HPSC Communications – Page 15 – High Park Ski Club Blog

2021-08-04

Position Open for Job Shadowing

As my directorship will end at the end of the 2021-22 season, I would like to ask for applications to be the next Membership and Volunteer Director.

I would like to ask this person to job shadow me for this coming year (mostly online).

Duties include:

-Monthly and AGM board meetings and reports,

-Monitoring the membership stats and as people join etc. and answering queries. almost daily mid-season,

-Organizing with the team for some events and attending,

-Monitoring the volunteers with a team.

Qualifications- people-friendly, tech-savvy, organized and accountable.

This is one of the lighter portfolios of the board. Thanks for considering.

Contact membership@hpsc.ca if you are interested.

Ruth Schefter

2021-08-04

Could You Be Our Next Downhill Instructor?

Snow school is a crucial part of the HPSC experience, with lessons and instructors consistently cited as the most common reason members love our club. If you have passed your level 1 CASI or CSIA instructor certification and have completed HPSC instructor training, or if you already have your level 2, you are eligible to apply to become an instructor and become part of our team!

As a club instructor, you receive ongoing development through afternoon sessions and our instructor development program. You’ll make a new group of friends, plus you get bus transportation to the hill and defray some of the costs involved in skiing or riding. You also get to wear our prestigious and trendy uniform! But even more importantly, you get to help a ton of your fellow High Parkers to improve their skiing or riding and give back to your community.

If you are interested in applying to the Snow School for either Downhill or Snowboarding and you meet the prerequisites above, please e-mail David Manning, director of downhill skiing and snowboarding at downhillsnowschool@hpsc.ca to express your interest. Applications will be accepted until September 3, 2021.

If you don’t yet have your level 1 or 2 but you’re excited at the idea of becoming an instructor, you might be a candidate for our Instructor Training program. More details on Instructor Training to come in future SnoBiz issues.

2020-11-10

The Downhill Day Trip Schedule Is Here!

We have worked all summer to ensure that our members will have the best of Ontario skiing and snowboarding available. We continue our strong partnerships with our local hills, and have heard time and time again how happy hills are to have us return.

At this time, we are unsure if we will be running buses. While we hope we can provide bus transportation, in the event that we cannot due to health regulations, all trips will be available in a drive-up format.

For both bus and drive-up members, you will be required to register for your day trip through hpsc.ca
Members will be required to register for a lift ticket and lesson if they choose to take a lesson. Walk-up lift ticket purchases at the hills will not be available this year. HPSC will have a limited number of guaranteed lift tickets for registered day trip members. For this reason, we suggest registering early for a trip you are interested in.

For all downhill day trips, members will be required to follow HPSC and resort COVID-19 policies. Failure to follow these policies will result in disciplinary actions.

We look forward to sharing the best of winter with all of our members this season!

To view the 2020/2021 schedule, click here.

2020-08-202020-09-03

Membership Renewal September 1

Another season is upon us! I think I saw some yellow leaves on the trees. Its time to start thinking about the snow.

We have a few new challenges this year that the board is all working on. All your questions will be answered on this blog, SnoBiz, and Facebook/ Instagram. We are trying to make this a safe year, as we absolutely want to get out on the snow if possible.

In the meantime, our membership renewal date of September 1 is here.

To acknowledge that many of you have been financially impacted by this pandemic, we have lowered the membership price for this season to $140 for the entire year (which is lower than our usual early bird rate); and lower than our regular rate of $170.

In this year of uncertainty, we are also including a special option If by January 31st, 2021 you have not participated in any club trips (daytrips, long trips, or charter trips) you can request to have your membership deferred for the year. To make this request, you will need to send an email to membership@hpsc.ca by February 1, 2021.

If the experience of resorts in the Southern Hemisphere are any indication, skiing and snow boarding will be very popular this coming season, and due to restricted numbers daily spots will likely sell out quickly. However, HPSC has been assured by alpine resorts that we will have access to a set number of those daily spots for our members who come on the bus and those who drive-up (drive-ups will need register and pay for their tickets through HPSC). On the cross-country side, we have not heard that resorts will be limiting daily spots, but discussions are on-going.

While this season will be a challenge, we look forward to seeing you all on the hills and trails soon.

Thanks for continuing to be part of High Park Ski Club.

See you at the zoom AGM on September 23.

Ruth

Membership Director

Photo by Caterina Berger on Unsplash.

2020-04-22

Thanks for another great snow season

Our Snow season has sadly ended abruptly. Here in isolation, I’m going over my ski pictures. What a great time we have had in the snow, in the forests and on the beautiful mountains.

2019-10-232019-11-12

Downhill Day Trips

Management of Daytrips for 2019-20 Season

As you may be aware, Erika Clark, the Director of Downhill Day Trips, resigned in late August. In the meantime we have been searching for a new Director to take over the portfolio. In late September, long-time member Justin Graham agreed to take over the logistics and management of Downhill daytrips for the upcoming season. However, for personal reasons, he has chosen not to be the Director. His title is Assistant Director of Day Trips. Christine Bellerose, the Director of Ski School has agreed to also represent Day Trips on the HPSC Board of Directors.

Erika is not going away but needed to step away from the Board to concentrate on her new job. You will still see her on the bus, and she has agreed to help out where and when she can. We would like to sincerely thank Erika for her fantastic leadership of Day Trips, and her extensive contribution to the club, over the last year and a half. Good luck Erika and see you on the slopes!

Downhill Day Trips Schedule

The downhill day trips schedule is now finalized and is currently available as a downloadable PDF on the website under Our Trips – Downhill day trips – Downhill day trips registration. You need to be logged in to the site. https://hpsc.ca/resources/Documents/Day%20Trips/Downhill_Day_Trip_Schedule_2019-20.pdf

We are working on adding all of the trips to the calendar but wanted to make sure that you have the schedule to start planning out your ski season. The first trips will be open for registration by early November.

Our first scheduled day trip is the annual Test Drive day to Mount St. Louis on Saturday December 7.

As we have in the past few seasons, most Saturdays we are scheduled to go to Mount St. Louis; Sundays and Mondays to Blue Mountain; and Wednesdays to the variety of private clubs in the Collingwood area. We have also added in a few new resorts – Mansfield Ski Club and Caledon Ski Club in Ontario; and Holiday Valley in New York.

Some highlights for the upcoming season:

December 7 – First scheduled day trip and first Test Drive Day to Mount St. Louis.
December 30 – A special Holiday Week trip to a location the club has not gone to in a very long time – Mansfield Ski Club.
January 11 – Member Appreciation Day and Double Double lesson day at Mount St. Louis. This is a Member Only trip.
February 15 – Special Family Day Weekend day trip to Holiday Valley NY. Note this the only daytrip we will be running over the Family Day weekend. This is a Member Only trip.
February 29 – Test Drive #2 at Mount St. Louis
March 21 – Sleep in Saturday. We will also be going to a new resort for weekend skiers – Caledon Ski Club.
Numerous Pizza days throughout the season at Mount St. Louis and Blue Mountain.
Almost every day trip is a Bring a Friend trip – please see the schedule for Bring a Friend trips.

New Pick Up Location Approved by the Board – Liberty Village

We are happy to announce that the HPSC Board of Directors has approved the addition of a new Downhill Day Trips pick up location.

When we have enough registrants for a second bus, we will now be using a new pick up in the Liberty Village area to accommodate the growing number of members in that part of the city. The pick-up location will be to the west of Lamport Stadium on Fraser Avenue. This will be the second pickup after Queens Quay.

For those using public transit, the King streetcar goes right past, and the Dufferin bus is just a couple of blocks away. The Exhibition GO station is also within walking distance. For those who drive, there is a Green P paid parking lot on the south side of Lamport Stadium.

NOTE – This location will only be listed and used (along with Queens Quay) when we have added a second bus to a trip after we have filled the first bus and have sufficient members on the wait list to justify a second bus.

Information on all of our pick-up locations is located on the website: https://hpsc.ca/Day-Trip-Pick-Up-Locations

2019-10-232019-10-23

Membership

Early bird Prices expire on October 31st for membership renewals. But you may want to get in earlier as Thursday the 24th is the Overnight Bus Registration.

Referral Program

When someone mentions your name as having referred them to the club (on the registration form), you get a bus voucher!!! This will be mailed to you in a short while.
All bus vouchers currently in circulation must be used by MAY 2020. Check the bus daytrip schedule and plan your winter and use those vouchers!https://hpsc.ca/downhill-trip-registration-page EventViewMode=1&EventListViewMode=1

Membership Director

2019-10-082019-10-08

Trip Sign-Up Night

Trip Sign-Up Night (TSUN) happens this week on Thursday, October 10 starting at 8:00 PM. Six of the 2020 charter trips will go on sale for the first time. Login, go to the page of the trip you want 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 the trip is sold out.

How to Sign Up

The procedures for registering on TSUN are on the webpage, TRIP SIGN UP PROCESS. You must be a paid up member for 2019-2020. If you haven’t renewed your membership yet, do so right away because membership approval takes a day or two.

Wait List

If you happen to see “Join Waitlist” button instead of the “Register” button, do not think that you have missed out. Go ahead and add your name to the waitlist; there is no cost to do so. You will likely get on the trip in a few days time. Here’s why. We automatically hold back a couple of seats to allow the Trip Leader time to match roommates and deal with the single room requests. Then we order more air seats and hotel space to accommodate the names on the waitlist. If there is a greater number on the waitlist than we can fit, we will arrange another trip. Last season we created a 2^nd trip to Banff when the first trip was filled and all those on the Banff waitlist were able to sign up for it.

Deadlines

When you read over the detailed descriptions you will see that each charter trip has a deadline date. At that date, we must release all unsold air seats and hotel rooms. Even though a trip maybe later in the season, we still have a deadline imposed on us that is quite soon. For example our last trip to Taos, NM doesn’t depart until March 21. But the deadline date is Nov 26. Thus you have to look at the whole season when you are considering TSUN so that the season doesn’t slip by and you missed it.

Trip Leaders

Trip Leader names and contact information are now posted on a webpage. The page is only open to members so you must login to see it. If you have a question that isn’t answered in the detailed description, contact the TL.

Parking for Overnight Trips

This is important. If you want to help your club, you can assist us to find a new parking lot for our 2020 overnight bus trips. No one responded to our request last month so it is repeated this time. We need the help of our 1,100 members to locate a new lot. The lot would accommodate approximately 25 cars for the duration of each trip. If you can suggest a possible location, or want to assist us, please contact Kevin Chabot, Parking Coordinator, kchabot@ican.net .

Bill Bates, Director

2019-09-102019-09-10

Long Trips

Overnight Bus Trips

The list of 2020 overnight bus trips with a detailed description of the resorts, hotels, options and what is included in each trip is now on the website, here. These trips go on sale on Thursday, October 24. At that time, the “Register” button will appear on the trip page to allow you to sign up. Don’t look for the Register button now, you have to wait until October 24.

Charter Trips

The remainder of the 2020 charter trips will go on sale on Thursday, October 10. While the first two charter trips to Jasper, New Years and Pragelato, Italy are sold out, you can still add your name to the Jasper waiting list in case of a cancellation. For Pragelato, the waiting list is closed because there were many names already and adding more would not be productive

IKON Pass

Some members may have purchased the IKON pass for unlimited use at Blue Mountain. The cost of the base pass is $1,000 CAD and the full pass is $1,400 CAD. These members can use their pass on a number of our trips where the pass applies: Mt Tremblant (3 trips), Killington, Aspen, and Taos. These members would select the no-lifts option. Savings for using the pass are listed in the descriptions.

Trip Sign-Up Night

The procedures for registering on Trip Sign-Up Nights (TSUN) are shown on the website, TRIP SIGN UP PROCESS. Please read this page so you understand what to do when the time comes. You can register for yourself and ONE additional member at the same time. Simply put a “1” in the Guest field and continue to the payment page.

FCFS

In the August blog, we discussed the way our trip registrations are done, ie First Come First Served (FCFS). We have used this procedure ever since we changed from lining up in person to signing up online. We felt that FCFS was the fairest and most transparent way although we realize that some members may be at a disadvantage (slow internet, slow fingers, away on TSUN, etc). If you have a suggestion as to how we could improve the procedure, we would like to hear from you. Our objective is to be fair to all members. Please send your suggestions to Bill Bates, longtrips@hpsc.ca.

Trip Leaders

Thank you to those who applied to be a 2020 trip leader. During September we will be training these leaders to lead the trips that you will be on. In the week before each TSUN, you will find the names and contact information for trip leaders on the website so you can ask any particular questions that are not covered in the detailed descriptions.

Bill Bates, Director