Elite skiing club Pensacola Powder Pounders marks 40 years of friendships
There is a group of buddies in Pensacola who refer to themselves as "Powder Pounders."
Over the years, some of the city's most prominent politicians and most powerful, business world players have numbered themselves among the group's ranks.
Every year, the Pensacola Powder Pounders fly to ski slopes in Colorado, Alaska or California to "pound" the snow together on steep mountains at some of the best skiing locations in the country.
Started in 1982 by former Pensacola Mayor Vince Whibbs Sr., the Pensacola Powder Pounders celebrated its 40th anniversary this year with a trip to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, according to a press release.
The release was written by longtime Powder Pounder John Merting. The retired attorney and maritime law consultant said he wanted to celebrate the group's history and its current and past members — particularly the memory of its founder who created something that has stood the test of time.
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Whibbs Sr. was the mayor of Pensacola from 1978 to 1991. He passed away in 2006.
"This was his creation, and the fact that it's still going, that is what is a big deal," Merting said. "It's included people from all walks of life and of all different ages, some powerful people in Pensacola. But when it started, most us hadn't done anything newsworthy, but now ..."
Some of the local notables who have been part of the group include Senior U.S. District Judge Lacey Collier, restauranteur Collier Merrill, Lamar Advertising co-owner Bobby Switzer, public relations agency principal Ellis Bullock, advertising agency owner Dickie Appleyard and many others.
Merrill, a real estate developer and owner of The Fish House, Atlas Oyster Bar, Jackson's Steakhouse and Five Sisters Blues Café restaurants, told the News Journal he has attended seven or eight Powder Pounder trips.
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Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Doug Fraser, who began skiing with the group about 10 years ago, remembers one trip above the rest.
"The one story I'll tell you, we wanted to go to Alaska," Fraser said. "So, I arranged a trip to Alaska, because I'd been stationed there."
He arranged the trip around an annual festival in Anchorage called Fur Rendezvous that memorializes the time of year when trappers gathered in the city to sell their pelts. It includes an event called the Running of the Reindeer.
"So, it's kind of like the running of the bulls in Pamplona, only you're running with reindeer through the streets of Anchorage," Fraser said.
"But another part of the story is that on the first day of the trip, I broke my leg," Fraser said, laughing as he remembered.
While skiing with the Powder Pounders, Fraser hit a patch of ice and went off the trail. His left leg hit a tree root.
"The root didn't move," he added, still chuckling. "So, I was in the hospital. I was the one who arranged it. But everyone else were the ones who had all the fun."
Fraser is a relative newcomer. Long before the retired general ever heard of the ski group, the Powder Pounders originated as a byproduct of a Whibbs family trip.
"It started out as a trip with my dad and a couple of my brothers and myself," said Greg Whibbs, son of Vince Whibbs Sr.
In 1982, Whibbs Sr. decided to invite Barney Birks — now another former Pensacola mayor — and Birks' sons to travel to Breckenridge, Colorado, with him and his own boys.
"And then the group started to expand, and because it was so much fun, we kept inviting other guys," Greg Whibbs recalled.
The trips became an annual affair.
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"The deal is that we all always stay in the same house. It's a group. So, I don't want to call it a fraternity, but it's similar to that," Whibbs explained. "We all go out together and experience a lot of great times with people from all sorts of different backgrounds. There are doctors. There are lawyers. There are old car guys. There are old political people."
And every year since that first trip in 1982, the Powder Pounders pick a different location to ski.
"Traditionally, the group rents a very large house near the slopes and members, led by Dr. Coy Irvin, better known as Dr. MOM, cook most of their meals, except the final night, which is usually prepared by a well-known local caterer," a news release about the group's 40th anniversary noted.
Whibbs Sr. originally covered many of the trip's costs for everyone involved.
"But in the beginning, it was around eight guys," Merting said. "But then it got so big with 10, 12, 15 guys, that one person couldn't cover all the expenses."
Group members all started chipping in.
Later, Merting added, the Pounders started "cooking in" on their own more frequently.
"You're taking 10 or 15 guys to dinner — we weren't going to McDonalds," he said. "So, I mean — we went and it wasn't unusual to have a $2,500 wine bill at diner, because it was one week and we weren't drinking swill."
There are no set criteria needed to become a Powder Pounder, but of course, a Powder Pounder does have to be able to afford to fly to places like Colorado.
"Well, yeah, there's definitely that. But it's also people with a likeminded mindset. We take the time to get together, time away from our families to do it," Whibbs said. "Not everyone can every year. Sometimes because of health reasons and some people have passed away but we continue to drive to go. What it takes to be one? Really, it's just our friends."
Whibbs estimated that about 100 different people have gone on the trips in the last 40 years.
"Over the years, there have been some business aspects to it," he said. "But really for the most part, we try to leave business at home. Sometimes we can't avoid it. But really for the most part, when we fly out, we leave Pensacola behind and leave our jobs behind and everything else. And we get a chance to be together."
Colin Warren-Hicks can be reached at colinwarrenhicks@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Powder Pounders ski club marks 40 years for friendships
