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May, 2021
EXECUTIVE ORGANIZATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President
– Toby Kravet – 808-224-1065
Jonathan Carr
Geoffrey Chu
Michiro Iwanaga
Anita Hodges
Alan Teramura
Caroline Sluyter
Mike Tsutsui
Karl See
Nelson Dang
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Newsletter Editor
Toby Kravet
(Click on Contacts for e mail addresses)
CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
Every Monday evening (except on holidays and, of course, during Hawaii Ski Week), at 4:30 P.M., a group of ski club members and their friends play tennis at Keehi Lagoon Courts, off Lagoon Drive. Stay in shape and enjoy a "careful social hour" afterwards.
Sunday, April 25, 9:00 AM. Moanalua Valley (Kamananui) hike.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE:
Isn't this the May Newsletter? Wasn't the hike in Moanalua on April 11? Yes and Yes. It looked like we were going to get rained out so we re-scheduled for this upcoming Sunday Hopefully, it will stay dry, at least in the morning. Hopefully, we will have more of these in the future and some other activities as more of the local population gets vaccinated, fewer in the population get infected, and the pandemic restrictions have eased. Surprisingly, we only had 4 people sign up for the Moanalua hike. I know it's kind of late, but if anyone else wants to go, let me know. In view of the late date, call me at (808) 224-1065.
As most (members who renewed last September and October) of you know, due to the pandemic and resulting elimination of monthly Ski Club Activities and General Memberships Meetings (another excuse to eat, drink, and make merry), not to mention the cancellation of the New Zealand ski trip (and we didn't yet know that Aspen and Japan would be cancelled), we decided to extend 2020-2021 memberships to September 30, 2022: You don't have to renew this coming September. Still, you might want to check out the Membership sign up link on the website in another week or so. The next time you do renew, you will not need to print out the form to mail in with your check and will not even need to mail in a check. Thanks to board member Mike Tsutsui's son, Noah, who is an IT professional, we are converting to a digital signup form which will also give you the opportunity, for a modest processing fee, to pay your membership via Visa or MasterCard. You will still be able to mail in your checks, if you like, but the opportunity to renew (and new members to join) is there without any need to print, fold, write a check, and mail, and, unless you choose to hand in your check at the Kickoff Meeting, (Yes, we used to have those and will again when the pandemic is behind us), you can subtract the price of a stamp from the processing fee.
Some of our members, at least 2 that I know, have braved the virus threat to hit the snow since the last Newsletter. Geoff, again, went boarding: Where, I do not know, but I would suspect Mammoth. Also, Caroline Sluyter was in Utah a couple of weeks ago and suffered a slight mishap at Brighton where the legendary Utah powder had gotten icy in the spring conditions: She, however, says it's not serious and expects to be fully recovered pretty quickly.
Alan advises that plans for Hawaii Ski Week, 2022, at Aspen Snowmass, are still solidifying, but it is too early at this point to generate a sign-up form.
I was reading in the newspaper the other day that the NCIS TV franchise, i.e. the original NCIS together with NCIS Los Angeles and NCIS New Orleans, will be adding NCIS Hawaii (or Honolulu) to it's stable of shows. Not knowing any better, I used to think that NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) was a fictional organization. Of course, not so, and we used to have an NCIS Special Agent in the Ski Club. Remember Jenna? She was on the board back around 2010-2012. a pretty good skier, and she did carry a gun, though not to our meetings and activities (or maybe just not obvious). The overall appearance of our current newsletter is partially due to her contributions.
Finally (see below) if you haven't already, I invite you again to check out our Facebook page. Just open Facebook, hit the search icon (a magnifying glass on your smartphone), type in Hawaii Ski Club, and you'll get there.
A hui hou kakou and stay safe out there,
TOBY
UPCOMING SKI CLUB ACTIVITIES:
MOANALUA VALLEY (KAMANANUI) HIKE
Sunday, April 25, 9:00 A.M.
We have done this one before, a few years ago, but since then, one of the HECO bridges on the second half of the hike, has gone out so there's a trail around in the woods. Also, there are now signs in the park that restrict parking to park users, not hikers, so you'll have to find parking in the subdivision, but you're going on a hike, right? Walking a short bit on the paved road before starting the actual hike shouldn't be a problem. Meet me in the parking lot. Moanalua Valley, in case you're not familiar with it, is the valley to the immediate Diamond Head side of Kaiser Hospital. If you're coming from Honolulu, just get off the freeway at Exit 2, stay to the right, and that will lead you onto Ala Aolani St. and right up to the end of the valley. Turn around and look for a place to park on Ala Aolani St. or a side street. The hike is along an old road that the Damon family or, primarily, Douglas Damon, one of the sons of Samuel Damon, turned into a sort of English countryside" with 7 stone bridges designed by an Italian architect and a cobblestone road. You can also see the remains of Douglas Damon's house. The remains of his sister Mary's house is also in there, but I've never found it. There is also a large rock with Hawaiian petroglyphs near the end of the "English countryside" section. We will then proceed onto an old HECO road that goes further up the valley and will turn around at the point that 2 trails to the ridge (one of which leads up to the Haiku Stairs) start. The hike should take no more than 3 hours. Wear shoes that you wouldn't mind getting muddy as there are a couple of short sections that seem to stay that way. Due to COVID considerations, the hike will be limited to 10 people and mask wearing is strongly advised. Although airborne transmission is not a much of a problem in the outdoors, we may be overtaking people, people may be overtaking us, other hikers may be coming back in the opposite direction, and you can't always maintain the respectful distance that you intended. If you are interested in going, give me a call at (808)224-1065.
TOBY
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
HAWAII SKI CLUB IS ON FACEBOOK
Facebook is the best way to keep current on the Hawaii Ski Club. On your Facebook page on your computer, type "Hawaii Ski Club" into the search box on the top left. On your mobile device, tap the magnifying glass at the top to get the search box. Pictures from Ski Club activities and other items are posted as they are submitted. You can submit your own Ski Club pictures and other items you wish posted by emailing them to anita@hawaiisnowskiclub.com
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Contributions from the membership to future newsletters are encouraged and will be greatly appreciated: Please e mail them to Toby (see Contacts) no later than 9 calendar days from the end of the month. Thanx much.
Updated club info available at http://www.hawaiisnowskiclub.com and on our Facebook page.