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About JSC
The
Jacksonville Ski Club officially started in 1969. Since its inception,
it has been an organization made up entirely of volunteers. We've
had many different board members throughout the years who each shared
a common goal of making the Jacksonville Ski Club a place where
people who love winter sports could come together. Each year, club
officers are voted on by the membership. We've changed dramatically
from our humble beginnings of four-day weekend trips to resorts
such as Sugar and Beech Mountain in North Carolina to multi week
European ski and sightseeing trips. The one thing that has remained
constant through all the changes has been our desire to make sure
everyone who participates in one of the club trips has a great time!
Our trips have taken as few as 12 and as many as 150 members on
individual trips. We've used planes, trains, automobiles, and buses
to reach our destinations, and have even included white water rafting
trips and European barge and biking trips during the summer time.
There are a few members who date back to the beginning and many
more who, while not being attached that long, still have been with
the Club for over 20 years. We are not a "Singles" Club,
nor are we a "Family-Only" Club, but rather, we try to
offer something for everyone. We frequently poll the members to
see what destinations they would like to visit. We have the participants
rate each trip to see how we could improve the next trip. We are
constantly striving to improve our trips to keep them both fun and
exciting while creating a strong group atmosphere. We have found
that going in groups dramatically increases the "fun factor"
of a trip. Even if you don't know a soul before the trip, you'll
find that you can make friends quickly, and never lack for something
unique to do. The beauty of going with a group lies in the fact
that you can join in all the activities or pick and choose because
you're with people who have similar interests and a spirit of adventure.
We have monthly social events during most of the year with bike
trips, beach parties, and charity events. The Jacksonville Ski Club
even founded the Blind Skier Program which helps support the Florida
School for the Deaf and Blind's skier program.
We are a member
of the Florida Ski Council, which is a group of 14 ski clubs in
Florida. There are three or four Council trips each year. We get
together with other Floridians from all over the state and renew
old friendships as well as make new ones. We offer trips to resorts
in the United States, Canada, Europe, and, on occasion, the Southern
Hemisphere. We have some trip participants who travel with us even
though they don't intend to ski, but come simply to enjoy the many
other amenities and activities of the resorts.
Our
members come from all walks of life and all ages. We have expert
skiers, beginners, and even non-skiers. We have snow boarders, snow
shoe users, cross country skiers, and trick skiers. We have downhill
tubing, cowboy downhill skiers, ski racing, not to mention snow
ball fights! In summary, The Jacksonville Ski Club's trips and events
create great times, new friendships, and memories that will last
a lifetime.
Snow
Bound
An article from the November, 1994 edition of Jacksonville Magazine
commemorating the Jacksonville Ski Club's 25th anniversary
By Debra W. Buehn
When
the Jacksonville Ski Club formed 25 years ago, skiing was not just
a recreational sport, it was an adventure -- and sometimes a harrowing
one.
Doug Coleman,
one of the club's founding members, recalls one incident in particular
from the early days that had members' adrenalin pumping.
"I remember
being on a charter bus one time in heavy traffic in a storm, climbing
Loveland Pass from Denver on the way to Aspen." he recalls.
"It was an icy stretch of road and the wheels on the bus just
locked and it starting sliding backwards." The bus slammed
into a barrier on the edge of the steep road. With the left back
wheels hanging over the edge, members of the group huddled outside
in the freezing weather to wait for the wrecker. "It was pretty
scary," Coleman admits.
Danger wasn't
the only obstacle the new club had to overcome. Snow skiing was
so new as a recreational sport in those days -- especially to Floridians
-- that the club had something of an identity problem. "We
got a lot of callers wanting to go on water skiing trips, and they
were just flabbergasted when they learned they were snow skiing
trips," laughs Coleman today.
But such mix-ups
don't occur nowadays. Celebrating its 25th anniversary [in 1994],
the Jacksonville Ski Club -- one of the oldest in the country --
is well-established and well-known.
With a roster
that's expected to reach at least 1,800 this year and an agenda
that rolls fun, friendship and even some civic responsibility into
one, the club has come a long way since its early days.
The club, which
officially dates its creation to the winter of 1969-70, can actually
trace its roots to the early '60s and a group of ski enthusiasts
-- mostly from the Riverside-Ortega area -- who thought it would
be fun to ski together.
"A whole
gang of us had gone up to Maggie Valley [North Carolina], and while
we were up there, we decided there were enough of us to put together
a club," recalls Henry Rogers, who served as secretary-treasurer
of the original club, dubbed the Jacksonville Snow Ski Club.
But after a
few years, interest in the club began to wane as members became
busy with young, growing families. Also, the airlines started offering
cut-rate fares to individuals as well as groups.
But when Coleman,
who had acted as a travel agent for some of those in the group,
took his first ski trip with them, he became one of the sport's
biggest cheerleaders, and agreed that the club should be resurrected.
Some of the original members and Coleman planned a meeting and put
a notice in the newspaper, inviting anyone interested in a ski club
to attend.
"To our
astonishment, about 50 people showed up," Coleman recalls.
"And we said, well, heck, let's restart the ski club and get
it rolling."
Changing its
name to the Jacksonville Ski Club, and incorporating as a nonprofit
organization, the group's ranks grew to about 90 that first year.
Members were people who loved the idea of skiing, even though it
was not the mainstream sport it is today. "At that time, it
was risky," Coleman asserts.
And the risk
didn't just involve steep slopes and broken bones. Sometimes just
getting to a resort was full of hazards, which is why many of the
early trips were often made to Switzerland -- a destination that
was then just as easy to get to as the western United States.
Today, trips
have few glitches and destinations range from Colorado and West
Virginia to Canada and Europe. "We like to offer people a variety,"
stresses Beth Chancey, the club's 1994-95 president, who added that
the club offers more trips each year -- 14 this year -- than any
other club in the state.
Besides the
discount trip packages, perhaps the biggest draw of all is the camaraderie
and good will found in the group.
Members who
took a trip to Colorado back in 1989 got a dose of that when they
found themselves stranded in Denver just before Christmas. Amazingly,
the problem wasn't with the weather in Denver, but at home in Jacksonville,
where snow and ice had closed the airport. When the group of about
40 found itself staying in a Denver hotel on Christmas Eve, trip
leader Gwen Whittington managed to put together stockings for everyone,
hanging them on room doors in the middle of the night.
While some choose
to be on their own during trips, others make the most of the camaraderie
available. At least 100 couples who met on trips later married,
and some members even plan their weddings or honeymoons around a
club vacation, says Coleman. And he ought to know, having met his
wife on a trip and then honeymooning with her -- and about 50 other
club members -- later.
Even former
Jacksonville Mayor Hans Tanzler spent his honeymoon back in the
mid-'70s with more than 100 ski club members on a trip to Switzerland-a
trip that included a skiing race with Tanzler's counterpart, the
mayor of St. Moritz. "I still have the big cow bell the mayor
gave me in memory of the 'epic' downhill race," Tanzler proclaims.
But while love
can blossom in the club, it's not a singles stomping ground. While
it did have that reputation for several years -- and probably reached
its peak membership of 1,800 in the '89-'90 season partly due to
that draw -- the club's demographics have changed dramatically over
the years. It's an older crowd now, with many in their 40s or 50s.
Though the club's membership has seen a slight decline over the
past few years, it's picking up again. Coleman, in fact, predicts
the club may see its highest membership ever.
As those members
look back on their long history, they cite many accomplishments
the club has achieved over the years. Coleman considers the Club
reaching 1,000 members in 1980 as a milestone.
Among the group's
other accomplishments is one that many members say they are most
proud of -- the club's support of the Blind Skier Program. Started
about eight years ago, the club) donates ski clothes and holds a
fundraiser each year to help send youths from the Florida School
for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine skiing in Colorado.
But there are
also just plain fun times. Whitewater rafting trips are held in
the summer and several socials -- simple get-togethers with no format
-- are slated this year. As might be expected, Club meetings usually
feature some good skiing tips as well as the fun of being with good
friends. And a holiday gala is planned at Epping Forest this December
to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the club -- a club that few
thought would probably ever reach such proportions when it was first
founded.
"At the
time, all we were looking for was like-minded people to do something
that was exciting and adventurous," says Coleman. "We
were just looking for something fun to do."
Twenty-five
years later, it looks like they've found it.
DEBRA W BUEHN is an Orange Park based freelance
writer.
The
Jacksonville Ski Club thanks Jacksonville Magazine for allowing
us to republish this article
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