We have joined the Chicago Metro Ski Council (CMSC). This is in addition to our membership in the Detroit Metro Ski Council.

Why did we do this? There are a lot of good reasons for joining, but the primary thing is that we get more access to trips. As a club, we do well with our own ski trips. We tend to sell out quickly and don’t know of a lot of people having to look elsewhere for ski trips. We are, however close to the limit of what we can handle, with our constraint being trip leaders.

Some of our most popular trips recently have been the “non-ski” trips, including France, New York, and Portugal. These tend to sell out in a day or two. We plan to continue to offer these at the club level, but our membership in the CMSC allows our members to access many more trips of this nature in addition to numerous ski trips. If you look on the CMSC website and filter the trips by “adventure trips”, you will see that there are currently 9 of these, including 2 bike and barge trips in Europe, a trip to Amsterdam, a trip to French Polynesia and a houseboat trip in Northern Wisconsin. Gather up three of your friends and see the world!

Please check out www.skicmsc.com for more information. Best viewed using Microsoft Edge or Mozilla Firefox browsers.

Todd Newman

President

Hi Everyone; Sunday is our Aloha Party.  In the past, this has been a really big deal.  The last few years, it has been a REALLY REALLY big deal.  This is because we have moved our signups for our western trips to the Aloha Party. This note is mostly a heads up to remind you that the big day is Sunday.  All the information you will require has been loaded onto our website.   This includes: Time, location, signup procedure, trip contracts and links to trip descriptions.   Start  HERE and everything you require should be available as a link from that page.  Just a couple of important points that bear repeating:     All required information for traveling will be pulled from your member profile.  Please get this up-to-date ASAP.  Pay special attention to your legal name, date of birth and gender.  If you are going to Canada, you may need to enter passport information as well.      While deposits will be accepted as cash, check, ACH or credit card, future payments will only be accepted electronically.     The party is a pot luck, please bring a dish to pass.  The club is supplying the main course.  See More Here Todd Newman President

Hello everyone. I am honored to be the new president of the Ann Arbor Ski Club. I realize that I have some big shoes to fill following Lisa Salisbury’s and Greg Robertson’s terms. I also realize that I have kept a pretty low profile in the club over the years and many of you probably have no idea who I am, so let me give you a little background:

My wife, Heidi, and I moved here from Wisconsin in 1985. I worked in the automotive industry, and she was a teacher. We are both retired and currently live in Northeast Ann Arbor.

I joined the ski club in 2016 and took my first trip with the club in 2017 to Lake Tahoe. Since then, I have gone on one or two trips a year and most recently my wife and I led a trip to Steamboat. I have skied on the club’s race team at Boyne for many years and really enjoyed it. Skiing was the primary reason that I joined the (wait for it…) SKI club and it continues to be my focus. I realize that we need to do something the other eight or nine months a year, so you will likely find me at the summer picnics, euchre night, happy hours and of course the general meetings. You will not find me dancing, as I am the only person to be declared a lost cause by Aurthur Murray. I will continue to support all the other activities that the club provides, including bike trips, social events and the alternative warm weather trips that are so popular.

Going forward, I’ll try to continue the good work done by my predecessors. I will try to maintain a focus on fiscal responsibility while providing maximum value for your membership. We have a lot of fun events coming up this year, including the usual Aloha/Signup Party, Summer Picnics, Halloween Party and our 70^th Gala Party in December. We have 3 three top notch Western trips planned as well as two Michigan trips and several XC trips. I am looking forward to an exciting year.

Todd Newman

Make Your Vote Count! Easiest Way- Show Up!

Thursday, April 11- 7:30 pm-Join us at the Elections & Business Meeting

UA Hall Local 190- 7920 Jackson Road, Ann Arbor

An exciting evening of voting, learning about the club this past year and dancing after.  Join us!

We have solicited donations for people in need for many years.  Please Give a Gift to People in Need at our AASC Holiday Party December 7^th at the UA Hall. Or click one of the images or links below to give directly to that organization online through the month of December.

This year we are asking members to donate financially, with clothes, or healthy nonperishable food.

We will accept cash, checks, or credit cards.   Make any checks payable to either the Salvation Army or Food Gatherers.  We will furnish a receipt.

 

Food Gathers: https://www.giveffect.com/campaigns/29718-ann-arbor-ski-club-fights-hunger

The Salvation Army: https://give.salvationarmyusa.org/aasc

Here is a picture of the ski bib pullovers for the SOS program at Mt. Brighton. SOS is a program sponsored by Vailresorts for underprivileged youth to learn to ski.

To make sure no child is lost on the hill, Joe organized several businesses to donate so that these could be supplied to the children in the program. Ann Arbor Ski Club is one of the sponsors.

"SOS Outreach;" is a youth-development nonprofit that uses mentoring and powerful outdoor experiences to engage over 80,000 youth across 9 states, 15 communities, and 24 mountain resorts in a core values-based, leadership development curriculum aimed at building skills for life and bridging opportunities.  We provide underprivileged inner-city kids with an opportunity to learn down-hill skiing and snowboarding, one evening a week for five weeks, twice a season.  We provide them with skis, boots, helmets, gloves, ski pants and coats.  We need some way to identify our students when they are on the hill, so they don't easily get separated and put themselves in potentially dangerous terrain.  These "bibs" would do the trick. Joe Knopp, CIC, AIS, AU

Read more about Mt Brighton and the SOS Program

SOS PARTNERS WITH MT. BRIGHTON TO INTRODUCE THE SPORTS OF SKIING & SNOWBOARDING TO DETROIT AREA KIDS

MAJOR GRANT ALLOWS SOS OUTREACH TO EXPAND MIDWEST MENTOR PROGRAM FOR UNDERSERVED YOUTH

The Ann Arbor Ski Club '23-24 season began with the Corn Roast on Sunday, August 27. It was fun to see new and old faces at the Ypsi Freighthouse. I am excited about all the different trips, parties, and other things the club has planned this year.

I personally want to thank our Board of Directors for taking the time for the club. As all positions are volunteer, it is great that the Board has given many hours to keep the club going. A shout out to all our Returning Members as well. The club was founded in 1954 and will be celebrating its 70th year next year! That would not be possible if there weren't people in the club volunteering and helping out behind the scenes. Also, a big welcome to our New Members. We are a group of active minded individuals that want to welcome you to our many activities and events. If you ever have a question about the club or want to help in any way, please feel free to contact me through our club email at A2skiclub@gmail.com.

 What does your $30 membership fee go toward?

• Club Insurance
• Website
• Storage Locker
• Food and Drinks at Meetings & Parties
• Bartender At Meetings & Parties
• Financial Backing for Trips (i.e., Trip Deposits. Ttrips are self-funded, but club money holds the spaces until people pay)
• Financial Backing for Room Deposits and future events.

There are more but those are the major costs. So, we need members to keep doing what we are doing, which is having fun, getting together, going to cool places, and having awesome local events. That is why you are important  So thank you for making the Ann Arbor Ski Club rock!

 Lisa Salisbury

President

The 2022 - 2023 year was an amazing success.  Thank you to our Board of Directors, Members, Volunteers, and Guests.  We could not have done it without all of you.

What we accomplished:

1. Trips-Offered:

• ·         3 week-long ski trips
• ·         2 bike weekends
• ·         1 instructional ski weekend
• ·         1 weekend in Northern Michigan for skiers & non-skiers
• ·         4 cross country ski trips
• ·         Set up a new international trip offering during the summer

2. Social Events

• ·         Offered Monthly Happy Hours, Movie Nights, Euchre Nights
• ·         Local race team at Mt. Brighton  Local ski nights
• ·         Local cross-country ski events
• ·         Weekly Bike rides on both Mondays & Wednesdays in warmer months
• ·         Individual social events thru out the year

3. Increased our membership from 285 the summer of 2022 to 350 currently

4. Established a working working balanced budget by 2024 which ensures club viability for the foreseeable future.

5. Added Text messaging for events and meetings thru Wild Apricot

6. Updated our Wild Apricot Website to make it more user friendly

7. Retimed trip sign up to allow more flexibility with respect to IKON and EPIC pass procurement

8. Email Administrator volunteer added that checks emails daily for the club

9.  Started using Social Media to publicize events and meetings

10. Set up guidelines for money spent on food and beverages

11. Updated and added new policies on behavior by members at club events

12. Updated and added new By-laws on Covid

13. E-voting procedures established to expediate anything needing a quick approval by the Board of Directors

14. Began polling members thru Wild Apricot on Club matters.

Don’t Ski, No Worries, A2SC has Plenty of Non-Ski Activities for You!

I invite you to experience our monthly Movie Night.  We generally meet at Red Robin first Tuesdays before heading over to Cinemark.  Happy hours are always fun and who can resist bottomless fries?  Join a friend or two and take in a great film close to home.  Nancy brings some suggestions and help with the Cinemark app.

Maybe you love your streaming movies at home…but let’s get back to the Happy Hour fun!  Carol and Liz investigate our local opportunities and select our roaming happy hour location but your input is welcome.  Stay connected to our website for dates and locations and join us.

Did I hear “what about Euchre?”  Yep we are excited about our new location – Venue in Ann Arbor.  Check out this new place  - hurry in for our April event before Dana and the gang take a seasonal break! 

Yes the website lists General Meetings but “party on” might be a better description!  Our website will give you the particulars but look forward to awesome themes, music, beverages, and appetizers.  Bring a friend and connect with club members.

Please do not hesitate to contact me at vicki.sykes.watson@gmail.com with concerns.  See you soon…

Board Of Directors Elections!

It’s that time of year again: time to give members an opportunity to increase their involvement in our great club by joining our Board of Directors.  If you would like to join the fun, and help steer the direction of the club going forward (or if you know someone else who you think would be a positive addition), we invite you to nominate yourself (or another) for the upcoming BOD election to be conducted at the annual Business Meeting held this year on March 30th at the UA Hall, 7920 Jackson Rd, Ann Arbor MI.

There are six BOD positions opening for selection this year.  Four of the six director positions opening have already notified us that they will run again for another term, leaving us in need of at least two more candidates.  Although our rules state that you can submit your nominations right up to the day of the elections, please help us prepare the ballots ahead of time by submitting your nomination forms by email to a member of the Nominating Committee (see below) as soon as you can.

Nominating Committee:

Joe Knopp - Email Joe

Lane Hotchkiss - Email Lane

Darlene Morin - Email Darlene

Mike Timmerman - Email Mike

Our President, Lisa Salisbury, has indicated that she will run for President again but, should you like a chance to run for that position, yourself, our club rules state that all candidates for President must declare to the BOD their intent to run no later than 35 days before the election.

Thanks for your help keeping the Ann Arbor Ski Club the best!

Sincerely,

your Nominating Committee