GREAT FALLS SKI CLUB

Up Coming Ski Trips

Page Updated: February 19, 2009

Scroll down for past trip articles and information

2011? Also on the horizon is Japan and Alaska where both trips would offer skiing/boarding and some touring and maybe even a cruise.

2010 Park City is another location the club membership is interested in traveling to. Looking at a bus trip or maybe even fly.

2010 Looking at Lake Tahoe area for one of the next club trips. The ballpark cost is $1,000 to $1,100 per person based on double occupancy. The club will fly from Great Falls to Reno, NV and then transfer to hotel. Three days of skiing at Heavenly, Kirkwood or Squaw Valley.

Valle Nevado Chile is the September 2008 Ski Trip with excursion to Santiago, Valparaiso and possible extensions to other ski areas, Rio or Buenos Aires.

All,

OK it is finally in the pricing and dates for the basic trip to Valle Nevado (ski resort), Santiago, Valparaiso Chile. These prices are from Great Falls and pricing for other cities will be calculated on a case-by-case basis and it should be noted the price could be higher if each location has less than 20 people. I plan to have 30 people depart from Great Falls & Helena again and will take people from Missoula and Kalispell. Use of reward miles is not allowed with this pricing.  

For those wanting people to join the trip from other location around the USA that is OK as well and the price for them could be lower if they live in a large city. Right now we will fly to Salt Lake and then to Atlanta, Atlanta to Santiago. Let me know if you have someone that wants to join us form outside Montana. Airfare will be adjusted accordingly.

For those interested in staying longer or extending into Buenos Aires on the way home there will also be an added fee. If you think you may want to extend or deviate please let me know ASAP so we can get the planning done and locked-in.

September 11 to 19, 2008

Valle Nevado

4 nights lodging at the 4 star hotel Puerta Del Sol, Valle Nevado

Breakfast and dinner daily (at resort restaurants)

4 day lift ticket

Spa services

Après ski service

Welcome drink and Wi-fi

Santiago

4 nights 4 star hotel Eurotel Santiago with breakfast daily (at hotel). Hotel in walking distance to downtown, subway, restaurants and night-life. Roof-top deck, exercise room. etc.

All ground transport

-          Transfer In/Out Valle Nevado

-          Transfer In/Out Santiago

Half day Santiago City Tour with English speaking guide. Trip to Los Dominicos (no guide) local craft market (great place to buy souvenirs and prices are OK)

Full day Maipo Wine Tour to Concha y Toro and lunch at Santa Rita

Full day Valparaiso Tour with lunch (Pacific Coast Port City)

Mineral water on bus

 

Not included:

$100 Chile entrance fee (good for life of passport)

Gratuities for drivers and guides

Items of personal nature

 

$2,446.00 per person based on double occupancy. This includes current fuel surcharges which keep rising everyday.

Deposit are due ASAP to lock-in the airfare. $200.00

 Thank You

Marv Jordan
Great Falls Ski Club, Director
home: 406-452-9301
work:  406-453-8522

Valle Nevado is the place ski teams from around the world come when they do not have snow for practice. Understanding how they do things makes it easier and the eating schedule is key to planning your day. They have a great breakfast buffet with all the stuff your are used to, you just need to know what you want for your cook to-order portion. Chileans normally do not eat a heavy morning meal as the mid-day meal is the large one. Then after 4:30 in the afternoon for about an hour or so, they have what is called a “tea” where small sandwiches, cookies, cakes, hot chocolate or coffee is consumed. This is done to carry you over until 8:30 or 9:00 PM for the evening meal which is small unless celebrity a special occasion. Not to worry all you died in the wool early dinner eaters, we had no problem eating at any time of day as they have all the same restaurants we have in Santiago and they open in the afternoon. In fact, all we visited were very willing to accommodate any request for early eating or special dietary considerations. We had a vegetarian with us who had no complaints about what was served. They do like meat and they are very proud of a local salsa which is served at most meals with a flat bread. You will also have to decide if you want water with your meal “con” or “sin” gas, with or without gas as well as your coffee with or without milk. We drank the water at Valle Nevado and hotel in Santiago along with ice in drinks with no problem. Remember you have to ask for ice (hielo) when ordering, as they do not serve it with cold drinks like the USA.

Santiago is a modern city of 6.2 million people, subways and more shopping than you can shake a stick at. Those that may think that they will see a backwards society will be surprised at how up-to-date everything is. We have selected a hotel right in the middle of the business district within walking distance of most anything you can think of. We were told there was an initiative for the country to have a 90% English literacy rate by 2010 so many do speak English but we also found they were more willing to work with you when you tried to speak some Spanish. I would highly recommend boning-up on some basic words so you can buy things and make it to the bathroom.

There will be more information to come.

Big Mountain has been chosen for our 2008 January trip, January 26th through 30th. Details to follow.

Whistler BC has been selected for the March 2008 trip. Details to follow (Cancelled)

We are looking into Big Sky and Moonlight Basin for the January 2008 Long Ski Trip. Information prices to be announced. Marv Jordan

“South America 2008” Looking at Bariloche, Argentina or one of several areas located in Chile. This trip will take place sometime between June and August. More information to follow. Marv Jordan

Looking at Alta, UT for the next January club bus trip, January 27 – 31st. We will stay at La Quinta, Midvale UT. you can catch a free ski shuttle bus to ski area (15-20 minutes from hill). $350 per person, $100 deposit. Contact Sue Jordan or 452-9301.

 

Discovery ski area staying in Anaconda is on tap for the March 9-11th trip

 

Trip was cancelled

Big Sky has been chosen for our January 2006 trip. Bill Ramsey will be trip coordinator. Dates: Jan 28 through 31st (Saturday through Wednesday), Prices $350.00. Dates have changed to keep prices down.

*****SWISS TOURISM OFFICE ALERT*****

Need information on Switzerland Do not use the Swiss Tourist Office in any country, as they will not provide you what they agree to? Then they will not meet with you, as they are always in meetings, too busy or fail miserably in conflict resolution. I am still waiting to hear from anyone that will address the issues after three personal visits and several emails. Freddie Miller the office manager did not appear to be very concerned about our group of 108 people and the over 220,000 Swiss Francs we spent in his town. If I was a business owner in Engelberg, I would be concerned about how he approaches business and the impression he leaves upon guests/customers. The New York office treats the matter like World War II, hide from the issues and try to be neutral but keep those tourist dollars coming in. Worthless!

*****CLUB RETURNS FROM ENGELBERG, SWITZERLAND MARCH 2006*****

Working on photos and post-trip information.

SWITZERLAND TRIP ITINERARY LINK

The Ramada-Treff Hotel, Engelberg is one of the finest facilities I have ever had the honor to stay at. If you ever get a chance to get to Engelberg you should seriously consider their facility. The spa is one of the best self-service sauna/steam areas I have ever used. Stefan Keel runs a great operation! www.ramada-treff.com

Consumer Alert:

Avoid M. R. Hummers Big Sky, worst restaurant/bar experience ever, extremely rude & unapologetic waiter. There 9-26-01. Don’t waste your hard earned money in a joint that could care less if you were there along with intentionally spilling/wiping a mess in my lap created when waiter threw a tantrum. Spoke with owner who was indifferent about waiter behavior. Ask Marv Jordan for details.

 

Big Bear Sport Center who in the past was one of the clubs best supporters has changed their view on participation with us. Based on this, I encourage our membership to think about using our other sponsors prior to making a purchase.

Discovery Ski Area has been selected again for the short ski trip. Mark Klemensic had to cancel the last attempt due to poor snow conditions. We will be staying in Anaconda taking the bus each day to the hill, prices and details to follow. Email Mark for more information.

 

Alta Utah selected for Clubs January 2007-ski trip. Sue Jordan will be running the trip. We will be staying in the greater SLC area minutes from the hill by free ski shuttle bus. Trip prices vary based on the lift ticket package you want, $340 to over $400 if you want to ski both ski areas (Snow Bird and Alta). Lodging  based on double occupancy. Contact Sue: 788-8388 or email.

 

Switzerland 2006

Link to Engelberg pictures www.mediaarchiv.ch/engelberg-titlis use “Engelberg” as user name and password to access. Need higher speed connection.

 

Discovery Trip Canceled due to lack of snow.

 

Good news for those who were told they could not get on the trip as the bus was full!  We are getting a second bus and need to fill it up to keep the cost at $350 pp. This is in response to our members and we need YOU to help us sell the trip!!!!

 

We have a December deadline to commit to the extra room and bus, so if we do not get enough to make the second bus pay we have to drop it.

 

Contact Sherry Lankford 454-2882 lankshel@benefis.org  or Sue Jordan 452-9301 sjordan@mt.net

Bus Issues

Board addresses bus-seating issue. At a recent Board meeting (2004) the directors addressed the displeasure/complaints of some members who either did not get desired seating or had their claimed seats taken by others on the trip. This has been an on-going problem that has found it escalating to a point where people are claiming seats the night before by placing personal objects on them. All agreed there is a problem but a solution is not that simple?

The Board did agree to allow the trip coordinator to be responsible for seating arrangements/configuration, as they are in-charge of the trip. Some of the proposed fixes were assigning seats similar to airlines with a seating chart etc. This option is the most fair as your seat is secured when you pay for your trip. Those that choose to wait until the last minute to pay will suffer limited seat selection just like on an airplane. Once the trip departs and people choose to move no problem as long as all remember where their seat is when the bus departs for home. This will be implemented for the Jackson Hole, WY trip so pay early if you want a seat!

2005 Ski and Fun Trips!!!

Jackson Hole, January 29 – February 2, 2005 (Saturday – Wednesday) contact Sherry Lankford for details at: 454-2882. This trip is filling up fast!

Discovery Basin will go in March 2005 with the club staying in Anaconda. Mark Klemencic will be coordinating this trip that will run Friday through Sunday. Contact Mark @ 452-6043

Switzerland or Chile 2006?

I’m currently looking at trip options for 2006 and the two listed above have surfaced as options. There is a distinct difference between the two in that Switzerland we will go in the winter and Chile would be in the summer if you want to ski? I have already spoken about Switzerland so that is where we will most likely go but Chile is definitely on the horizon!

More information to follow when it becomes available.

 

Want to win a free ski Trip?

(Does not apply to Europe Trip)

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better the club has come up with a way you can ski for free. There is a small catch, you must have tickets entered into a drawing that will take place at our December Bowling Meeting. You ask, how does one obtain these coveted tickets? When you participate in a club workday (highway cleanup, Ski Swap shift or any other designated day) you will receive one chance at winning one free Long ski trip package for one. That means if you worked all three cleanups and a shift at the Swap, you could have at least four chances.

Ski trips have no cash value and are transferable. If transferred to a non-member, membership must be made to use trip. The "ski trip" refers to our 2000/2001 ski season. The winning ticket will be exchanged for bus transportation, standard package lift tickets and lodging based upon quad occupancy. Upgrades are at winner expense. The workday leader must validate all chances. The Board reserves the right to validate all winning tickets.

Eligibility: Only members in good standing may participate. Only those members eligible by club by-laws can attend club trips.

Back From Europe Skiing Great follow link below for comments.

Europe Traveler Comment Page

Europe - Serre Chevalier, France March 2002 trip is history go to Europe Traveler Comment Page for more information

Follow link below if you want to view trip highlights and see pictures from past trips.

New Zealand - Banff photos links  Photos from Past Ski Trips

Web Page Visitors

Looking for information from other clubs or trip leaders that have done business with Colorado International or Iguana Tours in the last five years. Please email @ meanmarv@mt.net if you have. I have some questions I would like to ask concerning protocols.

The Club is here to promote skiing in Central Montana.

If you have comments or suggestions, email me at meanmarv@gfmt.net

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