Happy New Year, snow bunnies!

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2015. We hope you had an excellent summer holiday and that Santa treated you well. In this newsletter, we've got some info about the new committee, membership, new rates, events and members' news. Minutes for December's committee meeting are on the website here, and minutes from the 2014 AGM are online here.

Club members have been making good use of the lodges over summer. Bernie and Marie Prendergast and the Caudle family spent three glorious days at the National Park lodge over New Years (see pics below). They enjoyed perfect weather, in spite of a forecast of heavy rain, and spend NYE catching up over a roast dinner and drinkies. On New Years day they headed out for a walk to the Lower and Upper Tama lakes. Says Marie: "It was a fantastic day with hardly any wind, and Charlotte and Lachlan did a great job walking there and back. Lachlan even made it up to the Upper Tama lake. The following day we got up fairly early to go up the lifts to climb to the crater lake. It was a pretty tough climb, but again Charlotte and Lachlan were fantastic and made it all the way up. it was particularly fun sliding down the snow on your bum on the way down. We were all pretty exhausted after those two efforts, but celebrated with our famous shared ‘pizza night’, which is always fun. It was great to spend a few days unwinding down at the mountain, it is truly is a spectacular and special place, no matter what time of year." Hear, hear!

Here's a picture of Kevin Frost. Why? Well, because Kevin's back, to let you know he can really shake it down. Frosty's once more one of our committee members for 2015. Get to know him; he enjoys shiraz, knitting his own socks, and long walks on the beach. Along with Frosty, on the committee this year are Mac McKay (immediate past president), Dion Cruse (booking officer), Jane Gilmour (secretary), Hazel Phillips (club captain) and Lisa Arthur (general committee). We're still looking for a president and treasurer, and we'd really appreciate any help filling these positions. The time commitment is one meeting a month (in person in Auckland or via Skype from anywhere with an internet connection) and various bits and pieces in between. Thanks heaps (Big, Fat Mountains of Thanks) to outgoing committee members Neil Green (immediate past president), James Mortimer (treasurer), Adam Crocker (general committee) and maintenance ninjas Kieran Mellamphy and Grant Allen for all their hard work! If you can help out as president or treasurer, get in touch. We'd love to have you!

Get along to a working bee!

This year's membership fee is $140 for a single or $280 for a family, with a maintenance fee of $50 for a single or $100 for a family. But remember, your maintenance fee will be waived if you come along to one of the working bees! Click here for dates and info. They're fast approaching, in March, so make sure you register your interest (email clubcaptain@skiclub.org.nz). Working bees are a great way to do something for the club while getting to know other members. The club thrives on the members' voluntary efforts and working bees help keep costs down for everyone.

Just in case anyone is a little confused on membership costs, here's a breakdown:

Pay before 31st March and a working bee is attended, Single $126, Family $252.

Pay before 31st March without attending a working bee, Single $176, Family $352.

Pay after 31st March and a working bee is attended, Single $140, Family $280.

Pay after 31st March without attending a working bee, Single $190, Family $380.

Life members attending a working bee have no cost; if a working bee is not attended there's a $50 maintenance fee per life member. Any questions regarding membership please email membership@skiclub.org.nz. We're also offering five life memberships at a cost of $2,000 - if you're interested, get in touch with Jane Gilmour (secretary@skiclub.org.nz).

New rates for 2015

We've rejigged the rates for 2015, to acknowledge that members should get a better deal. So from April, members will pay $20 per person per night for both lodges and non-members will pay $40. You'll now pay the same for the Ruapehu lodge as you do for the National Park lodge. This reflects our transition to seeing the Ruapehu lodge as a mountain hut rather than a luxury lodge. A basic (continental) breakfast will be available at both lodges. Members should self-cater for all other meals at both lodges, except when there's a special event on. Remember, new members are always welcome, so get your friends and family to join. Downhill has some of the best deals and rates around.

Summer/autumn events

Our pre-season events card (click here to see it) is stacked with good times just looking to happen to you. There's 4WDing, mountain biking, a tramping/Tongariro Crossing weekend, and an alpine skills/roast dinner/snuggling weekend (BYO snuggle buddy). Get amongst it! The events are also listed on our Facebook page, so you can share them with friends, family members, and attractive strangers you'd like to snuggle with. (Click here for tips on snuggling etiquette.) And if you're in Auckland, come along to the NZ Alpine Club's February meeting on Feb 9 to catch up with other Downhill members and hear the intrepid speaker of the month.

More money for our club!

We need more income for our club, so we're offering our lodges for use by school groups and community groups. To entice them to choose our club, we've made up a handy flyer (click here to download it). If you've got kids, think about sharing this info with their school, and help create good snow karma for yourself (and us).

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