Gelandesprung Gazette

Transcription

1 38 YEARS AND STILL GOING DOWNHILL. Gelandesprung Gazette March 2008 Spring is coming. The season is coming to an end. The club will have just got back from its last Midwest trip. Boyne Highlands/Nubs Nob. The only other remaining will be the Banff trip to leave on March.8 th. The club is doing a 1 day option trip to Kicking Horse, at Banff, cost about $80, bus and lift. Get a hold of Dick Wortiska at the meeting or call him. Don t forget your PASS- PORT. Pre trip general meeting March.4. 7:00 Sports Corner. If going on the Banff trip please try to be there. If not going just come out to say HI and have a drink on the club. I hope those who have gone on the trips this year have had a good time. It has been a great year for snow. Just a few reminders. The club is having its spring banquet on April.11, at the Sports Corner, details and sign up in this letter. The club will be doing a few things different with this banquet. We will be having a (NO FOOD OPTION) you can come out and just have some fun and not have to do the supper thing. We will be having a cash bar. BUY YOUR OWN. This should make it easy for all to attend. So just come out for the fun of it! The club will be voting on 2 new board members at the banquet, Treasure and Vice President. If you or someone you know is interested in one of these positions please contact me or one of the other board members. The club could use you. I would like to see a great turn out at this banquet, try to make it. Come out and vote for your new board members. Come out and have some FUN. It s your club. The club is putting together an order for Gelanda gear, clothing, if interested Dee Austin will have the catalogs to order at the banquet. Start thinking about summer activities, the club tries to do some summer get together things. If you have any ideas or would like to head up an activity get a hold of me or Kevin Klasen. Well time for me to go start packing, the hill is waiting. Hope to see you all at the meeting or Spring Banquet. Till then, you know the routine, up the hill, down the hill. See ya. You re President. Carl Williquette Share memorable photos you have from this year s ski season. Please submit photos via , hard copy or on a cd to Don Steffens at (920) Happy St. Patrick s Day! General Member & Pre-Trip Meeting for Banff Trip March 4th 7:00 p.m. at Sports Corner 500 Grant Street De Pere, WI Mark your Calendars! Spring Banquet April 11th Sports Corner Details & Sign up in this newsletter If there is something you would like in the newsletter please submit it to me by the 20th of the month. Thank you! My address is: mollysteffens@hotmail.com

2 Dinner: $16.00 per person Gelandesprung Ski Club Spring Banquet Friday April 11th Cocktails: 6:00 PM Dinner 7:00 PM Sports Corner 500 Grant St., DePere, WI Menu Choices: Tenderloin Baked Haddock & Deep Fried Shrimp Baked Chicken Breast Cash Bar Only No Food Option also Available!!!!! Come Out at 7:45 for Beverages and a Fun Time!!!!! *****MUST RSVP by March 28th to Mike Whitmer **** Name: Circle one selection: Tenderloin Baked Haddock & Deep Fried Shrimp Baked Chicken Breast Name: Circle one selection: Tenderloin Baked Haddock & Deep Fried Shrimp Baked Chicken Breast Amount enclosed: $ MAIL TO: Gelandesprung Ski Club P.O. Box Green Bay, WI

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4 Everything you ever wanted to know about how we got to Wengen (but were afraid to ask) So here are the gory details. We got to Chicago and boarded without incident. The plane was completely full, we had about a third of the main cabin seats ourselves and another 25 from Lakeshore Ski Club in Chicago all going to Wengen. We landed on time at 11:30 in the morning, got luggage (a couple of people who flew in to Chicago had missing bags) and breezed through customs, met four people who arrived the day before, and then the fun began. I had asked the people waiting for us in Zurich to keep on the look out for our charter buses so we would have them located when we arrived. No one saw them. I went out and began the search. Several buses are there, but none for our group. I m getting worried. I saw the Lakeshore group loading, and I asked their driver if his company had any other gigs booked here. No. I walked around the airport and located the charter bus holding area. There were several buses there, but they all had signs in the window, Berlin Philharmonic. Since no one brought so much as a harmonica, I was unable to convince them to pick us up. Back at the arrivals hall, our group of 68 was huddled together with their luggage carts, all looking at me with one question on their faces, What s going on, Sam? At this point, I began working on Plan B. It was 1 PM now and the troops had been hanging around for an hour and getting restless. I got a call into our tour operator from a pay phone (US cell phones don t work in Europe), but as it was 6 AM in Chicago, I only got his answering machine. There are no buses at Zurich Airport for our group. If they are not here in one hour, I m going to the train station and buying 69 rail tickets to Wengen. Page me at Zurich Airport. With that, I began implementing Plan B. In Europe, most big airports have train stations right in the airport, and Zurich has a particularly good one. Across the street down stairs of the parking garage I went to get particulars. At the ticket counter, when I inquired about 69 tickets to Wengen, the agent said to go around the corner to the travel office for such a tall order. At that point, I heard myself being paged. I ran back to the arrivals hall, and found Dick Wortiska on the Information desk phone and motioning me over. It was our tour operator. Seems his secretary had forgotten to book our buses, and Plan B was now a reality. I told him to stop apologizing, so I could get work. Back at the train station travel office, I explained my needs to the nice girl. No problem. Then I asked if we could get a group discount. Hmm..Normaly, that must be reserved 72 hours in advance. I ll check. She went in the back office for a few minutes and came back. OK, but we can t give you your own rail car. No problem, lets go, and I hand over my credit card, glad that I paid off the balance before I left. You need to have your group on track 3 at 2:11. The train only stops for only 2 minutes, so you must have your group spread out on the platform and on board at 2:13. Swiss trains leave precisely on time. Otherwise you will have difficulties making your connections. Are they ready? I look at the clock and its 10 to 2. Start printing the tickets and I ll get them down here. Back to the arrivals hall; Follow me! We re on our way. I lead everyone across the street and down stairs and assembled at the escalator to track 3. I run in the office, sign the slip for $ and get 69 2 nd class tickets and one itinerary with all our connections. I go back and tell Deb to lead everyone down to track 3 and spread out. Now the nice girl at the SBB office (Swiss National Railways) neglected to tell me one thing, what section of the platform 2 nd class was to board. We got everyone on the platform, and I started to hand out tickets, when at 2:11 the train pulls in. Get on board! I noticed, however, that all the cars in front of us had a big 1 on them. Never mind, all aboard! Once we pulled out of the station, I began moving up and down the train, making sure everyone had a ticket, and they knew that we we re getting off at Bern in about one hour, and we would arrive on track 4 and change to track 7 for our next train. A few of the more perceptive of the group found the dining car and sat and ordered drinks. After a brief stop at Zurich Central Station, it was non stop to Bern. It was then that the conductor began his rounds. Continue to next page.

5 Now there isn t a dimes worth of difference between the 1 st class and 2 nd class railcars, but in a 15 car train, the lead 7 cars are 1 st class, the dining car is in the middle, and the back 7 cars are 2 nd class. First class costs about 50% more than second class, and the only reason to ride first class is you do not have to put up with American ski groups. So the first ticket he checks he sees is a second class and tells them they have to move to the second class section of the train. Then another, and another, and thus began the Great Swiss Railway Exodus. The only way to 2 nd class is through the dining car, knocking over table clothes, getting cursed in German, until one of our group turned and said Ich verstehe Deutsch, Dumkopf! which brought howls of laughter from the rest of the car. The waiter in the car is getting irritated and stops everyone so he can get between the kitchen and the tables. In back, another waiter who goes thru the train with a little airline beverage cart selling drinks is yelling at us to move because he has to get back to the dining car to refill his cart. The two waiters start arguing with each other as to who is more important. The conductor is beginning to regret his actions. Why you people board on wrong section of platform! Is the same in all countries, yours too. Section A and B, 1 st class, sections C and D 2 nd class. Are you kidding? We re from America, and we ve never even seen a passenger train, let alone ridden in one. Finally he said just leave your luggage in 1 st class, but move to the second class section. Tim Reich was buried in luggage with just his head sticking out. The people who grabbed a table in the dining car are on their third round of beers and enjoying all of this immensely. So, with 10 minutes left before pulling into Bern, everyone was in their proper place. Deb and I slammed a quick Heineken in the dining car as we pulled into the station and I jumped up to make sure everyone got off the train with their luggage. Standing on the platform with the last one off, Deb looks at me and says Where is your ski jacket Since they keep the temperature a mild 80 degrees on the train, somewhere on the train was my jacket, but on which of the 15 cars I d been up and down 3 times, I knew not. It s gone. I ll buy another. We had 35 minutes at Bern before our next train, and we got everyone over to track 7. Now was a good time to address the troops. Everyone one wants to know where we get off for the next change. So I run up the platform stairway a few steps and shout Interlaken Ost. Where? Repeat after me Interlaken Ost Everybody, all together now. Interlaken Ost, Interlaken Ost. There, that ought to do it. First question asked. Sam, where do change trains again? We got on our next train south to Interlaken. Actually, Interlaken Ost was the terminus, but Interlaken has 2 train stations; West and Ost. As we traveled along the Thuner See, the lake west of Interlaken, our destination came into sight: the Eiger, the most famous mountain of the Bernese Oberland. Nancy Whitfield could not find Dwayne and feared he did not get off at Bern. He ll find his way eventually. At Interlaken Ost we have only 7 minutes to make our next connection. This is on the Berner Oberland Bahn to Lauterbrunnen and only 20 minutes away. There we will change to the Wengneralp Bahn for the 15 minute ride up the mountain to our final destination. The station at Lauterbrunnen has experienced attendants, so though there were 3 trains waiting, they shouted in English. Get on any train! They're all going to the same place. Because of the narrow gauge and tight turns, instead of sending one train coupled together, they send them up 3 at a time spaced about a hundred feet apart. Dwayne was never lost to begin with so we all made to out hotels in Wengen in time for a brief reception and dinner. Oh yeh, the lost ski jacket. Ewan the Scot at Molitor, where we rented skis said. You d be surprised what the Swiss Rail can do. File a lost article claim. So after much prodding from Deb, I bought you that jacket and it was $250. Get to work. Since ski jackets in Wengen were all in the $400 and up category, I walked over to the station and told my story. The agent gave me a card to file a lost article claim on the internet. When I got around to doing this on Tuesday (a vest was all you needed to ski in the first three days) I was directed to the SBB lost and found site where I filled in a form with type, (luggage, clothing, etc.), date lost, train #, description (Columbia ski jacket, black and grey) where I was staying, and address. When I hit send up popped 6 articles of clothing left on Swiss trains on that date and % chance that it was mine. No. 1 was Ski Jacket, hell dunkel/grau schwarz, Columbia. After remembering my 10 th grade German, hell is light dunkel is dark, grau is grey and schwarz is black that looked like it. I called the number they gave and they said they had it! Where do I want it delivered. Wengen station. $10 service charge and it would be there Thursday. And on Thursday I had it back. End of story.

6 Wengen We arrived safely in Wengen late Saturday afternoon (if you want to find out how, you have to read the accompanying article) to find complementary bottles of wine from our tour operator. We staid in two hotels, the Silberhorn, across from the train station, and the Belvedere, about 400 yards away and (slightly) uphill. While the Silberhorn was modern and refurbished, the Belvedere was in a pristine state, with high ceiling lobby, dining room, and bar with original wood paneling and fireplace from the 19 th century. Unfortunately, one couple got bumped from the Belvedere and three from the Silberhorn due to overbooking, and stayed at the nearby Victoria. Wengen sits on a ledge above the Lauterbrunnen Valley at about 4000 ft and below the glacier covered Jungfrau. This mountain is the highest in the region, and along with the Monck, and the Eiger, defines the Jungfrau region. The view up the Lauterbrunnen Valley from Wengen is spectacular with the sides of the valley forming shear 1000 ft cliffs, with numerous waterfalls. Behind Wengen rises a steep wall 2000 ft high, at the top of which is the top of one of the 2 lifts out of Wengen called the Maennlichen Cable Car. Suffice it to say that all the skiing is on the other side of the wall. The other lift up is the Wengneralp Bahn, the cog railway that brought us up to this car free village, and continues on up to the base of the Eiger at Kleine Scheidegg. Here there are runs back to Wengen where the famous Lauberhorn Downhill Ski Race is run each year. American Bode Miller won this the week before we arrived. Other runs from Kleine Scheidegg connect to Maennlichen and others down to the village of Grindelwald in the next valley. The Wengneralp Bahn also brings skiers up from Grindelwald to the 5-track railway station. From here another railway, the Jungfrau Bahn, continues up into the Eiger in a spiral tunnel to a saddle between the Monck and the Jungfrau. No skiing here, but a restaurant, viewing platform of the expansive glacier to the south, and an ice museum inside the glacier. It was only $50 round trip if you had a lift pass, but $130 without one. Our 6-day regional lift pass included two other ski areas, Grindelwald-First, and Muerren. The run down to Grindelwald got very icy as we descended to lower altitude. The trail marking was Easy but when you can see through the ice on the trail, its double black. On the other side of town was the First area, with lots of sunny slopes. The town of Muerren is on the opposite side of the Lauterbrunnen Valley from Wengen, and a few miles up the valley. If there is a more picturesque, quaint village in Switzerland, I d be very surprised. This is the postcard ski village of your imagination. Only a couple of hotels are in town and the rest, 150 year old wooden chalet buildings. It sits right on the edge of that 1000 foot cliff, and is not easy to get to. From Wengen, you ride down on the Wengneralp Bahn to Lauterbrunnen, and from there, there are two ways to get there. Ride a free bus up the valley to a cable car station which gets there in two stages. The other is a cable car right at the train station that connects to another small electric train to Muerren. The main cable car station in Muerren goes up another two stages to the Schilthorn Restaurant. This is a revolving restaurant on the top of a 10,000 ft peak. In the movies, it was Ernst Blofeld s secret hideaway in On Her Majesty s Secret Service. They actually show this old James Bond flick there continuously. The views are wonderful, all the way north to Germany, and west to Mt Blanc in France. There is just one black diamond run down from here. The first three days were warm and sunny, just like Colorado. Riding up the lift, I chatted with a Swiss guy from Bern. It s only an hour s drive from my house, so just drive down for a few runs today. Are your American mountains like these? I look up at the towering cliffs of the Eiger above me and turn and say Nothing like this! And then it comes to me. The Rocky Mountains are not rocky. Wednesday brought a snow storm, so instead of flailing around in a white out, (virtually all of the skiing is above tree line), we used our lift pass to ride the train to Interlaken. Lots of big hotels, a casino, and tons of souvenir shops. We asked our waiter at lunch, Daniel from Kenya, where the locals shop. Just walk about a quarter mile on the other side of the train station and you ll find it. There we found the Swiss equivalent of Fleet Farm, Landi s. The ski jackets that were $500 in Wengen were $150 here, along with $4 bottles of wine, real Swiss cowbells that real Swiss farmers buy for their cows, and power tools. Continue to next page...

7 Thursday was a powder day, clear and lots of fresh untracked snow for off-piste skiing. The mountains have mostly groomed, marked trails, and leave everything else untouched, so you just pick a line and take it. Friday was very windy, so skiing was limited and we checked out the huge American Indian Teepee at Kleine Scheidegg, the Tipitainement. This rather incongruous looking structure amid all the classic wood and stone hotels and rail station was a watering hole. The bartenders were all juggling liquor bottles to practice for the upcoming Coyote Ugly competition. A lot of people took advantage of other activities in Wengen. Some rented skates and took some turns on the out door skating rink in the center of town. This is what the tourists did a hundred years ago in Wengen before they invented downhill skiing. The other major activity back then was sledding. The region has a large number of runs reserved for sledding only and you can rent sleds for only a few dollars a day. A number of our group tried this out and had a blast, especially learning how to turn and stop. Friday night and it was time for us to prepare to leave after a week of fun. Now its time for Lunar/ Obtuse Awards. Second Runner-Up went to Pete Stankevitz. Riding up in the elevator in the hotel, a British lady was on her cell phone and was heard to say, You re breaking up. I m actually on the lift right now. Pete, ever the helpful one, corrected her, No ma am, this is the elevator. She looked at him like he had two heads and told him to get off and go to the lobby and see what the sign said. Lift. Don t try to teach the English how to speak. Runner-Up David Kurath held up the group skiing operations on the morning his luggage arrived after being lost for 3 days. Heading out the door, he got the word that his bags were there and stopped immediately and took them to his room. Returning 10 minutes later with a smile on his face. Ah, clean underwear at last. The winner was Sammy Jirikowic. Niki caught him going to the women s bathroom at the Belvedere. How come? Sammy: I m in the right one. Just look at words on the outside door. This one says da men and the other says her en. Niki had to point out that Swiss German is different from UPerese. In Switzerland, DAMEN means Ladies as is in dames, and HERREN means Gentlemen. For this Sammy won a yodeling squirrel. Other honorable mentions: Taj Jordan for getting locked out of the hotel at 4 am and throwing snowballs at his window to wake Bunny up to let him in. Except he miscalculated which window, and it turned out be Andrea, bartender at the hotel bar. Andrea stuck her head out the window and yelled at him in Spanish, since she assumed it was a drunken Spanish guy who d been chasing her. Then she realized who it was and answered in English Oh Taj, it s just you! Mike Komoroske and Cindy Rendall couldn t figure out why they were having so much trouble on an easy run, and when they were finally down, both realized their boots were not buckled. I don t know how many of these are true, but they make good stories. Saturday morning we all assemble at the train station to head back to Zurich airport on our way home or on to Prague. I d been calling the bus company everyday for the last 3 days to make sure they would be there to pick us up in Lauterbrunnen. When we got off the train at 7:30, they weren t there! Then they came around the corner and pulled up. It was snowing, and they had to stop and chain up. We had to go the long way to Zurich because there was heavy snow in the mountain pass on the short cut. It was on the way to Zurich that the only injury of the week occurred. Stopping at a service plaza on the autobahn, Vivian Mathe misstepped and fell on her knee, and as it turned out, broke it. I don t know if this is true, but she may have been distracted by the big sign in the window of the gas station that read SEX SHOP. Well we all got to the airport on time for our flights, and Vivian got a front seat on the plane to Prague with the rest of us. You ll have wait for next month s article to find out about Prague. We re running out of space in this newsletter. Until then, Sam Fontaine

8 10% Off Gelandesprung Members DESIGNING EMPLOYEE BENEFITS BILL WANIE, RHU, REBC 512 Red Bird Circle Tel: P.O. Box 367 Fax: De Pere, WI Toll Free: Norway Mountain Ski Resort Norway, Michigan 90 Minutes north of Green Bay Heating & Cooling 1550 Mid Valley Drive, De Pere, WI RON QUICK (920) President comfortcontrolsystems.com FAX: (920) (920) Fax PAUL ALLEN REALTOR Go for it! ERA Titletown, REALTORS 2650 S. Ashland Avenue Green Bay, WI (920) Office (800) Toll Free 4501 M-553 Marquette, MI GELANDEBUCKS Does the club still offer these? Is it still $10 per new member? Can I use it towards my favorite hobby, Skiing? The answer to all these questions is YES! If you recruit someone new to join the club you will receive a $10 credit for each person that signs up! That $10 can be put towards any ski trip, banquet or other club function as David V. Van Gemert, CRPC Financial Assistant Vice Advisor President Assistant Vice President Financial Advisor Katrina Strehl Client Associate Global Private Client 480 Pilgrim Way 5th Floor Green Bay, Wisconsin Direct Toll Free FAX david_vangemert@ml.com Looking to Advertise Here? Contact Mike Whitmer for more information (920) Great Group Packages 26 runs (6 new runs) Night skiing 4 nights a week 2 terrain parks under lights 2 double lifts & 1 triple lift 24 condos & 36 Lodge rooms Famers Restaurant & Bar Pine Mountain Sport Shop Meeting & Banquet Facilities Pool, Sauna & Hot Tub (906) Iron Mountain, MI

9 Waiver I certify that I am at least 21 years of age and do hereby accept the policies and practices of the Gelandesprung Ski Club. I understand that my participation in club-sponsored events carries a degree of risk of injury or death. I hereby unconditionally waive and release the Gelandesprung Ski Club, its officers, directors, agents and members from any and all liabilities arising from any injuries, property damage or loss I may suffer as a result of my actions. Further, I hereby grant full permission to any and all foregoing to use any photograph, video tape, motion pictures, recordings or other record of any ski club event for any legitimate purpose. Any additional trip surcharges incurred by the Club will be passed along to those participating on the affected trip (s). Trips are based on double occupancy. Single occupancy requests require special arrangements at increased costs, and depend on availability. All monies paid for a trip cancelled by the Club will be refunded. Refunds for cancellation requests will be charged any costs that the Club is unable to recover. Refund requests must be submitted in writing to the Gelandesprung Ski Club Board of Directors at Gelandesprung Ski Club, PO Box 10422, Green Bay, WI, Written requests must indicate which specific future Gelandesprung event any refund is to be credited towards, or a request for the Gelandesprung Treasurer to issue a refund check. Refunds will only be issued after all of the bills related to the trip have been paid. Trips utilizing airline transportation have additional separate written cancellation policies specific to each trip. All decisions on refund amounts will be made by the Board of Directors and are final. By submitting this form, I agree that I have read and accept the trip policies as set forth by Gelandesprung Ski Club. Print Name: (Legal Name as required for Flights & International Travel) Signature: Signature Date: GELANDESPRUNG SKI CLUB MEMBERSHIP FORM RENEWAL NEW MEMBER hear about the club? Who Single $ 30.00, Married Couple referred you? $ (Couples please Sign Separate Forms) Payment: $ Check : # Emergency Contact New Address/Info Information Address: Phone (Home): Birthday Month/Day/Year: / / (Year of birth is required for club use only and will not be published) Please indicate if it is OK to publish the following in the Membership Roster: Phone number. Yes No address Yes No Would you like to receive a link to the monthly newsletter loaded on our website via ? Yes No Please indicate if you re interested in becoming any or all of the following: Trip Leader Committee Member Board Member NEW MEMBERS: How did you Name: Phone #: Membership Period 12/1/2007 to 11/30/2008 Please mail the completed form and dues to: Gelandesprung Ski Club P.O. Box Green Bay, WI

10 Gelandesprung Ski Club P.O. Box Green Bay, WI The GelandeBoard & Committee Volunteers Board of Directors Carl Williquette, President Dee Austin, Vice President Dale Koller, Treasurer Mike Whitmer, Secretary Dick Wortiska, Past President Committee Volunteers Molly Steffens, Newsletter Editor Bill Wanie, Beer Meister Mary Blankenheim, Wine Meister Mike Bast, Web Meister, Membership Don Steffens, Historian Mike Whitmer, Advertising Coordinator Club March Birthdays 6 Shirley Nemmetz 7 Adam N. Hanson 8 John Gaie 9 Bart Sheard 13 Mary Lou Kuske 29 Dave Lindow 31 Cindy Rendall This newsletter is also available via an internet link to your E- mail. To switch to delivery, gelandesprung@hotmail.com, have enews sign-up as the subject and your name and E- mail address in the body.