You wouldn’t think snow skiing would be such a big sport in Florida. After all, there’s no snow... But maybe that’s exactly why people with an interest in skiing, band together and join ski clubs throughout the state in order to go on exciting trips all over snow country.

The Florida Ski Council is made up of seventeen clubs that are located from Miami to Jacksonville, from Sarasota to Pensacola, and all points in between. The clubs vary in size from a few hundred to well over a thousand members.

The Florida Ski Council promotes and represents the ski clubs of Florida to the resorts, the skiing industry trips each year, in which most of the clubs participate, taking thousands of Floridians to the slopes.

FSC trips offer much more than skiing... Exciting cultural activities, sightseeing and
culinary adventures await all participants. One of the great things about the Council trips
are the intra-club activities, parties, competition and races. Council trips are large, averaging from 400 to sometimes over 700 skiers. The trips also benefit several charities, both at the resorts we visit, and here at home in Florida.

Skiing and travel opportunities are limitless for members of the Florida Ski Council.

A Florida native who saw snow for the first time at age 21 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. In my forties I attended the Space Coast Ski Club's Extravaganza and signed up for a Jackson Hole trip. Skiing didn't come easy for me and I sent many a day with tears in my eyes, but I kept trying. Now I love the sport of skiing and group ski trips. I can't imagine my life without skiing and my ski club friends. The people I have met are fun, adventuresome, bright, and always ready to travel somewhere or anywhere. Almost retired after over 30 years in real estate gives me the opportunity to have my bags packed at all times ready to go to the airport.

A Florida native who saw snow for the first time at age 21 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. In my forties I attended the Space Coast Ski Club's Extravaganza and signed up for a Jackson Hole trip. Skiing didn't come easy for me and I sent many a day with tears in my eyes, but I kept trying. Now I love the sport of skiing and group ski trips. I can't imagine my life without skiing and my ski club friends. The people I have met are fun, adventuresome, bright, and always ready to travel somewhere or anywhere. Almost retired after over 30 years in real estate gives me the opportunity to have my bags packed at all times ready to go to the airport.

I took my first trip with our local club, Tampa Bay Snow Skiers & Boarders (TBSSB), in February 1989. It was a Florida Ski Council trip to Park City, Utah. I was very impressed with the organization and the camaraderie. I have been a member since then.

I served the TBSSB in several positions from assistance treasurer, treasurer, vice-president, president, past president to trip committee chair. I have been a trip leader since 1991. My biggest impact was focusing our leaders on the club’s mission statement, goals and objectives.

My biggest strength is learning and teaching. I learned from the previous TBSS board of directors and I continued their message to keep the club vibrant yet business like. I have helped many TBSSB board Directors, Officers and Leaders to be successful by assisting them with setting and attaining their goals. I served three times as a FSC representative (95, 06 & 07). I also wrote and presented a seminar on “How to Run Your Club as a Business”. I held the Secretary, treasurer position for the Florida Ski Council . I currently hold the VP On Mountain’s position.

I was born in Lebanon so I have been skiing all my life (yes, Lebanon has mountains and snow). I am married to my wife Janice and have two wonderful daughters, Olivia and Jordan.

I am a graduate of the University of South Florida in Mechanical Engineering (BS in 84 & MS in 87). I currently work for the University as a Professional Mechanical Engineer. I manage the Facility Enhancement and the Environmental Control Departments for physical plant at the University Of South Florida.

In my spare time, I enjoy camping, off-road and on-road biking, and swimming.

An official Florida-native, Linda's passion for skiing didn't take off till her late thirties. "I love this more than mountain biking!" she proclaimed on her first independent descent of a green slope in Keystone, Colorado. Linda's day job is with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a biologist specializing in environmental policy and endangered species recovery. Linda joined her local ski club (Jacksonville Ski Club) in 2001 and served in numerous positions before being elected to the board of the Florida Ski Council. Linda is passionate about promoting the sport of skiing throughout Florida and helping ski clubs expand their membership base.

Coming soon...

My husband and I moved to Pensacola, Florida from Birmingham, Alabama in 1989 for his work. We joined the Pensacola Ski Club in 1992 in order to ski a variety of destinations and we loved the idea of traveling with a group of friends. After trips to Taos, New Mexico and Big Mountain, Montana I knew that I was interested in leading trips for my club. Over the next ten years I lead trips to Steamboat, Breckenridge, Snowmass, Keystone, Spain, Austria, France and Norway. I was a member of the PSC Board of Directors from 1994 to 2003, serving in different capacities and was President from 1999 -2001. During this time I became interested in the Florida Ski Council and ran for Secretary in 2002, subsequently serving as Treasurer, V. P. On Mountain Activities, V. P. of Trips and I am currently serving my second year as President. It has been a remarkable journey and I have been able to ski in places that I would never have dreamed possible as well as having made so many new friends all over the country.

Even though I grew up in the Midwest and lived in the Northeast after college, I never went skiing until I moved to Miami! Then many years later, Hurricane Andrew led me to the Miami Ski Club. I jumped right volunteering to work at events, mailing newsletters (before the advent of email) and becoming a trip leader. Eventually I joined the MSC Board of Directors, in charge of Special Events, and then on to become Vice President and President of MSC.

My first trip as a Trip Leader was an FSC Trip—and I was hooked. I knew I wanted to be part of the Florida Ski Council. I ran for FSC Secretary in 2000, and subsequently enjoyed being Treasurer, VP on Mountain, VP Trips and President. The FSC has given me so many opportunities—getting to know fellow skiers from around the state, meeting and working with representatives from resorts around the world and of course, traveling around the world with my ski friends. I’ve skied in New Zealand and visited the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. In Japan, I got to wear a ceremonial kimono and climbed the Great Wall of China. I rung in the new millennium at a black-tie Ball in Vienna. Closer to home, I’ve been in many of the resorts in the West, skiing in the winter and enjoying the cool temperatures in the summer.

Most importantly, belonging to a ski club has given me the opportunity to go on trips with strangers and come home with friends.

Even though we’ve from the Sunshine State, racing is in our blood. We offer racing on every North American FSC trips, if the resort has a NASTAR sanctioned course, you can win NASTAR medals and points. If the resort doesn’t have NASTAR, there is still racing for FSC medals.

Click here to learn about NASTAR

The FSC uses NASTAR rules on racing and handicaps. Clubs are assigned race times based on the number of racers they have that there an approximate equal number of racers in each timeslot. In addition, the club’s time slot in the previous year’s race is taken into account so that every club gets the opportunity to race in the different slots. We use at least two, but preferably four, racecourses.

The resort’s pacesetter will set the Par time for each course at the start of each hour. Each racer gets two runs and the best run (by their handicap) will be used for tabulation. As the handicap is the racer’s times as a percentage over the Par time, everyone is on an equal footing, since the course changes are minimal in the one-hour time from the pacesetter’s run.

A person’s age or gender does not affect their handicap, only the medal they qualify for under the NASTAR rules. The course officials may, at their discretion, reposition the gates should they feel the course needs to be re-set. If this occurs, it must be between the hourly sessions and subsequently re-run by the pacesetter with a new Par time established. No racer can call for re-set or slipping of the course during the race.

We require all racers to be signed up before the day of the race with no sign ups allowed on the hill the day of the race. A rare exception may be made at the determination of the VP of On Mountain Activities should there be special circumstances they feel warrant an inclusion.

Individual Results: If it is a NASTAR sanctioned race course, the resort Race Director will determine medal results and provide the FSC VP, On-Mountain Activities with a list and the NASTAR medals for each racer. These will be provided to each club’s Race Captain for distribution to the club members.

Individuals are also awarded FSC medals based on handicapped times within sex and age categories as well as the FASTEST MAN and the FASTEST WOMAN ON THE MOUNTAIN.

Club Results: To qualify as a Club team, a club must have times for 3 male racers and 3 female racers. While any trip participant may race, only racers with a valid ID verifying their Florida residency may have their results counted for PAULINE’S CUP.

The handicapped time for the 3 fastest men and the 3 fastest women in a club are totaled for the Club time. Clubs are then awarded GOLD, SILVER or BRONZE team medals based on the club time. On the January trip, in addition to team medals, the first place team is awarded PAULINE’S CUP. (Due to airline baggage restrictions, the FSC has had to modify our trophy presentations. At the resort, the club is given the Florida Cup plaque—much easier to pack! Then at the annual meeting held in the spring, they are presented with PAULINE’S CUP, where they can transport it by car!)

All FSC individual medals and club medals/trophy are presented at the Thursday night
theme party.

Our Clubs’ compete for PAULINE’s CUP

But only on the January trip, Clubs’ race to win Pauline’s CUP. Call it winning for the glory, winning to show PAULINE’S CUP to your constituents, to add your club name on the Cup like the Stanley Cup for hockey. It is a bragging right that stays with the club all year long.

Click here to see which clubs have won PAULINE’S CUP over the years

Why its named PAULINE’S CUP

The first trophy, awarded in 1985, was donated by Snowmass Associates and the winning club, Miami Ski Club kept it. The next year, Coors donated the trophy and so on until 1992. In 1992, Worldwide Ski Corp donated the trophy that became known as the Florida Cup. Every year, the trophy would journey in its custom-made box to the January Florida Ski Week. It would be presented to the winning club, who would put it back in it’s box and bring it back to display at their local events.

Over the years, the trophy handles were repaired numerous times and the box went through numerous sets of screws, but every club still wanted to win the Cup.

In 2001, the VP of Trips decided it was too difficult to travel around the country with the huge trophy and replaced the trophy with a “traveling” plaque for the Winner of the Florida Cup. (Little did we know how true traveling difficulties would become after September 2001!) The Board of Directors decided to present the old Florida Cup Trophy to the person who was the longstanding cheerleader for NASTAR and the FSC Founder, Pauline Borovicka Arias.

Pauline took the Florida Cup home, had it repaired and proudly displayed it in her home until she died in 2008. Her husband graciously donated the Cup back to the Council. The Board of Directors decided to reinstate the Trophy back into service for the FSC.

In addition to the engravable plaque on one side of the base where the name of the winning club is added each year, a tribute to Pauline, a picture of her in her Nastar bib and list of all of the Nastar individual and National Medals Pauline won over the years were added. The Cup was renamed Pauline’s Cup in her honor. Pauline’s husband, Vince, and her daughter Judy attended the June 2008 meeting to present Pauline’s Cup to the winning Tampa Bay Club.

About Pauline: Pauline didn’t start skiing until she was in her 40’s, following her treatment for colon cancer. Skiing became her love. She was the first woman to be President of the Miami Ski Club and then together with another past president, she founded the Florida Ski Council.

Pauline’s cancer continued to plague her—but never stopped her. Over the years she had recurrences of cancer in her lungs twice, breast cancer, and then leukemia. She had to have a knee replaced and still skied with a brace. She looked to overcome each episode with the determination to get back on the ski slope. The year she died was the only time in 40 years that Pauline wasn’t on the ski slopes.

Pauline, as nurse by profession, used every vacation to ski. Then when she retired, she and Vince would plan out every week of ski season, skiing an average of 12 weeks straight. And at every resort she visited, she raced. The number of individual medals she won overflowed a drawer. As she got older, she got faster. Year after year she qualified for NASTAR Nationals. And she won her age category in her 70’s. And she won one of the first Platinum Medals instituted by Nastar.

Pauline finally succumbed to her health battles in 2009 shortly before Nastar Nationals. Nastar Officials sent her family a 2009 bib and a last gold medal for Pauline. In addition, they agreed to an FSC request to create a permanent award in her memory. Each year, the FSC provides a replica trophy of our Pauline’s Cup to be awarded to the Platinum winner in the Female 80 + category.

Started in the early 1990’s, upon relinquishing the gavel, the outgoing Past President is presented with the FSC Bird’s Nest by all of the Past Presidents. Constructed of an old abandoned bird’s nest, it represents the value placed on the PAST President. As the plaque reads:

FSC Past Presidents are like old birds nests often completely useless and frequently full of sh-t.

For the 2-year tenure of being Past President, the oldie but goodie proudly displays the honored trophy in their home, until sadly it is time to pass it along to the next FSC outgoing President.