JOURNAL OF THE ILLAWARRA ALPINE CLUB

VOLUME 42 SEPTEMBER 2002 NUMBER 4

 

     COLD FACTS  

PRESIDENT Stephen Ainge
SECRETARY Jenny Charker
TREASURER Michael Di Leva
BOOKING OFFICER Margaret Fletcher
EDITOR Ian Stuart

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Dear All,

Welcome to our last edition of Cold facts for the season. As explained in detail later in the issue, we had a very successful year setting an all time record for bookings. A special thanks goes to Margaret Fletcher for coordinating the bookings, our management team at the lodge and to all those members and guests who participated in setting this incredible milestone. Our previous record was 2,983 bed nights.

Another milestone we have reached this year is the 40th year of operation for Illawarra Alpine Club. The dinner dance is scheduled for 26th October to complete celebrations for this event. Despite it having a 'Super Heroes & Villains' theme to allow the more flamboyant the opportunity to dress up, fancy dress is not mandatory, and more important we would like to see you there. The very reasonable cover charge of $40.00 for adults and $20.00 for full time students includes food, drink and entertainment. The venue is excellent with a quiet area away from the band to facilitate a quiet chat with friends and a large balcony overlooking picturesque Northbeach. This function has the potential to be a huge success as long as we can get the people there. So, bring your friends and come along for a great night. See later in this issue for full details.

When you read the Club Captain's report, you could be forgiven for believing that our race results were mediocre by comparison to previous results, however I cannot fail to comment on the huge effort that our competitor clubs are now putting in and the massive improvement in the overall standard of racing at these events. Personally, every year I try harder and ski much better than the year before. This year I even purchased some certified go fast (last year's Top Gun) sticks from my younger albeit more talented nephew only to improve marginally in the ratings over last year. There is no doubt that the competitors are putting in a fine effort to improve our performance under sometimes difficult circumstances and there is great support from some very committed parents of our younger racers, it's just that the other clubs are doing the same. The end result is strong and healthy competition and frankly speaking, this is what we want to see. As Tim points out, our limitation is the number of beds we can provide for racers but notwithstanding this, we are a top line competitive ski club in both Nordic and Alpine events. My congratulations and thanks go to Tim Lee for doing a terrific job as Club Captain.

Over the last 3 years we have made a special effort to hold our accommodation rates against rapidly rising administration and running costs. Even with a very successful year in terms of bed nights, the higher proportion of member bookings and the increased costs is lowering our profit expectations. While we expect to make a small profit this year, our budget for next year will no doubt apply upward pressure on accommodation rates. To relieve this financial pressure we looked at several alternatives and one obvious source of income for the lodge was summer usage. Further to this, and as a promotional exercise for this year only we have lowered the non-member rates to encourage members to bring friends and introduce them to the merits of the lodge in the off-season. The Snowy Mountains out of the snow season lends itself to a vast array of activities including sailing, fishing, bush walking, mountain bike riding, music festivals etc. and provides a quiet haven from the more popular summer destinations. For this season we are simplifying the electrical system and buying a new barbecue to make the lodge more user friendly. At current rates it is potentially one of the best value destinations around and we encourage you to use it. Please contact Margaret Fletcher for further details.

To all that enjoyed the club this season, congratulations on contributing to a very successful year. To those unable to join us we look forward to seeing or hearing from you in the not too distant future. As this our last issue of Cold Facts until January, I take the opportunity on behalf of the committee to send you all best wishes for the festive season.

Stephen Ainge

FROM THE BOOKING OFFICER

An outstanding total for the season. We ended up with 3260 bednights. Well and truly a club record. Great work in supporting your club. The good start to the season probably helped with this. Hope to see ALL of you back again next year. Please take a look at the special summer promotion below.

RATES FOR 2002 PER PERSON PER NIGHT 2 PM - 2 PM

WINTER SEASON - OPENING - Friday June 7 CLOSING - Monday October 7

ALL RATES INCLUSIVE OF GST
DATE RATE

$

 Member

Adult

 Member

Child

 Guest

Adult

 Guest

Child

Sun Sept 22 Mon Oct 7 Special

Rate 1
  • $30
  • $15
  • $50
  • $25
Thu Oct 10

Sun Dec 31

 Summer

Rate *
  • #$12
  • #$6
  • #$12
  • #$6
* REMEMBER: No food or linen supplied during Summer Rate periods

# N.B. : To promote use of the lodge during summer we have reduced the rates.

ALL people attending the lodge (members and guests) will pay a special rate of ONLY $12 per night during summer. Half rates apply to children.

Get your booking in quick to avoid the Christmas break rush.

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS 2002 (all dates inclusive)

SPRING: NSW, ACT, SA Saturday 28 Sept to Sunday 13 Oct

QLD, VIC: Saturday 21 Sept to Sunday 6 Oct

Labour Day Holiday in NSW: Monday 7 October 2002

Margaret Fletcher

CLUB PROGRAMME FOR 2002/03

OCTOBER

7 Lodge closes for winter season (Labour Day long weekend)

10 Lodge opens for summer Bookings

26 IAC End of season Party & Presentation

SUPER HEROES & VILLAINS theme

NOV/DEC

30 - 1 Working bee at the lodge

JANUARY

17-19 Thredbo Blues Festival

26-28 Huts Maintenance (To be confirmed)

FROM THE CLUB CAPTAIN

Race Update - September 2002

The Racing calendar was placed under a large cloud for a good deal of the early season because of the problem with liability insurance and whether the clubs could find the necessary cover and find it quickly enough to run our races. The midnight oil burned and we made the deadline. I thank John O'Donnell, John Ainge and others for their guidance during this time.

The 14th of September, and the running of the Junior Interclub, once again saw the end of the season for a dedicated section of our club who come to the mountains year after year and do their damnedest to make Illawarra the No.1 club amongst the others. It's not always enough and we don't always win but at least they know they did their part.

I ask again, to all our racers; please come and support YOUR club in 2003. WE NEED YOU! I don't wish to harp on the subject but as a example, when a certain club can produce 67 racers for The Bowl weekend and we can only sleep 33 our only hope is to put up "Superior Racer" and these we DO have. Think about it!!

Our junior race program progressed to a different level in August with an "ex-Student" becoming the "Master". Welcome back Heidi Ainge. With a slightly smaller group we combined to form one and, with Heidi's guidance, our juniors had a great week. Thank you Heidi and please be there next year.

Senior Interclub Race.

A win at last! it has taken a few years but we have finally won back the Senior Interclub trophy. Don't take this as a indication that we don't need you in 2003. The date did slightly weaken some of the clubs.

1st Illawarra

2nd SAC

3rd Lysaghts

IAC Championships.

The champs were held on MM at Blue Cow and I think everybody that competed or helped would agree that it was a No.1 TOP DAY with great courses and great snow. The Ainges came along in force to keep us all honest!!

Seniors. Slalom Giant Slalom

1st Nicholas Brown Heidi Ainge Jarvis Fletcher Heidi Ainge

2nd Jarvis Fletcher Fiona Montgomery John Ainge Krista Sturday

3rd Brendan Bayly Shauna Dengate Phil Warren Fiona Montgomery

Juniors.

1st Tim Ainge Lucy Ainge Tim Ainge Lucy Ainge

2nd Gavan Fletcher Lyndsey Ainge Gavan Fletcher Brittany Ainge

3rd Andrew Dengate Carrin Di Milia Andrew Dengate Lauren Di Milia

Senior Champions for 2002 Jarvis Fletcher / Heidi Ainge

Junior Champions for 2002 Tim Ainge / Lucy Ainge

Top Gun for 2002 - TIM AINGE

It was great to see Nigel Chesterfield Evans and family with "Louis" back with us and in action. Please come next year. You know the time and we need your style and humour. Another person that is always on the mountain helping out is Geoff Sturday. Geoff does not race but spends hours and a lot of dollars to help catch those magic moments that we all love to relive over a beer after a race. THANKS Geoff!! You have added an extra something to our races.

Smiggins Bowl / Shield.

I think in my thirty years of race involvement I have never spent such a miserable but challenging day as September 7th. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The faithful that stood all day at the top of Mother-in -Law know what I mean, and to make things worse we lost both the Bowl and Shield to that club I won't name. BUT there is always 2003. I thank all those who came and please come again next year. It would not be possible to score such conditions again. (I HOPE).

Shield Placing's.

Juniors. 1st IMBAC 2nd IAC 3rd Snow Country

Veterans. 1st Snow Country 2nd IAC 3rd Muniong

Ladies. 1st IAC (TopTeam!!) 2nd Snow Country 3rd IMBAC

Mens. 1st Snow Country 2nd IAC 3rd IMBAC

My commiserations go out to Nick Brown who was beaten by a faulty clock (or human time keeper!!) in the GS , he should have come in outright 3rd or 4th - sorry Nick. With Snowboarding now included in the Bowl, and will be included in both the Interclub races in 2003, it is great to see that we do actually already have some top boarders in Craig Mason , Mat Doyle, Guy Barbour, Alina Cartledge and some up and coming APPRENTICES!! We will need these, and more, in 2003.

Results:-

Bowl 1st Snow Country Shield. 1st Snow Country

2nd Caloola 2nd IAC

3rd IAC/Muniong 3rd IMBAC

Junior Bowl / Shield. 1st IMBAC

2nd IAC

3rd Snow Country

This is the 3rd consecutive year that Snow Country has beaten us and they "LOVE IT" because they know we are actually a MUCH stronger club ???

Junior Interclub.

Our juniors are holding their own as can be seen in the Champs and Bowl and performed beautifully in their Interclub race. They are slowly strengthening in X/C and even though they came in 3rd the times were very close. (We must stop falling over at x/c finish line - Its costing us!!)

Congratulations to Guy Barbour with a 2nd place in the Snowboard event.

Giant Slalom Cross Country

1st IAC 1st Lysaghts (sec 657.3)

2nd Snow Country 2nd Snow Country (sec 669.7)

3rd IMBAC 3rd IAC (sec 689.8)

Overall Winning Club :-

"Illawarra Alpine Club & Snow Country" equal 1st.

I would like to say farewell to Gavan Fletcher who leaves our race program. His strength will be missed but I wish him the best as a senior. I'm sure he will hold his own!! Many thanks to all those who came and took part in or helped run our races this season. Together we all shared some great moments be it on the course or at the BAR!! See you all at our presentation

Tim Lee

WORK PARTIES

SUMMER WORKING BEES

Fellow Skiers, after a fantastic snow season it's time to do some work at the lodge. We're required to do a few costly jobs this summer; some by contractor and the remainder hopefully by club members and friends.

The main jobs will be:

As you can see a lot to be done, so all volunteers will be greatly appreciated.

The first Working Bee will be on Nov 30th/Dec 1st 2002.

Please give me a call if you can spare the time, and any new faces will be welcome.

Ph: 4268 5197, Mob: 041 9988 497, e-mail: maintenance@iacski.com

Jarvis Fletcher

INTERNET and WEB NEWS

Cold Facts - via Regular Mail or Web/Email?

We are still after people to add their names to the list of e-mail recipients of COLD FACTS. If you decide that you would prefer an electronic version from now on, please let me know by e-mail (treasurer@iacski.com). PLEASE RESPOND if you have access to the website and you no longer require a paper copy. We will not e-mail you a copy. You will simply be sent a note when the issue is available telling that it is available on the web site. Please consider that this method of keeping up with news at the club will save time, money and resources. Hope to hear from more of you soon.

Mike Di Leva

OTHER NEWS

The following article is included simply for the information of members. It was forwarded to the committee by one of our Canberra members. I thought it would make for interesting reading, given the location of our club, for non Canberra residents who may not have caught up with this new stance by Perisher Blue.....Ed

This is an extract from the Canberra Times Business section - 26/8/02

Public liability: Perisher Blue 'to get even' by Graham Cooke

The days of easy claims for compensation against the Perisher Blue ski resort were over, the lawyer representing the company said in Canberra last week.

Speaking to a lunchtime meeting of the ACT Property Council, Geoffrey Brookes said the HIH collapse and the crisis in public liability insurance had brought about a "fundamental, almost seismic shift" in the attitude of courts over the past 18 months.

In addition, the case of trainee school teacher David Beck, who brought a successful action against the resort for an injury sustained in 1995, had been a turning point in its attitude to litigation.

"You will no doubt be aware of the saying 'don't get mad, get even'," he said. "Well Perisher Blue decided to get even."

Through the 1990s insurers had consistently taken the option of settling claims out of court on the basis that this was the cheaper way out. These so-called 'commercial settlements' may have suited the insurer, but were not always in the best interest of the client company.

"It is my view this produced not only a false economy, but also acted as a lure as lawyers for plaintiffs were indirectly encouraged to bring more claims on the reasonable expectation that an offer of settlement would be made," he said. "Not only did this have the effect of 'feeding the sharks', it disempowered the defendants being sued."

Perisher Blue has taken the opposite course and now had full charge of the insurance and legal process. "Make no mistake, this involves a considerable devotion of resources both in terms of time and actual dollars, but if our experience is any guide the pendulum will ultimately swing back the right way," he said.

There was no doubt that people were less inclined to accept the consequences of their own actions. In 1992 Perisher Blue received one lawsuit; in 2001 there were five formal claims for compensation. One case currently being defended involved a learner skier who had crashed into a sign.

Skiing and snowboarding, while exciting sports, also carried some inherent hazards. Resorts like Perisher Blue would do as much as possible to reduce risks, but could not be expected to act as police on their own slopes.

Mr Beck had been rendered a quadriplegic when he hit a tree while riding on a makeshift toboggan. He received an award of almost $8 million of which $2.8 million came from Perisher Blue. Mr Brooks predicted that a similar case brought today would lose.

"I am putting to you that detachment and disinterest will do just as much if not more to damage your interests as entrepreneurial lawyers and questionable plaintiffs," he told his audience.

"I'm not suggesting it will be easy, nor that you will achieve immediate results, but it will be in your long-term interests."

DINNER DANCE 26TH OCTOBER

Illawarra welcomes all heroes and villains to the end of season dinner dance. Fancy dress is optional although a lot can be done with a set of dark glasses, a black suit, a 'dishy' look or a blonde wig. Remember that friends and guests of members are welcome. For those looking for accommodation in Wollongong, the following places provide some options.

39 Smith St, Wollongong. 42246500 2-14 Cliff Rd, North Wollongong.  42263555