It was a long, frustrating wait, but we are back in business! Many of our ski areas got walloped with snow this past Sunday. It really does take just one good day of snow squalls. We ran our first trip to the snow globe that was Scenic Caves last Sunday and we are preparing for many more.
January 20 we are headed to Highlands Nordic and January 21 we are headed to Hardwood Ski and Bike. Both should have great conditions as it’s supposed to be a cold week.
Register for trips here: https://hpsc.ca/Cross-Country-Day-Trips-Registration. We are still opening trips on a week by week basis, be we should be able to move to our normal two-week registration window at some point soon.
If trips are full (people are keen to ski!), put your name on the waitlist. If enough people want to go, we can check with the resorts to see if we can bring two buses. Or, if there are cancellations, you could get moved on the trip. As I have mentioned, we know people like to ski Saturdays, but we can’t accommodate everyone who prefers that. Sunday often doesn’t fill up as quickly.
The season is now in full swing, and with the storms over the weekend, we shouldn’t be worried about a lack of snow for the near future. The storms also clearly illustrates how impactful lake effect snowfall can be. Until Georgian Bay freezes over, lake effect storms can drop huge amounts of snow. This also shows how different the conditions can be in Toronto compared to the resorts. Given the great current conditions and the extended period of colder weather, this is a great time register to for upcoming day trips!
After having to cancel the first two weekend trips, our cross-country and snowshoe season was kicked off on Sunday, and it was a trip they won’t soon forget. While they were able to get up to Scenic Caves, it was more difficult getting down the escarpment. The decision was made by the bus driver and agreed to by the leaders on the bus, that it was too dangerous to drive down from Scenic Caves. Members instead headed down the Blue Mountain snowshoe trail across the road to the replacement bus at the bottom. Congratulations to our cross-country leadership, our bus driver and all the members for getting everyone down safely.
The Holiday Valley trip was also a bit of an adventure, but also illustrates that we take our members’ safety seriously. On Saturday night, while many were enjoying dinner and après in Ellicottville, the New York State Governor declared a total travel ban for all of Erie Country starting at 9 pm that night (Holiday Valley is not in Erie country but our hotel was). We were able make sure that everyone in town was on the early return bus to our hotel. On Sunday morning, the travel ban was still in effect for most of Erie County, including all of Buffalo, and there was no estimated time for lifting the ban. Buffalo was experiencing near blizzard conditions with extremely high winds and whiteout conditions. The decision was made that we could not base our return trip on a hope that the ban would be lifted in time for our scheduled return. It was also decided that we would have to skip skiing for the day and head west and return via Windsor. Although this meant a 10 hour detour, the trip home was uneventful with clear roads the entire way. I personally want to thank all of the members on the trip for rolling with the punches.
Our first charter trip is currently in Japan and I am looking forward to hearing about it from those on the trip.
Personally It has been a great experience being back on the buses this season and meeting and talking with many old friends and new members. I am looking forward to the rest of the season and hearing from many of you!
Starting this season, Drive-up registrations will be opening on a weekly basis. Every Saturday by 8 pm, drive-up registration for all day trips will open for the following week.
A great benefit of being a member of HPSC is that you don’t have to be on the bus in order to take advantage of our free lessons. To ensure the best possible experience, we require drive-ups to register for their lesson. To manage class sizes and the number of instructors, we need to restrict the number of drive-up spots. The snow school and our day trips teams monitor the numbers closely leading up to the registration deadline and open up additional drive-up spots based on the numbers on the bus. These additional spots are first offered to those on the drive-up waitlist.
When a member “no shows” it means that others who may have wanted a lesson are not able to participate and we may have more instructors than necessary, which costs the club since we have paid for transportation and partially subsidised instructor lift tickets.
Over the last couple of seasons, the limited number of drive-up spots were booked up very quickly weeks in advance. However, since there is no financial commitment (unlike booking the bus) or penalty, there is a higher number of drive-up no-shows.
Starting this season, to hopefully reduce the no-show rate, we are opening drive-up registration only in the week prior to the trip, so you have a better idea of your schedule and the weather. This means that drive-up registration for all day trips will now open on the previous Saturday evening and remain open until the regular deadline, Tuesday by 6 pm. Further, to reduce the work for our refund team that handles cancellations, since there is no refund involved, we are allowing drive-up registrants to self-cancel up until the standard registration deadline.
March 10-15 – Stay in Old Quebec City and Ski at Ski Mont St. Anne, Le Massif, Stoneham OR Cross-Country and Snowshoe
March 24-28 – Stay 4 nights at the luxurious new Club Med in Charlevoix with lifts and all meals, drinks, beverages included. Skiing is at Le Massif and you will enjoy guided skiing with the Club Med guides. The fifth night is spent with a stay in old Quebec City, where you can enjoy marvelous Quebec City dining. The dinner is not included in Quebec City but you can wander the town with your new ski buddies and choose from the many options available.
March 17-22 – Killington, Vermont – A few spots still available to stay at the Killington Grand with its wonderful outdoor hot tubs with a view of the mountain and walking distance to the lifts.
Sign up for these trips before Registration closes!!
First off, I hope that all of you had a fantastic holiday season and have a successful and enjoyable 2024.
While the season so far has not been a very snowy one, it is forecasted to change over the next week or so. This is fantastic news for HPSC, since our regular schedule of day trips kick off this weekend, and our charter and long trips in the next couple of weeks.
Please keep in mind that a couple of degrees difference can have a huge impact on conditions at the Ontario resorts. If it is +2 and raining in Toronto, it could very well be a snow storm at Mount St. Louis or Blue Mountain. So do not make your decisions based on what it is like here in Toronto – check the local resort forecasts!
Speaking of Mount St. Louis (MSLM), please remember that if you register for a MSLM trip, you still need to sign in to the MSLM website and register by the Wednesday prior to your trip – this is how MSLM knows to print off your lift ticket card. Only these cards will be printed and provided to our Bus Captain for distribution. If you do not register, you will need to purchase your own ticket on-site. The specific trip link will be provided in the confirmation email sent to you when register.
While colder temperatures mean the downhill resorts can make snow, the cross-country resorts are not as lucky – they are far more dependent on natural snow. We hope that the snow finally arrives so that our cross-country and snowshoe members can get out and enjoy their sports in the near future.
I am sincerely looking forward to seeing many of you over the next couple of weeks on trips!
