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