Ausblick’s Membership Letter

June 2016

Spring weather wasn’t anything to be fondly remembered and Summer is almost upon us, hopefully.  Looking back to the past ski season, I can only comment that the weather wasn’t co-operative and that unfortunately, we experienced the second latest opening since we’ve opened our doors in 1973 as the Ausblick Ski Club.

The intent of this newsletter is to share some optimistic news that should help mitigate what we’ve experienced last season. As you may know, we need weather below 28 degrees to make snow; ideally below 23 degrees. Given the required temperatures, our snowmaking systems require approximately 5 days to cover enough ski terrain to open for skiing.  Snow quality is greatly affected the closer it gets to the upper boundaries of 28 degrees. Temperatures last December were a huge limiting factor.

Now for some good news. As many of you know, two years ago we took steps to advance our Long Range plan by replacing the old snowmaking infrastructure along the bottom of the hill.  This “first step” in the total replacement goal offers a huge advantage in our snowmaking capabilities. We started the project in May and will complete the “piping” work by the end of June. A new pond (4.7 million gallons of water) at the northwest end of the property should be complete by the end of July and the first high capacity pump that’ll feed the new snowmaking system will be installed and tested in October. We’ve added a few additional snowmaking guns, lights, etc and when complete by next ski season, Ausblick will have two independent snowmaking systems serving our skiable terrain.  The new system will cover the open area from the new pond, down to the lodge, affording the handle tow and terrain area to be covered in half the time as previously required. We’ll still require the optimal temperatures to make snow, however with two systems making snow we should be in a better position to deal with mother nature’s surprises.

Over time as we continue to manage our clubs finances responsibly, we will advance the Long Range Plan further by building out the new snowmaking capacity to cover the Big Dipper, Racers Ruin and the ski runs through the woods. Additional piping and pumps will be necessary as we extend the new snowmaking infrastructure into a total replacement of our 37 year old system currently in place.

This newsletter has been enclosed with your invoice hoping that it’ll provide a bit of optimism for the coming season. Further, your club Board has decided to keep Membership Dues level for the coming season because the shorter season last year afforded us the ability to save some operational costs.

Ausblick’s Ski Sale is scheduled for Sunday October 23rd. Also, our club’s Annual Meeting is set for Wednesday August 17th. at 7pm and held at the lodge as usual. Please make your calendars for these events. More information will be forthcoming.

Lastly, our membership list continues to grow. We’re still receiving applications in May!  If you know of anyone interested, it might be worthwhile suggesting they get on the list soon. Applications can be downloaded off our website or by contacting Dennis Evinrude at the club.

Welcome back to the Ausblick Ski Club, the Midwest’s finest private ski & snowboard Membership Club.

Bob Turowski

President-Ausblick Ski Club