Ski Club Newsletter 2013-14B
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November 2013 Idaho Falls Ski Club Newsletter “Best In The West” www.ifskiclub.com Fall Social Friday November 1st Snow Eagle Brewing & Grill Includes: drinks, appetizers, prizes Ski Sale & Fest Nov. 8, 9, 10 (3130 N. Yellowstone Hwy.) 2 IFSC Ski Sale & Fest Date: November 8th,9th,10th Place: 3130 N. Yellowstone Hwy. Depot: Thursday November 7th, from 6 to 9 PM Friday November 8th from 12 to 5 PM Cost: Early Birds will pay $10.00 per person over 12 from 6 to 8 PM on Friday $2 admission per person over 12 from 8 to 11 PM on Friday Time: Early Birds and volunteers on Friday evening from 6 to 8 PM Hours on Friday are 8 to 11 PM with $2 admission 12 and over Hours on Saturday are 9 to 6 PM with $2 admission 12 and over Hours on Sunday are 10 to 2 PM, no admission charge Equipment pickup: Sunday, 10th from 4 to 6 PM (No Exceptions!) Purchase your IFSC 2013/2014 Membership at the Ski Sale Sign up for any of the 2013/2014 Alpine and Nordic trips Win great prizes at the Ski Fest (Ski tickets, lodging, gear) Venders from Jackson, Big Sky, Grand Targhee, Snowbasin, Sun Valley... New and used Gear from head wear, clothing, skis, snowboards, boots, and much more. Meet Jessika Jenson, US Snowboarding Team Member ( see pg 10 for information) 3 IFSC PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By Donald Rasch The start of the 2013/14 ski season is right around the cor- The voucher program for Jackson Hole remains the same ner. The snow will be piling up in the mountains and the this year, that is, you need to buy a voucher before heading resorts will soon be open. Think safety and always ski or to Jackson. However, Jackson will be implementing the J board with a helmet on. Are you ready? Is your equipment card along with your voucher. For details see the “How the ready? Need new equipment or need to upgrade your old Vouchers work” section on page 15. Grand Targhee has equipment? Our annual Ski Sale and Fest will take place on changed to a bar code that you will find on your member- November 8-10, 2013. Have any used equipment you want ship card. This eliminated the need to buy a voucher before to sell, bring it to the Depot on November 7-8, 2013. heading to Targhee. This summer has been hotter and drier than normal. As a member of the IFSC you are automatically a member Hopefully, we will make up for the lack of precipitation of both the Intermountain Ski Council (ISC) and the Far with an above normal snowfall this winner. Think Snow! West Ski Association (FWSA). Both of these organizations This year, we have kept all your favorite ski trips, and offer discount trips and other discounts to resorts through- added a new trip to Galena Lodge for the x-country, snow- out the west. Visit their web sites for details. shoe, or backcountry skier. Don’t forget to attend the Ava- If you have time and want to volunteer to help the Ski lanche Awareness night in December and if you plan any Club, just talk to any Board member, we can always use backcountry activity then consider the Avalanche Level 1 more volunteers. Also, if you have any ideas for how we training course. Many of these trips have limited space, so can improve the Ski Club, please pass those suggestions on if you are thinking of going on a specific trip I recommend to a Board member. signing up early. Many people missed out on trips last year because they waited too long and could not sign up. Your Idaho Falls Ski Club (IFSC) member- Tahoe, Jackson Hole, and more. Check out ship automatically includes membership to both their web site at www.fwsa.org for details. the ISC and the FWSA. By IFSC becoming a Last Year, IFSC won three awards from the membership organization with these other orga- FWSA for second place Best Ski Club, second nizations, the IFSC members have other options place Best Web Site, and third place for Best for travel, lodging, resort discounts. The ISC is Newsletter. Congratulations to Karin Brown, running a trip to Jackson Hole in early March Bev Novak, and Debbie Rasch for all their hard and has additional discounts at Snowbasin and work to earn these awards. For details on the Solitude resorts. Check out the ISC web site at awards, visit the FWSA web site. www.intermountainskicouncil.org for de- tails. FWSA is running trips to Beaver Creek, Whislter/Blackcomb, Whitefish, plus interna- tional trips to Switzerland and France. Addi- tional discounts are available at Brundage Idaho Falls Ski Club Mountain and lodging discounts around Lake Your 2013/14 Winter Guide To Club Activities Debbie Rasch, newsletter editor This November issue of the Newsletter has everything you will need to plan for this season of great skiing. Please keep your copy in a safe place so that you will have the information of all the trips and parties as well as where to get lift tickets and much more. Also it will be on our web page at www.ifskiclub.com which you will want to check for updates or any changes to schedules. I will be on the slopes this year with my camera as usual so come over and say hel- lo. I would like to take your picture to put in the next newsletter or if you have a photo you would like to share from one of our ski club trips send it to me at [email protected] The next newsletter will be electronic version, sometime in January 2014 so don’t forget to give us your email address when signing up for your membership and we will email it to you. 4 In the 1950’s, local residents of Idaho Falls came together IFSC is taking the knowledge of avalanche awareness very to form the Idaho Falls Ski Club (IFSC). Over these many seriously. Over 20 people have been killed this year by av- years the IFSC went through many evolutions, but the main alanches in the Rockies, which is why we make our ava- goal remained throughout, which was to promote the sports lanche awareness course free and open to the public. We of Alpine and Nordic skiing and to make it affordable to also provide level one avalanche training to our members at everyone, especially for families. This became the found- a discount through the American Avalanche Institute. The ing principle in the IFSC Mission statement. The IFSC has knowledge of what can trigger an avalanche is critical infor- been successful all these years by staying true to our mis- mation for anyone entering the backcountry and IFSC sion, values and not straying from our goal. The IFSC had wants to make that information available. as few as several hundred members in the early years to over 5,000 members in the years around 2000. Today, our IFSC supports many local groups throughout the year. The membership has stayed fairly steady at around 2000 mem- Kelly Canyon Ski Team (KCST) is a closely aligned but bers. separate organization. KCST mission is to help youth de- velop both skiing skills and to learn all the aspects of ski The central activities of the IFSC revolve around three main racing. IFSC provides financial support, equipment for sale functions: ski trips, maintain a Nordic ski area, and provid- events and volunteers to help with races, such as the Wes ing discount lift tickets. IFSC provides both Nordic and Deist Memorial Slalom. KCST provides fall training camps Alpine trips, mostly to local areas, but we do run an annual that are open to any IFSC member that wishes to get into trip to Europe. On occasion, we have run trips to other ar- shape for the upcoming ski season. The IFSC provide eas in North America and to New Zealand. All the trips funds to Idaho Falls School District 91 and 93 to allow stu- have substantial discounts and all the trip coordinators must dents, which do not have the means, to experience Alpine follow the IFSC Trip Policy. Our Nordic Area is open to skiing. We have been providing this assistance for many the public. In an agreement with the county, forest service, years and will continue into the future. This year, IFSC and a local ski area, we were granted approval to oversee learned that one of the lift operators at a local ski area was the grooming of trails and maintenance of two warming diagnosed with cancer. IFSC was quick to support and pro- huts. We work closely with local ski areas to get discount vide funds at the fund raiser for this individual. We all wish lift tickets all season long for our members to ski whenever him the best every time we see him at the resort. IFSC pro- they chose. vide funds in memory of Wray Landon, a club member that was killed in an avalanche while skiing the South Teton 4 The IFSC is always promoting safety in the sports of Alpine years ago. IFSC provides support to the Kelly Canyon Ski and Nordic skiing. In the past couple years, we focused on Patrol and the Idaho Falls Nordic Ski Patrol through the equipment selection and care, holding demonstrations for promotions and advertising of their fund raising events and members on the proper way to maintain, care for, and store providing them access and tables to our annual Ski Sale and equipment.