PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Snow is falling and both Vail and Beaver Creek soon will begin spinning their lifts! This means Vail Club 50 soon will kick off another winter season of fun sports and social activities!
This past summer, our outstanding volunteer leaders brought us an outstanding slate of events and activities including 30+ social events, 102 hikes with 1,038 participant days, 38 bike rides with 475 participant days, 15 tennis events with about 100 participant days and 3 Adopt-a-Trail events with 43 participant days.
Looking ahead, Winter Sports Chair John Kelleher and his coordinators all have stepped up to provide a winter season full of opportunities to get outside in our beautiful alpine atmosphere. Winter Sports coordinators are:
- Merrill Rowe & Skip Thurnauer - Vail Alpine Skiing
- Michele Rae - Beaver Creek Alpine Skiing
- Theresa Paten - Ski Tourning
- LaVonne Feigeles - Snowshoe
- Kate Pennella - Uphill Skin & Spike
Winter social co-chairs Kim Malek and Patty Thomsson are pleased that many of you already have volunteered to plan and organize an array of social events, both large and small. Many of these already are available for you to register on the VC50 website, including the Winter Kick-Off Party on December 7th. Join us then at the EagleVail Pavilion where, in addition to socializing with your fellow VC50 members, you will have the opportunity to sign up to lead winter sports or social events.
VC50 seeks more leaders so we can have more events and activities and avoid having members go on waitlists for events. All Club officers, directors and event leaders volunteer their time providing members with the best menu of social events and sports activities for 50+ year olds in the Valley. How about contributing a bit of your time:
- leading a snowshoe hike or ski tour
- planning and organizing or helping execute an overall member or singles' group event, or
- leading a group of alpine skiers at Vail or Beaver Creek
If you are not comfortable going solo your first time leading a Club event or activity, that’s perfectly okay. The Club happily will partner you with an experienced leader to co-lead your first event. VC50 members can go to the club’s website to sign up to lead events; please have a look and volunteer.
To encourage more VC50 members to become volunteer leaders, your Board of Directors voted to have the end-of season party be a Club-paid, by-invitation-only event for our event and activity leaders. Want to be on that invitation list? Then lead alpine skiing for several days, plan and organize or help out significantly at singles' group or overall club member social events, or plan and lead a snowshoe hike or uphill ski tour.
Please join me in welcoming three new Board members:
- Andy Franklin is our new Webmaster, taking over for Bill Tara.
- Patt Thomsson is our new Winter Social Co-Chair, taking over for Maria DeFillipo.
- Kelley Smith is our new Summer Social Co-Chair, taking over for Debbie Durben.
Also retiring from the Board is Joseph Staron, who served as a member-at-large. Please join me in thanking Bill, Maria, Debbie and Joseph for their time and efforts in making VC50 the great club that it is.
As is occurring with other organizations in the Valley, Vail Club 50 also is experiencing significant price increases as we schedule events. Event coordinators are working diligently to provide members with high-quality events at as reasonable prices as can
be arranged.
We will continue to follow Eagle County Public Health guidance to keep our members safe. With this in mind, there will be no requirement to show proof of vaccination to be admitted to VC50 events or activities.
Vail Club 50 continues to be strong, healthy and active, and with continued support from our excellent volunteers we can continue to be the premier organization where 50+ year olds in the Valley can enjoy a fun, active and healthy lifestyle. Please check our website on a regular basis to see and sign up for the events as they get posted.
Best regards,
Jimmy
Jimmy Arbour
President, Vail Club 50