Minutes – PVS Excom meeting – March 22, 2011

The meeting was held at the home of Sharon Mulholland. Present were Mary Beale, John Brunelli, Charlie Huggins, Cara Jablon, Dick Laeser, Sharon Mulholland, Ellie Thayer, and David Warthen.

The February 9, 2011 conference call minutes were approved.

Dick Laeser provided the March Treasurer’s Report. Dick agreed to have PVS conference calls expensed to his personal credit card. The cost of a conference call that lasts an hour or more is around $20 depending on how many people participate. Dick is uneasy about writing reimbursement checks to himself and asked that the President audit him. The Club’s current treasury balance is $12,481.07.

Events and Meetings:

April 5 – Potential hike (John Lyons) May 17 – monthly meeting (Knopes’)

April 19 – Annual Meeting (Heitchue’s) May 24 – Excom meeting (TBA)

April 26 – Excom meeting (Schwartzbard’s) June 21 – monthly meeting (Warren-Boulton’s)

Applicant member John Lyon is an avid hiker. He has offered to lead short hikes 1-2x/month on Tuesdays or Sundays. He has offered to lead a hike on the Difficult Run Trail on Tuesday, April 5^th. The trail is on the Virginia side of Great Falls. Two routes are being considered, one that begins at the Difficult Run parking lot and another that starts at the lower parking lot within Great Falls National Park. The latter has the advantage of being near the Visitor’s Center which has rest rooms etc. Either way, the hike would be about 6 miles. Since John has been kind enough to suggest the hike, Excom felt that he should make the call on what route to take. There is concern that since there is not much time to spread the word that there will not be many participants. John Brunelli suggested sending an email about the hike to Capital Golden Skiers that could be posted on the CGS website. Ellie said that she would take care of it.

Cara volunteered to host the May 24^th Excom meeting at her home.

Sharon asked if the monthly meeting attendance report provided by Sue Lyon (via email to Excom members) should be put on the agenda for Excom meetings. “Yes,” said Dave Warthen. Others agreed. The attendance figures to date are 26+1 applicant at the Jan 16^th Sunday afternoon meeting at the Holts, 30+4 applicants+2 guests at the February 27^th Sunday afternoon meeting at the Jablons, and 31 + 4 applicants at the March 15^th Tuesday evening meeting at Jan Marx’s.

Charlie Huggins provided the statistics for ski trips within the Club this year. There were essentially two Club sponsored trips – Snowmass and Steamboat, both in 2011. A total of 51 PVS members and 5 guests went on one of the two trips. Three members went on both trips. The overall number of participants (59) is down from 79 last year and 85 two years ago. Extrapolating from2001/2002 (129 participants) into the future, Charlie predicts that in a few more years “we’ll be down to bare bones”. A few Excom members recommended Telluride as a future trip destination. “Why don’t we think of that for two years from now,” said Cara. “I don’t think we have enough people to have a third trip (for next year -2012).” Acknowledging how much work is involved in organizing trips, Sharon said that she understood why relatively few people volunteer as leaders. “You’re responsible for all that money and you have to put the whole thing together,” said Sharon. “It’s age,” said Charlie. “People are getting old. We used to do the negotiating too.” “We will have 8 or 9 new members this year and maybe there will be more active participants among them,” said Sharon.

Ski Trips: The Club’s annual Snowmass trip is scheduled for January 18-25, 2012 with Carolyn DeVilbiss and Sharon leading. The Andorra trip scheduled for March 3-12 (or 16), 2012 will be led by the McKinley’s. Thirty-one people have signed up so far!

TOOT: Dave Warthen will be editor of the April TOOT and Jan Marx editor of the May TOOT. Barbara Leonhardt and Sharon will continue to provide the snail mail version to members who don’t have email addresses. Article submissions for the April issue must be in to Ellie (Thayer) by March 27/28. Dave would like to have all the material to him by March 29/30.

Ellie has kindly offered to continue as “Deadline Manager” of TOOT for another year.

Old Business: Annual Meeting - The Heichues have offered the party room in their condo building for the Club’s Annual Meeting again this year. Rosemary will put a notice in TOOT asking members to bring a favorite appetizer or dessert. Volunteers will be needed to provide utensils, plates, cups, etc and to oversee cleaning up at the end.

PVS website ski trip photos – It was noted that many photos from the January Snowmass trip have not yet been posted on the Club website. Dave Warthen did upload the photos provided by Louann Eadie. Sharon said that she would talk with Dave Lerner about posting the photos in a timelier manner. Dave Lerner has pointed out in the past that individuals may upload their own photos. Directions for doing so are provided on the website. Sharon also spoke about the importance of posting the ski trip fliers on the Club website as early as feasible.

New Business: Excom was asked to consider an additional applicant member for full membership into the Club at the upcoming Annual Meeting. The applicant is John Lyon. John went on the Jackson Hole ski trip last year and the Snowmass trip this year. He attended both the February and March 2011 monthly meetings. His credentials go far beyond these specific activities. He has hiked 1380 miles of the Appalachian Trail. He hopes to complete the entire 2178 miles “in the next couple of years”. Rosemary is his sponsor. John’s name will be added to the names of the other eight applicants who will be voted on by the membership at the April 19^th meeting.

Sharon plans to send an email to the applicants’ sponsors asking them to be prepared to introduce their candidates at the meeting.

Sharon reminded Excom that the Club needs volunteers to host spring and summer activities including the newly named summer social/trips party (to reflect the fact that people who are not going on trips are still welcome). She asked Excom to spread the word.

Sharon sought clarification of Carolyn DeVilbiss’s role on the Membership Committee. As originally conceived, Dave Warthen would serve an administrative role while Carolyn and Dave DeVilbiss would have more of a PR function. Dave DeVilbiss has not been active in his role and would prefer to be relieved of duties. It isn’t clear whether Carolyn would like to continue her role. Dave Warthen would like her to, noting that she has been helpful in a number of member related situations.

Charlie Huggins asked if PVS would like to invite a marketing manager from Snow Time Incorporated to a monthly meeting in the fall. The company manages three local ski resorts (Round top, Liberty, and Whitetail). The Club could be apprised of recent developments. “If it’s going to be too much of a sales pitch, it might turn people off,” said Cara.”We might make a decision closer to the fall.”

Dave Warthen would like to stop distributing an MS word version of TOOT. Excom agreed. The 22 members it involves will receive the customary pdf version instead.

Cara would like to survey the membership to see if the Club should have more afternoon monthly meetings instead of the traditional Tuesday evening time. She may put a questionnaire in the May TOOT.

Submitted by Mary Beale, secretary

In emails subsequent to the March 22 Excom meeting, Sharon and Carolyn DeVilbiss notified Excom that United Airlines was charging over $500 to fly into Aspen (for the 2012 Snowmass trip) which is a very high price. Flying into Vail/Eagle would be no cheaper. Southwest flies into Denver but doesn’t take reservations until 6 months prior to departure. The SCWDC is flying into Denver and just booking a bus into Aspen. Some felt that if a bus from Denver to Aspen was ready and waiting that it would be acceptable. If the price differential between taking the bus and flying from Denver to Aspen was less than $100, then flying would be preferred. With respect to leaving from BWI (always less expensive than Dulles or Reagan), some felt that the traffic on weekdays was prohibitive. Amtrak, the new inter county connector or ICC, and the Super shuttle were all mentioned as alternatives to driving to BWI. Southwest was praised for its low fares, senior discounts, and 2 free checked bags (with skis, poles, and boots counting as one bag). Sharon and Carolyn will continue to collect information and opinions about travel preferences before making a decision.