2017 Great Western Ski Trip

Jackson Hole Wyoming

  • Front row, left to right: Peter Fahey, Chris Blair, Bev Lawrie, Nancy Dibelius, Joann Chambers, Laurie Solomon-Noyes, Jim Noyes, John Blair, Steve (HAOTY) Schwager, Rich duMoulin, Gerry Bell.
  • Back row: Peter Emmel, Hap Ridgway, Susan Ridgway, Dave Dibelius, Clark Wadlow, Jessica Allen, Craig Allen, Dawn Lawrie, Katie Allen, Jim Lawrie, Tom Stonecipher, Scott Reeves, Rick Pabst, Lisa Albert.

See the Photos and Videos

 

This year a group of inveterate ’68 skiers descended on Jackson Hole, Wyoming to enjoy a week of skiing and good fellowship. Participants included Gerry Bell and 3 friends from Bethel, John and Chris Blair, Joann Chambers (Larry Griffith’s sister), Dave and Nancy Dibelius, Rich duMoulin, Peter Emmel, Peter Fahey, Jim and Bev Lawrie, Dawn Lawrie, ’97 and family (Craig Allen, ’97 and daughters Jessica, ‘28 and Katie, ‘31), Jim and Laurie Noyes, Rick Pabst, Scott Reeves, Hap and Susan Ridgeway, Tom Stonecipher and Lisa Albert, Steve Schwager and Clark Wadlow. Unfortunately, medical/family issues impacted attendance for a number of anticipated attendees including trip organizer Larry Griffith and wife Julia, Rusty Martin, Bruce Senn, David and Cindy Stanley and John Manaras, ’67.

 

Sunday, March 3 was our first day on the slopes and the snow was pretty tired. However, that night it began to snow and by Tuesday, conditions were superb. It snowed every day and we saw the sun only rarely. While visibility didn’t reach the epic impenetrable fog of the 2011 trip to the Big Mountain in Montana, light was flat and snow made it challenging to keep track of your ski buddies. By Friday, it wasn’t quite cold enough to snow on the lower half of the mountain so moisture came in the form of rain. Only the truly hardy lasted all day.

 

We had two large houses, just a little beyond walking distance apart. The larger house, Morley Manor, owned by our classmate, Bruce Morley’s family was our primary gathering point for after ski activities and dinners prepared by our in-house culinary staff, Blair’s, Lawrie’s, Noyes’, Ridgeway’s, and Stonecipher’s with plenty of help from all other participants. Food was uniformly excellent and there were requests for a ski trip cookbook. The group dined out on Tuesday at Il Villaggio Osteria for an excellent Italian meal. Class sommelier, Jim Lawrie, brought a sampling of wines with custom Class of 1968 50th Reunion labels and some bottles etched with the Class of ’68 logo, see photo. The etched bottles are spectacular! We plan to serve the wines at the 50th reunion and to offer them for sale at the reunion.

Steve Schwager was the recipient of this year’s HAOTY (if you don’t know, don’t ask) award. While Steve’s skiing has improved immensely over the years and he no longer displays on-slope behaviors likely to identify him as a no-brainer recipient of the above mentioned highly coveted award, he managed to successfully display the required behavior on the way home. In true ’68 fashion fully worthy of his recently acquired status of HAOTY, Steve tried to slip his ’68 logo-etched bottle of wine by the ever vigilant Jackson airport TSA screening agents. We learned of this brazen act by email from Peter Emmel: "First Official Act:  Forced by TSA to dump or drink the D68 souvenir bottle (packed in carry-on to protect the wine), HAOTY-2017 declined to say which option he chose." Well, later he fessed-up: “I drank as much of the wine as I could and donated the rest to the lucky provider of the corkscrew before taking the emptied bottle through airport security.  I was sober enough to find my seat, and there was no need to buy drinks at airline prices.” In a before noon, somewhat wine-soaked state, and inspired by Friday’s on-slope rain, Steve came up with the following adaptation of Gene Kelly’s Singing in the Rain:

 

We’re skiin’ in the rain

Just skiin’ in the rain

What a glorious feelin’

We’re happy again

We’re laughing at clouds

And fog – up we go

The sun’s in our hearts

And we’re ready for snow

 

Let the wind and clouds chase

Everyone from the place

And bring on the rain

We’ve a smile on our face

We ski down the trail

We’re glad not to bail

Just skiin’,

Skiin’ in the rain

Plans for next year’s 20th anniversary great western ski trip, 50th reunion year trip, haven’t been finalized yet. Based on discussion at Jackson, we decided to research 4 western resorts, all of which we’ve visited previously. The research committee of two has been tasked to find at least two large houses (probably three with condo overflow if needed) that offer ski in/out or regular door-to-door shuttle service, and preferably within easy walking distance of each other. We are hoping to add new faces, both those who’ve never attended one of our ski mini-reunions and those who have only attended the more recently established eastern ski trip. Stay tuned.