Month: March 2020

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HPSC Election 2020 Candidates

The first in the history of the club virtual on-line election will be held on April 30 2020. https://hpsc.ca/event-3751842

Clark Seadon – Candidate for Finance Director

Skiing has been a huge source of adventure and excitement throughout my life. It really started with downhill ski racing for my local club in Edmonton, and grew to include cross-country, a little back-country and trips to Europe. I became a new member this year to do more XC skiing and have been delighted to find so many people who enjoy winter. I’ve had many enjoyable conversations, and look forward to meeting a lot more members. In terms of Finance I have some useful experience to share, having been Acting Treasurer for the Charity my wife is in charge of, having been a Commercial Banking Lender throughout my career, and being a CPA, CA. Overall I really look forward to helping others enjoy skiing and winter with the Club, while helping to ensure the Club remains financially sound for years to come.

Flying Clark – Local Edmonton Ski Club. “Those were the days my friends….”

Erika Clark – Candidate for Downhill Day Trips Director

When I moved to Toronto in 2017 I decided I wanted to learn to ski, and to meet new people, so I chose to join HPSC. I immediately felt at home and that I had created a new family of friends within the club. I began volunteering as a bus captain on downhill day trips and since then have also been a trip leader on the recent weekend Tremblant trip, as well as volunteering in other capacities with the club. I was the Downhill Day Trips Director for one season (2018-2019) and worked to increase the attendance on downhill day trips, partner with cross country to offer more buses, partner with new hills to offer members more variety to improve their ski and snowboarding skills, and continued to welcome and support members to get out on the slopes through our day trips.
For the next two seasons, my goal as the Director of Downhill Day Trips is keep the momentum going. I want to build upon the fantastic success of the previous seasons and continue to fill buses, encourage new members and returning members to attend day trips and expand our ski and snowboarding program with HPSC’s snow school. With the help of the downhill volunteers, my desire is that every member looks as forward to, and enjoys, going on a HPSC day trip as much as I do. Joining HPSC is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I began as a new skier and have now travelled around Ontario, Canada and the US enjoying the best of winter skiing with my HPSC friends. Becoming involved as a volunteer has led to many wonderful opportunities. I encourage all members to get involved in any way they can!

Nemanja Davidovic – Candidate for Communications Director

I am an outdoor enthusiast. I spend most of my free time skiing, cycling or hiking, depending on the season. As a member of a ski club in my hometown in Serbia, I have skied downhill in European ski resorts. The first thing on my list when I moved to Toronto was to find and join the local ski club in my new home. I discovered HPSC and joined the club together my fiancée. So far, I have skied on daytrips with the club, and discovered some fantastic places in Ontario. Furthermore, I started learning how to cross country ski with amazing HPSC instructors. I find the club to be a great place to meet likeminded people, make new friends and grow your network. I bring volunteering experience from my previous ski club and project management skills from my day job. Life is better on the slopes!

Jennifer Beatty – Candidate for Marketing Director

(c)KenRockwell.com858 453-2099

I grew up in Calgary, Alberta and learned to downhill ski in Banff. I have skied several hill in Banff, as well as Golden, BC. And Whistler, BC. I moved to Toronto in October 2018 for a job in Marketing, and was looking for something to keep my active in the winter months. That’s when I discovered the High Park Ski Club and it’s been the best thing I’ve done since moving toToronto! Having never cross-country skied before this past winter, I advanced from Classic 1 to Classic 3. I also made some great friends, and had tons of laughs along the way! I’m a marketer in my day job, and also take marketing courses when I’m not skiing! – I’m excited at the prospect of using my skill set to further advance the HPSC member experience, and continue to attract new members to keep our club running strong for year to come!

Amy Lam – Candidate for Social Director

I love being active and being outdoors. In past winters, I casually went skiing with friends, but never took any lessons or joined a club. Last winter, I wanted to improve my skiing skills and meet other skiers. I googled “ski club”, and found High Park Ski Club’s website. Since being member, I have been blown away with the quality of lessons and trips the club offers. My skiing has greatly improved since taking lessons with the awesome HPSC instructors. This year, I started to volunteer as bus captain for Saturday alpine trips. I have such a blast meeting members, and being part of such a positive, active and winter-loving community. I recently completed my two year term as the Social Director for the Toronto Triathlon Club. I enjoyed organizing and hosting social events that bring together the community of athletes of all levels.  I love seeing the joy that social gatherings bring to members, after training sessions and at the finish-line of various races. It’s the best way to meet new friends and be inspired by their journeys to be active healthy. I hope I can use my “party organizing” skills to come up with ideas for social events and gatherings that bring our wonderful community of HPSC members together.  

Justin Graham – Candidate for HPSC President 

HPSC Volunteer of the Year – Silver Level – April 2019

Even before I started skiing as a teenager, I was aware of High Park Ski Club. I first learned about the club when it was profiled along with others in a local magazine.  It seemed like so much fun!  After graduating university, I talked a friend into joining with me, and was a member for about 6 years.  After not skiing regularly for about 15 years, I wanted to get back into the sport, and since my old friends had stopped, decided to rejoin HPSC, and have been a continuous member since 2007! 

I participate in most of the activities of the club (most weekends on alpine daytrips; a couple of snowshoe trips per season; a couple of long trips per season; SkiFit in the fall; Climb the Mountain each year; and many social activities) which has allowed me to develop a good sense of the various subgroups of members that make up our fantastic club. 

We really are only as strong as a club as the connections we make with each other!  Because of close friendships and a desire to give back to the club I started to volunteer.  I have realized that the portfolios that I have assisted with have something to do with bringing our members together and in helping to make these connections!  My desire as President is to ensure that our members continue to develop these friendships and as a result strengthen our club. 

To paraphrase JFK, “Ask not what your ski club can do for you . . . “   My HPSC Volunteer Experience

  • Alpine Daytrips team lead as Assistant Director of Alpine Daytrips (2019/20 season)
  • W6 Killington trip – Trip Leader (February 2020)
  • SkiFit group leader (Fall 2018; Fall 2019)
  • Alpine Bus Captain (2017-2020)
  • HPSC Volunteer of the Year – Silver (2018/19); Bronze (2017/18)
  • Alpine Daytrips – Bus Captain co-oridnator (2018/19)
  • Re-wrote Alpine Bus Captain Training Manual (2018/19)
  • Assisted Communications and Marketing teams by creating and editing a lot of the website content (2018/19)
  • Assisted Social Director in planning and organizing social events (Fall 2018)
  • Attended numerous HPSC Board meetings as delegate for Social Director or Alpine Daytrips director (Summer/Fall 2018)
  • Wrote SnoBiz articles for Alpine Daytrips and Social (2017-2018)

Profession and Education

  • Professional public opinion researcher for approximately 25 years
  • MA, Public Policy and Administration
  • Bachelor of Business Administration, Marketing major  
HPSC Charter Trip to Salt Lake City – February 2018 – Alta, Utah

David Manning – Candidate for Downhill Snow School Director

David is a downhill ski & snowboard (double double) instructor. David is also the past President, who has led the club successfully through the first wave of transformation and demonstrated the mindful leadership and long term vision for the club. David is the best candidate for the role, nominated by the entire Snow School.

Check out here the bios of the candidates, who are current members of the Board: https://www.hpsc.ca/Board-of-Directors:

  • IT – Alex Radulescu 
  • Admin – Victor Schroter
  • Overnight Trips – Bill Bates
  • Membership – Ruth Schefter
  • Cross Country skiing – Heather Steel

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Trips Cancelled: C7 Les Arcs, France, and C8 Taos, New Mexico

Disappointment reigned supreme last week as the last two charter trips of the season were cancelled due to the corona virus. Both trips had been sold out since October so these members were eager to finally get to ski those two beautiful resorts. Alas it was not to be! Refunds are now being pursued and members will call on their travel insurance policies to recover any loss. We will try to put on these same trips in 2021 when the smoke has cleared on COVID-19.

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Trip Cancelled: W8 Tremblant

Coronavirus has rained on our parade – two bus trip to Tremblant. We’ll be back next season!

Over 100 members on our overnight Tremblant trip were very disappointed to miss out on the biggest ski party of the season. What an event we had planned! What a shame to have it cancelled by the corona virus. Full refunds are coming. Refunds will take some time for our volunteers to do so please be patient. Rest assured whatever amount you paid for W8 will be refunded back to your credit card.

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An awesome XC season comes to an end…

While winter took a while to arrive, and the season ended sooner than we would have liked, 2019-20 ended up being a great season! We ran 17 day trips and a very successful long weekend trip to Sault Ste. Marie. We got to all of our favourite resorts – Hardwood, Horseshoe, Highlands, Scenic Caves, Wasaga, Kawartha, Arrowhead, and Georgian Nordic (and a few lucky members even got to go to Mansfield on a Wednesday!). We managed to get in four of our five races, our backcountry trip to Kolapore, and we offered lots of guided snowshoeing and lessons. Registration was amazing – we had 6 two bus trips this year! I look forward to more of the same for next year.

It takes a great team to make our season happen. Thank you to the following members in particular for all their invaluable contributions and leadership:

  • Weekend day trip coordinators: Monica Sauer, Theo Kempe, David Cloutier, Jean-Emile Paraiso, and Gayatari Bharadwaj
  • Finance coordinator: Paul Moser
  • Ambassador coordinator: Linda Lavalee
  • Snowshoe coordinator: Cynthia Wheatley
  • Bus captain coordinator/tour coordinator: Howard Gibson
  • Ski School director: Elaine Rennet
  • Ski School operations director: Jeff Stainsby
  • Ski School director of instructor training: Janine Jorgensen

And thank you to all of our bus captains, snowshoe guides, ski tour leaders, and instructors! I know our members appreciate everything you do for the club.

Our last trips of the season ended up being Mar. 7 and Mar. 8, although we didn’t know it at the time. These were great trips for different reasons. Mar. 7 at Georgian Nordic was on the cool side, and conditions a bit icy, but we had lots of fun making s’mores around the fire! Mar. 8 was 12 degrees and sunny at Horseshoe! Members shed the clothes and had a great day in the sun. We can always look back on those memories and look forward to next year. Check out pics below from this last weekend.

Everyone take care of yourselves and your loved ones! We’ll be back skiing before you know it.

Sincerely,

Heather Steel, Director, Cross-Country Skiing and Snowshoeing

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What a fantastic season . . . if a bit shorter than we had planned!

While our 70th season ended a little more abruptly than anticipated . . .  it was memorable all the same! 

Despite weather that was a little unpredictable, HPSC Alpine Daytrips successfully ran 39 trips of which half (18) were sold out.  (Moral is to sign up early and sign up often!)  The season started off with a successful and sold out Kick Off and Test Drive trip on December 7 that resulted in a number of new members.

In February at the height of the season we had for the first time in years a fully sold out weekend starting with the equivalent of three full buses (2 full buses and 50 registered drive-ups) for the rescheduled Double Double day, as well as  sold out trips to Blue Mountain on the Sunday and Monday. 

On Saturday of Family Day weekend, we ran what is becoming an annual daytrip to Holiday Valley – a rare trip that both sold out early and had a 100% attendance rate – that is there were zero no-shows.  And at the end of February was our second successful Test Drive day!

In January and February out of the seven MSLM Saturday trips we ran, five were expended to two buses due to filling up the first bus early.  Another success was the major uptick of those registering for our Sunday trips to Blue Mountain – so a shout out to the Sunday@Blue Crew!   

And finally a big thank you to all of the volunteers who arrange and co-ordinate and run the day trips, and those on the back end who reconcile the trips and process the refunds.  Without all of you the trips would not be able to run! 

If you have any suggestions for daytrips please do not hesitate to send an email to daytrips@hpsc.ca.

Please stay safe over the summer and look forward to seeing you on the slopes next December!   

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An Important Update – Coronavirus March 2020

Dear Friends,

The health and safety of our members and volunteers have always been our number one priority. Following recommendation against large events and public gatherings issued today by Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health we have cancelled day trips and Tremblant trip. We feel that this is the most meaningful way to manage the risk. Members who have paid for the cancelled trips will be fully reimbursed. Our partners support our decisions and we are managing the minimum losses for us as a non profit organization. We will refund the full amount back to members credit cards. Please be patient because this is a lot of work for our volunteers. Long Trips committee is working on resolution for the remaining charter trips. These are unprecedented circumstances beyond our control. Let’s keep calm and carry on with our mission as a strong, fun, friendly and supportive community – High Park Ski Club!

At least we can say that we had a great season! It will definitely be a memorable one to go into history. We’ll monitor the situation to make a decision about 70th Anniversary Apres Season Snow Ball and will keep members updated.

Stella, HPSC Volunteer President & Board of Directors

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It has been a great season so far . . . But it isn’t over yet!! Still 3 weeks left in our 70th downhill season!

It has been a great season so far . . . but it isn’t over yet!! 

However, day trips will only run if members sign up.  While buses in January and February were guaranteed to run, in March we need to ensure that trips are economically feasible.  They will be cancelled if there are not enough members registered.  And remember that if the bus doesn’t run, we do not provide lessons for drive up registrants. 

Some highlights in March: 

  • Our only trip to Beaver Valley Ski Club – home of Avalanche, Ontario’s steepest groomed run, on Wednesday March 18th. 
  • Our one and only ‘Sleep in Saturday’ on March 21st to Caledon Ski Club.  Pick up times are 45 minutes later than the usual Saturday times so you can sleep in.  We will be departing from 400/7 at 8:45. If you usually ski on the weekend, and don’t get a chance to go to the private clubs, this is your opportunity!  
  • There will also be a Skiis and Biikes demo tent at Caledon that day (please see the separate article).
  • Due to the popularity of this year’s Sundays at Blue trips, the board has approved adding in two more Sunday trips (March 15th and 29th) that were not on the original schedule. Way to go to the Sunday@Blue Crew for coming out regularly and making this possible.
  • Due to popular demand, the Davenport and Yonge pickup location has been added to all weekend daytrips in March.   

Come enjoy some spring skiing and before saying goodbye to our 70th HPSC season!

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Ski Demo Day at Caledon Ski Club during our one and only Sleep-in Saturday daytrip!

Our partner, Skiis & Biikes, will be hosting a Demo Day for HPSC members during our scheduled sleep-in Saturday daytrip to Caledon Ski Club on March 21st.  They will have a tent outside the Pro Shop, at the West Lodge, with 12-16 pairs of demo skis for guests to try.

This trip to Caledon is our one and only Sleep-In Saturday trip of the season. And is a great opportunity for those of you who usually only ski on the weekend to experience one of the private clubs in Ontario.

All pickup times will be 45 minutes later than usual with the first at 7:45 am at Bloor and Indian Rd., followed by Davenport and Yonge (8:05); Yonge and Eglinton (8:15); Yonge and York Mills (8:25), and finally 400/7 (8:45). If there are two buses we will adjust the times, but will still be leaving 400/7 at 8:45.

Why demo?

Buying new skis can be a major acquisition. All skis are different in their proportion, construction, and other features. It is always advisable to try before you buy. Even if you are not looking to buy new skis, demoing skis can tell you something about your individual style of skiing. Different skis behave differently.  If you have read a rave review of a certain ski does not mean that they would be right for you.

A few considerations on how to make the best out of a ski demo:

  • Think of what do you want in a ski. Do you want something that is good on hardpack snow or powder? Something stable or a bit more playful?
  • Talk to the Skiis & Biikes reps and find out as much as you can about the skis they have to offer. They might suggest one you haven’t thought about.
  • Know your boot sole length in millimeters, and your DIN settings.
  • Use the same terrain to test each ski. It is a good way to compare them. Some skiers prefer starting on an easier slope, and then turning up the volume on a steep run.
  • Pay attention to how the skis feel at short and long turns, tern initiation, grip, edging.
  • Don’t hesitate to try the same model in a variety of lengths. You may hate the ski in one length, and then be wowed by the next size up of the same.
  • Be mindful of the time limit that the ski shop allows you to demo a pair.
  • Don’t demo new skis during the time of your lesson. There will be plenty of time after it – our bus departs at 4:30 pm.
  • You may want to take picture of the model and length of the skis you have just tested, and to take notes if you wish!

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Spring is in the air

Silver white winters that melt into springs – these are a few of my favourite things. HPSC Social Committee

Spring reminds us every year about a new beginning, a fresh start… Spring skiing under the sun is the most delicious. Our 70th Anniversary season comes to the end and it only means that 71th season is about to begin. Our current Board of Directors is completing two years term and we are planning election night for April 30 2020. We now have very strong candidates for all Directors positions stepping forward or staying for re-election. Our club is very successful thanks to all volunteers work. If you are interested to join the force of volunteers – contact current Directors.

Meanwhile the celebration continues. Tremblant party trip with two buses is coming up. There will be a big party in Le P’tit Caribou! We are 60% sold out for the 70th Anniversary Snow Ball Dinner + Drink + Dance. There are teams forming up for the Trivia Challenge. The winning team will get additional sparkling wine for the table.

For the Apres party Drink + Dance we’ll have photo booth and a lot of dancing. Join the social event to learn how to dance Waltz. The first dance will be Snow Ball – couple who have met in the club, or join together will be invited to dance first, every time Dance Master will say “SnowBall” the couples will split up and grab another partners – until everyone is dancing. Oh what fun!

What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play!

Enjoy the sun and the snow!

Stella, HPSC Volunteer President