Month: October 2022

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2022/23 Downhill Day Trips Schedule

We are happy to announce the downhill day trips schedule for the upcoming season!

The coming season has 50 downhill day trips scheduled including a special Family Day trip to Beaver Valley. As in the past we will be following our usual schedule of trips on Saturday to Mount St. Louis (MSLM), Sunday and Monday to Blue Mountain, and Wednesday to the various private clubs. 

The first scheduled trips are December 10 to Mount St. Louis and December 11 to Blue Mountain.  The first Monday trip is January 9.  The Wednesday trips start on January 11.  There are three Wednesday trips to Alpine, and two each to Osler and Craigleith, and one to Devil’s Glen and one to Blue Mountain. Later in the season we have a number of TBD Wednesday trips since the private clubs cannot guarantee they will be open. 

Final prices for the day trips will be confirmed in the next number of weeks.

Hoping you have a fantastic season! 

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Last chance to try out roller skiing! 

Looking for a way to get in shape for ski season or work on your technique in the off-season? Roller skiing is cross-country ski specific dryland training that will achieve both goals! It’s also a fun sport in its own right.

In conjunction with Ski Fit, HPSC is offering members a chance to try it out in High Park. In small groups (we have four pairs of roller skis), we will cover safety, the basic manoeuvres, how to slow and stop, how to cross uneven pavement, and point out hazards and how to avoid them. We will also cover equipment and where to get it and good places in the city you could ski.

Our last chance to try is

  • Oct. 22 9:30-10:15 am

Location: High Park. Meet at the Grenadier Cafe parking lot.

Equipment:

  • Bike helmet (mandatory)
  • Ski boots (mandatory – see below under booking)
  • Gloves (any kind, mandatory)
  • Optional, but highly recommended: knee and elbow pads. Spills on concrete can happen leading to scrapes. But we will be doing slow manoeuvres on flat pavement.

Prerequisites: being a current HPSC member (this will be checked), the above equipment, experience skiing on snow (skate and/or classic, whatever roller skiing you want to try), and a desire to learn!

To book your spot: email crosscountry@hpsc.ca with the date you are interested and the type of ski boots you will bring (skate NNN, classic NNN or classic/skate SNS with the older Profil bindings that have one metal bar. If you have SNS bindings with two bars, our roller skis won’t work). If you have your own roller skis, you are welcome to attend. He

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Honouring Our HPSC Volunteers!

Without our volunteers HPSC could not function!

On September 29th we were very happy to host our volunteers at the reinstated Volunteer Dinner at The Hot House Café.  The purpose of the event is to honour our volunteers as well as build excitement for the upcoming season. 

As part of the evening I was very please and excited to present our Volunteer of the Year awards to the following members:

Rookie

Sheila Moshomas – For taking on the role of Monday daytrip co-ordinator

Bronze level

Apolonija Battiston – For work on the Long Trips Committee (LTC) and leading the Snow School Instructor uniform committee

Fran Burgess – For work as the Wednesday Daytrip co-ordinator during a difficult season

Paul Dover – For extensive work for the Cross-country portfolio during a difficult season

Caroline Thompson – For work as the Downhill daytrips Bus Captain co-ordinator

Silver level

Michael Hardke – For work as the Sunday downhill Daytrips co-ordinator and for training Sheila as the new Monday daytrips co-ordinator

Lisa Philpott -For work as the bus company co-ordinator

Lisa Ziegler – For work programming the downhill daytrip events and making on-going changes as procedures were revised

Gold level

Christine Bellerose – For work as liaison between Snow School and the Downhill daytrips team

Linda Lavallee – For work as the long-term head of the HPSC New Member Ambassador program

Monica Sauer – For work within the cross-country team and as the cross-country representative on the Long Trips Committee

Special Projects

Kevin Chabot – For work on finding a new east end parking location for long trips

Ephraim Fernandez – For extensive work creating a Long Trips COVID protocol

Russ Harding – For work researching COVID testing options on long trips to fulfill the Canadian government’s requirement of a PCR test prior to returning to Canada. And for work investigating the co-ordinating our Ikon group sales program.

Jeff Stainsby – For extensive work as part of the cross-country team

Lifetime Achievement

Bishu Basuroy – For his long time contributions to the club in a multiple roles over the years

Catherine Basuroy – For her long time contribution in responding to emails to Downhill daytrips portfolio

Bill Bates – For his long time role as Director of Long Trips.

In addition to a certificate each winner also receives a dollar credit on their HPSC account in appreciation of all of their work.

Congratulations and thank you to all of the winners!

And again thank you to all of our volunteers! 

Justin Graham

President, High Park Ski Club

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I’m a new XC member – where can I find information?

Welcome! We’re happy to have you in the club and looking forward to skiing and/or snowshoeing with you this season. We’re planning a relatively normal season, pending procedures at the resorts (which will not be clear until later).

We know that being a new member comes with a lot of questions – and we’ve got you covered. Below find website and blog links where you should find all the information you need. The cross-country pages are kept updated; if the information isn’t yet there, we don’t yet know it! Information is updated as it becomes available. Given the ongoing COVID situation, it is taking time to confirm information with the resorts.

You should also be contacted by a HPSC ambassador – sometime this fall – who can answer your questions. We will also be holding a new member info virtual session in November.

We would appreciate it if you would take the time to see if your question is answered in the following resources before reaching out. We’re busy planning the season (and with our day jobs!). But if you can’t find the answer online, we are happy to help.

The most detailed information (on day trips and lessons) can be found on our FAQ page: https://hpsc.ca/Cross-Country-FAQ

Here is a XC ski/snowshoe 101 resource sheet I created last year, with ski tips (since we weren’t able to offer trips and lessons yet): https://blog.hpsc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cross-Country-Skiing-101-Resource-Sheet.pdf

The schedule will be posted when ready (later November) here: https://hpsc.ca/Cross-Country-Day-Trips-Registration

Curious about what happens on a day trip? This was written in 2019, but should be largely applicable, with maybe a few tweaks, this year. But, it will give you an idea: https://blog.hpsc.ca/2019/11/what-to-expect-on-a-xc-day-trip/

While no one can give you a definitive answer, here is some advice how to choose between classic and skate skiing: https://blog.hpsc.ca/2020/10/classic-vs-skate-whats-the-difference-and-what-do-i-choose/

Looking for ski gear? This is my most comprehensive advice for what and where to buy: https://blog.hpsc.ca/2019/10/gear-talk-skis-poles-boots-edition/

Questions about waxing those new skis? Check out this: https://blog.hpsc.ca/2019/11/gear-talk-wait-what-i-need-to-wax-waxless-skis/

Looking for snowshoe gear? This is my most comprehensive advice for what and where to buy: https://blog.hpsc.ca/2019/10/gear-talk-snowshoe-edition/

Wondering what to wear when skiing and snowshoeing? Look no further than here: https://blog.hpsc.ca/2019/11/gear-talk-clothing-edition/

Want to ski in the city? It’s possible when we have enough snow! https://blog.hpsc.ca/2021/02/yes-you-can-ski-in-high-park-or-any-other-park/