Greetings again Skibacs Retirees!

2025 Retirees Kickoff Social

As a follow-up to the announcement for the 2025 Retirees Kickoff Social this coming Tuesday at the lodge, you can follow this link (or reply to me directly) to let me know if you will be attending. Note that if you are staying at the lodge you still need to reserve your stay through the website separately.

https://www.skibacs.org/2025-retiree-socials

SKIBACS RETIREE Discord Page

First off I highly encourage you to join the SKIBACS Discord group here: https://www.skibacs.org/discord-page/ (you may need to log into your SKIBACS account to do this).

I’ve created a new structure for the RETIREE Discord presence to order things more clearly so it’s easy to navigate and find what you want. The image below shows the RETIREE server with text channels below. All you need to do once you’re in the SKIBACS server is click on any of the channels and you can see what others are posting and you can post yourself. One of the comments on the survey was that they didn’t want to go to Discord they wanted everything on the SKIBACS website. The website is static and maintained by our IT focal Krista but there is no capability for users to communicate with each other. Discord is designed specifically for this activity and does it very well. You will see the usefulness of Discord as you go through this update.

Crystal Mountain 62nd Anniversary

To celebrate 62 years of operation Crystal Mountain is offering $62 lift tickets the second Tuesday of each month this season. https://www.crystalmountainresort.com/plan-your-trip/special-offers  If you think you’re interested in this I’m guessing you’d be coming to the lodge Monday evening and I thought it would be cool to have a potluck for each of those days. Unfortunately, my current schedule has me away for most of these Tuesdays but if y’all want to get together I’ve created a channel on the RETIREES DISCORD server for each day so anyone can start it going by posting “HEY! I’M GONNA BE AT THE LODGE THIS MONDAY AND I’M BRINGING THE BEST MEATLOAD KNOW TO MANKIND! WHO WANTS TO JOIN ME AND BRING SOME SIDES!” You know, like that. See the image below for where you can post:

You can get access to the SKIBACS DISCORD PAGE RIGHT HERE https://www.skibacs.org/discord-page/  (you may need to log into your SKIBACS account to click this link)

SKIBACS SMALL TRIPS

Small trips were a very popular item recurring in the survey from this fall. See my post on the SKIBACS Retiree page regarding the SMALL TRIP concept https://www.skibacs.org/members/retiree/ . I also understand that sometimes it is helpful to have turn key solutions for your interests but since SKIBACS is not going to be sponsoring these trips it up to you, the members to create your own trips. That’s where Discord can be very helpful. In the menu structure there is a channel called #retiree-small-trips. Under that channel I’ve created Threads for most of the resorts that members said they were interested in exploring. To help give you some ideas of how you would structure your trips I posted sample trip itineraries and other information on the ski area Threads. I just ran these queries yesterday so it will give you a good idea of what the current associated costs for such trips might be. These are just templates from which you can sculpt your own trips, changing dates to suit the participants and of course all the other details. I’ve found that group size of 2-4 is more workable for flights, rental cars and accommodations. Otherwise coordination can become complex, but it’s all up to you.

So if you’re interested in a trip to Palisades, click on the Palisades Thread, then click on the posting to get an idea of the trip structure. These itineraries are all practical and based off my experience taking small trips. So flight times and dates, rental cars and accommodations are realistic for the relevant resorts. If you’d like to take a trip to one of these resorts just post under the thread who you are, and what dates work for you and hopefully you can find a match. Just be careful of the blackout dates for folks with IKON Base passes. Also, I DO NOT ski weekends, especially in Colorado or Utah because the crowds can be insane. You’re retired, so you don’t need to do that. 

Sonic Boomers Class

I’ve created a text thread in Discord for folks taking the Sonic Boomers class and might like to connect with someone to carpool.

Skagit River Eagle Watching

There was a lot of interest from the survey for this activity. One thing I didn’t mention is that the best eagle watching is in December when the weather can be dicey. But I know that doesn’t dissuade true northwesterners. Unfortunately, BEWET (the Boeing rafting club) had cancelled their trip this year and I was unable to cement an alternate guide for the trip. Perhaps next year…But, if y’all are interested in floating the Wenatchee in the spring I believe BEWET has a number of Wenatchee floats and we could coordinate with them if anyone is interested.

Survey Results

I will put out a separate posting for the survey result soon. But the most common request was for more activities and interest in Small Trips at least for the winter season. Hence, we have the 2025 Kickoff Social on Tuesday the 7th, and there are the 62nd Anniversary second Tuesdays. Also, I think I’ve covered the Small Trips interest, Discord is a great tool and I can’t do much more that that. But let me know if you have any helpful suggestions.

If you have any questions about any of this information feel free to reply to this email.

Thanks All, and again Happy New Year and Happy Skiing!

Jeffrey Hurt

SKIBACS Retiree Focal

425-905-6780