everyone to our revived, new and improved Stream!  Thank you so much to incredibly kind club member Joanna Dacko for great ideas on Stream’s new format, and for her impressive skills and generous donation of time in creating this work of art.  Members, please look her up in the Member Directory and shower her with praise!  Thank you also so much to the numerous content and photograph contributors to this issue.
           
Since the last issue of Stream (see the “Archives” section) in January 2006, the club blossomed to 215 members, breaking the 200-member threshold for the first time.  Welcome again to Karen Barnes, OASC’s 200th member.  After initially joining the club for three months, Karen wrote that she loves the club and so she renewed her membership for 12 more months.
          
Winter days are on their way!  Many people mistakenly assume that there isn’t much to do in the club in the wintertime, hence club membership likely will wane just a little until late winter.  The reality is that winter is one of the club’s most exciting seasons.  Winter is Leader Jan’s and Leader Pete’s favorite time to hike, for with no leaves on the trees and dry air, the views are abundant and stunning; and with few people on the trails, the forests are tranquil.  I too love leading winter hikes, especially because the waterfalls in the mountains near here tend to freeze (picture), making for beautiful sights.  In addition, club caving (a.k.a. spelunking) adventures occur primarily in the wintertime, for it’s a place to go warm up – caves are ~55 degrees year-‘round in this region.  Plus don’t forget our skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing and sledding adventures locally, into West Virginia, and to Colorado!  Finally, indoor rock climbing, wallyball and a wide variety of other indoor & outdoor adventures and social activities will continue as year-‘round favorites.  See the seasonal activities chart at the bottom of the web page just linked.

Matt Rosefsky taking a hit for the team at outdoor paintball on 9/30/2006.

In other news, I have resigned from my position at Rivanna Conservation Society and am back with the club full time.  I made a New Year’s resolution to become less busy, and after 11 months I finally took a huge step toward that goal.  I’m sure my life will continue to be extremely busy, for I need to find a lucrative part-time job to sustain a living, and I forever shall be completely devoted to continuously improving the club and ensuring the best membership experience possible.  Part of what makes it all worth it is reflected in what a club member wrote to me:  “Don't think it a coincidence you ended up with such a welcoming group of enthusiastic and loyal members.  Your selflessness is contagious, and you not only attract people with those qualities to this group, but inspire them to be more open and friendly.”  Wow, I’m so touched!  I believe that if there were more selfless, thoughtful people like our club members in the world, many of the world’s problems would dissolve. 
         
One of my favorite club adventures of the entire year is the weekend-long trip to West Virginia’s Snowshoe Mountain – by far the best ski, snowboard, and snowshoe resort in the Southeast.  Club weekends there are great fun (pictures), as we rent several nearby houses and enjoy communal meals and après-ski games, movies & music in addition to one or two fantastic days on the slopes.  This season we’re going January 19-21, 2007 and February 23-25, 2007; as usual we’ll leave the Charlottesville area on Friday night and return at various times on Sunday.  Don’t wait for the February adventure in case it fills up – be sure to get in on the January one too!  Both will be a blast. 
See you in caverns inside the mountains, and on the slopes above!

-Matthew Rosefsky, Manager

We had hoped to find a kind soul to look through all of the pictures in the OASC photo gallery posted this autumn and choose favorite photos, however no such luck. Please contact us if you would enjoy this fun project for the next issue of Stream.  In place, Matt Rosefsky took the liberty of choosing favorite photos from his adventures led this autumn. 

Weekday evening hikes continue through the winter, as waterfalls are beautiful to see at night.  Matt took this photo during his “Beginner Full Moon Waterfalls Hike” (pictures) on 11/5/2006.  It is of Dark Hollow Falls, in Shenandoah National Park.  Matt positioned his Olympus Camedia D-40 Zoom 4.0-megapixel digital camera on a rock for absolute stillness, turned the flash off, and used the “night” mode which enables the shutter to stay open for up to 10 or 12 seconds.  This photo is the original; adjacent to it in the gallery is one he adjusted for contrast. 
 

OASC Leaders enjoy taking advantage of long weekends to lead club trips a bit further away, this one being Matt’s post-Thanksgiving “Washington D.C. Museums & Monuments, Sunset from Atop the Washington Monument, Bed & Breakfast Inn, and Ethnic Restaurants” (pictures). This is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial across the “tidal basin” at dusk.  Matt positioned his Olympus Camedia D-40 Zoom 4.0-megapixel digital camera on a guard rail for absolute stillness, turned the flash off, and used the “night” mode which enables the shutter to stay open for up to 10 or 12 seconds.  This photo is in its unmodified, original form.  Please see the other great photos from this beautiful evening club walking tour of D.C. monuments at night.