www.indyskiclub.org

May-June 2015 NEWS FOR SKIERS AND SNOWBOARDERS Volume 55, No. 3

Dates to put on your social calendar:

Note – the club has a limited number of discounted Symphony tickets

May 16 - Qualification Day at IMS, contact Lisa Sindelar

May 21 - 6 pm Thursday Thirst, Scotty’s Brewhouse downtown

June 15 - Indianapolis Indians game at Victory Field, contact Lisa Sindelar

June 18 - 6 pm Thursday Thirst, Rick’s Boatyard at Eagle Creek

June 20 - Symphony on the Prairie, Boogie Nights 70s Music Volunteer needed

July 3 - Symphony on the Prairie Independence day, Ray Battey 842-0831

July 11 - Mallow Run Concert Picnic - contact Lisa Sindelar

July 16 - 6 pm Thursday Thirst, Bella Vita at Geist, 11699 Fall Creek Rd

August 8 - Symphony on the Prairie, Music of the Beatles Volunteer needed

August 20 - 6 pm Thursday Thirst, City BBQ, south side

Sept 17 - 6 pm Thursday Thirst, Champps North, near the Fashion Mall

October 15 - 6 pm Thursday Thirst, Moe & Johnny’s on College in Broad Ripple

November 19 - 6 pm Thursday Thirst, Twin Peaks - Northeast side

December 17 - 6 pm Thursday Thirst, Scotty’s Brewpub south Southport Rd

Latest info is always on the club website www.indyskiclub.org

Biking with the Ski Club Ray Battey

Our cycling group, the Monon Riders, got started Saturday May 9th with a ride from Broad Ripple north to 146th St and back, with a stop at the Carmel Farmer’s Market for coffee,

snacks and entertainment by a guitar player in their outdoor area. Several of our regulars were at the Speedway, so we were limited in number but we had a great time. Come join us on our next ride which will be from the Brew Pub in Broad Ripple to downtown and back. Meet at 9:30 AM on Saturday morning May 16th. If you haven’t been on a ride with us before, come join the group. We ride at a very reasonable pace and make plenty of stops. If you skied this year, your legs are probably still in good shape and the rides will help keep them in shape for next

year’s ski trips. Ray, 842-0831

IN THIS

ISSUE….

Trip reports - Beaver Creek, Italy, Big Sky

Take out the trash in Vermont, bust your keester

Summer social slate

Another Randy travelogue

Office: 317.259.6000 Fax: 317.524.7595 Tom: 317.432.9322 Priscilla: 317.289.7776

American Blind Skiing Foundation would like to thank CMSC and participating clubs (Indy) for their year round support. ABSF is holding a summer fundraiser Pig Roast on Saturday, the 20th of June in Des Plaines, IL. All Indy Ski Club members and their families are wel-come to attend. Live music by the Polkaholics. Cost is $20. Reservations are required. Please see the at-tached Reservation Form for details. If you have any questions, please contact Michelle Hulscher (mitch.350@live.com or 847-508-7793).

2015 Trips Recap By: Jean Ballinger Trips VP

We had 6 wonderful trips this season. Thanks to those members who took trips. You gave the Indianapolis Ski club another successful year. We paid attention to where you said you wanted to go, based on the trip evaluation sheets that you turn in at the end of every trip. We also did an on-line survey and planned trips based on feedback from both. Surprisingly, Big Sky was a leading choice, so we went there for the second year in a row. Banff and Beaver Creek were other top choices, and both trips had to be expanded to accommodate everyone who wanted to go. Telluride was another top choice, but the trip priced out at over $1800. It was decided that was too costly (you could go to Europe for that) so we didn’t have a trip to Telluride. Instead, we went to Winter Park. Maybe next season the prices will be better for a trip to Telluride. We continued our European tradition with a trip to Madonna di Campiglio with a pre-week at Cortina.

Thanks to the trip leaders who work so hard to make things go smoothly.

Trip Leader No. of Participants Banff Joan Naffziger 52 Steamboat Jackie Sundboom 37 Winter Park Linda O’Brien 23 Beaver Creek Priscilla Johnson 40 Madonna di Campiglio Randy Ridgway 16 Big Sky Tom Johnson 30

Priscilla Johnson is busy already, planning our trips for the 2016 ski season. Please take time to complete the on-line survey to let the club know where you want to ski.

Trip Leaders L-R:

Linda O’Brien,

Jackie Sundboom,

Joan Naffziger,

Tom Johnson,

Priscilla Johnson,

Eileen (Mrs Randy)

Ridgway

Attention

All Members!!

If you move or

change tele-

phone numbers

you need to let

Marilyn Rader

know the

changes so that

you can con-

tinue to receive

all the Boomer

and other

mailings.

TTTThe Prez Speaks….he Prez Speaks….he Prez Speaks….he Prez Speaks….

It’s always crazy to think about how quickly the regular “membership season” be-comes a blur, a distant memory. As much as I enjoy winter and skiing, there is noth-ing that warms my heart more than being in Indy during the month of May -the warm temps, the flowers, and Indy 500! We are fortunate to live in an area where we get four distinct seasons—ski season, Indy 500 season, biking/boating season, and foot-ball season! Summertime is here, and it’s a good time to relax and enjoy the various social events on the calendar. Who can pass up sitting on a deck near water, enjoying drinks, food, music, and the company of our fellow ISC members?! We will also be at Symphony on the Prairie on three different evenings, so choose a night (or all nights) and make a date with the Indy Ski Club. We need a “point person” for the 6/20 Boogie Nights show and a “point person” for the 8/8 Beatles show. A “point person” is the main contact for the group; members find each other at the show by searching for that person. Priscilla is busy gathering information for trips, so be aware of an upcoming trip survey to be sent to you - past feed-back has been worthwhile in focusing on trips that members will support. Stay tuned to the website/email for information on our annual picnic/trip sign-up meeting. Details will be announced closer to the date, but don’t hesitate to mention “skiing” in casual conversations with friends, family, and strangers! A big thanks for the great turnout at our April Meltdown meeting at George’s Neighborhood Grill, which included trip recaps, officer elections, and lots of great food. I can’t thank the board (Phil Buehler, Ray Battey, Richard Rader, Marilyn Rader, Priscilla Johnson, and Jean Ballinger) and other committee members such as Mel Crichton, Martha Heinrich, Jackie Sundboom, and Ed Kabat enough for their volunteer time to the club and their support during my tenure. I will still be around, and I look forward to supporting Phil and his newly elected officers as he takes the reins of the club and envisions ways to help grow membership.

See you this summer!! Lisa

May-June BIRTHDAYS

Rudolf Hoellein 5/1 Joan Naffziger 5/5 Nuria Morral 5/9 Glen Kaiser 5/14 Sue McNiel 5/14 Lisa Sindelar 5/16 Ray Battey 5/17 Charles Grant 5/17 Bill Maxwell 5/18 Nancy Rosiak 5/21 Karen Morris 5/23

Kelsey Tumey 5/23 Joe Summers 5/24 Lori Swisshelm 5/26 Cheryl Moultrie 5/28 Steven Pyles 5/29 Ronald Evans 6/1 Richard Rader 6/4 Gayle Kersch 6/6 Bryan Smith 6/6 Chuck Rossen 6/8 Joe Smith 6/8

Elsie Flanders 6/10 Jeni Lingo 6/13 Joan Alfred 6/15 Michael Buis 6/16 Dana Sindelar 6/19 Christy Sharp 6/20 Phil Buehler 6/24 Klaus Seibert 6/25 Judy Birt 6/29 Bob Corya 6/29

Our prez kissing the bricks after the 2015 mini

VVVView from the Sky iew from the Sky iew from the Sky iew from the Sky Mel Crichton, Boomer editor

To paraphrase Shakespeare (Richard the Third), “That was the winter of our discontent”. Sure, we had good snowfall in the Rockies all fall season through the Holidays and great snow after spring began, but somehow the three winter months in between were the lamest I’ve seen in years. We were lucky compared to the ski areas farther west… The Sierras and the Cascades suffered from light (to no) snowfall, and almost every day I met folks on the chairlift from Seattle or San Francisco. We talked about the lack of snow near their homes, and then wondered why the good stuff had to fall in New England; they don’t know what to do with powder! To add insult to injury, New England won the Super Bowl, too. But the warm temps did have benefits…—–>

OK, the snow was so-so last winter (I still got 87 days). As they say in the NFL, “there’s al-ways next year.”

Vermont Roadtrip by Ray Battey

Killington and Stowe are two of the biggest, oldest and best ski resorts in the northeast. I had skied a couple of the smaller Vermont resorts but never these two gems, so early in March, Ita Wojciechowska and I drove to Vermont. It’s a good day and a half trip, about 870 miles. We skied Killington the first day. Known as the “Beast of the East”, Killington is big even by western standards with 1,500 skiable acres, 22 lifts and 155 trails. Killington Peak tops out at 4,241 feet with 3,050 feet of vertical. There is plenty of skiing there for skiers of all ability. We had fresh powder on a good base and enjoyed the experience. Two days later we hit Stowe and with the temperature now in the 40’s, we had to convert to spring skiing. This mountain is

equally challenging and, for the second time, Ita and I managed to lose each other (my fault of course). (It’s always the guy’s fault - ed.)

The skiers at eastern resorts are mostly day-trippers. That means large parking lots and ski lodges stuffed with boot bags. If you are staying in the area, there are some resort hotels and lots of B & B’s. We sponged off a relative, my brother Tom and his wife, and had no problem getting to the resorts. Tom lives on Lake Champlain and on an off day Ita and I hiked several miles out onto the lake (ice was 30 inches thick), talking with ice fishermen along the way. Another interesting side trip was a brief stop at the Trapp Family Lodge after our day at Stowe. Leaving the bar we met Johannes von Trapp, the last surviving member of the original Trapp Family Singers. The von Trapp family emigrated to America from Austria in 1938 (check out the old movie “The Sound of Music”).

As a club we have no current plans to go to these resorts as most of our members prefer to ski in the west. But if you are looking for an adventure or change of pace, these two resorts along with Sunday River in Maine are worth a look. (Editor note Ray tells us that he slipped and busted his can while carrying out the trash at his brother’s place. DUH !!! Everyone knows there’s ice in New England!!!)

April Spring Meltdown meeting Bergie Award to Dick Surber

The bell worked to quiet the crowd

More photos in the LIBRARY at the club website www.indyskiclub.org

Beaver Creek – “ Not exactly roughing it!” Twenty-nine of us flew out of Indy EARLY on Saturday morning and arrived at Ridgepoint Condos to be greeted by the gypsies - Marilyn and Richard Rader, who had been out west for 26 days, and also Don Birt and Paul Se-gasser, the meandering marauders, along with Loren Rasmussen and David Adair, all of whom had gotten their ski legs on before meeting up with us! Mel Crichton drove in from Big Sky on Sunday. Unfortunately, Bill Bizjak, coming from North Carolina, had a flight delay and arrived later.

New to the club, Cheryl and Carl Moultrie met us at Denver Airport for our scenic bus ride through the mountains. As the week ended, they decided to stay on to enjoy the great conditions until Monday. ( Lucky people!)

We were welcomed by the staff of Ridgepoint and then settled into our condos. All seemed pleased with the space, and the frequent town shuttle made for easy ac-cess to the slopes. The shuttle on demand was helpful

for after hours and getting to restaurants in the village.

We were in full force at 39 when we gathered for pizza on Tuesday night in the Ridgepoint recep-tion/office. There was much conversation and laughter as we consumed pizza from Pazzo Pizza. We celebrated the birthdays of Marilyn Rader, Sue Johnson, and Don Birt with cake, singing and not too many candles. Several used their lift passes at Vail and had a great time. On Wednesday, we had about 12 inches of fresh snow, making the blue skies and sunshine on Thursday and Friday even better. It takes your breath away!

Added to the terrain of Beaver Creek were the greener Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead, which we accessed by skiing OR via the Ritz Carlton bus! ( A

much easier way of getting there to enjoy those slopes!)

Some managed to stay on the slopes long enough for the 3 o’clock champagne at the Chophouse, and some enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies at the base of Centennial. A few hung on for après ski at Powder 8.The Dusty Boot, the Blue Moose, and Toscanini’s were all enjoyed for dinner.

We bussed back to Denver with a stop at a huge mall and caught our plane for a late night arrival back home. Fortunately we had a short wait for luggage and all headed for home, safe, sound and happy to have skied Beaver Creek.

Priscilla Johnson, trip leader

Is this rack for real?

BIG SKY MONTANA, March 28 to April 4, 2015 All 30 members on this trip arrived early for the plane to Bozeman, Montana. Did this set the trend for the rest

of the trip? The bus to Big Sky left early and so did the return bus! Our plane from Billings left the gate 15 min-

utes early, too! It pulled away from the gate, revved its engines for 5 minutes……. and then pulled back into the

gate with an electrical problem. Our flight home from Minneapolis on a 50 passenger plane had too much luggage to

take off. An hour later it had been emptied and reloaded!

What a great time we had at Big Sky! We learned to pick our runs to get the best springtime conditions in the

morning and then elsewhere in afternoon to avoid skiing slush or ice ! This all ended midweek when snow and colder

temps arrived on Wednesday. Thursday was good, but Friday was GREAT! Most skipped lunch to enjoy a “bluebird

day”. Johnny O ‘s “Last Run of the Year” Party on Friday afternoon kept a dozen on the slopes past closing.

Part of our group stayed in the Big Horn Condos and the rest were in the Huntley Lodge. Those in the Huntley had

gained weight in just a week due to the wonderful breakfast buffet!

Cathy Drook and Mel Crichton were a wonderful asset. They lined up their friend Steve Turner, a Big Sky Ambas-

sador, and the three of them took the entire group on a day long mountain tour! They also provided us with daily

pre-trip snow reports and entertained us all on Thursday night with a dinner party at their lovely home, including

birthday cakes for Ginny Bohlen and Debbie Stubbs. They also arranged for transportation there and back.

We had the pleasure of having our “German Contingent” as entertainment too! Sunday morning Karl Gossweiler (85)

took a spill and was knocked out. (Yes, he was wearing a helmet). He was sledded to the clinic and then on to Boze-

man hospital. He returned the following day, but didn’t want his lift ticket refunded! He said “I’m here to ski, not

to watch”! Gerhard Klemm hired a Bluegrass group to play at our pizza party. Klaus Seibert showed up with funny

gold front teeth on April 1 and said his great den-

tist, (Karl Gossweiler) had done the dental work.

Since it was Spring Break we had 5 young adults

with us. David Dennison (17), Celia Rossen (10),

Macy Gluys (14), Anya Rearick (9) and Kenneth

Haynes (12). David showed up in a Big Bird costume

to celebrate April Fools Day! These young folks not

only helped to bring our group’s average age down,

but also helped to entertain us during the week.

We hope they will join us for another trip!

Tom Johnson, trip leader

Remembering Italy….2015: Cortina d’Ampezzo and Madonna di Campiglio A ski trip to Europe is not just a ski trip, it’s a life experience. I’ll remember every day as a unique adventure. You can never replicate one of those days, as every morning is a new opportunity to grab your skis, join your friends, and set out to somewhere you’ve never been in a quest to discover that perfect, ethereal moment. And when you do experience that alpine epiphany, it’s so much better because your friends are there too, sharing it at the same time.

This year, we offered a pre-trip extension so you could ski two of the most popular desti-nations in Italy. Our first week was Cortina d’Ampezzo, nestled in a forested valley sur-rounded by the Dolomite mountains of northeastern Italy. Our itinerary took us from In-dianapolis to Atlanta, through Amsterdam, and on to Venice. The flights went smoothly, and we were on time to meet our bus and host Claudia at the Marco Polo airport. The two hour ride to Cortina was enjoyable for those who could stay awake. It was a sunny afternoon and Claudia shared information about the region, the towns we passed through, and the surrounding mountains. We arrived at the Hotel Concordia Parc, lo-cated two blocks from the town square.

We had a couple hours until dinner after unpacking, so we explored Cortina. It’s always fun to watch people. It seems that in the late afternoon everyone goes for a walk. Some people were shop-ping, and others walking at a fast pace with a cell phone held to their ear and talking incessantly while waving their other hand in the air as if they were swat-ting at flies. Others were in fur coats, sauntering at a slow pace and enjoying a conversation with a friend while their coiffured dogs sniffed at everything. A land-mark in Cortina is the Cathedral of Sts. Phillip and James. We stepped inside the church and caught the last few minutes of the Sunday evening Mass.

Dining is a joy in Europe. The food is fresh, locally pro-duced and without preservatives. Our hotel package included dinner and breakfast daily. It’s so easy and convenient to just go to the hotel restaurant for meals. There is never the awkward situation when you can’t decide which restaurant to go to, what time to go, and

with whom you’re going to dinner. We were always their first patrons when the dining room opened at 7:30 pm. We enjoyed proper dining with pristine white tablecloths and linen napkins and a full setting of tableware. The friendly wait staff was led by a very professional maitre d’hôtel named Vittorio. The second evening Vittorio presented our menus in English. We had a choice of several items for each course. Included were an appetizer, a salad bar, a first course, and a second course fol-lowed by dessert. Sometimes we received special treatment, like gelato chiccolata, that wasn’t on the menu. Dinner was our time to socialize. With everyone together we could talk about the day we’d just had and share our experiences. The eight of us from Indianapolis were joined by four men from the Dayton ski club. By the second evening we had be-come new friends. The three girls in our group, Eileen Ridgway, Carol Woodward, and Eldonna Rees, quickly became very popular with the wait staff. At breakfast, when the girls ordered cappuccino, Pietro and Fran-cesco scripted a smiley face or I Love Italy message in the foam.

There are numerous skiing opportunities around Cortina. Our first day we shuttled a few blocks to the Faloria ski area near the hotel. Two aerial trams took us above the town up a vertical rock face to a plateau. As it was cloudy and had been snowing, we found ourselves in a soupy fog. After riding a chairlift to the top, we started our first ski run which was pretty steep. About midway down we got below the clouds, and I could see black piste markers. Wisely, I didn’t share my ob-servation until later in the day. From then on everything went great. We had fantastic snow, the visibility was better and there weren’t many skiers this Monday morning. After lunch, we crossed the road and skied at the Cristallo area. For you movie buffs, the Sylvester Stallon movie “Cliffhanger” was filmed in the mountains of Faloria. And the James Bond movie “For Your Eyes Only” was filmed in Cortina in 1981.

Another ski area accessible by ski shuttle from Cortina is a mountain named Tofana, with an aerial tram to Col Druscie.

You can ski from there or take a second tram to Ra Valles and the Freccia nel Cielo ski pistes. The best snow was at this high altitude. We skied there on two mornings and found few people, great skiing, and fantastic views of Cortina and the surrounding moun-tains. After lunch, we skied from Col Druscie to the Pomedes area. A Women's World Cup ski race is held here every January on the Olympia run. Lindsey Vonn has won nu-merous Downhill and Super G events on this piste that bisects two huge rock formations.

The REAL skiing adventure begins away from Cortina. We took the ski bus from the sta-tion near our hotel and went to Passo Falzarego. There we boarded an aerial tram to Forcela de Lagazuoi. On the observation deck, you feel like you’re standing on the top of Italy. After absorbing the enormity of the mountain panorama we set out on the 6 kilometer Armentarola run. This is known as the Hidden Valley. It’s an intermediate piste that ebbs and flows through an immense walled valley. Pristine and isolated describe it best. It’s hard to watch where you’re skiing because of the beauty that surrounds you. You help-

lessly try to photograph the panorama, but know you can’t capture the grandeur of it all. As the trail reaches the timberline, it flattens into a pocket in the valley and a stone structure comes into view, an alpine refuge known as Rifugio Scotoni. It’s the first sign of civilization in the valley. You’re now in Alta Badia. Rifugio Scotoni is a restaurant with a few rooms for over-night guests, a popular destination in the summer for alpine hikers. There’s a small wooden chapel about 200 meters up

the valley. The deck of the restaurant is filled with skiers. How many lan-guages can you hear being spoken? There’s a local dialect known as Ladin. The rifugio is called Utia Scotoni in Ladin. After a restroom break, another Cappucino, and visiting with some new sundeck friends it’s time to go. Andiamo! The ski piste turns and drops into the shadows where a fro-zen waterfall hangs above. Hues of white, blue, and turquoise ice merge into a sculpture crafted by nature. Next, there’s a steep descent and the trail passes a restaurant and the end of a paved road. The piste narrows and some pol-ing is required. As our arms tired we saw a group of ski-ers standing around two horses and a sleigh. This is the Traino Cavelli, the “horse lift.” For 2 Euros we grabbed

onto a long rope that trails behind the sleigh. Skiers pair up on each side of the rope, and the horses pull skiers and sleigh about 2 kilometers to the village of Armentarola. Yes, we sang a refrain of Jingles Bells and the Europeans joined in, too. From Armentarola we took a poma high enough that we could ski to the gondola in San Cassiano. At the top of the gondola is Piz Sorega. This made a great place for a long and leisurely lunch. From here, we skied back to Armentarola and took a taxi back up the valley to Passo Falzarego, thus completing the northern end of the Super 8. On another day we skied on to La Villa and the Gran Risa, a World Cup Giant Slalom race course. From La Villa you can ski to Corvara which is one of the towns on the Sella Massif and a part of the Sella Ronda.

From Passo Falzarego, the guys skied from the Forcela de Lagazuoi to Col Gallina. There we saw some friends we’d met at Rifugio Scotoni, whom we followed to the Cinque Torri ( five towers ) area. At the top of the Cinque Torri is another alpine refuge known as Rifugio Averau. Our friends headed off to their hotel at Passo Giau, and we took the chairlift to Croda Negra. We skied back to Col Gallina and met up with the girls (Hot Chicks on Sticks ) at Passo Falzarego to catch the bus back to Cortina. We had now completed the southern portion of the Super 8. Scratch that one off the bucket list!

Ciao 4 now, Randiamo Ridgway, trip leader

Does anyone get hurt? Is there an Italian version of Montezuma’s revenge? Who gets arrested? Will our intrepid tourists escape to America across the Alps, or be tossed out by the policia??

CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE - Ed

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May 2015

Postmaster: If Undeliverable Please Return to: Marilyn Rader 7834 Valley Stream Dr Indianapolis IN 46237-8537

Next meeting - Summer picnic - be cool

President: Lisa Sindelar 709-5231 President-elect: Phil Buehler 313-7741 Secretary: Ray Battey 842-0831 Treasurer: Richard Rader 888-7168

VP Trips: Jean Ballinger 696-2120 VP-elect trips: Priscilla Johnson 289-7776 VP Member Services: Marilyn Rader 888-7168 Website www.indyskiclub.org

Articles for July-August issue to Mel Crichton kj9c@iquest.net by June 22, 2015

Indianapolis Ski Club Officers 2014-2015 see photos at http://indyskiclub.org/abouttheboard.asp

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June 2015

16 ISC at IMS

22 Boomer deadline

LATEST INFO IS ONLINE AT www.indyskiclub.org

20 Board transition

20 Symphony on the Prairie

7/3 Symphony on the Prairie

15 Indians ball game

21 Thursday Thirst @ Scottys dwntwn