Home                          OTHGI’s Monthly Online Newsletter - December 2009 Edition

In this edition:

Benefits of OTHGI

View from the Top

John Roberts

Benefits Directory

Travel Tips

Crossed Skis




OTHGI Benefits Directory is Online!


The 2009-2010 Benefits Directory is now online! This year’s directory is packed full of great discounts and savings for OTHGI members - on everything from equipment to ski passes.




Travel Tips


Flying to Snow Country to ski?  Consider sending your skis and poles
by UPS.


For as little as $25 you can drop off your skis at a UPS outlet in New York, for example, and send them by UPS Ground (about 4-5 days), and they can be delivered at your hotel in Colorado.  And you will not have to schlep them yourself!

Airline baggage fees are the norm, but you can send your skis and poles in one bag, boots in another and all will count as one piece of luggage. 


On United and Delta you pay $15 for the first piece and $25 for the second if you book online.  At the airport be prepared to pay $20 and $30, respectively.

Frontier and American both charge $20 and $30 whether you book online or wait until you get to the airport.  The best deal going is Southwest where your first piece of baggage is free and your skis and poles and boots, if used as the second piece is also free. 


Did you know Southwest has “senior” prices on its website.  The downside:  no reserved seating.  See you on the slopes!


Crossed Skis


Long-time member of OTHGI, Nancy F. Mitchell of Bethesda, Maryland






 








Benefits of OTHGI - by Barry Lazarus

For the past year OTHGI has been broadening its base of skier opportunity for its members.  Forging relationships with smaller mountains that are glad to have our business and welcome our members, new guided ski days at Ski Cooper near Leadville, Colorado, and Monarch, outside of Salida, have been added with deeply discounted lift ticket costs and some money off grub at mountain restaurants.  Ski Sunlight has come into the OTHGI fold as has Powderhorn with a guided ski day.


Members from around the country can diversify their ski plans by mixing in these smaller gems at a fraction of the cost of skiing in Summit County.  Those OTHGI members living in Summit County can now easily cruise the empty slopes of Cooper on a powder day, guided by our own Judy and Bob Anderson.  Or, snorkel in the snow at Monarch which gets hammered with the white stuff each winter.   Monarch is one of the best places to be when the snow is flying.


OTHGI is not solely about travel, though who’s complaining about skiing around the world with friends.  The people who make OTHGI work are busting with effort to provide the most bang for a buck.  As little as $14 to ski Monarch or $26 to tackle Cooper.  The line forms behind me!


In summary: 

- Arapahoe Basin meets Mondays resuming January 4, 2010

- Loveland meets Fridays resuming January 8, 2010

- Ski Cooper (NEW) meets alternate Wednesdays beginning
  January 6, 2010

- Winter Park meets Wednesdays resuming January 6, 2010

- Monarch (NEW) meets alternate Wednesdays beginning January
  13, 2010

- Powderhorn (NEW) meets Thursdays beginning December 17,
  2009 through March 25, 2010

- Snowmass meets Tuesdays resuming January 5, 2010

- Steamboat meets daily, except Saturdays

- Vail meets on Mondays

- Breckenridge meets on Tuesday

- Keystone meets on Thursday





John Roberts

Curmudgeonly; generous to a fault with his time but famously tight with a nickel; a brilliant engineer and computer expert who built laptops from scratch – for free; a dynamic skier with ancient boots, and when asked why his new skies were painted white, replied:  they are so ugly no one will want to steal them.  All this and more is John Roberts, Senior Citizen of the Year in Frisco, Colorado, his home since 1991, and where he died at age 76 after a short illness, November 27, 2009.


Many knew John for his unstinting volunteerism with the Frisco Senior Center and Summit Public Radio.  John was an outstanding athlete who won numerous gold medals in the Senior Ski Games and hiked and biked with passion.  John and his devoted wife, Marie, were steadfast members of OTHGI.  They skied with the Gang virtually every Tuesday at Breckenridge and Thursdays at Keystone.  My fondest memories of skiing with John and Marie were the greetings my wife and I received entering the lodge early in the morning.  Up in the air John threw Fran, wrapped in a bear hug, while Marie planted several kisses on my cheek.  John, dressed in ratty jeans with suspenders, a flannel shirt, gloves wrapped in duct tape, old rear-entry boots, the white skis and a backpack, could fly down the double black diamond runs! 


John was a music aficionado who played guitar in a local band called the Appetizers.  John was no appetizer; he was the main meal.  John was a true renaissance man.  He will be missed.




View From The Top     


The holiday season is here.  Most of us are scrambling to find the right gift for that special person.  We are doing the same for our three children and assorted family and friends.  But this time of the year is one of reflection, back over the past twelve months and then making those special resolutions for the New Year.


Everyone has had to cinch the belt tighter this past year – 2009 was rough for everyone, not just us.  But we have not been sitting around wringing our hands.  Instead, we have built our benefits for members to its highest level ever.  If you have yet to look it over, check out the benefit packages on-line.  Only 15 percent of our members take trips.  That number has stayed the same under our leadership and during the prior years when Sherrie and Dennis Beasley were running the show.  The new relationships forged with smaller ski mountain gems have allowed us to broaden our base away from behemoths, Vail Resorts and Intrawest.  A good thing.


At the same time our trips are the result of membership desires and echo direct input from many of you.  Thank you.


We wish all of you a happy and healthy holiday season and a wonderful New Year.  We are moving forward to a great 2010 with all of you.



Doug Lofland, President

and Jeannie Barresi, Managing Director