 DIRECTORY O www.skicmsc.org Everything I Ever Learned About Skiing I Learned From a SNOWBOARDER By Bob McCray Woodstock Inn and Resort, Vermont As a skier, my first encounter with a snowboarder was get - ting knocked down from behind. It was like getting hit by a rowboat. I was skiing a Midwest ski slope. I got up, brushed myself off and started putting my ski back on. Then, just as I was Aready to go, he hit me again, this time knocking me out of both skis! It was Christmas Day, and I was in a charitable mood. Maybe the guy didn’t celebrate Christmas. He mumbled t n o something like “Get out of my way old man.” m r e V , n i a t Of course, years ago, ski areas banned snowboarders. n u o Skiers complained they trashed the moguls. But, while par - M o c ents cherished the time-honored, two-legged sliders, their i P skateboarding kids glommed onto snowboards. By 2004, snowboarders outnumbered skiers 6.5 million to 6 million. My awakening came when I discovered a guy in our sail - ing club was a regular at our local ski area, and we decid - Nevertheless, for hard-nosed curmudgeons like me, skiers ed, come winter, to go up together. and snowboarders were natural enemies—like the cattle - men and sheepmen in the classic westerns. “Can’t we all He was a late riser, and I was an early-morning guy, so we get along?”—No! drove up separately, planning to meet midday at the lift. 6 O MIDWEST SKIER 2009/2010 DIRECTORY O www.skicmsc.org But, at 11 a.m., when I spotted him in the parking lot, I was dumbfounded. He wasn’t unloading skis and poles. He was hauling a snowboard—big as a grand piano—out of his van. Jerry Springer would have said, “How did you feel when you found out your best friend was a snowboarder?” But, as it turned out after 20 years skiing Midwest slopes, schussing with a snowboarder was a new beginning for this skier—a breakout experience. Let me explain: I’m a hurry-up skier. To beat the hoards of skiers at Midwest areas, I’m first on the chair at 9:30 a.m., when the lift opens—first to the top, and first to peel off and carve down the headwall to the lift. Then for two hours I repeat the loop at 30 RPH (runs per hour) until the crowds clog the trails. However, I soon found out—you can’t do this with a snowboarder. At midday I skated to the chair and waited as my snowboard pal approached the lift, doing a slow motion step-and-drag—like Boris Karloff climbing the stairs of a haunted house. We paired up at the last second, as he lunged onto the chair and swung us Killington Mountain, Vermont into the lift operator. When we reached the top of the lift, I glided to the trailhead and waited as he skidded down the incline and one-footed to the snow fence, crouching in a yoga “frog” position to fasten his straps. He took a few ear-shattering hops and flopped like a sea lion to the trailhead, where he traversed the hill in a “rooster on one foot” tai chi position. Meanwhile, I skied the fall line tin-soldier style: standing at attention, hands at my sides, fingers extended and joined, palms inward, gripping my poles. I waited for him at the chair, admiring his statuesque silhouette carving curves against the noonday sun.