BLUE RIDGE SKI COUNCIL

Trips

Elections

Internet update

Ski Safety Award

Racing

Old Business

New Business

Blue Ridge Home Page

BRSC: Wayne Homens, President; Steve Peirce, Treasurer; Nancy Cruise, Secretary; Pentagon Ski Club: Dave Olsen, Peter Porton, Ric Nauen; Columbia Ski Club: Kitty Imdahl, Steve Panzer, Bill Schroedel, Ron Fedorczak, Kevin Smith, Berry Cohen; Fredericksburg Ski Club: Mike Redding, Connie Wiley, Nancy Berg; Crabtowne Skiers: Molly Hochman, Nancy Waddington; Fagowees Ski Club: Pam Chewning, Carl Harlow; Baltimore Ski Club: Bruce Eichen, Charles Saunders, Daniel Van Gelder; Harford Ski Club: Chris Breidenbaugh, Zermain Breidenbaugh; Ski Club of Washington DC: Margo Bennett, Judy Burlbaugh, Southern MD Ski Club: Mark Quasius, Nancy Shambaugh; Potomac Valley Skiers: Robert Marx, John Pulos, Glade Flake.

President Wayne Homens called the meeting to order at 8:17 a.m. and welcomed everyone. The attendees introduced themselves.

Minutes

One correction to fall 02 minutes. Under committee reports, paragraph 3, changed to read “…the council voted Bill Schroedel as the 2004 EuroFest coordinator.” Molly Hockman, Crabtowne Skiers, moved that the council approve the minutes of the spring 2002 minutes as amended. The motion was seconded by Dave Olsen, Pentagon Ski Club, and approved by the council.

Treasurer's report

Treasurer Steve Peirce reported that there was a checkbook balance of $6404.74 and a savings account balance of $2616.40. Steve provided the council representatives copies of the itemized categories report and the check register. Steve moved that the council approve the treasurer’s report, Connie Wiley, Fredericksburg Ski Club, seconded the motion, and the council approved the motion.

Committee Reports

No report was available on the National Ski and Snowboard Expo.

Wayne explained the trip sanctioning process. Last year the BRSC sanctioned 40 club trips. The BRSC sanction web page averaged 82 visits per day last January. The fee to sanction a trip is $10.00 and must be paid before the trip can be posted to the BRSC web site. The benefits to clubs for sanctioning trips include the possibility of acquiring new members and being able to fill a trip.

No report was available from PSIA.

Dan Van Gelder, Baltimore Ski Club, reported that ASIA is now a PSIA member organization and training to become ASIA certified is conducted by PSIA instructors. Ric Nauen, Pentagon Ski Club, recommended that ASIA be invited to the next BRSC meeting. Peter Porton, Pentagon Ski Club, moved that Ric Nauen contact ASIA and ask them if they are interested in resuming their relationship with BRSC. Bob Marx, Potomac Valley Skiers, seconded the motion. All were in favor; the council approved the motion.

Ski Safety

Wayne explained the BRSC ski safety award nomination process. There has not been an award presented in 4 years. He asked representatives to consider nominating people from their clubs who promote ski safety. He asked for nominations to be presented at the fall meeting.

Racing

Dave Olsen, 2003 Winter Western Carnival Race Coordinator, provided the council with a wrap-up report on the race that was held at Alpine Meadows.

Wayne explained that BRSC became a charter member of the National Ski Council Federation. The Federation is comprised of 24 ski councils and meets once a year to discuss matters relating to the ski industry. Wayne will attend the next meeting to be held in August and he asked the council representatives to let him know if they have any issues they’d like him to address during the Federation meeting. Wayne said that there is now a list of council-recommended tour operators on the Federation web site. They are also working on the ability for clubs to be able to enter data on tour operators, ski areas, transportation companies, etc., and rate them.

Internet Update

Wayne provided the council with a copy of the web statistics and gave a web update. He said that the total visits for the year were 18,891, which Wayne said was pretty good considering BRSC is not a ski club. He said that most of the vendors he spoke with at the travel symposium said that they use the BRSC site as their central focus when trying to find somebody. Wayne said he would like to be able to put articles on the web site and would also like some help with the site.

Old Business

Kitty Imdahl, 2003 EuroFest coordinator, and Molly Hockman, 2003 Western Carnival coordinator, thanked Aida of GTU for all her help with their respective trips. Kitty reported that on the Eurofest trip to Innsbruck the clubs that participated were Baltimore, SCWDC, Pentagon, Richmond, and Columbia with 277 people. She gave a run down on the activities that were held and stated that all went well. Molly reported that on the Western Carnival trip to Lake Tahoe the clubs that participated were Air Force, Baltimore, Columbia, Crabtowne, Capital Golden Skiers, Pentagon, SCWDC, and Southern MD with 281 people. All activities went well. There were several accidents on the trip. Problems noted were: club members wanted to be on the same bus as their club’s other members, being able to retrieve skis from the Horizon ski storage in time to catch buses, and only having one bartender for the banquet. Donated prizes are listed on the web site.

New Business

Bill Schroedel, 2004 EuroFest coordinator, provided the council an update on the trip. Eurofest dates are February 27 through March 6, 2004, which is the week after carnival. Location is Cortina, Italy. Currently there are four clubs participating, Baltimore, SCWDC, PVS and Columbia, with a projected number of 135-150 people. GTU is the vendor and Aida and Jessie of GTU will work the trip for BRSC. Bill recommended that trip insurance be included in the trip package.

Pam Chewning, Fagowees Ski Club, addressed the council about the possibility of a late spring trip to New England during spring break for around $500.00 and is geared towards families. The Fagowees will offer it to BRSC as a sanction trip for April 3-7, 2004 to Stowe, VT. If the trip is successful, Pam will bring it back to BRSC for decision on whether to offer as a council trip.

Wayne talked some more about the Ski Council Federation. Their web site address is: www.skifederation.org and to link to the recommended tour operator’s page add /touroperators.htm. There is also a members’ only page but it requires a password and ID, which can be obtained by contacting Wayne Homens.

Wayne said that there are three ski clubs that have expressed an interest in joining BRSC. Goddard Ski Club is one, which Wayne said should not be an issue since they were a past member with previously approved by laws. Another club is Ft. Meade, which was also a past member. Wayne has asked for their by-laws. The third club is the Four Season’s Travel Club. Wayne has not received their by-laws yet.

Wayne said the BRSC by laws are posted on the web site. Nancy Cruise, BRSC secretary, will update the amendments page. Wayne encouraged representatives to read the by laws. Wayne said he would like to see the BRSC have a policy manual. He asked for volunteers to form a policy committee.

The council broke for lunch at 12:10 p.m. and reconvened at 1:10.

Elections

Wayne Homens asked for nominations from the floor for the BRSC positions of vice president, treasurer, and secretary. There were no nominations from the floor. Peter Porton, Pentagon Ski Club, moved and Glade Flake, Potomac Valley Skiers, second the motion, that the incumbents, vice president, Rae Ehlen; treasurer, Steve Peirce; and secretary, Nancy Cruise, be elected by acclimation. All were in favor; the council passed the motion.

Trips

Wayne discussed the selection of the 2005 Eurofest coordinator and 2005 Western Carnival coordinator and race coordinator. Wayne said that in addition to announcing at the last council meeting, he had sent out 3 e-mails requesting nominations for the positions. He received two resumes. Wayne asked for nominations from the floor. There were no nominations from the floor. Wayne briefly gave the qualifications of the two nominees. Wayne, with no objections from the council, appointed Ric Nauen, Pentagon Ski Club, as the 2005 Eurofest (Trois Vallees) coordinator; Christopher Pukalski, Baltimore Ski Club, as the 2005 Western Carnival (Breckenridge) coordinator; and Dave Olsen, Pentagon Ski Club, as the 2004 and 2005 Western Carnival race coordinator. At the fall meeting the council will decide locations for the 2007 Eurofest and Western Carnival.

Doug Horstman, Alpine Group Consultants, gave a status report on the 2004 Western Carnival, January 24-31, to Snowmass/Aspen, Colorado. Steve Peirce is the BRSC coordinator. Clubs committed with deposits include: Pentagon, Baltimore, Southern Maryland, Fredericksburg, and Columbia. Clubs that have committed but not yet made deposits include: Fagowees, SCWDC, Moguls, and Crabtowne. Total committed participants is at 328 people. Most of the group is staying at the top of the village. One benefit included in the package is that BRSC clubs, members, officers and signatories are covered under Alpine’s one million dollar umbrella liability insurance policy for the duration of the western carnival trip. Doug asked the council for guidance on how Alpine should address the property cancellation policy in individual club contracts. Consensus of the council was that the cancellation policy would vary for each club depending on which property they contracted for. Doug said that Alpine would use a corporate credit card to purchase the bulk of the United airline tickets in order to negate the liability (loss) of money to the clubs in the event of United filing for chapter 11. Steve Peirce, 2004 Western Carnival coordinator gave an update on the planned activities at Snowmass.

Wayne said that at the fall meeting he would bring up the idea of having the spring 2004 meeting coincide with next year’s ski group-type show and make it a 2-day event. Wayne said he would coordinate with Paul Webber on the idea. A suggestion from the floor was that we let the vendors know in advance that clubs attending a ski-group type of event in the spring are looking two years out for trips, not for the following season.

Wayne asked the council to decide on dates for the 2005 Eurofest and Western Carnival. Based on previous council agreement that the Western Carnival would start on the Saturday closest to February 7, it was decided that the dates for Breckenridge would be February 5-12, 2005. The council discussed in length the possibility of deviating from the first week in March for Eurofest. Dave Olsen, Pentagon Ski Club, moved and Judy Burbaugh, Ski Club of Wash DC, seconded the motion to allow Ric Nauen, coordinator, the flexibility to choose which weeks to solicit bids for the 2005 Eurofest for either March 5-12 or March 12-19, 2005. The council approved the motion with 13 for and 4 opposed. The council approved GTU, Rocky Mountain, and Alphorn as vendors to send bids to for the 2005 Western Carnival. For Eurofest 2005, the following vendors were approved to send bids to: Adventures on Skis, World on Skis, GTU, and Ski Europe.

Fall meeting to be held weekend of September 20-21. There were no volunteers to host the meeting.

The council broke out into discussion groups. The meeting was adjourned at 4:37 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Nancy E. Cruise
Secretary
Blue Ridge Ski Council 8/12/03