The baggage situation: The following question was put to a representative at US Air's executive offices: "If I take my big ski bag and put 15 lbs worth of skis in them, am I entitled to put another 30 lbs or so of poles, clothing or whatever in that bag to come up with the 50lbs to which I would be entitled if I had no other luggage other than a carry-on bag?" The answer received was "YES". Our tour operator checked further with UAL & Delta and received the same answer from them. Therefore, assuming nothing changes before we leave on our trips, here's a summary of how much can be packed to avoid add'l baggage charges: Check in: 1 ski bag & 1 boot bag (considered to be 1 piece of sporting equipment) limited to a total of 50 lbs with no apparent limit on dimensions of ski bag. No charge or $15 charge depending on airline. Second piece of checked-in luggage costs $25 (or more depending on size & weight) Carry-on: 1 bag limited to 35-40 lbs and dimensions of approx 22x14x9 inches. (must be able to fit under the seat or in overhead bins). No charge. Those regulations permit you to travel with 85-90 lbs. Subtract approx 10 lbs for weight of the bags and another 20 lbs for the skis & boots and you're left with approx 55-60 lbs for clothes or whatever. Between the ski bag, boot bag and an allowed carry-on bag, 55-60 lbs of clothes should easily be packed. (unless of course,you're a WOMAN) (yeah, yeah, I know. I can hear them already!!!!) P.S. At the moment , Southwest is still NOT charging for the second checked-in bag. Frontier is pretty much in line with the UAL & US Air.

The link to Jon's photoshow of the joint TSC/HVSC 2008 picnic has been posted on the "Click-on photos" page. An experimental online signup form for the Snowmass trip has been emailed to all participants and to the club general membership. If you haven't received that email, let me know so that I can add your name to my HVSC group list and send it to you.

Eastern PA Ski Council's (EPSC) call for volunteers: the EPSC runs a fund raiser each year called the EPSC Winterfest Auction. The date is Nov.14th this year and the auction will be held at Williamson's Resturant, near the Willow Grove turnpike entrance. If you are interested in volunteering for this activity please contact Nanci Burkey (Auction Chairperson) at : nlburkey@yahoo.com there will be two (2) committee meetings, one in Sept. the other in Oct. thanks, joe

Dear Publicity and Newsletter Directors, I am writing on the behalf of the committee for the EPSC Winterfest Auction Fundraiser. We would appreciate your help by including several articles about the Auction in the next several months in your publications. We have one article attached for the August newsletter looking for volunteers and will email you the articles over the next two months. If you do not have a publication for the next month or so, please include the article on you webpage or in any other notification possible. Thank you for your time and cooperation.

The last msg said it was over. This one is to tell you that the next one has started. As usual, it starts with Snowmass (12/9-12/15). There are already over 130 people with deposits down on the trip. Anyone interested should contact me for details. It's too much to post here.

it ain't over till it's over believe me: IT'S OVER!!! (at least for me) And it ended on a bright , clear, cool beautiful day at Camelback with firm but very good snow conditions. 14 of us ended a wonderful season on a wonderful day. you shoulda been there!!! don't forget last meeting of the year : PIZZA NITE 4/3. see ya's!!!

I'll add to Joe's comments that the New Hampshire was not much different than the western trips. "copious" snow. As a matter of fact, I consider the day we had at Sunday River as the best day of skiing I've ever experienced in the east. About a foot of new snow with almost none of it (if any) turned into that groomed crap. In all, we had 24 days of non-local skiing and of those 24, 22 of them turned out to be with new snow near or in excess of a foot. It doesn't get much better than that.

What a great ski season!!! Aspen/Snowmass was a hugh success with 112 participants, Salt Lake City turned out to be the Champaign powder capital of the year with copious quantities of snow day and night. The Lake Tahoe trip was a perfect ending to a busy skiing year. That trip on the Tahoe Queen was lots of fun, too. I can only hope that the ski Gods will be just as favorable next year. See ya on the slopes!

Trip was just super! Lois, you did a great job. Hope to join you on many more trips. They are so well organized compared to other clubs' trips that I've gone on. And everyone is so friendly!

I'm a new (1 yr.) skier and thanks to HVSC I've had a wonderful year. Haveing lots of snow also helped for good times on the slopes. If your out there looking for a club to join, HVSC is very helpful,caring,and a fun group of folks. Besides the wonderful ski trips, they bike weekly and there's two great bike trips this year.