Summer’s nearly over, some mornings you can feel Fall is in the air, as the saying goes. I hope everyone has been enjoying your favorite summer pastimes and the warm weather we’ve had the past few months.
There are a few items of interest that I believe may be worth passing on at this time. Our Annual Membership Meeting was held Wednesday, August 18th. at Ausblick; during which both Scott Grady and Mike Guetzke were re-elected to the Ausblick Board for another three year term. Elected to backfill the vacant opening as a result of Mark Wierman’s decision not to run for re-election, Mike Senkbeil has now joined the Ausblick Board. The Board is sincerely Thankful to Mark for the 6 ½ years he has contributed as a valued board member. Looking forward, I’m confident Mike’s broad business experience will certainly be an asset to the Board.
Possibly of more interest may be the rate at which members are rejoining Ausblick and the growth of our Wait List for new members. Comparatively looking at last August (20-21) membership renewals rate, verses this August (21-22), renewals are coming in much faster pace than previous years. Here’s the process; Members of the previous year are invoiced before anyone on the Wait List. Our By-Laws and Conditional Use Permit restrict us to no more than 400 Family, Associate & Single memberships in total. Currently there are only 33 available remaining for the 21-22 season, so if you’ve been invoiced, please consider securing your membership before they’re all filled. Once renewals of last season’s members stop coming in, we start invoicing those on the Wait List. Our Waiting List currently has 163 applications as of my writing this newsletter. Wait List applicants respond quickly once invoiced. Please be aware.
Questions regarding membership can be directed to Dennis Evinrude at DEvinrude@ausblick.org.
Many of our long tenured members have experienced the slow progress made in working towards the completion of our clubs Long Range Plan. Since most of the past few years work has been underground snowmaking infrastructure, it can be difficult to recognize. I’m excited to announce that work is currently underway that should complete the replacement and upgrade of our entire snowmaking system, positioning us to abandon the cooling pond at the top of the hill. Further, the addition of a third pump will significantly increase the volume of our snowmaking during optimal temperatures. Along with this summer’s project will be replacement of wiring to the lights and the addition of several additional lights on our ski hill. After this season our focus will be to obtain enough material to backfill the abandoned pond and progressively work towards expanding our ski runs, ultimately wrapping up Phases 3 & 4 of the Long Range Plan. Phase 5 will require a lot of fill material prior to placing that new chairlift we’ve talked since the completion of our Equipment Building in 2010.
Dennis, Kyle and staff have been very busy this summer getting everything ready for the 2021-22 snowsports season. My sincere appreciation to all of them for their efforts and dedication to our Ski Club.
In closing I’d like to remind everyone of our annual ski swap scheduled for Sunday, October 3rd. Watch for details to be sent out during the month of September.
Bob Turowski, President
Ausblick Ski Club