Contact us
| Wichita Ski Club P.O. Box 2451 Wichita, KS 67201 |
[Hot News]
To receive our latest activity information in your inbox:
Flatlander
Blabber Mouth
Member of Flatland Ski Association
Here are the stories of just a few WSC adventures. If you have written a story or have an idea for one, please Contact us.
Join the Wichita Ski Club the weekend of June 21-23, 2013 on the Huzzah River Float Trip.
Friday, June 21st
Saturday, June 22nd
Sunday, June 23rd
Activity Tickets: $45.00 / person for WSC members and $55.00 / person for non-members which includes Raft/canoe rental. A mix of 6-man rafts, canoes and 1 person kayaks have been reserved. If water levels are low rafts will not be available. Please let Misty Woodward know if you want a raft, canoe or kayak. BBQ, Baked Potato, Corn on the Cob, Salad, Cobbler, Ice Tea/Lemonade, bread, plates, napkins and eating utensil's for Saturday's potluck dinner. You must reserve your spot by June 4th SNO. No one may sign up after June 4th. Also if you cancel after June 10th, there will be no refund of money.
Lodging: Huzzah Valley Resort
Camping: (Saturday's potluck dinner location). $11.71/person/night to be paid on your own. Flushing toilets and coin-operated shower facilities available. Electric hookups are available for an additional $12.78/site/night. 100% deposit is required when booking your camp site or cabin. Cabins are available for those who don't want to camp. Alternate lodging may be booked independently at Huzzah Valley Resort. CALL FOR A RESERVATION WHETHER CAMPING OR BOOKING A CABIN!!! If Camping, let them know you are with the Wichita Ski Club & that you would like to be close to that group.
Contact Huzzah Valley Resort at 1.800.367.4516 or at www.huzzahvalley.com
Saturday's Potluck: Every 3-4 people please bring a dish to share, Club will provide BBQ, baked potato, salad, corn on the cob, cobbler, ice tea/lemonade & bread.
Other Activities at Huzzah Valley Resort: Dining Hall: There is a Breakfast Buffett on Saturday & Sunday mornings from 7:30 – 10am. It is $10.12/person. It includes scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage, biscuits & gravy & hash browns. No reservations needed. You can also have pizza & wings delivered to your campsite/cabin. You can also buy a sack lunch for on the river. There is Horseback Riding & Hayrack rides at an additional cost.
Other Attractions close by are Meramec Spring Park, Dillard Mill, Ozark Trail, Onondaga Cave, Meramec Caverns & some Winery's.
Huzzah River 2013
For more information contact Trip Captain Misty Woodward Cell Phone and
Text Messages 316.655.0239 or
Contact
us.
Join the WSC for a spring trip to Kanopolis Lake on Friday through Sunday, May 17-19. Deadline for sign-up is Monday, May 13.
Location is Kanopolis Lake near Marquette & Lindsborg, KS. Cottonwood Campground located in the Langley Point area.
Plans are to hike the Horsethief Canyon Trail starting at 10:00 on Saturday, 18 May GPS: N38 40.500 W97 59.880
Cost is $5.00 (No charge for hikers only if not staying for dinner). Grilled chicken breast Saturday night at 6:00pm. Please bring a side dish to share Saturday night.
For more information or to sign up contact Trip Captain Jane Moriarty at Contact us.
Photos at flickr
Tag of
flatland13
On Tuesday evening January 22, 2013, eighteen members of the Wichita Ski Club boarded a bus to travel to Snowmass, Colorado, for the Forty-ninth Annual Flatland Ski Races.
We proceeded as planned to our first stop at Salina to pick up our final passenger, Andy Glatt. The trip was pleasant and uneventful until nearing Salina the bus caught on fire. We arrived in Salina where we were met by Andy and a large contingent of the Salina Fire Department. The fire was extinguished promptly and we enjoyed a two hour rest break until our replacement bus arrived. We then proceeded to our destination and arrived only one hour behind schedule.
Our bus was too large to get to our condos, but Snowmass Hospitality had all units ready for check in and numerous bellmen available to transport us and our luggage to our homes for the next five days. Our condos were all three bedrooms with two baths and full kitchens and room enough for all residents to be comfortable.
Wednesday was a ski at your leisure day and that night Tatyana Bobrova invited our entire group over for her now traditional chili feed, which as always was excellent. Thank you, Tatyana.
Thursday was the day of the Masters Race for those who chose to participate. Ski Hog will have the results at the February meeting. Thursday night was the get acquainted party for all the Flatland clubs. It included a baked potato bar, a DJ and an endless supply of Boulevard Beer (our best sponsor in my opinion). The crowd appeared to be over three hundred in number.
The men's and women's Challenge Races were held on Friday under very good skiing conditions. Again, Ski Hog will have the results at the February meeting. There were no FSA events scheduled for Friday night and several in our group traveled to Aspen for dinner. If any of them rubbed elbows with any of Aspen's "beautiful people" or movie stars, it was not reported to this reporter.
The open race was held on Saturday (first timers race), along with the snowboard races and snowshoe relay race. These events were followed Saturday night with the awards banquet.
The skiing conditions were very good for the week in spite of Snowmass having a thin base. There were areas on the lower part of the mountain that required caution. It snowed several inches on Saturday night which gave most of our members a chance to ski in heavy powder.
The bus trip home was uneventful and we arrived at Cessna Activity Center at 5:15 a.m. on Monday.
It was a great trip. Everyone could get all the skiing they could handle. (no lift lines, six person high speed chairs and electronic gate passes) Our accommodations were first rate which included several members taking daily advantage of the large hot tub. Max commented that one time when he was there, it contained an impressive Brazilian structure. You will need to ask him about the details.
All the employees at Snowmass, from the shuttle bus drivers to the lift operators, the bellmen, and all the wait staff that I encountered went out of their way to be pleasant and accommodating without exception.
The FSA is going to Steamboat Springs next year so mark your calendars for January 29, 2014 through February 4, 2014.
From Trip Captain John Clark.
Photos from the Wichita Ski Club Saturday, November 3rd hike at Elk City State Park, at the trailhead just off of County Rd 5000 near the park office, just a few miles west of Independence KS. This is just west of the Elk City Lake dam. Thanks to John Kimball for providing these photos.
Join the Wichita Ski Club for the Council Grove Lake Trip, Santa Fe Trail Area, Army Corps of Engineers Campground Friday to Sunday, August 10-12, 2012. Cost is $25 for Members and $30 for Nonmembers. Includes camping fees, water activities (boating, water skiing, tubing, floating, etc). NOTE: No meals provided by WSC, but we encourage everyone to gather at 6:00 PM on Saturday for dinner. Grills will be available Saturday night for those who need to cook and do not bring their own.
What to see and do nearby:
Getting There:
For more information contact Trip Captain John Kimball Cell Phone and Text Messages 316.765.1107 or Contact us.
Photos at flickr
Tag of
coppermtn12
On Wednesday, February 29, 2012, four hardcore skiers from the Wichita Ski Club journeyed to Copper Mountain, Colorado (Mary Spitzenberger, Herb Schnoetzinger, Max Marsh and John Clark).
Travel across the high plains of western Kansas and eastern Colorado was uneventful and we arrived in Dillon, Colorado, in time to stop at a city market and a neighboring liquor store to purchase needed supplies. There was sufficient time to enjoy a gourmet evening meal at the local Arby's and we then proceeded to Copper Mountain to check in to our condo. We parked the car in a heated garage in the basement and took the elevator to our rooms. The unit consisted of one bedroom with a king size bed and adjoining bathroom, one bedroom with twin beds, and a fold out couch. Since the three men on the trip are well known gentlemen, Mary was given the big bedroom with the bath. It also had a double dead bolt lock on the door and a door alarm. You can never have too much security. The building had three hot tubs and we had heard a rumor that one of them was "clothing optional." Max checked out this rumor numerous times but was never successful. He did reveal that he spent one afternoon in one of the hot tubs with a Kim Kardashian look alike. I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Thursday was spent skiing in over a foot of new powder and an overcast sky, strong winds and single digit temperatures. Thursday night we had a chili feast prepared by yours truly from an old family recipe. All participated and all survived.
Friday skiing was done under overcast conditions but by then most of the runs had been groomed. Lift lines were nonexistent and combined with the high speed chairs you could ski yourself into exhaustion which we all did.
Finally, just after noon on Saturday, Mr. Sunshine finally made an appearance on a regular basis and the light and snow conditions were reminiscent of the conditions we had at Crested Butte a month earlier.
After skiing on Saturday, Mary and I decided to go to a local water hole named Jack's to cap off a successful trip by partaking in some adult beverages. Mary bribed Max into going with us by promising him she would buy him a beer.
Jack's Bar is legendary for après ski partying. The place was packed. We found a table next to seven or eight lovely unattached ladies from Denver who had been in a 5 K snowshoe race in Frisco for breast cancer awareness. We immediately became party comrades and true to form, Max finished his free beer and ran away.
A duo named Lefty Lucy has been playing at Jack's for several years and they encourage audience participation. One event is how many ladies they get in a chorus line on top of the bar. Several of the Denver ladies and Mary thought that was a good idea and became part of the show. It was at this point that I realized I had failed as a top notch journalist because I had forgotten to bring my camera. One of the Denver ladies took several pictures and said she would mail them to me. If she does, I will ask our Web master to put them on the Web site.
Sunday was a repeat tour of the high plains and a safe return to Wichita. The trip was great and what we lacked in numbers we made up for in enthusiasm.
John Clark
Photos at flickr
Tag of
flatland12
Wichita Ski Club again did well at the Flatland Ski Race in Crested Butte, Colorado in January 2012. Bernd Frazier sent in a big bunch of his photos of the entire event from start to finish and including some après skiing too. Thanks to Bernd Frazier for all the photos shown here.
The searchable results of Flatland 2012 will be available online soon.
On the 25th of January, 2012, 28 members of the Wichita Ski Club gathered at The Grand Lodge at Mount Crested Butte Colorado ski area. The group included WSC members from Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas, Texas, Florida and Virginia. They were met with nearly perfect skiing conditions as the mountain in the days previous to arrival had accumulated approximately 28 inches of new snow.
Wednesday was spent with skiers using the mountain to get the rust off of their ski legs as nearly all of them had not skied since last season. Weather conditions were great as hardly a cloud was seen all day.
Wednesday evening was one of our usual members only wine and cheese parties in one of the lodge rooms. We give special thanks to Nancy Myers who provided all of the edibles which were delicious and thanks to Gayle Martin for being Nancy's first assistant. The party drew perfect attendance in a small studio type suite which provided even greater camaraderie.
Thursday brought another day of clear blue skies, temperatures in the 20s, and a ski at your own pace adventure. At about 4:30 p.m., snow began falling which coincided with the start of the world famous Flatland Ski Association snowshoe race. All nine clubs entered a team and several clubs recruited enough brave souls to field two teams. Wichita's team consisted of, in order of participation, Jim Mears, Gayle Martin, Brian Ott and Hector Siordia. The team scored a bronze medal and missed a silver medal by .018 second, perhaps because of alcohol in the timekeepers. Hector was our anchor man and made a heroic effort at the finish line to pass a Kansas City competitor who was blocking him. Both ended up in a pile at the finish line. Video of the race has been submitted to ESPN's Sportscenter and may appear on the Wichita Ski Club Web site.
Thursday night all nine clubs participated in the Welcome Party complete with a baked potato bar, mingling and a DJ for dancing.
Friday morning brought 10 to 12 inches of fresh powder and again bright sunshine. The morning was spent playing in the powder for those who enjoy it. The women's challenge race, named in honor of Cecile Kellenbarger, began at 10 a.m. The men's challenge race followed at 1 p.m. and was named in honor of JD Frederick.
The annual awards banquet was held Saturday night with free Boulevard beer and a dinner buffet which included chicken breasts stuffed with ham. This reporter is perplexed about how the chef managed to breed a chicken with a pig.
Wichita Ski Club award winners were in the spotlight throughout the evening. On a more somber note, Nancy Myers accepted the FSA Dave Vannett Award in honor of the late JD Frederick of the Wichita club.
Sunday was the fifth and final day of skiing under perfect conditions. As is always the case for many decades, Herb Schnoetzinger gave skiing tips to anyone who was skiing with him on any day of the trip. He also was the club's race chair and made sure all race participants knew where to go and when to race.
Bus boarding was at 3 p.m. for the trip home. Mark Bowman and Mike McGill provided much needed and appreciated heavy lifting services as they loaded and unloaded coolers on the bus. It's always handy to have a strong man nearby.
It was a perfect trip for all, except Bernd Frazier noticed pain in his rib cage area after he fell Thursday in a mogul field. He continued to ski that day, skied and raced on Friday and skied all day on Saturday, resting only on Sunday. When he sought medical attention a day after climbing off the bus, he learned he had broken five ribs. Bernd is one tough dude.
The 2013 FSA competition and activities are Jan. 23-27 in Snowmass, Colorado. Mark your calendars now. I will have lodging information available at the February meeting.
Photos at flickr
Tag of
elkriver11
Wichita Ski Club traveled to Noel, Missouri May 20-22, 2011 for a float trip on the Elk River. They were greeted with good weather and good water for the float and camping.
Again John Kimball was there to record the fun in photos. A big thanks to John.
First, our longtime member Seth Roland submitted a few of his photos of the past, a houseboat trip in 1987. Now another longtime member, Lou Myers, has sent us some of his golden oldie photos from the 1960's. If you recognize yourself or any other members having a good time in one or more of these, please leave your comments at our Flickr photos.
Would you like more information on the Wichita Ski Clubs membership and history? We have half a century of adventures and a few of the original members to prove it. Visit our club history to find out.
The latest topic is:
Glacial Sand Hills Hike - May 4th
418 Topics
482 Posts
59 Registered Members
Updated:
Thu, 02 May 2013 17:08:38 GMT
Each year we present this trophy of the Copper Boot to the person (or persons) whom the board feels has gone above and beyond in helping promote the fun and camaraderie that the Wichita Ski Club is all about. You could be next!
Here are our past recipients:
wichitaskiclub.com
