News from Gelandesprung Ski Club in Green Bay, WI

May's Newsletter (click here)

We had a wonderful ski season. We started at Searchmont with excellent conditions and ended with a great trip to Beaver Creek and Vail, that also included plenty of good powder. Thank you to Adam Hansen and Frank Wickham (Searchmont) and Ron Quick and Kevin Klasen (Beaver Creek) for your leadership and to all of you that joined us on the trips. Each trip had as good of a group as we could hope to have. Thank you for trusting Gelandesprung with your ski trips. 

We had our annual business meeting at the Spring Banquet April 11^th. Your Board will include the same people for the next year. I was voted to a new 2-year term as president of your club.  Mark Heintzkill will be the secretary and Pia Heldt will be the social events coordinator for the next two years as well. Mark and Pia spoke to each other and decided each would prefer that move as well.  

We are working on our next trip. The Out-west Trip Committee has agreed to recommend Telluride. We expect to have a definitive decision for our western trip no later than the middle of May. At this point, I suggest that you keep January 10-17 available for our trip. 

We will also be providing more information regarding cycling rides hosted by some of our members and other summertime activities.

Please join our events during the summer and fall. It is a great way to get to see your friends and make new friends that enjoy the same activities. 

Finally, share your experiences with your friends and acquaintances. We offer good trip planning at a good price. You “write a check” and show up. But the people that we ski with are the greatest selling point.

Thanks to all for your support.

Tom Piette

April's Newsletter (click here)

Hi all,

In my last post I said I was looking forward to having great snow for our trip to Beaver Creek. It’s great when the snow comes as hoped with good conditions throughout the week and fresh powder on several days. We had a great group of people, a good trip leader (Ron Quick), and Kevin Klasen as a first-time assistant trip leader (start to finish). Kevin exhibited his excellent leadership skills throughout the week. Thank you Ron Quick and Kevin Klasen for all of the work to prepare and lead the trip.

Our Annual Meeting is at our Spring Banquet 6:00 PM April 11, at The Woods. Please sign up immediately and email Phil and Mark if you are signing up as you read this. Their emails are treasurer@gelandesprung.org and social@gelandesprung.org.

We will have elections for President, Secretary, and Social Events Coordinator. This is your club. Please consider participating as a Board Member or as a Chair to share your ideas to make us better. I started my time on the Board in 2014 and have enjoyed the opportunity to get to know many people through this activity.

In addition to elections to the Board, you will have the opportunity to vote to approve or disapprove the re-write of our bylaws that govern how our club operates. Our objective with this re-write of the bylaws to be concise and better organized without changing the content in any significant way from the guidelines that have led to our success over the years.

Claudia Elsner has determined that she will be able to continue to lead our marketing efforts. We will be cutting back on our participation in Farmers Markets to decrease the workload. Claudia has added a lot with her effort and I am pleased to have her continue. However, Claudia and the Board would like to find a volunteer that would be willing to help us to develop our presence on social media sites. As is, we do have a Facebook account that everyone can use to post trip photos and/or announce to friends that you are skiing and would like others to join you at a favorite location. Please make your interest known to us. This is not an elected position and Claudia would be happy to help you get started in this role.

Additionally, we will share the details of the policy that would allow a parent or guardian to take an 18-year-old adult on our ski trips, beginning next season. This is a change that has been requested for years by some parents. Our members demonstrated excellent support for this concept with an advisory vote during our Fall Social. The policy includes clear expectations to meet our objective of allowing young adults to participate without creating problems for trip leaders.

Finally, we award the Dick Wortiska Service Award at our Spring Banquet. This award is a high honor. The first step for this is to have one of our members submit a nomination to the Board. You may email the nominations to me at president@gelandesprung.org. Please review the award guidance in this newsletter.

Tom Piette

Hi all,

As I sit to write this post, we are one week from our trip to Beaver Creek. Snow conditions are good and more is on the way. With luck, we will get one of those late-season weather systems dropping copious quantities of fresh powder, followed by blue skies. Yup, I want it all! Regardless, we have a good group and we will have a great time. Thank you Ron Quick and Kevin Klasen for all of the work you have put into prepping for the trip.

We are also closing in on our Annual Meeting at our Spring Banquet 6:00 PM April 11, at The Woods. We will have elections for President, Secretary, and Social Events Coordinator. This is your club. Please consider participating as a Board Member or as a Chair to share your ideas to make us better. I started my time on the Board in 2014 and have enjoyed the opportunity to get to know many people through this activity.

Claudia Elsner will be stepping away from her role as our Marketing Chair in a few months. I will miss her knowledge and dedication to raising awareness of Gelandesprung Ski Club.  We could use an energetic individual to continue Claudia’s great work. Please make your interest known to us. This is not an elected position and Claudia would be happy to help you get started in this role.

You will also have an opportunity to vote to approve or disapprove our rewritten By-Laws that govern our Club. 

Additionally, we will share the details of the policy that would allow a parent or guardian to take an 18-year-old adult on our ski trips, beginning next season. This is a change that has been requested for years by some parents. Our members demonstrated excellent support for this concept with an advisory vote during our Fall Social. The policy includes clear expectations to meet our objective of allowing young adults to participate without creating problems for trip leaders.

Finally, we award the Dick Wortiska Service Award at our Spring Banquet. This award is a very high honor.  The first step for this is to have one of our members submit a nomination to the Board. You may email those nominations to me at president@gelandesprung.org. Please review the award guidance in this newsletter.

Tom Piette

February's Newsletter (click here)

Piette's Post

Hi all,

How things change! A month ago, we were at the end of a very warm period that delayed the opening of ski areas in our region. The very cold weather recently has helped many of our ski hills to make plenty of snow. I have finally been able to go skiing more often. I have been to Granite Peak several times and I can tell you that it has almost all of its runs open and in good condition. The good news for Searchmont is that the area is getting the Lake effect snow that is expected and had a foot of snow the week that I am writing my post.  Those that signed up, will likely be skiing as you read this post.

The Beaver Creek trip is just a few weeks away. Those of us that are signed up are looking forward to a great time skiing two amazing ski resorts, Vail and Beaver Creek. This trip is also at wait list only status.

We will be ramping up our discussions and planning for 2026 during February, beginning with our Board Meeting February 11.  Please send your suggestions to Ron Quick (trip.chair@gelandesprung.org) and Scot Wederquist (vice.president@gelandesprung.org) to share your thoughts for the resort you would like to visit.

As long as we have to wait for the ski season, it passes so quickly.  We only have about nine weeks left in our favorite season. Ski while the skiing is great!

Tom Piette

Piette's Post

Happy New Year as we welcome 2025,

Winter has arrived and our regional ski areas are reaching full capacity. I know many of our friends have been making turns on our local slopes for weeks now. It is shaping up as a more normal winter versus last year, when many of our resorts suffered throughout the season.

Our trip to Searchmont is just around the corner, January 31 to February 2, 2025. Searchmont has been getting lake-effect snow over the last few weeks and it’s normal for this to continue throughout early winter.  With more than 700 ft. vertical drop and 100 acres of slopes, Searchmont is a great Midwest location for the weekend.

We have room on the bus for more skiers and boarders. Our deadline is January 10, 2025. We will be giving up any unused hotel rooms at that point. Sign up now to make sure you have a spot! Cross-country skiers will enjoy a good trail system at Searchmont and a local park. Check the newsletter for details.

It was fun to watch the professional downhill races on the Birds of Prey over the last couple of weeks. The women raced Birds of Prey for the first time ever before Christmas. It has me wondering on which part of the race course I would crash if I were trying to ski fast on that run. Yet, I expect to ski the run at my own, possibly glacial pace, when the club is at Beaver Creek and Vail from March 1 to March 8, 2025. This trip is wait-list only at this point. 

Looking ahead, we have elections for our Board coming up on April 11, 2025, at our Spring Banquet. The open positions are President, Secretary and Social Events Coordinator. If you are interested in any one of these positions, please let a current Board member know. There will also be an opening on our Volunteer Committee for a Marketing person. Please consider serving on the Board or on the Volunteer Committee, as it is a good opportunity to get to know more members and make our club better.   

Wishing you a great 2025. I hope to see you soon.

Tom Piette

Piette's Post

Hi all,

As I am writing this post, the first snowfall of the year has happened. It’s about time! Although I know we enjoy the warm weather and summer activities, I am looking forward to having a lot of fun on the slopes this year. The long-term forecast is calling for cooler weather and more snow than average. With luck, this will be true and we will all be able to enjoy local downhill and Nordic skiing.

Our first trip, back by popular demand, is to Searchmont from January 31 to February 2, 2025. Searchmont is known for excellent natural snow conditions due to lake effect snow, good lifts and great runs. We also stay in a nice hotel, the Water Tower Inn, with excellent restaurants close by. We will probably go elsewhere next ski season, so don’t miss your chance this year. Cross-country skiers will enjoy a good trail system at Searchmont and a local park. Check the newsletter for details.

Beaver Creek/Vail is March 1-8, 2025. I can’t wait. Beaver creek and its accommodations (The Charter) are great.  Beaver Creek is known for being an early stop for world cup skiing (Birds of Prey for downhill), great runs with beautiful grooming and bowls for those that want it steep and deep. The complimentary chocolate chip cookies are also a hit with our skiers. Being able to take a short inexpensive bus ride to Vail as often as I wish during the week is the cherry on top of a great trip. Vail is also a top ski resort. The frontside has every type of run from Green Groomers to steep bumps. Additionally, Vail takes bowl skiing to the next level with huge areas of groomed and ungroomed snow for all levels. Riva Ridge is my favorite last run of the day of anyplace I have ever skied. Almost four miles long, Riva Ridge is Vail Mountain's longest single-run ski trail and is fun from top to bottom. It doesn’t get any better.

Our Christmas party is right around the corner on December 10.  Along with a great menu of Chicken Cordon Bleu, Prime Rib, or grilled Salmon we will have Matt Buch (DPT) presenting injury prevention for skiers and snowboarders to our members. His presentation will go about 30 minutes and he will stay for questions after. 

You don’t want to miss this. If you did not sign up by November 30, and you want to go, it will still be possible to order food from the pub if necessary.

I’m looking forward to a great ski season. I hope to see all of you at the party.

Tom Piette

Piette's Post

Hi all,

We had a nice time at our Fall Social this year.  I thought using the approach of having a small-plates dinner was a nice change of pace.  I would like to hear from you, if you attended, to tell me what you thought of this type of meal.  Send a note to me at President@Gelandesprung.org to let me know.  I will share the feedback with the Board.

We had the usual discussions regarding the trips that our clubs have planned.  At the time of the Social, our trip to Beaver Creek already had 66 people signed up.  We have 11 “pillows” remaining and plenty of room on the flight out of Milwaukee.  The sign-up period will end November 29 because any unused rooms and seats on the flight must be given up at that time.  If you want to join us for an unforgettable time at Beaver Creek, sign up right away.

We have not discussed the idea of using “Ship Skis” to transfer ski gear in the past.  This is something that SkiGroup will be offering.  Ron will write an article for next month’s Newsletter to cover the details and cost of using this service instead of carrying and paying for our luggage onto the buses and planes.   Pia and Phil Heldt have used this approach and reported they love the simplicity and convenience of having luggage delivered to and picked up from the hotel.

Scot has done a great job of planning a trip to Searchmont, which is back by popular demand from people at the end of last year’s trip.  The bus will leave Green Bay the week before the Super Bowl, on January 31, 2025 and returns us home February 2, 2025.  The trip is open for sign-up now.  I hope to see you on the trip!

We asked people to fill out a survey regarding the question of allowing younger people to join our trips.  The surveys demonstrated very strong support to allow 18-year-old adults to join our trips.  The caveat is that they will be allowed only if they travel with a parent.  The reason for the parental limitation is that we allow alcoholic beverages on our buses and the National drinking age is 21.  Gelandesprung leaders would be placed in a no-win situation of “policing” minors regarding alcohol consumption without the parent.  The Board will move through a process to define how this will occur, assuming the Board approves this change.  We will have this addressed no later than the Holiday party in December.

Finally, I would like to get the word out that we have elections for the positions of Secretary, Social Events Coordinator and President at our Spring Banquet, which will be held at The Woods on Friday, April 11, 2025.  Please consider becoming involved with the club.  I have been on the Board for about ten years.  I can tell you that this experience has been worthwhile in many ways.  One of the greatest feelings is seeing people have so much fun at our events and trips.   You can talk to any one of us on the Board to express interest.  The Christmas party (Dec. 10) would be a great time to do that.

Tom Piette

October's Newsletter (click here)

Piette’s Post

Winter is coming! Snowmaking operations should be starting in about 6 weeks.

Summer is officially over and our ski trips are opening for the winter season. Beaver Creek (with Vail) opened September 14^th as discussed last month. As I write this, we have over 60 people signed up and we still have room for more. Our flights this year, as scheduled, will be much easier to deal with. Our direct flight from Appleton sold out very quickly. We also have a direct flight out of Milwaukee Mitchel Field. As scheduled, each flight is at a good time so we do not need to leave home in the middle of the night. Beaver Creek and Vail have some of the best skiing in the West. I know I am looking forward to this trip, especially after not being able to go last year. I hope to see you there.

Scot and the Midwest trip team have done a great job of planning a weekend trip to Searchmont January 31 to February 2, 2025. We have information about our Midwest trip in the body of the newsletter. Keep reading and we hope you can join us.

Please plan to join us at the Seasonal Kickoff Fall Social Thursday, October 17.  We have changed the format from a Banquet to a Social. We are using an informal approach to allow for plenty of visiting with our ski club friends. We think this will be a fun event for all and we will have some good Hors d’oeuvres. We will have a limited number of announcements during the event to keep you up to date on our news. Our intent is to keep the announcements concise so you have time to socialize. There is a registration form in the newsletter that is due by Saturday, October 5.

Finally, I would like to get the word out that we have elections for the positions of Secretary, Social Events Coordinator and President at our Spring Banquet, which will be held at The Woods on Friday, April 11, 2025.  Please consider becoming involved. I have been on the board for about ten years. I can tell you that this experience has been worthwhile in so many ways. One of the greatest feelings is seeing people have so much fun at our events and trips. You can talk to any one of us on the Board to express interest. The Fall Social would be a great time to do that.

Tom Piette

Piette’s Post

It is Labor Day Weekend, signaling that our summer is passing into our memories and autumn will be here in a few weeks. This also means that we are days away from the opening of our trip to Beaver Creek/Vail next March. Beaver Creek and Vail are personal favorites for me to ski and it is included on the Epic pass that you will use for this trip.  We moved the first day to sign up, to one week later for your benefit. This will allow you to have enough time to choose your options without a time crunch.

The trip opens for signup on Saturday, September 14^th, at 9 AM.  We will be using the same signup system from SkiGroup that we used last year for our western trip.  The link to the website to sign up is in this issue of the newsletter. Ron Quick, our trip leader, has more information in this newsletter, please read the details and make your plan. You will find the Charter to be a great place to stay regardless of your choice of rooms 

I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer. One of the ways to do that is to join us at the 2024 Quick Bike Ride at Silarian Winery on Saturday, September 21^st.  It is a good venue and includes a live band.  Check out the details in the newsletter.

We are also hoping to have a good gathering for our Fall Social (formerly our fall banquet), Thursday, October 17^th.  Based on feedback from the club, we are using an informal approach to allow for plenty of visiting with our ski club friends. We think this will be a fun event for all. Any meeting portion will be short and to the point. See details in the newsletter for sign up.

One thing I learned while watching “Game of Thrones” is that “winter is coming.” Granite Peak and other resorts will be starting their snowmaking process about two months from now. I hope to see you on the slopes.

Tom Piette       

Piette’s Post

As I write this, we are experiencing some very warm, humid weather. Yet this is the time of the year that it is best to build the fitness that we use while skiing during our coming season. I am sorry to say that my fitness level is not where I want it to be. I have somehow been distracted by golf and three weeks of vacations for travel and for UP golf. I can tell you that I am hitting the ball as straight as ever. Unfortunately, it is straight into the woods, straight into the water, etc.  Perhaps I should change my focus to cycling to build those muscles for skiing. On the other hand, the law of averages would indicate that my next round will be great…

I am happy to say that Rita and Gary Delveaux organized another good ride to Ledgestone Vineyard & Brewery. Thank you! Several people mentioned to me that the participation was great and everyone had a good time.  I returned home from Sweetgrass too late for the ride.  Better planning (by me) should be expected for next year. I do like to participate in our activities and see many of our members.

I do have a question for all of our members. We stopped having our summer picnic during the pandemic. Please write a note to me if you believe we should start having a picnic again or a different activity to bring our members together (President@gelandesprung.org).

Finally, I have been asked by several people about the sign-up for Beaver Creek, March 1 to March 8, 2025. The short answer is we needed to delay the opening from our original plan because we have not yet received the airline costs that we want to have. The sign-up will happen either the final week of August or early September. 

Enjoy the rest of your summer,

Tom Piette