Winter is taking over the fall… There are so many reasons to ski or snowboard or Apres ski… Our first Downhill Day trip and Test Drive (for non members) is scheduled for December 007! And the first Day trip for Cross Country ski group is scheduled as a combo on December 14 – double 007… Let these be our lucky days for the opening of the 70th Anniversary Season Spectacular! Register from our web site’s front page for the upcoming events: https://hpsc.ca/ We welcome all our new members with open hearts! Sign up to the wait list for the mega party at the end of the season in Tremblant in March. We are getting very close to adding second bus. Let’s all celebrate and have a good time! Register here: https://hpsc.ca/event-3507219
Have you wanted to learn to ski or snowboard? Or get back into the sport? Or don’t have anyone to go with? Or just don’t want to drive all the way up to the resort yourself. You are who HPSC is made for. Come test us out!!
On December 7th we want to welcome all potential members (and of course members) who would like to find out what an HPSC downhill day is like. This is the first of our two annual Test Drive days which means registration is open to one and all.
In addition
to a discounted group lift ticket, as on all of our daytrips, all who register (including
non-members) can participate in our free lessons by our CSIA qualified ski
instructors.
As the days get colder we skiers and boarders get more and more excited. The daytrips team has been working hard over the summer and fall to plan an interesting season of skiing and boarding for all of our members.
Things kick off on Saturday December 7th with our first Test Drive day of the season to Mount St. Louis Moonstone. Make sure you have a spot on the first ski trip of the year! The Test Drive is open to non-members. Registration is now open.
When we have enough registrants for a second bus, we
will now be using an additional pick up in the Liberty Village area to
accommodate the growing number of members in that part of the city.
The pick-up will be to the west of Lamport Stadium on
Fraser Avenue. This will be the second stop after Queens Quay.
Well kids, it’s coming our way! We had wonderful trick or treat experience! Treats, no tricks… So many of us have scored the overnight bus trips seats! We still have couple of trips open, so check it out and book before they are gone. Sign up to the wait list for Tremblant 3 trip in March for the Mega Apres season party. We have a rare opportunity to add the second bus, if we’ll have more than 30 in the waitlist. Everyone is welcome! Snowboarders of the club – unite in Tremblant! Cross country skiers – join the party and bring or rent the snow shoes or just use your hiking boots to climb Tremblant mountain. This trip is especially great for the new and new to the winter sports members. Finish your first season with the club strong!
We were able to add seats for some charter trips, including the most desirable trip this year – Aspen! Do you know that there is an active archeological site outside of Aspen, where they have recently found mammoth’s and even prehistoric human’s remains? Before we become a history – enjoy every opportunity to live your life to the fullest! Make your winter dreams come true this season! We are making everything possible to add more trips opportunities for you, our amazing members!
We’ve climbed Blue Mountain again to prove that WE ARE WINTER AND APRES SKI READY!
Congrats, you just bought waxless classic skis! But wait. Yes, we need to talk about waxing.
Traditionally, classic skis needed to have two types of wax applied – grip wax and glide wax. Grip wax is applied to a pocket underneath the foot (the size of which is dependent on the skier). When the skier puts their weight on their foot, the wax grips the snow and the skier can push off the ski and glide on the other foot. You need to apply the correct temperature of grip wax for the snow temperature otherwise you will not get good grip. There are a wide array of temperatures that are colour-coded (red and purple are warmer waxes and blue and green are colder waxes – and there are a bunch of variations within). Hardwood and Highlands conditions page will tell you what they think the “wax of the day” is. There could be more than one as conditions change through the day.
Hot waxing skis….requires equipment and well ventilated space. Do not attempt in your city apartment!
The other part of the equation – glide wax – is applied above and below the grip wax zone (the “tips and tails” of the ski). This wax helps you to glide faster. There are different types of glide wax. The more traditional one comes in hard blocks of wax that are melted onto the ski, ironed in, and then the excess is scraped off. Racer will use this method as it is considered the most effective. Like grip wax, racers will glide wax every time according to the conditions of the day. Glide wax also comes in a variety of temperatures from warm to cold to match the snow temperature.
However, we are not racers and we don’t need to make it so complicated! Plus, we don’t all have the facilities to “hot wax”. Read on fellow recreational skiers for some glide wax guidance.
If you have waxless skis, you do not need grip wax. You achieve grip on the snow with a scale pattern etched in the base of the skis or, a more recent innovation, skins (a strip of mohair/nylon that is applied to the grip zone). This is where the term ‘waxless’ comes from – because there is no grip wax used.
BUT, you still should use glide wax to achieve a good glide.
You can hot wax your skis yourself if you have the right space and want to invest in all wax tools (or you can use the wax hut at the resort and waste…ahem, spend…ski time waxing). Then you can fine tune your skis to the conditions of the day. Or, if the resorts offer waxing services you can ask them to do it (but then you won’t have your skis for a while). Also remember that whatever wax they put on will be good for the conditions of that day – and that may not work the next time you go out.
An example of liquid glide wax. Cheap and easy route and the quality of them has improved immensely.
The other option is liquid glide waxes. These come in a broad temperature ranges (so you won’t have to own so many bottles). You apply these every time you go out to ski. It’s very easy – you dab the liquid on the ski and spread it around. Then let it dry. Then buff it in with a nylon brush. And off you go. Liquid waxes are very good these days. Swix and Vauhti are the most common glide waxes.
I will often get my skis hot waxed at Highlands a couple times/season (to help keep my bases healthy), but I use liquid glide wax every time I go out.
Waxless skis have taken much of the waxing mystery out of skiing. Is it a blue day? Violet? Red? I don’t know! If you don’t want to deal with grip wax in the highly changeable conditions we find ourselves in Southern Ontario (and really, who does?), waxless skis are a great option. But use glide wax on the tips and tails and you might find yourself gliding along a bit faster.
We’ve got one more cross-country ski swap for you, Nov. 9-10 at Velotique in Toronto. Check it out if you need new ski gear, or want to sell your old gear.
New trips has been added to the schedule, W9 Holiday Valley-2. The interest in Holiday Valley was exceptional this year so we have put on a new weekend trip to accommodate those on the long waiting list and also provide seats for many more members for this attractive location. Holiday Valley is a great resort to ski and quite close to Toronto. If you have never been there before you’ll really like the skiing and enjoy the pretty town of Ellicottville on Saturday night. On this trip you will leave after work on Friday and return early Sunday night.
Trip Sign-Up Night #4
Trip Sign-Up Night #4 (TSUN) will occur this week on Thursday, November 7, 2019 starting at exactly 8:00 PM. W9 Holiday Valley-2 go on sale for the first time. Login, go to the trip page and scroll down to the “Register” button. Don’t look for the button now; the “Register” button will appear only after 8:00 PM. Registration will continue 24 hours a day until each trip is sold out. Note: previously announced trip to Banff-2 in March is cancelled due to the low interest.
Getting on a Trip
The procedures for registering
on TSUN are on the webpage, TRIP SIGN
UP PROCESS. Only those who have paid the membership fee for
2019-2020 are able to register.
Open Trips
There are still a number of
seats open on several trips: Two overnight trips, W4 Mt Ste Anne on Family Day
weekend (12 seats), and W7 Lake Placid a mid-week trip in March (23 seats). Two
charter trips, C6 Silver Star BC which is combination of downhill and X-country
(4 seats), and C7 Les Arcs France which is the second Europe trip of the season
(2 seats). You can register for these seats at any time. Seats on the 2 charter
trips have definite deadline dates where unsold space must be released.
Join Waitlist Button
If you see a “Join Waitlist”
button instead of the “Register” button, do not think that you have missed out.
We try our best to get a place for everybody on the waitlist. You may not hear
from the Trip Leader right away because it takes some time to arrange for extra
seats. If your name is on the waitlist, you will be contacted in the order you
signed up. So go ahead and add your name to the waitlist; there is no cost to
do so. If you later change your mind and are no longer interested in that trip,
you could send a courtesy email to the Trip Leader so your name can be removed
from the waitlist.
Cancellation Insurance
HPSC strongly recommends that you have trip insurance for
any long trip. If you are injured or get sick either beforehand or while on the
trip you will want to have insurance so you can recover the cost of the trip.
And here is an important reminder, “Put a photocopy of your insurance
information in your ski jacket.” If something happens on the hill, you will
want to have your OHIP card and insurance information at hand and not back in a
hotel someplace.
