January 2004 Volume 10 Number 1

View from the Ridge

More than sixty years of continuous skiing and snowboarding

at the finest hill in Central New York

 

The winter of 2003-04 has, to date, been one of schizophrenic inclination as the weather has ricocheted back and forth between balmy and arctic, with a couple of splendid powder days temptingly thrown in during the weekend before Christmas. Of the following week, the only positive thing to be said is that the snow melting from the hill at least ended up in the ponds, insuring a reasonable water supply for snowmaking once the Alberta Clipper moved in on January 6.

 

This weekend past (1/16 -19) brought us a gift of lake effect snow so light that two of the holiest words in the skier's lexicon -"Utah" and "Alta" - found utterance at the bottom of the hill as club members enjoyed their first few runs of the day. For some, those runs were the first of the season! There was no shortage of children with smiling faces throughout the long weekend as families finally got out to snowboard and ski. No shortage of powder-hounds either!

 

A warm welcome to the Club's new members (forgive me if I've left anyone out):

       *Brett Budis*

       *Diane Burrell*

       *David & Hannah Chanatry & children: Claire*

       *Richard & Sheila Clonan & children: Caitlin & Carson*

       *Jeff & Liz Cobb*

       *Tom & Kara Connellan & children: Kiley, Kathleen & TJ*

       *Dennis & Debbie Gregg & children: Alex, Charlie, Julie, Laura, Pam & Holland*

       *Rich & Elaine Hartt & children: Rich Jr., John & Michael*

       *Sean & Susan Hodge & children: Abigail & Olivia*

       *Wu-Teh Hsiang & Marjory Baruch & children: Sabrina*

       *Scott & Piper McKinnon*

       *James McPherson & children: Sean & James*

       *Janet Munro*

       *Douglas & Trista Shepard

 

And finally, because a ski club can never have too many telemark skiers, please welcome:

                   *Chris Hackett*

                   *Darren Kupinsky*    

 

*Kudos to the volunteer members of the Caz Max-Sno Team: who dragged snow guns up the hill,

  ran hoses to the water hydrants, refilled the Sno-Max barrel and dug out the hoses so they wouldn't get  

  buried for the remainder of the winter. A lot of the work was of the grunt variety with most of it being   

  done during hours best described as being inconvenient. Thanks to all who helped out! Your efforts are

  greatly appreciated! As we all know, volunteerism drives the club.

 

*61 hours:  Our snow guns kicked out the white stuff from Tuesday night 1/6 until Friday noon 1/9. 

  We'd probably still be making snow had not low water levels in the ponds forced a shutdown!

   Late addition: Snowmaking of the "Fill in the Thin Spot" variety was made Friday 1/23 until Saturday 

   morning!

 

"Say, what is this $100.00 Capital Fund charge that I'm assessed each year?": Each member is charged a yearly capital fund fee as a part of her or his membership renewal. The fee's purpose is to help fund maintenance, repairs and replacement of the club's buildings, grounds and machinery. Purchases made with this money oftentimes don't always jump out at you. Rather, they may be mundane things like paint, diesel fuel and propane. Other purchases this year include replacement of the curmudgeonly  t-bar starter switch which  gave up the ghost after only 43 years of part time usage!  Also, the two wheels that kept derailing the t-bar cable before the Christmas thaw were replaced on one of the towers.

 

Kudos Redux and Thanks to:

            **Mike Bongiovanni: who had the Mad Cat House site by the Pump House graded 

                for only the cost of his machinery operator's labor.

**Rick Clark: for the five large loads of gravel now covering our main parking lot.

**Rick Konvica: for leveling (sort of) the Warming Hut, and constructing its new deck    

    and elegant railing (made from recycled skis).

**Dave Porter: for turning out a stock of new wooden seats for the t-bar.

 

Race Team: Bryce Button informs us that the Caz Race Team now numbers 18 racers. The 

                      team has been training and has already raced once at Skaneateles. The Cazenovia

                      Ski Club Dual Slalom is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 8. The team's new hi-tech race

          timer will be unveiled at this event. Volunteers are always needed for this race,

          which is people-power intensive. If you wish to offer your services in any capacity,  

          please contact Bryce through the Skicaz website. Ski-Caz euro-stickers are

          available from Rich Lapham, Annie Lapham, or Jim King. The stickers are a fund

          raiser for the race team. I think that $5 gets you two stickers.

 

Upcoming Social Events (courtesy of Sue Woltman):

Sunday, January 25:          New Members Party. 1:00 - 4:00 pm at the club

Saturday, February 21: Dinosaur Barbeque Party. Skiing @ 7pm. Dinner @8pm.

Saturday, February 28:  Hot Dog Day. Time TBA

Sunday, March 14:        Crazy Hat Day/Dual Slalom. Time TBA

 

The Annual Stowe Trip (courtesy of Mary Bock):

            March 25, 26, & 27 are the dates at Stowe. Rooms are $99/night per double occupancy at the Golden Eagle (ph: 1-800-626-1010). Book early! The rooms are reserved under Bock or Cazenovia Ski Club.

 

Lift tickets are as follows:             Adults             Children (12 yrs old & under)

3-day            $80                              $33

2-day            $55                              $23

1-day            $33                              $16

 

Make lift pass checks payable to "Cazenovia Ski Club" and specify exactly which days you are purchasing lift passes for. All checks due Wednesday, March 10. Send checks to Mary Bock, 5476 Oxbow Road, Cazenovia, NY 13035.

                                                                                    

                                                                                      See you on the slopes....Tony Patane