THE DON DIEGO SKI CLUB NEWSLETTER

THE DON DIEGO SKI CLUB IS A NON PROFIT ORGANIZATIONISSUE 185December 2019 HTTP://WWW.SKIDONDIEGO.ORG

SKI CHATTER

Non-members are always welcome at club meetings. Mem-bership applications are available there and you may join andget your membership card right away. Membership applica-tions also can be downloaded from the club web site:

www.skidondiego.org

Or if you desire, you may contact our new membership chair-

person Ellen Locke (760-231-8821) who will mail a member-ship application to you.

The yearly club dues are $30 for a single membership ($45 fora family membership) and you obtain the newsletter from ourweb site. For an additional $10.00, the newsletter will bemailed to you.

M E M B E R S H I P I N F O R M A T I O N

Upcoming ActivitiesDecember 19, Thursday: The next Don DiegoSki Club meeting at Boomerangs Restaurantin Clairemont Mesa starting at 5:00 PM.

December 17, Tuesday, DDSC Annual Holiday Party:At the 94th Aero Squadron Restaurant, 8885 Balboa Ave., SanDiego. See the flier on page 5 for the details.

FROM OUR MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN

We now have 19 new members whichis two more than we had at this timelast year! Our most recent members areJames Lawler (referred by HelmutKiffmann), Bill Jernigan (referred byhis wife Irene Jernigan) and Sue Pease(referred by Pete Michael). DDSClooks forward to getting to know youall. And a great big thank you to all ourmembers who help promote the cluband bring in new members.

Those of you who have not yet renewed your membershipnow is a great time to do so. As a current member of the clubyou are eligible to participate in our Mid-Week ski trips toMammoth. Our trips offer round trip travel in our deluxecoach, 5 nights at the Best Western High Sierra, 5 days ofexcellent skiing on uncrowded slopes, and most importantlythe opportunity to ski with a warm and friendly group of ski-ers of all levels. All the trip dates and details can be found onthe website under Ski Trips. Membership also includes accessto other club activities such as weekly hikes and all the clubparties. Applications can be found at www.skidondiego.org/on the membership page. Fill out the application completelyand be sure to have each adult member sign the form. Pleasenote that all members must submit a membership applicationevery year. Mail the form along with your check made paya-ble to Don Diego Ski Club or bring them to our next clubmeeting on December 19th at Boomerangs in ClairemontMesa. Best wishes for a happy holiday season and wonderfulNew Year

Ellen Locke, Membership

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Hello Don Diego,It’s that most wonderful time of the year.As I write this (on November 23,) Mam-moth has already gotten snow with morepredicted in the coming week. Lookslike a fine season ahead. January andFebruary trips may sell out, and Marchis off to an unusually fast start. So do notwait too long to get a deposit in. Andremember, trip insurance is often a goodidea.

The new meeting venue, the upstairs lounge at Boomerangs,looks like a keeper. Cozy, good acoustics, and just the right size.We put it up to a voice vote at the November meeting and neverwas heard a discouraging word. Hope to see you there on De-cember 19. Captain John Gough will present on binding adjust-ments at the meeting.

As you read this there is still time to sign up for the December17 Holiday Party. There’s a flyer in this newsletter. Don’t forgetto indicate your choice of entrée and bring an unwrapped gift forCamp Pendleton tots. The San Diego Council Holiday Happy isalso worth your attention. It’s on December 12 from 4 to 7 atHumphrey’s Backstage, 2241 Shelter Island Drive. Meet themembers of all the county ski clubs.Hasta la vista.

Ed Offstein - DDSC President

Here’s Frosty welcoming you to the Mammoth Mt. slopes.

THE DON DIEGO SKI CLUBSKI CHATTER Page 2

Ski Trip dates for Don Diego Ski Club for the 2020 Season:

Mammoth Midweek #1: Jan. 5—10, 2020 Trip Leader: Carolyn Blumenthal

Mammoth Midweek #2: Feb. 2—7, 2020 Trip Leader: Ellie Oppenheim

Mammoth Midweek #3: March 1—6, 2020 Trip Leader: Keith Bowen(See the fliers on page 6 and CST/TCRC information on the last page)

President Ed Offstein 760-231-8821Past President Pete Michael 858-560-8520Vice President Eileen Weiner 858-334-8876Secretary Cindy BennerTreasurer Leslie PallyDirectors at Rose EmryLarge Dan Henry

Karl CiksteEllen Locke

Membership Ellen Locke 760-231-8821Council Rep Martin Wascher 760-975-3355

Sunshine Rep Rose Emry 619-299-4234Racing Dave ArnoldPublic Affairs Leslie PallyPublications Karl Cikste 619-442-2160Programs Judy Porter 858-453-4453Social Bonnie Fritts 858-836-1556Webmaster Karl Cikste 619-442-2160Hiking/Fitness Sabine Alberti 858-342-0338

Club Founders Joe Harris Bruce Barr

DDSC Officers and Directors

Mammoth Midweek #1:

Hi Skiers and Boarders,December and January are just around thecorner. Mammoth is opened with morechairs and trails being opened daily. Snowis predicted for before Thanksgiving, and Iwas told lots more in December. This snowwill be resting upon a good base of man-

made snow and should give us a great start of good coverage forour January trip. (Note from editor: see the picture and com-ment below)

The bus is filling up quickly. There is probably room for onlytwo more skiers willing to share a room or someone who wantsa single If you know anyone who is thinking about joining usthey better act quickly. Don’t want to leave anyone out.Looking forward to a great trip filled with fun loving friends.Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Hope to see everyone at the December Xmas party on December17 and at the meeting December 19th.

Carolyn Blumenthal, trip leader

Mammoth Midweek #2:We already have 34 eager skiers signed upfor the February trip. We're going to have agreat time at Mammoth, on Don Diego trip#2. A great ski mountain, comfy accommo-dations, easy transportation, and lots of op-portunities to socialize with good people,adds up to a great ski week. If you haven't

already signed up I'd encourage you to do so right away. Youdon't want to miss out! I look forward to seeing and skiing withyou in February! Of course if you have any questions pleasegive me a call, text or send me an email. Meanwhile, Mammothis OPEN. More snow is forecast for Thanksgiving week.For now - get your skis waxed and THINK SNOW!

Ellie Oppenheim, trip leader

Mammoth Midweek #3:Another ski season has started. Mammoth isgetting snow with another storm this week.We have 18 early sign ups and more are com-ing in. It looks to be another great Marchmidweek trip so don’t wait. If you have anyquestions please call or email. For snow up-dates: www.mammothmountain.com//cams/

summit-cam

Keith Bowen, trip leader

TRAVEL/TRIP REPORTS

Since Thanksgiving Mammothhas received a dump of over 4feet with 2 more feet expected .Is this a repeat of last seasonwhen we were snowed out forseveral days? Looks like agreat start for the season.

DUMP ALERT !!!!

SKI CHATTER THE DON DIEGO SKI CLUBPage 3

The San Diego Council of Ski Clubs heldit’s Winter Gala on Saturday November16 at the Bankers Hill Club. The themefor this years Gala was Pirates and Wench-es with a contest for the best costumes.The evenings events included dinner,dancing and awards. Don Diego’s ownEileen Weiner received the Council’s“Women of the Year” award for her manyyears of work with the San Diego Alpine

League racing program. A good number of club members at-tended.

The Ski Council’s Winter Happy Hour will be held atHumphrey’s Back Stage from 4:00 to 7:00pm on December 12th.Everyone is asked to bring a Christmas donation of new socksfor men, women or children.

Far West Ski Association is celebrating its 90th Anniversary nextyear, 2020. The celebration will be held on October 12th at the

place where it first started, the Palace in San Francisco. Theattendance is limited to 90 people and the organizers would liketo get a tentative commitment as soon as possible. There will beother events besides the luncheon. Anyone who indicates thatthey might like top attend will receive updates as plans are solid-ified. Send requests to John Watson at“fwsa.watson@gmail.com.

Sara Rosell will give a presentation at our next club meeting on19 December. She is the representative for the US AdaptiveRecreation Center located at Big Bear.

Council Travel Report:Aspen: December 5 – 11, FullFar West Ski Week at Big Sky, MT: 25 January – 1 Feb,

2 Single openings or one coupleMosel Bike and Boat: 25 July – 1 August ,

Full with a waiting listAlpine Villages of Europe: Cancelled

SAN DIEGO COUNCIL of SKI CLUBS REPORT by Martin Wascher

First to Open the 2019-2020 Season: Arapahoe Basin did itagain! They were the first ski resort to open for the new season.They fired up the chairlift at 3:30 on Friday, October 11th.Which allowed a mere 99 days to go by while they were closed.The shortest off-season they have ever experienced. They werefollowed by Keystone Ski Resort opening the next morning. Weare off and running for the new year.

Amazon Smile and Far West Ski Foundation: Did you knowthat FWSF is a participating charitable organization with Ama-zon. Please consider signing up for the Amazon Smile Charitableprogram and the select the Far West Ski Foundation as yourcharity. Amazon will then donate a percentage of each purchaseto FSWF. There is no added cost to you. Amazon makes thedonation from their proceeds.

Happy Anniversary: Northwest Ski Club Council is celebratingtheir 40th Anniversary this year, along with their local raceleague – PACRAT, who is celebrating their 35th year. Congratu-lations to you both.

2020 NORTH AMERICAN SKI WEEK:Big Sky, Montana is the site for the 2020 North American SkiWeek. Big Sky is BIG… with four mountains, giving access tomore skiing than anywhere else in the United States. The BigSky lift ticket, or IKON pass, gives skiers/boarders access to5,800 skiable acres. Ski runs up to six miles long, and glades andbowls covered in 400+ inches of annual snowfall, give every ageand level of skier and boarder something different. Check withyour council trip leader or the FWSA.org website for more de-tails.

2020 MINI SKI WEEK:Big White is the destination for the 2020 Mini Ski Trip. BigWhite is home to the best snow in British Columbia and thelongest season in the Okanagan Valley. Big White is Canada’slargest totally ski-in, ski-out village. It has 18 on-mountain res-taurants cafes delis, pubs, and night clubs. Stay tuned for furtherinformation.

Some Ski Industry News (reprinted from the FAR WEST NEWS FLASH)

Our last meting was held on October 13,2019.

Our merger with Rokka and Ullr Leagueswas to be completed by November 1,2019. However, we are still in process.As of now, we are titled San Diego AlpineLeague, Inc. 2019 dba (doing business as)Rokka League.

We are still looking into on-line race registration. This wouldmake it a whole lot easier for us and for the individual racers.Our one and only race date is March 14, 2020. We will have

four Giant Slalom races. We will also be having a race clinic onFriday, March 13 and the cost will be $40 per person. As anincentive, if a racer has not raced in the last five years, the clinicis free. However, that person must be registered for the race onSaturday, March 14.

SNOW JAM 2019:Many thanks to Lina and Dave Arnold for putting together ourcrew for Snow Jam. We had about 28 volunteers this year, fromDon Diego, North Island, and San Diego Ski Clubs helping usout. The money that we earned, will go into our treasurer to helppay for racing expenses.

SAN DIEGO ALPINE LEAGUE RACING REPORT by Eileen Weiner

THE DON DIEGO SKI CLUBSKI CHATTER Page 4

HIKING/FITNESS

Hello Don Diego hikers,With December arriving, we are gettingfinally some cooler temperatures, so wecan do our more eastern hikes.

On my list are: Ramona Reservoir, GoodanRanch, Iron Mountain, Daley Ranch inEscondido, Cuyamaca, and Santa Ysabel.Unfortunately our window for doing thesehikes is small since there are many holi-

days, and the rainy season is also starting. We'll do as many aswe can!

Fitness:Find an exercise you like and do it every day for at least half anhour. Pick something you can do alone if necessary, so youwon't have an excuse not to go when your partner cannot makeit. If it is free, you'll stay with it longer. Best two exercises arewalking/hiking and swimming.

See you at our next hike,

Please look for details for our Thursday hikes in your email boxand the Don Diego Meetup at www.meetup.com/san-diego-skiers

You can contact me directly atsabinalb@pacbell.net or on my mobile phone, 858-342-00338.

Sabine, Your Hiking Leader

Here are some pics from hikes this past month:

Don Diego Ski Club was well represented among the 2019 awardwinners at this annual event. The theme for the November 16Gala evening was “Pirates and Wenches”.

The Woman of the Year Award went to DDSC Vice-PresidentEileen Weiner, in recognition of her longtime support of skiracing in Southern California. This is the second time in the lastfour years that a DDSC lady won WOY since Sabine Albertitook the title in 2016.

Some Highlights from the San Diego Council of Ski Clubs Annual Winter Gala

Since the Gala featured a Piratesand Wenches theme, there wereawards for Best Costume. Theaward for Couples went to DonDiego's own Jim Vanoni andDiana Tracy:

DDSC got a third award:Eleanor Bolen was recognizedfor Most Unusual Costume.

Eileen is shown herewith John (Ski Dog)Walsh, who wasnamed Man of theYear.

Here’s a thought to ponder…“You come into the world with nothing, and the purpose of your life is to make something out of nothing” Henry Louis Mencken

SKI CHATTER THE DON DIEGO SKI CLUBPage 5

WOODWARD, Park City's Action Sports Center

Woodward Park City, is the nation’s first all-in-one action sportsand ski resort, featuring a fully integrated and state of the artcampus, complete with indoor and outdoor action sports venuesfor year-round adventure. Woodward Park City will be openingthis coming December 14 and will be open 365 days and nights ayear. This world-class facility will offer kid and adult trainingand camps centered around action sports, with a special focus onski and snowboarding activities. In addition to terrain parks, halfpipes and ski runs, the resort will include lighted and lift-servicedtubing. It is at the site of the former Gorgoza Park, 2 miles eastof Parley’s Summit on I-80. The resort and sports center is locat-ed just 27 miles from Salt Lake City International Airport.

Woodward Park City is built across 126 acres and includes a52,000 square foot action sports center with 35,000 square feet ofindoor trampolines, ramps, foam pits, pump tracks, concrete

street skatepark and a digital media studio. Outdoor amenitiesinclude year-round lift accessed trails for mountain bike/slopestyle/BMX and downhill trails, dirt pump track and con-crete skatepark as well as winter ski, snowboard and terrainparks. Woodward will offer overnight residence camps, daycamps, daily facility use, special events and clinics/sessions. Thiswill serve passionate action sports athletes of all ages and abili-ties from skateboarding, BMX, mountain biking, snowboarding,skiing, scooter, gymnastics, cheer, tumble, digital media, andparkour. There will be lift-accessed snowboarding, skiing andtubing in the winter and biking and skating in the summer.

Access will be available through all-access passes, day sessions,lift tickets, drop-in sessions, day camps, lessons, monthly mem-berships, and special events. Monthly memberships are availablenow for the introductory rate of $100/month. Additional ways toplay will be available for pre-purchase throughout the fall. De-tails on Woodward Park City products and programs are availa-ble at www.woodwardparkcity.com.

Advances in Motorized Ski Propulsion

Need some extra assist for a cross coun-try skiing experience? Here’s what wasavailable back in 1953 - caterpillar skiswith tank tracks that weighed almost asmuch as the tank. I wonder why theynever caught on.

But technology is always on the move.Here we have the Woodsrunner fromSkizee available today for about $3800

(taxes and shippingnot included). It cancruise from 3 mphall the way up to 25mph. It’s gas-powered with a 1gallon tank provid-ing a range of up to

31 miles. Pre-orderyour Woodsrunnertoday and amaze/impress your ski bud-dies. You too can haveyour own personalmini snowmobile. Justdon’t run out of gas inthe back country.

SKI CHATTER Page 6 THE DON DIEGO SKI CLUB

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December 2019

CST REFERENCE NUMBERThe paragraph below explains what CST (California Seller ofTravel) means. You will see the number referenced on everyflyer. Please read this paragraph thoroughly. It is requiredfor all club trips to make this statement available to you.

CST 2056054-40

California law requires certain sellers of travel to have a trust account orbond. This business has a trust account. All payments for transportation ortravel service not provided to the passenger shall be promptly refunded, inaccordance with the agreed-to-terms and conditions, unless the passengerotherwise instructs the seller of travel in writing. This business is a partici-pant in the Travel Consumer Restitution Corporations (TCRC). You, thepassenger, may request reimbursement from TCRC if you are owed a refundof more than $50 for transportation or travel services which was not refundedin a timely manner by a seller of travel who was registered and participatingin the TCRC at the time of sale. The maximum amount which may be paidby the TCRC to any one passenger is the total amount paid on behalf of thepassenger to the seller of travel, not to exceed $15,000. A claim must besubmitted to the TCRC within six months after the scheduled completiondate of the travel. A claim must include sufficient information and documen-tation to prove your claim and $35 processing fee. You must agree to waiveyour right to other civil remedies against a registered participating seller oftravel for matters arising out of a sale for which you file a claim with theTCRC, if your were located in California at the time of the sale. You mayrequest a claim form by writing to: Travel Consumer Restitution Corpora-tion, P.O. Box 6001, Larkspur, CA 94977-6001; or by faxing a request to:(415) 927-7698.

THE DON DIEGO SKI CLUB is a NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION and a MEMBER of the SAN DIEGO COUNCIL & FAR WEST SKI ASSOC.

Check out these websites foradditional ski and club information:

www.skidondiego.org (Our website)

www.skisandiego.org (San Diego Council)

www.fwsa.org (Far West Ski Association)

www.skifederation.org (National Ski CouncilFederation)

DD SKI CLUBMEETING5:00 PM @

BoomerangsRestaurant in

Eileen Frame 12/05Bill Jernigan 12/05Priscilla Freeland 12/06Craig Stanley 12/07John Barr 12/08Elisabeth DeLuca 12/10Helmut Kiffmann 12/11Jean Boren 12/14

Albert Nolan 12/15Viola Kiyohara 12/23Christine Kiffmann 12/25Enrique Ferro 12/26Gunter Schrecker 12/27John Swan 12/27Wanda Tarnok 12/28Barry Drucker 12/29

December Birthdays

Deadline forNewsletter

Copy

ChristmasDay

DDSCChristmas Partyat the 94th Aero

Squadron onBalboa Ave.

SDCSC HolidayHappy Hour atHumphreys onShelter Island

We are saddened to learn of the passing oflong-time member Siegfried Mikuteit thispast November. Sig was born of Lithuanianheritage in what was East Prussia in 1929.His story of getting to the US in 1952 andmaking a success here would make for agreat film by Steven Spielberg.Sig was anavid skier,hiker and

cyclist. He attended many of theMammoth Midweek ski trips.Some of our members who hikedwith him to the top of Mt. Whit-ney and from rim to rim throughthe Grand Canyon will rememberhis great enthusiasm for all ad-venturous activities. He will besorely missed.

In Memoriam

NEXT CLUB MEETING: Thursday, December 19, 2019@ Boomerangs Restaurant (5:00 PM)

4577 Clairemont Dr., San Diego

DONDIEGOSKICLUBNEWSLETTER2001CantaLomasElCajon,CA92019

SKICHATTERDecember2019

PHONE:(619)-442-2160*e-mailkcikste@cox.net*websitewww.skidondiego.org*DonDiegoisamemberoftheFarWestSkiAssociation

See our club website for directionswww.skidondiego.org