SKI CHATTER. Ed Offstein - DDSC President. Ellen Locke, Membership THE DON DIEGO SKI CLUB NEWSLETTER. ISSUE 171 April Upcoming Activities

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1 NEWSLETTER ISSUE 171 April 2018 IS A NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT The Don Diego Nomination Committee, led by Chairman Bill Gallaher, has prepared a ballot for the election of Board Officers for the Season. You will be receiving a copy of this ballot by . You can reply by , by USPS, or by voting in person at the club s Election Meeting at 5:00 on Thursday, April 5 at the Rockin Baja Coastal Cantina. Voice nominations will be accepted at this Election Meeting. Your vote, your opinion, and your nominations are welcome. So please make your voice heard as we set the direction of DDSC for the next season. We hope to see you there. And be sure to save the date of Sunday, April 29 for our End of Season Party at the San Diego Mission Bay Boat & Yacht Club, 2606 North Mission Bay Drive. The party begins at 5:00 pm, and it will feature a buffet dinner, with music and games for all. The theme of this year s party is The Senior Prom, so be prepared to dance if you like. If not, there will be plenty of other fun. Ed Offstein - DDSC President Upcoming Activities The next Don Diego Ski Club meeting, Thursday, April 5 at the Rockin Baja Lobster Coastal Cantina starting at 5:00 PM. April 26, Ski Council Spring Happy Hour: At the Shores Restaurant in La Jolla. April 29, DDSC End-of Season Party: At the San Diego Mission Bay Boat & Yacht Club, 2606 North Mission Bay Drive starting at 5:00 PM. FROM OUR MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN Please welcome our newest member, Irene Jernigan. Irene is an excellent skier and she also enjoys biking, backpacking and kayaking. It s been a busy year for DDSC membership. Thank you to all who renewed and welcome to all the new members. Our mid-week ski trips are through for this year, however non-skiing activities are still being planned for the remainder of Mark your calendar for our next club meeting which will be held April 5 th at the Rockin' Baja Lobster Coastal Cantina, 8223 Mira Mesa Blvd. Sunday April 29 th will be the year-end party, see Presidents message for additional information. And don t forget the annual summer picnic, date and location to be announced soon. See you at the next meeting. Ellen Locke, Membership Ski pic of the Month: Pete and Rose with their best pal Woolly at Mammoth during the March Midweek trip. Non-members are always welcome at club meetings. Membership applications are available there and you may join and get your membership card right away. Membership applications also can be downloaded from the club web site: M E M B E R S H I P I N F O R M A T I O N Or if you desire, you may contact our new membership chairperson Ellen Locke ( ) who will mail a membership application to you. The yearly club dues are $30 for a single membership ($45 for a family membership) and you obtain the newsletter from our web site. For an additional $10.00, the newsletter will be mailed to you.

2 TRAVEL/TRIP REPORTS Page 2 Mammoth Midweek #3: Our March Mammoth trip was outstanding! Mammoth received several feet of snow just before we arrived and we enjoyed great weather for the rest of the week. Snow conditions and groomed runs provided excellent skiing all week without crowds. Happy hours and catered meals were a hit. Here are several pics looking at the top of Climax where an avalanche started just prior to the March trip I would like to thank everyone for their help in making the trip a smooth and fun adventure. Please thank Karl for his great ski pictures of club members (see the pics on page 6), Connie organizing the movie night, and Russ for leading us in song. I'm already looking forward to our ski trip next year. Keith Bowen, trip leader Some Ski Industry News (Downloaded from IKON Pricing Hurts Some Older Skiers. May Help Others. by Jon Weisberg Pricing of the new IKON Pass has raised concerns among older skiers, especially people living close to Mammoth and Squaw Valley. Those and some other IKON resorts are eliminating local season passes, most of which had senior discounts. Like EP- IC, Mountain Collective, and other bundled packages, IKON generally offers good value. Ski pass pricing is complicated and making a decision about which bundle, if any, to buy should be determined by where you live and where you intend to ski. Next season, many of the IKON resorts will have IKON as their only season pass option. Mammoth, Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows, and Steamboat are among those retiring their local season passes. Now, people living near those areas will be required to purchase the $899 IKON pass for unlimited skiing. One extreme example of the penalty they ll pay is at Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows. This season, year olds had unlimited skiing for $719, a $180 difference from what they ll pay to ski there in The most dramatic sticker shock will be for 76+ skiers: This season they paid $389 for (mostly unlimited access). Next season, IKON will force a $500+ increase. Granted, IKON provides access to many other areas. It really is a very good bundled option. But for the 76+ group at Squaw/ Alpine who limited their skiing to those resorts, it will cost a lot more. The cost difference between IKON and this season s Cali4nia Pass at Mammoth is about $400 more, but the resort plans to continue its free skiing policy for the 80+. Friends of Squaw Valley has started an initiative to persuade Alterra Mountain Corporation, the resort conglomerate behind IKON, to include local passes and senior discounts. IKON has two pricing levels, neither of which includes senior pricing. Unlimited costs $899 and includes unlimited skiing at 12 specific destinations. In addition, it offers seven days at each of 13 other resorts. Of the areas with unlimited access, four are in Colorado (Steamboat, Winter Park, Copper, Eldora) and four are in California (Mammoth, Squaw/Alpine, Big Bear, June). The others are Stratton, Tremblant, Snowshoe, and Blue Mountain. Resorts where pass holders can ski up to seven days each are Alta, Snowbird, Deer Valley, Jackson Hole, Big Sky, Aspen/ Snowmass, Killington, Sugarbush, Loon, Sunday River, Sugarloaf, Revelstoke and SkiBig3. Base Pass costs $599 and offers unlimited skiing at 10 destinations and up to five days each at 15 other resorts. The areas with unlimited access are Tremblant, Winter Park, Copper, Big Bear, Blue Mountain, Snowshoe, and Eldora. The five days apply to each of the other areas in the Unlimited package. Copper Mountain is one of the IKON resorts. It s season pass is $369 for 70+ seniors and gives unlimited access plus three days, each, at Purgatory, Monarch, Powder Mountain and Taos. It has other free skiing with lodging benefits elsewhere. If I lived near Copper and planned to ski there exclusively, the $369 purchase would be a no brainer. If I planned to take a few excursions to Aspen/Snowmass, Winter Park, Eldora, Steamboat or any of the other resorts covered by IKON, I d spend the additional $230 for IKON s $599 Base Pass. The bundled ticket trend requires careful determination of what is best, based on where we live, where we ski, and what next season holds in store. Marketers know that it s easier to get a bit more out of the customer when they throw in the extras, even though most purchasers will use a small portion of what they bought. Bundled ski passes IKON, EPIC, Mountain Collective, etc. offer good value. Study the options and make choices based on a realistic appraisal of where you think you ll ski next season. (Ed. Note: see the Council Report on page 3 for more details relating to Mammoth)

3 Page 3 SAN DIEGO COUNCIL of SKI CLUBS REPORT by Martin Wascher The big interest discussed by the members and club representatives is the changes to season passes at Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort since the resort was purchased by a new corporation. Prices have gone up in some places and down in others. Seniors seem to have been hit the hardest. There is no longer a senior season pass for skiers between 65 and 80 years old. The base IKON pass is still a pretty good deal at $599. It gives you mostly unlimited skiing at Mammoth/June/ Bear Mountain and Snow Summit. There are a few blackout days that encompass holidays and us seniors try to avoid going skiing on those days anyway because of the crowds. The pass is also good at several other ski resorts in California, Utah and Colorado. For those military veterans the cost of the base IKON pass is $479 but requires a complicated vetting process. We seniors have had a pretty good deal through the years and a lot of us are complaining loudly about the loss of the senior pass. If you buy the IKON pass for $599 and ski 12 days, your lift tickets cost $50 a day compared to $102 per day for a regular daily senior lift ticket. I guess that is the price we have to pay for living longer and being more active. Eileen Sanford is busily working on the Ski Council sponsored trips to Australia/New Zealand and the bike and boat trip to the Netherlands. The details for each trip can be found on the San Diego Council web site. Here are some details on two planned trips: Aspen - December 6-12, 2018 If you buy the IKON pass from deanna@ski.com you will receive $30 off your SDCSC Aspen trip. The pass is on sale now and you can buy it now from Deanna. It includes Mammoth, Bear, Aspen and Steamboat. FWSA is going to Steamboat this year. The Aspen early sign up party will be June 23, 2018 at Sanfords house. At that time deposits will be taken and online registration will be open. Contact powerskristinam@gmail.com for more information. Amsterdam to Bruges- April 27- May 4, 2019 The Amsterdam Bike & Boat will be an amazing bike trip. Amsterdam is flat and known for beautiful bike paths through the flower filled landscape and canals. The trip spends three days cycling in Belgium which will introduce you to famous brands of Belgian beer each served in their special style glass and of course Belgian waffles! This time we have a brand new luxurious boat the Manifique III with some large suites that have outside decks, satellite TV and a jacuzzi on the top deck. We will have three professional guides to lead the group and daily long or short ride. Come join us for this wonderful adventure! You can choose to stay on the boat and just cruise to the next town. Flyer is attached. Contact Eileen Sanfordesanford660@gmail.com for more information. The Ultimate Seniors Skiing Ski Quiz by Don Burch (Downloaded from You ve Think You ve Been Around Snow Sports For A While? Okay, Test Your Knowledge. 1. As of the ski season, what state has the most operating ski areas? 2. What state or province has the longest ski lift? 3. What is the oldest operating ski lift in North America? 4. What ski resort in the East has the greatest true vertical drop (lift-served, continuous fall-line runs)? 5. Season pass holders account for what percent of all ski area visits? 6. How long is the longest trail in the East? 7. What ski area in North America has the greatest lift-served continuous vertical drop? 8. In mph, how fast is the average detachable lift? 9. In mph, how fast is the typical fixed-grip lift? 10.What is the largest ski area in North America (as defined by lift accessible terrain). Answers on page 5 President Ed Offstein Past President Pete Michael Vice President Eileen Weiner Secretary Leslie Pally Treasurer Kathy Hendrickson Directors at Large Rose Emry Dan Henry Karl Cikste Leslie Pally DDSC Officers and Directors ( ) Advertising Anne Heye Council Rep Martin Wascher Sunshine Rep Anne Heye Historian Helen Harris Racing Carl Cobb Public Affairs Leslie Pally Publications Karl Cikste Programs Judy Porter Social Bonnie Fritts Webmaster Karl Cikste Membership Ellen Locke Club Founders Joe Harris Bruce Barr

4 Page 4 Some social activity pics from the March Mammoth Midweek ski trip at the Wine and Cheese party at the Yodler at the catered dinner at Tusks Ever wonder if June Mountain can be seen from Mammoth? Here s a panoramic view looking northward from the slopes at Mammoth. June Mountain is indicated by the arrow. The view is much more impressive looking the other way (see the inset).

5 Page 5 HIKING/FITNESS week. Ideally, each exercise session should be at least 10 minutes long. Moderate activities can include things like walking, gardening, ballroom dancing, water aerobics, or taking a leisurely bike ride. Vigorous exercise includes things like jogging, lap swimming, and cycling at a pace of at least 10 miles an hour, according to the American Heart Association. (Reuters Health) - Older adults with heart disease who regularly exercise, even a little bit, may live longer than they would without any physical activity, a Norwegian study suggests. Researchers examined three decades of Please look for details for our Thursday hikes in your box data on 3,307 adults who had been diag- and the Don Diego Meetup at nosed with coronary heart disease after a heart attack or an episode of severe chest pain, known as angina, caused by Here are some pics from hikes last month: inadequate blood supply to the heart. By the time half of the patients had been in the study for at least 15 years, 1,493 of them had died. Sabine, Your Hiking Leader Compared to people who were inactive, participants who consistently got the minimum recommended amount of exercise for adults were 36 percent less likely to die during the study. If these very active people scaled back their workouts over time, they were still 26 percent less likely to die than sedentary individuals. And even a little exercise was tied to a longer life. People who consistently exercised, though less than the average, were still 19 percent less likely to die than sedentary participants. And if these less active individuals stopped exercising during the study they were still 18 percent less likely to die than people who never exercised at all. This is important as most individuals tend to change their levels of activity over time, said lead study author Trine Moholdt, a researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. The take-home message for patients is that they should keep on moving, Moholdt said by . And even if they have been inactive so far, it is never too late to start. The World Health Organization recommends that adults aged 18 to 64 get at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise or at least 75 minutes of intense activity every Answers to skiing quiz on page 3: 1. This one surprises most of us: New York has the most with 48 followed by Michigan with 42, Wisconsin and Colorado tie with 30 each, California has 29, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire tie with 26 each and Vermont has 24 (Source: SnowBrains). 2. Vermont s Sugarbush has the longest lift, Slide Brook Express at 11,012 feet (just over two miles). The Slide Brook Express connects Lincoln Peak with Mt. Ellen and carries skiers in both directions (Source: Peter Landsman author of LiftBlog). 3. The Single Chair at Mad River Glen (VT) is the oldest operating lift having been constructed in In 2007 it was been extensively renovated and updated (Source: Peter Landsman). 4. According to the folks at MountainVertical.com, Whiteface in NY has the greatest true vertical drop at 3,216 feet. They define true vertical drop (or True-Up Vertical Drop as they call it) as the most vertical distance at a resort that can be achieved on commonly skied, lift-served, continuous fall-line runs. 5. According to SAM (Ski Area Management) passholders now account for 40 percent of ski area visits. 6. According to Wikipedia, Juggernaut at Killington (VT) is the longest trail in the East at 6.2 miles. 7. Revelstoke (BC) with 5,620 feet has the most vertical drop (Source: MountainVertical.com). 8. The average detachable lift moves at 12mph (Source: Peter Landsman). 9. The typical fixed-grip lift travels at 5.6mph (Source: Peter Landsman). 10.Whistler Blackcomb (BC) is the largest with 8,171 acres (Source: Liftopia The Blog).

6 Page 6 Some ski action pics from the March Mammoth Midweek trip Keith Tom Ellen and Ed The four Amigos (Russ, Gunter, Karl, and Shannon) Russ Noni Gunter Ellen Connie Connie, Heidrun, and Tom Shannon Pete and Rose with Woolly...again Heidrun Win Rose Pete

7 April 2018 SUNDAY MONDAY 1 2 TUESDAY 3 WEDNESDAY 4 THURSDAY 5 DD SKI CLUB FRIDAY SATURDAY 6 7 MEETING 5:00 Rockin Baja Lobster Coastal Cantina End-of-Season Party Ski Council Spring Happy Hour Apri l B irthdays Nancy Tatina Rita Meier Anne Heye Issac Hansen Barbara Daniels Thalia Barr 4/4 4/4 4/5 4/8 4/15 4/17 Chris Armstrong Judy Shannon Sarah Lewis Carole Lindsey Helen Harris Carolyn Blumenthal Deadline for Newsletter Copy MAY HEADS UP 4/18 4/18 4/19 4/19 4/22 4/22 May 3. Club meeting at the Rockin' Baja Lobster Coastal Cantina Check out these websites for additional ski and club information: (Our website) (San Diego Council) (Far West Ski Association) (National Ski Council Federation) Some more scenics from the March Mammoth ski trip Hangman s Hollow Best cruiser slope on the mountain: St. Anton backside of Chair 3 Riding up Chair 6, 9:00 AM is a NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION and a MEMBER of the SAN DIEGO COUNCIL & FAR WEST SKI ASSOC.

8 See our club website for directions Rockin Baja Lobster Coastal Cantina (5:00 PM) 8223 Mira Mesa Blvd., San Diego NEXT CLUB MEETING: Thursday, April 5, 2018 DON DIEGO SKI CLUB NEWSLETTER 2001 Canta Lomas El Cajon, CA April 2018 PHONE: (619) * kcikste@cox.net * website * Don Diego is a member of the Far West Ski Association