01:00 AM EST on Monday, January 10, 2005
BY BRYAN ROURKE
Journal Staff Writer

It snows. You ski.

That's the way it works.

Wait. There's a better way, someone says. Get a group. Go together. There's strength in numbers.

Organize. Economize. Socialize.

It's 1955. An idea becomes an institution. The Newport Ski Club is born.

Most of its 14 founding members work at the Naval Underwater Weapons Station (now the Undersea Warfare Center) in Newport. They're engineers.

You know what that means.

"We've got procedures for writing procedures," says John Brady, 76 of Portsmouth. "This thing is organized to the hilt."

As a result, the Newport Ski Club has reached its 50th anniversary.

Brady and his wife Peg are the only remaining active founders of the club, which now has 165 adult members who share an interest, a lodge, and, often, a life.

The club has spawned nearly two dozen marriages.

"People who like skiing like the outdoors and have the same interests," says Frank Item, 71, of Portsmouth, who met and married his wife Sheila through the club. "It's formed quite a part of our whole life experience."

The Newport Ski Club is more than skiing. It's year-round living: golfing, sailing and hiking, among other social outings.

"It's not just a cheap lift ticket," says Barbara Furtado, 67, of Portsmouth. "It's a lifetime ride."

Furtado joined the club 44 years ago. At the time, she didn't know how to ski. That was fine. The club seemed a good way to learn.

"The connection is the people as much as the skiing," Furtado says. "The people is what draws you back."

In its first year, there was car pooling, followed by several years of renting various lodges in northern New England. Then in 1965, club members built their own lodge on the base of Okemo Mountain in Vermont. As with everything the do-it-yourself club does, members did most of the work.

The lot, just a few hundred yards from the mountain base, cost $1,200 in 1965. The nonmember construction cost $24,910. And the well cost $6.50 a foot.

"We got to 300 feet and we only had 1.5 gallons a minute coming out of the well," John Brady says. "We had to decide if we were going to drill a hole in the ground or build a ski lodge."

The group did both. The engineers figured the well flow was fine if the water was stored in above-ground tanks. They were right. Then they turned their attention to life in the lodge.

It's communal.

"It's not for everyone," John Brady says. "It's highly structured."

Everyone chips in. Chores are assigned: cooking, cleaning, shopping, you name it.

It's all evident as soon as you enter. It's right there in black and white on what's called the "Weep Sheet."

"You read it and weep, or cheer, whatever," Peg Brady says.

The chores take about an hour each weekend, and reportedly aren't that bad.

"I can think of dishwashing parties where people were battering down the door to get in," Furtado says. "We've had fun cleaning the bathrooms, too, but not as much."

The chores, members say, don't merely cut costs, but create friendships.

"You're working together," Peg Brady says. "If you're in the kitchen chopping vegetables and someone's stirring the pot of glug, you start talking."

The lodge, which is about four hours from Newport, sleeps 46. Females sleep on one half, males on the other, in four-person and six-person bunk rooms.

People are assigned rooms, but not beds.

"It's whoever gets there first," says Edmund Steinbrick, 77, of Rumford, the club's oldest member. "I, obviously, like a lower bunk."

Most people also appreciate quiet roommates. Previously, in one of the club's rented lodges, those who weren't were assigned to the room in the attic, affectionately called The Frog Pond.

"That was the section for men who snored," Peg Brady says. "We don't have a room labeled that now, but we do have some with a reputation for snoring."

A key to communal living is conversation. It's highly encouraged at Newport Ski Club, which explains its virtual ban on TV.

"That's the way it should be," Furtado says. "You talk. You read. You do things with other people."

Kids are included in the club. They, however, aren't considered official members. They're guests of their parents.



THE NEWPORT SKI CLUB is one of several organizations of its kind to reach 50 years, according to the New England Ski Museum. The country's oldest ski club is the Nansen Ski Club, established in 1872 in Berlin, N.H.

"The majority of ski clubs were established because members banded together to buy a ski house and have a reasonable place to stay," says Jeff Leich, the museum's executive director.

Newport Ski Club membership is $60 a year for a single person, $100 for a family. Lift tickets, bought in bulk, are discounted 30 percent. A weekend at the lodge costs a paltry $25 per person, which includes two nights and five meals.

"It's cheaper to go to Vermont than to stay home," Item says.

Becoming a member is a process, which takes about a year, since, according to club bylaws, applicants "must demonstrate sincere sustained interest." That's defined as attending several business meetings, a ski weekend, a work weekend at the lodge and a social event.

"The object of all that is for you to get to know all of us," John Brady says. "The people who stay with it are the ones we like to have in the club."

Bill Geasey, 44, of Portsmouth, and his family are nearing the end of their application process.

"I need to go up there for a work weekend so I can go through the initiation," Geasey jokes.

There's no initiation, not unless that's what you call the application process.

"It's all about getting along and everyone working together," Geasey says. "You're part of a community."

The accommodations are enjoyable, Geasey says, not luxurious. Most people use sleeping bags.

"That's not the coziest thing in the world," he says. "You're not up there for a slumber party. You're there for skiing."

But everyone says they get more than that: card games, board games or, maybe, efficiency lessons.

"They've got explicit directions on making oatmeal," Geasey says. "That's so it's perfect every time."



EVERYTHING ABOUT THE CLUB is detailed, from the recipes for the five rotating menus to the minutes for all 50 years worth of its business meetings.

"It is an efficient operation," Peg Brady says.

Use of the lodge is by reservation, made through the club's reservation manager. And special club events are arranged months in advance.

In March, the club has its annual Oldies, Creaks and Groans Midweek Ski. About half those who go don't even ski. They just go for camaraderie.

"No, we don't have a secret handshake," John Brady says. "But we do have a club flag."

In April, members will officially salute the club's 50th anniversary with a large dinner party.

For more information on the Newport Ski Club, visit its web site: www.newportskiclub.org.