Covid Message
General Club Message Concerning Covid-19
It’s been a long couple years for all of us and our all-volunteer club is doing our best to navigate the ever changing world of this pandemic. We hope that you are healthy and safe. It’s time to prepare for all the upcoming TBSSB trips.
We want all of our loyal travelers to feel comfortable traveling with the club. We will continue to put the safety of our travelers first. We are a not-for-profit, just-for-fun social Club completely operated by volunteers. The organization was not set up to make money, but to provide an awesome experience for our members. When the Club has had to cancel a trip, we have and will continue to work tirelessly with our travel agents, the mountain, the lodging, and the airlines to get every refund or credit back to you, our faithful travelers.
The club has approved a new Covid policy as of 10/17/2021. The following is the new policy:
TBSSB requires travelers on all Club trips to fully comply with any vaccination or testing requirements set forth by the organizations that have jurisdiction over the travelers during any part of the trip, including government agencies, airlines, lodging properties, or restaurants. If you fail to comply, you will be fully responsible for any consequences and/or costs incurred, including those due to canceling off the trip, getting turned back at the airport or the destination, legal fees, changed travel plans, being denied participation in social events, and so on. TBSSB accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any penalties, deviations, or cancellations, whether financial or other, due to non-compliance with COVID related policies. Your trip leader(s) will keep you informed about the pertinent policies for your trip to the best of the Club’s ability, but you are responsible for both knowledge of and compliance with the local policies.
TBSSB further requires all travelers going on one of the Club’s overseas Bike & Barge or Bike & Sail trips to be fully vaccinated against COVID and to be able to provide proof of vaccination. Fully vaccinated is defined as having been inoculated by an approved vaccine, at least the first 2 shots, at least 14 days before trip departure. Travelers are also required to have a negative COVID test within 3 calendar days of departure. It is highly likely that the destination country has similar or stricter requirements, so this policy is in effect as a backup on these trips to ensure that we protect all of our travelers given the close quarters on the vessels.
This season, more than ever, we encourage you to look into getting trip insurance. As a not-for-profit Club, TBSSB does not provide trip insurance, nor do we promote or endorse any particular insurance company. We do encourage travelers to seriously consider whether or not trip insurance is a good thing for them. Please see the Trip Insurance section on our home page for more information about this subject.
Please see our Covid-19 page for answers to some frequently asked questions (FAQ’s).
Stay safe and think positive!
Snow Reports
On the Snow Reports
Here are snow reports for resorts we'll be visiting as seen on On The Snow website:
Season Ski Passes
SEASON SKI PASSES - EPIC & IKON
IMPORTANT NEWS! Updated 8/26/2021
Epic Pass prices will expire on September 6. Ikon Pass prices will expire on September 1. If you are planning on skiing at an Epic Pass or Ikon Pass destination this coming season and you don't yet have a pass, you might want to purchase your pass soon, before the prices go up.
It’s not too early to start thinking about skiing/boarding next season. Your Club, Tampa Bay Snow Skiers & Boarders (TBSSB), is working hard planning the trip schedule for the coming ski season (2021-2022). Although the schedule is in a preliminary and tentative state, we can tell you that we will be offering several destinations to resorts at which you can use either an Epic pass or an Ikon pass. See our Preliminary Trip List on our website home page for destinations and which Pass may apply.
Ikon passes went on sale on March 11, 2021. Epic Passes went on sale March 23, 2021.
Both passes include numerous mountain resorts. If you purchase a full or base pass thru our tour operator (Sports America) then you will receive a special discount. This additional credit won’t apply to the three FSC trips because Sports America is not the tour operator for those trips, but if you buy the right pass it will still be useable on those trips.
The current prices for the Ikon pass are in effect via our link with Sports America but are increasing soon. The Ikon prices are increasing sooner if you go directly to the Ikon website. No date has been published for when the Epic pass prices will increase but it’s likely that will happen by the end of May.
Both passes typically have a couple or more price increases as we get closer to the ski season. However, the benefit of purchasing through Sports America will still be in effect. If you think you will be skiing/boarding at one or more of the many pass destinations, purchasing or renewing your pass before the first price increase will give you the best price available this year.
To purchase a pass through TBSSB and Sports America (which is the only way to receive the trip credit mentioned above), or simply to learn more about what resorts and restrictions apply to each pass type, click these links:
GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
EPIC - If you are planning to ski or ride at one or more of the Epic/Vail destinations, you should purchase one of the many Epic Pass options. Which pass is right for you will depend on what dates, and how many days and resorts you’re planning to ski or ride. Even if you only go to one Epic destination and only ski a few days, the Epic Day Pass, or the Epic Local Pass, will cost less than the lift tickets the Club will be able to offer. Note that the Military Epic Pass does not cover Telluride nor Ogden.
IKON – If you are only going to one Ikon destination, and skiing less than 6 days, purchasing a Group Lift Ticket through the Club for that trip is probably the better deal. If you are planning to ski or ride 6 or more days, or more than one Ikon resort, you should carefully check out the Ikon pass options. One of their passes (at least the Base or Base Plus) is likely to be the better choice if you plan to ski 6+ days and/or more than one resort. If you are going to Aspen/Snowmass or Jackson Hole, the Ikon Base pass will not work, you will need at least the Base Plus pass for those two destinations.
In any case, please be sure to very carefully read all the pass options, restrictions, blackout dates, and destinations included. Not every pass type is good at all resorts or on all dates. By clicking the links above, you can see the prices, which resorts are included or not, what restrictions or blackout dates apply, and etc. Before selecting a pass, please be sure that you fully understand what your specific pass offers, at which destinations, and what restrictions or blackout dates may apply.
If you have questions or need help making the right selection, feel free to call the 800 number that can be found near the top left of the pass description pages accessed via the links above.
If you still have questions, please contact your trip committee chairs:
Mike Pearson: mikepdigsvb@verizon.net
Peggy Gummoe: pbgummoe@aol.com.
Real ID
Real ID Driver Licenses & ID Cards
The REAL ID Act became effective nationwide on May 11, 2008. Bottom line: if you do not have a star on the upper right-hand side of your driver's license on October 1, 2021, then you cannot get onto an airline flight. Florida began issuing REAL ID compliant credentials as of 1/1/2010. So if you have a driver's license that was issued prior to 11/2010, you need to get a new license before 10/1/2021. No kidding. But there are other types of ID you can use, such as the Global entry. Thank the Dept of Homeland Security. For more info, see REAL ID Details as well as https://www.tsa.gov/real-id.
Trip Insurance
Trip Insurance – A Very Important Topic
TBSSB is a not-for-profit club and does not provide trip insurance, nor do we promote or endorse any particular insurance company. We do encourage travelers to seriously consider whether or not trip insurance is a good thing for them. But trip insurance is an individual decision and responsibility. If you feel it will give you peace of mind, then the small cost may well be worth it. The entire process is handled by you directly with the Tour Operator or insurance company you select. Again, trip insurance is strictly voluntary, and we offer information only as a convenience for our members/travelers.
You can find a wealth of information on the Internet. Here are some of the many websites where you can easily compare several policies: www.insuremytrip.com, www.QuoteWright.com and www.SquareMouth.com. You can find many others on the Web by doing a search with any Web search engine. These sites allow you to pick and choose what insurance you want and compare different policies of several companies, and their costs, usually side-by-side. Please feel free to consult other companies about travel insurance.
Carefully consider what features to purchase. You may not need some of the features presented, and typically the fewer features the lower the cost.
For instance, you may not want to insure the cost of the airline ticket. Most of the major airlines allow you to use your unused airline ticket, for a fee, for up to 365 days from the date of purchase. Please note that the Club’s Tour Operator purchases the tickets well in advance and that is the date of purchase used by the airline to start the countdown of 365 days.
You should probably not insure your lift ticket cost. If you cancel before a trip departs and do not use your lift ticket at all, you can typically get a full refund through the club for the lift ticket purchased through the club (excluding Epic and Ikon passes). If you use only part of your lift ticket due to an injury or medical event, you can usually get a refund for the unused portion if you provide the lift ticket and a doctor’s note to the Trip Leader detailing why you should not ski due to injury or illness. Please note sometimes there is a nominal administrative fee charged by the resort or by the Tour Operator to process the refund for your lift ticket.
If you paid for your trip using a credit card, you should check with your credit card company about their travel insurance benefits. Some automatically insure travel purchased up to a certain dollar amount for trip cancellation and/or trip interruption, but not medical.
If you want medical insurance, you will also want to insure your trip early, especially if you have a pre-existing condition that may or may not be insurable. Some insurance companies demand that you insure your trip as soon as you sign up for the trip and pay a deposit. Others allow you to sign up very late but exclude pre-existing conditions. If you need trip medical insurance, it’s best to purchase it sooner than later.
Finally, we’d like to suggest that many people have been glad they did buy trip insurance, or unhappy that they did not. Please give trip insurance serious consideration before dismissing the idea. Quite a few of our members have had occasion to use, or wish they had trip insurance. Some have experienced an unexpected illness or injury prior to the trip, or an injury or medical event while on the trip. Others have experienced the death or illness of a close family member before or during the trip. These are just a few examples of unfortunate events that interrupted a traveler’s ability to go on the trip or stay on the trip. Trip insurance can reduce the impact of such events by reducing the financial impact of having to cancel a trip last minute or fly home early.
Welcome Welcome to Tampa Bay Snow Skiers and Boarders
Lake Tahoe FSC Ski Trip 1/22 - 1/29, 2022
Snowbird – President's Long Weekend 2/17 - 2/22, 2022 – Price Reductions Available! – Deadline Approaching
Where Do We Ski Next? Let's try All of Them
Lake Tahoe FSC Ski Trip 1/22 - 1/29, 2022
Mike's Gang Smowmass, CO January 2021
Snowbird – President's Long Weekend 2/17 - 2/22, 2022 – Price Reductions Available! – Deadline Approaching
Roger and Company Taos, February 2021
John's Gang Big Sky, March 2021
