PRESIDENT'S UPDATE JANUARY 2008

Alice Taylor, President Crescent Ski Council luvs2ski@verizon.net

Can you believe it's already the end of January?  It seems like we just started skiing!!  Unfortunately, while we enjoy the winter and expend most of our efforts on skiing, business must go on as usual.  So here goes...............

Mammoth was wonderful!  Crescent sent 231 members on the trip, and based upon the comments I heard during the week, I believe everyone had a great time.  The weather was spring-like and sunny most of the time, and the mountain had something for everyone (lots of groomers and steeps of varying types).  The various events (Poker Run, Fun Race, and receptions) were well-attended, and the Thursday night awards dinner was simply fabulous (really good food, lots of awards, and a tremendous amount of dancing).  Results  of the Fun Race are posted on Crescent's web site under Racing.  Mammoth's sales staff, Sports America, Lisa Beregi, and the clubs' trip leaders did a great job.  Be sure to thank them.

Plans already are underway for 2009. The 25th anniversary of the Steamboat Ski and Race Camp will be next year.  It also will be the year for two Crescent week-long trips:  Big Sky, Montana (January) and Keystone, CO (March).  Let your members know now so they can start thinking about the trips.  Details will be provided at the Spring Convention.

There still is one more local trip: Snowshoe, the weekend of March 8th.  Linda Redd, Local Trips Coordinator, is handling the trip.  By now, your reservations and payments should be flowing to her.

CONVENTIONS

The Spring Conventionwill be held at Kingston Plantation, North Myrtle Beach , SC , April 24 - 27, 2008.  Club registration and lodging forms are attached.  Please get this information to your members.  This is Crescent's annual meeting, at which officers are elected, and Trips and Racing make many important decisions.  It's also a great weekend, with lots of interaction with ski resorts, travel agencies, and other vendors, parties and the highly-competitive Beach Olympics!  Lastly, there are the other competitions:  web site and scrapbook, which are hotly contested every year.  The Saturday party theme will be announced soon.  So until then, mark the dates on your calendar and think warm, sunny beach while you ski down cold, sunny slopes!  What other group ends ski season by going to the beach?  Don't miss this trip!

RACING

Racing finally was able to actually race!  Over 150 racers competed at Beech Mountain  January 26th and 27th.  Results are posted on Crescent's web site under Racing.  The next race is scheduled for February 9th and 10th at Hawksnest.  Be sure to include the race sponsor sheets in your newsletters so your members can participate in the door prizes at race weekends.

MEMBERSERVICES

Cindy Duke, Charlotte, and Bruce McMurray, Augusta , have agreed to take over database administration. Eileen Kennedy has done a great job for many years, but she simply has become too busy with other endeavors, primarily her job, to continue as administrator.  Ken Lumsden, Member Services Chair, will be notifying the clubs of the date that Cindy and Bruce will officially take over Eileen's responsibilities.  Many, many thanks to Eileen for her years of service, and thanks to Cindy and Bruce for volunteering!

ADMINISTRATIVE

As I mentioned earlier, officers are elected at the Spring Convention BOD meeting. That means there needs to be names on the ballot.  I encourage everyone to become more active in Crescent and volunteer for an office or committee position.  Detailed job descriptions are attached;  they sound much more time-consuming than they really are.  If you are interested in running for office or volunteering for a committee position, please contact Margaret Jordan, Past President, at magjordan.msn.com.  Deadline for submitting names is March 31, 2008.  Most of the current officers and committee chairs have held positions in EXCOMM for many years.  Regardless of how well we have executed our positions, new blood with new ideas is always a good thing!

There have been very few ideas for the newCrescent logo.  With over 5,000 members in Crescent, surely there are some talented folks out there with artistic brains.  Please ask your members to put their talents to use to benefit Crescent.  We really have to get rid of those states and get a more modern logo!  February 29th is the absolute last day to submit ideas.

I received the following email, which may be of interest to your members. "Please consider adding www.snowskills.net to your links on your ski club website.
www.snowskills.net is the creation of a small group of ski/snowboard instructors at Sugarloaf in Maine . We've been posting tips on skiing, riding, and other winter outdoor recreation almost daily for two seasons now and believe that your club members would find www.Snowskills.net a useful resource for their outdoor fun.  It's our goal to make www.snowskills.net a current and fun source of winter recreation tips. The site is organized by category, including type of sport, snow condition, terrain, gear, and others.  It's free with no registration; please slide on by and check us out."

One last item needs attention - For the benefit of new presidents and BOD representatives, the purpose of this update needs to be explained. For many years, Crescent issued a monthly newsletter that contained all sorts of information (trip recaps, registration forms, interesting ski articles, etc.).  Eventually, it became extremely difficult to find anyone willing to be the newsletter editor.  It was decided, at a BOD meeting, that the newsletter would be discontinued, and Crescent's president would issue monthly "updates" dealing with Crescent's activities.  Whereas the newsletter was routinely posted on clubs' web sites or viewed at meetings, it appears, from various discussions I have had with Crescent members this winter, that the update is not being distributed.  It is important for clubs' members to have access to these updates so they have a better understanding of what actually transpires in an organization as large and diverse as Crescent.  I encourage all of you to have the updates posted on your club's web site or emailed to all of your members routinely.  I know that a couple of clubs do this because I have received feedback from their webmasters; the rest of you should do the same. 

Time to wrap this up. I have to go to Snowshoe this weekend with people who have become very good friends through my participation in Crescent activities.  If I hadn't gotten involved, I never would have met them.  There are many reasons to volunteer, and new and lasting friendships is a really great one.