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I hope everyone is preparing for a great ski season. It's been snowing a bunch in West Virginia's mountains, and Snowshoe opened Friday with over five feet of snow on some of its slopes! Someone must be making Ullr very happy!!! Get your gear ready; Crescent has a lot of activities coming up soon.
Steamboat Race & Ski Camp: December 6 - 13, 2008
Big Sky, Montana: January 17 - 24, 2009
Keystone, CO: March 14 - 21, 2009 (Information about all trips is contained in CSC's web site.)
Over 360 members are headed to Steamboat for the 25th anniversary of the camp. This trip always is a great way to start the ski season, and John Casey and Ron Scott have worked hard to make the 25th special. I saw the commemorative vests at Fall Conference, and they are top notch. If you didn't order one, you still can do so at camp. Crescent has met its contract obligations for Big Sky, but if your club has members who are interested in that trip, your trip leader can contact Sara Ford, sara@sportsamerica.com. She may be able to acquire additional lodging. There still are lots of slots open for Keystone, and Crescent needs to fill them. Remember that the lift ticket is good at Keystone, Breckenridge, Arapahoe Basin, and Vail (only 2 days at Vail). That's a great deal! At your December meeting, please discuss the trip and remind everyone that the deadline to register is rapidly approaching! Crescent has asked all trip participants to complete an Emergency Medical form and place it in a sealed envelope that will be opened only if that individual is unable to communicate with emergency and hospital staff. Councils and clubs around the country have found a real need for this information, and its only purpose is to perhaps save a life. Please encourage your members to complete the form. Trips Committee met at the Fall Conference and covered many items. (I'm not going to list all of them; talk with your club's representative at the meeting or contact Lisa Beregi, Trips Chair, for details.) The most anticipated item, of course, is always the presentation by the tour operators / resorts of the proposed trips for next year. This year, the voting was between Crested Butte, CO and Whitefish, MT. Lisa hasn't issued the results yet so I don't know the winner. Stay tuned ..........
CONVENTIONS
The Fall Conference was held in Gatlinburg, TN. The weather was good, and the scenery was absolutely beautiful! Approximately 100 individuals attended, and only two clubs were not represented. Mary Anne Koltowich and the Knoxville club did a great job planning the conference. Be sure to thank them for their efforts. On Sunday, the CSC reps expressed a willingness and desire to return to Gatlinburg in 2009. Since then, Michelle Shuford, Conventions Chair, and Mary Anne have evaluated CSC's options, and Crescent will be returning to Gatlinburg next year. As soon as the contract is signed, I'll let you know the dates. Information about the Spring Convention was briefly presented at the BOD meeting. Details, including registration forms, will be distributed to clubs in late December or early January. It will be held at Kingston Plantation, North Myrtle Beach, SC, April 23 - 26, 2009. It will be CSC's 40th anniversary, and we plan to celebrate it! At the Fall Conference, a Planning Committee was formed, and responsibilities were assigned. Attached are two documents related to the 40th: Planning Committee roster and Planning Guide. Committee members were really enthused about the celebration and will be preparing for it all winter. Please do your part and ask your members to provide information and/or items to the committee. The Planning Guide identifies the Planning Committee member with whom you should correspond about specific items. General questions can be directed to me.
RACING
Ron Scott and the race workers are ready for the upcoming season. Get those skis tuned and get involved in the racing program. You don't have to be an expert skier to race. In fact, it's a great way to improve your skiing, and it's a wonderful way to meet many members from other clubs. Also, the Subaru program has been extended for another year. This is a superb way to purchase a vehicle. Your race directors should have all of the information concerning the program.
MEMBER SERVICES
Crescent directories were distributed at the Fall Conference. If your club needs more, contact Cindy Duke or Ken Lumsden. Unfortunately, as soon as they were issued, clubs detected errors. Many of those errors occurred because clubs do not provide updates to Crescent's database coordinator, Bruce McMurray. Since the database is Crescent's means of communicating with the clubs, it is critical that changes are reported to Bruce promptly.
ADMINISTRATIVE
I didn't issue a President's Update for October because the Fall Conference was held the final weekend of October, and the various officers and chairs covered their areas there. A couple of items were discussed that need follow-up.
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Clubs in Crescent have various alcohol consumption practices, but few have written policies. Greensboro's policy was presented, and attendees asked that I distribute it to all clubs. Clubs also were curious to know what each club does regarding alcohol and food at meetings (serve either free, serve neither, offer cash bar, etc.). Please send me your practice. I will compile a listing and distribute it to all clubs.Attendees were very interested in knowing the membership composition of the other clubs in Crescent. Please send me the average age of your adult membership (over 18), total membership, and the number of single members (single or married with no children) and number of family members (with kids). You can use your latest membership roster, but if you have the data available, it would be helpful to report the information for each of the past five years so trends can be identified.
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Per Crescent's bylaws, yearly membership dues must be paid no later than December 31st of the current year. Rod Davis, CSC Treasurer, will be issuing invoices soon. If you don't get an invoice, please contact Rod; perhaps the information in Crescent's database is wrong. Please pay by the deadline. This past year, six clubs had to pay their dues at the Spring Convention so they could participate in the BOD meeting. That situation should not have occurred, and we want to make sure it doesn't happen again.
12" W x 12" H x full 8" gusset
Main Features:
26" Self Handles
Fabric - 90GMs
Covered Bottom Insert
Tear Resistant - Water Repellent
All Seams Reinforced
Imprint Area
7" W x 7" H
Since the bags will be a great means of advertising (think of all the places you can carry them), ExComm is offering to increase the size of its order to permit clubs to purchase additional bags. Based upon current pricing, the bags will cost $2.00 each. I realize this is more than you pay at the local retailer/grocer, but Crescent isn't buying thousands/millions at a time, and can you think of an easier way to promote skiing and your club? Crescent is putting the logo only on one side so clubs can have a vendor screen print their club logo on the other side if they want to do so. Kyle has been notified that there will be a price increase January 1 so CSC needs to place its order before then to retain the current price. Please take the mock-up to your December meeting, send it to members via email, etc. and determine 1) whether there is any interest in purchasing bags, and 2) if so, how many your club wants to purchase. (Some spring convention attendees may want more than the free one, and of course, there are a lot of non-attendees.) Kyle is going to place the order as soon as we return from Steamboat so email me your quantities no later than December 13th. To ensure that CSC doesn't get stuck with a lot of extra bags, club payment will need to be submitted also. The bags will be given to the clubs at the Spring Convention. Since they are going to be the primary swag at the convention, we don't want to give them to others before then.
Finally, I've attached a flier from French Swiss Ski College, which is offering a "Learn to Ski/Board Weekend". Perhaps some of the folks who can't go to Steamboat will want to take advantage of this opportunity.
That's it. Do some snow dances, make sacrifices to Ullr, and simply wish for lots of snow at Steamboat and everywhere else we ski. Have a great Thanksgiving and wonderful Christmas holiday! I hope you enjoy them both thoroughly!
Alice Taylor
President
Crescent Ski Council
402 Woodbridge Drive
Charleston, WV 25311