Member Rarely Asked Questions

I forgot my checkbook

Whoo-Hoo. Not a problem. Since 2019 (new CheckIn system) we don't accept checks at the Lodge anyway. All you need is your credit card (or pre-purchased eVouchers, stored online). If you actually forget your credit card (how did you pay for gas?), you'll need to give cash to another member to use his card to get you checked out. You might have to give me a beer. If there is no one else in the lodge during your stay (?), immediately mail the appropriate check to the Membership Records person (don't make it hard for him; explain who the check is for and the number of nights).

I did a work weekend, I think. Do I have to pay?

Really, this isn't that hard. We usually schedule work weekends in May, June, September and October (and it bears repeating that they fill up quickly). So when you're paying your dues in September, you only have to think back to May. Can't remember doing a work weekend in the last 5 months? Then the one you are remembering is from a prior year, and yes you owe the in-lieu fee.

(There is a minor but important exception here. Sometimes the Club needs help from someone with unusual talents, and the Board will ask someone to do that project in exchange for a Work Weekend credit, outside of a usual work weekend. This won't happen to anyone 'by accident'; if you were asked by the Board to crawl under the Lodge in freezing weather to clear a blocked sewer line, you won't forget having done it.)

I don't remember getting a bill

That's good, because we don't send bills (the people collecting your money are all volunteers). It's up to you to put October 15 on your calendar. (Okay, we'll usually have reminders in the Newsletter, but if you don't read the Newsletter either we have no sympathy for you.)

I broke my Coccyx in February, do I have to do (or pay) a work weekend?

Ow! Yes, you incur the obligation for a work weekend the moment you paid your dues back in September. Even if you couldn't use the Lodge one day. (If your accident happened back in, say, November consider approaching the Board. We're all skiers/boarders, and we don't want your money if we can put someone else into the Club while you go Inactive. But if you don't tell anyone until March, that's too late for us to do anything.)

I'm going to Cleveland for a year, but I'll be back

Hey, don't gloat. You probably want to be Inactive for a year. Instead of the full annual dues (full listing), you pay only the much smaller Inactive Dues for each year you are Inactive. You'll still get the newsletter and can attend all Club social functions, but you can't use the Lodge (except as a guest).

While you are Inactive, you don't incur any obligation to do a work weekend (or pay the In-lieu fee). But if you didn't do a work weekend in the last year you were Active, you have to pay the In-lieu fee by the end of that year, just like every other member. If you don't pay the In-lieu fee, it's just like not paying your dues; you'll be 'retired' on November 15 and we'll return the balance of your deposit.

Is it worth being Inactive rather than just quitting for a while?

Oh, yeah! If you let us know by September 1 that you plan to return from Inactive status, you move (with any other returning Inactives) to the "head of the list" of those waiting. Since our membership is limited, we have no way to guarantee a space for you, but being at the head of the list rather than the end usually makes all the difference. If you retire, even for just one year, you have to start the membership process from the beginning, and you'll be at the end of the waiting list.

I don't think I'm going to ski anymore, ever

Bummer. When you retire from the Club, we'll refund the balance of your deposit. If you did a work weekend in the year you are retiring (and don't owe us anything else), you'll get your deposit back ($200 if you joined in the last couple years). If you haven't done your work weekend, we can deduct your In-lieu fee from the deposit.

We pretty much always have someone in line wanting to take your slot. If you know in, say, May that you're leaving the area for good, consider letting us know then. You'll get your deposit back that much sooner, and someone on our waiting list will hear the good news earlier. If you don't tell us, we make the new members wait to November 16 to hear the news that you got dropped.

I really enjoyed the last Work Weekend. Can I check if I got credit?

Always good to check (we're all amateurs here). Generally, when you get an email from the Club (like when you get your Newsletter), it will have a line that says something like:

Your Status is: Active. Your dues are paid to 2016. Your Work Weekend has been taken care of to 2015.

When you completed a work weekend in June, 2014, you were taking care of that current year's work weekend obligation: "to" October 2014. When you paid your dues in September 2014, you paid them in advance "to" October 2015.

Still not reassured? You can always send an email to Membership Records and ask.