Visit Some of the Fun of Events of Past Years by Clicking on the Links Below:

The 2016 ski season started late with the first day Wednesday, January 6th.  We are having fun again this year on the snow with our friends and will again report how many days we have skiing in the chart below:

Ski Season	Hidden Valley Club now NWAC*	Mountain Creek	Away from the Mountain Creek	Total Days on Snow
2015-2016	1	61	0	62 (ugh)
2014-2015	0	104	1 Belleayre	105**
2013-2014	0	100	1 Camelback	101
2012-2013	0	85	5	90
2011-2012	61	8	10	79
2010-2011	75	9	13	97
2009-2010	85	3	8	96

*  Hidden Valley Club is now called The National Winter Activity Center & is closed to public skiiing.  ** a new on snow record!

*  The last days of a ski season are always a blast.  2016 was no exception.  Pond skimming always brings out the notables and is fun, and our ski buddy Jim hosted the 2nd Annual End of Ski Season Party in the V.I.P. Parking lot at Great Gorge South.  Thanks to our friends at Mountain Creek for a fun time!

John & Buffy, MC President Bill B & Bonnie & Rich at Pond Skimming

Sean, Chris, Pete, Buffy, Mark, Tom, John, Jim & Ski Buddie toast the 2016 ski season

* The end of the ski season came too soon and required the die-hards to look for the snow to ski.  Sugar slope was "sweeet" but Great Northern chocolate.

John, Buffy, Bonnie & Richard enjoy a few runs on the "SWEET" Sugar slope

The snow was not so sweet on Great Northern - Hiking required

* It has become a tradition to celebrate special occasions at Portofinos on Berkshire Valley Road with our buddy Mendy  - John's 75th birthday was no exception.  John's sisters Peg and Anne and the Jones Family joined in the fun.

Front row: Anne, Buffy, Denise, Patrick, Riley & Meredith.  Back row: Peg, Mendy, John, freind, Lilliana & waiter.

* Buffy & John continue to practice "Rule #1" as they skied their 36th day on Saturday February 13th and then joined friends Bonnie & Richard; and Nancy & Richie at the Warwick Winery to listen to the extraordinary talens of the E’lissa Jones Band.

Buffy & John at the Caberlet Lift at Mountain Creek

Buffy & John with Richard and Bonnie Calak

*Skiing fun continues at Mountain Creek as Buffy and John enjoy first tracks and supporting such events as the Burton Festival February 6th where they got some free samples of snacks and were photographed at the Paul Mitchell tent in Hawian costumes.  A couple of the Mountain Creek staffers dressed up like dinosours to add to the fun.  We later did some runs on the Granit Slope at Mountain Creek with some of our ski buddies.

Buffy & John at Paul Michell Tent. Nice coconuts John!

Buffy & John with a couple of wild snowboarder friends at Mountian Creek

Buffy & John with ski buddies on the top of the Granit Lift.  The skiing has been great!

 

*  Today, Monday January 24th we learned of the passing of one of our favorite ski and golf buddies Jack Powers after suffering a stroke on Thursday. We celebrate having been blessed to have been a part of Jack's life and all of the adventures we shared together. He knew that Rule #1 was "Have Fun!" and we did on many occasions spanning over 15 years of friendship.

We expect he will have fun sharing all of his adventures with those he will become reacquainted with in Heaven and he will proclaim as we often do "Another rotten day in Heaven - somebody has to do it and it might as well be Jack".

One of the fondest memories is the "Great Sweater Theft Caper" pulled off by friend Super G. The photo below is of Jack's sweater posted on the wall of the Hidden Valley Lodge to be sold on eBay. Jack's heartbreak over loosing "The Roo Sweater" was over come by sharing a good laugh with those in on the plot.

Super G (the chief conspirator), Jack and Tom VanHerwarde with Jack's "Roo Sweater" on the wall of the Hidden Valley Lodge

Note: A "Memories of Jack" photo album of the fun memories we shared with our buddy Jack has been posted on Facebook and can be viewed by clicking HERE.

*  Saturday January 23rd brought the blizzard of 2016.  The photos below track the snow accumulation during the day.  We took advantage of the powder to gp snowboarding and skiing at our home ski area, Hidden Valley (our private ski slope).

Snowfall at 10 AM measured approximatley 5 inches on our "Let it Snow" scale

By 1 PM the "Let it Snow" snow fall scale was showing nearly 14 inches of snow

At the end of the blizzard another 5 inches made the total snow fall approximately 20 inches

 

How did do Buffy?  "Great" she says with a thumbs up	Buffy taking lesson #1 on her snowboard on our private "B&J" slope at Hidden Valley
John heading down their private Buffy & John slope at their own Hidden Valley	John says "This is great - a private slope with powder"

 

* January 6th was opening day at our home ski area Mountain Creek.  Keeping up a tradition, we were given the honor of riding the first chair to open the 2016 ski season. A newspaper article was in the paper and posted on the Advertiser News web site.   To view the article click HERE.

Buffy & John Ride the 1st chair with friends on opening day at Mountain Creek Ski Resort

Buffy gives our lift buddies the traditional"Christmas" cookies on opening day

* The end of the year 2015 was filled with rewarding activities.  We held an Adaptive Sports Program at Mountain Creek meeting on December 30th which resulted in the signing of the partnership between Mountain Creek and Helen Hayes Hospital along with the signing of the bylaws and the election of Directors for the Adaptive Sports Program at Mountain Creek 5001(c)(3) non profit orgainization with John elected President and Buffy elected Secretary/Treasurer making it possible to kick of the ASP-MC during the 2016 ski season. 

That evening Buffy and John met some old Hidden Valley ski buddies at the Allendale Bar and Grill to celebrate a great 2015 and an even better 2016!

The ASP-MC Board of Directors elected December 30th, 2015

Hidden Valley ski buddies Super G, John, Davey Wiley, Buffy, Jack Powers & Scott Burge celebrate friendship & good times.