Author: Stella Rossovskaia

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And The HPSC Oscar Hatashita Award Goes To…

The Academy officially adopted the name “Oscar” for the trophies in 1939. … A frequently mentioned originator is Margaret Herrick, the Academy executive secretary, who, when she first saw the award in 1931, said the statuette reminded her of “Uncle Oscar“, a nickname for her cousin Oscar Pierce.

Did you know that HPSC has it’s own Oscar Award? Oscar Hatashita was one of the founders of the club from 1950. Oscar was the last surviving founder and has attended 60th Anniversary celebration. Oscar’s name was famous among the club members, as he had an “Oscar” ski shop. Everyone would go to “Oscar” at the beginning of the season for the new boots fitting, and the styles and the bindings were changing fast. We’ve established an Award in honour of Oscar Hatashita for 65th Anniversary. Denise Janssen was the first recipient of the Award for her outstanding contribution to the development of the club. This year the glamour of Magic Carpet is virtual due to coronavirus pandemic that has rained on our parade. The pictures of the winners were taken on the snow, Magic Carpet the original.

And The HPSC Oscar Hatashita Award Goes to…

COLIN MARSH – for outstanding accomplishment of the club’s membership growth

Colin is shining like a star in Banff during overnight trip

After a decade of slow although steady decline in club’s membership the trend has changed to the 20% membership growth in the last two years. This is an outstanding result, close to a miracle. Colin is the man behind club’s new website redesign, he took on the design and development side of the project with the IT, Communications and all Directors for the exciting design and content. The launch of the website for the 2018/19 season provided a superior experience for members and prospective members and the Club’s online advertising campaign drove membership growth and a lot of interest for our club from the diverse groups. As a Marketing Director and Vice President Colin has made a lot of positive changes and decisions for the best interest of our club members, New Members nights, referral program have blossomed and resulted in the continuous growth. Congratulations on your outstanding results and recognition of your accomplishments and success from your colleagues at the Board of Directors, Colin!

GEORGE LORENZ – for outstanding leadership and guidance to the Board of Directors

George is sparkling positive energy during his lesson as a passionate Cross Country ski instructor

George is High Park Ski club life timer. After being the President of the club for multiple terms, leading the trips, teaching cross country skiing, participating in all types of activities in the club George has accumulated a big mountain of wisdom, experience, knowledge and… patience. As a Chair of Advisory Board George has probably saved our club from the mini crisis a few times, helping the Boards forming–storming–norming and high performing. It’s a great support to the Board to have access to George’s expertise in governance, risk management, by-laws applicabilities and personal common sense… Thank you George! Congratulations on the Oscar Hatashita Award and Board’s recognition and appreciation of your leadership and guidance.

KAREN EVANS – for authoring club’s “Code of Conduct” and thoughtful leadership

Karen is a Silver Star in Silver Star!

Karen is known to many of us as “Energizer Bunny” for her sparkling positivity and endless energy that she shares with members at SkiFits in High Park in the fall, on the cross country trails or on the mountains teaching skiing. As a world traveler Karen inspires us all to live the life to the fullest. One of the most outstanding contributions of Karen into development of our club is Karen’s authoring of the club’s “Code of conduct” for members and Board of Directors. Safety, well being and positive experience of our members and volunteers are our top priority in the club. How many times we had to navigate the complex situations and find the answers and solutions in the simple positive statements of our “Code of conduct”, which we all acknowledge, when we join the club. Thank you Karen, for sharing with us your wisdom and for applying your outstanding communication skills in documenting the “Code of conduct” that serves our club for many years.

BILL BATES – for enabling our members to travel the the best ski resorts in the world

If you are in front of the line in ski class with Bill (3rd from left) – it means you are an expert! Bill skis fast!

Every year around end of summer and in the fall there is a buzz in the club… What are the overnight trips planned for us? The joy of dreaming and traveling… Behind many of our dreams, behind well planned trips is a great team (everyone stays on the team for many years) and a mindful leader, one and only Bill Bates. Bill dedicates so many hours to our club, his expertise and knowledge, kindness and care, he could be a one man successful tour operator business! Bill’s emails to the team come usually after midnight. Bill’s leadership philosophy is: “We care about our members as concerned relatives, and we treat our members as responsible adults.” Bill is one of Directors who has to apply “Code of Conduct” written by Karen creatively to find the most positive solution for the club and responsible adults members. Bill is always open for new ideas and innovations, and can calculate to the single dollar the cost and risk of the idea. The success of our overnight trips have grown, no wonder most of our trips sell out within one minute. Thank you dear Bill, you’ve enabled and empowered many of us to travel the world, to see the most beautiful mountains, trails and resorts. We want to express our gratitude to you for your outstanding contribution, for the moments of joy our members experienced thanks to you, with this special Award in memory of Oscar Hatashita, one of the founders of the club.


Bill (3rd from left) is always in Front Of The Line…

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HPSC 2020 Volunteers Awards Winners

Every year we nominate volunteers for the Awards for the hard work of running our club. We express our gratitude to volunteers who go above and beyond to run our club smoothly.

ROOKIE AWARD: Lilia Kazberuk, for her positive energy of a new member & volunteer and for negotiation of the partnership contract between the club and “Skiis and Biikes” store, organizing the shopping, promotional and equipment tuning events.

BRONZE:  Pamela Blake, for her dedication to new members by
coordinating the beginners programs for the past two
seasons

SILVER:  Kevin Thyer, for his many years of dedication to the race program which have challenged many skiers and snowboarders of all
levels. Thanks for coordinating the race course with MSLM, the
Race Crew and their tireless work as well as the very popular
Gate Training program.

 SILVER: Chantal Lebel has been a valuable contributor on the Long Trips Committee since 2017. Chantal has assumed complete supervisory responsibility for all the overnight trips to Mt Tremblant over the last 4 years. She has been an organized and well liked Trip Leader to many bus and charter trips. Chantal is also a dedicated ski instructor as well as the Internal Communication Director on the Snow School executive. Merci Chantal for all your work for HPSC!

GOLD :        Linda Lavallee for being the ambassador coordinator for many years. Her many hours of work recruiting, training, organizing this team is monumental. As well she coordinates communication email letters that go out to new members. Thank you for your continuing years of dedication.

GOLD: Justin Graham  was nominated previously for his many years of dedicated service as Bus Captain coordinator. For the 2019-2020 season, as Assistant-Director of Day Trips. Justin has worked tirelessly with his team to support the bus captains who make sure that buses go out four days a week or as scheduled. This past year, Justin dedicated a lot of personal time on his weekly demanding duties, which included: adjusting Day Trips modules, monitoring registrations, and making decisions as to how may buses were going where. Not always easy, especially when weather threats arise between Thursday night and Saturday. Present on FB and a strong communicator, Justin  also replied to countless emails from members who needed a registration altered, or who simply had a question. This is a critical job, the heart of our day trip operations. All downhill skiers and snowboarders thank you, Justin!!

SNOW GLOBE Lifetime achievement:  Mary McDonald for managing our club’s administration affairs for a long term, organizing multiple moves of the office, keeping the lights on, the bills paid, insurance and office rental lease extended, files stored. Any question asked about the club’s administration – Mary knows the answer. Mary was also a downhill instructor and an overnight trip leader. Its thanks to Mary’s and other life time members dedication and volunteering that our club runs as a well oiled machine without stopping for 70 years. Thank you Mary!

SNOW GLOBE Lifetime achievement:   Sandi Hymers was a Membership & Volunteer Director for many years. Every member felt Sandi’s and her team’s care. Sandi has passed the torch to the new membership team although Sandi was always standing by to offer help or guidance when needed, in a very kind and peaceful way. Sandi’s wisdom is appreciated by number of the Boards . Thank you Sandi!

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We Climb Every Mountain…

Dear friends,

I am writing to you at the very challenging time , the time of disruption for our life and our club’s activities. On Saturday April 25 we would have 70th Anniversary Snow Ball and Awards Ceremony to honour our stellar volunteers who run our club. As we are celebrating Canadian National Volunteers week I want to thank all volunteers for making our club a successful non profit organization that inspires and enables our members to enjoy winter snow sports. I also want to thank all our members for being part of our club, our very special friendly and all inclusive community, for supporting each other and at this time and for staying home to help us all to make our life stellar again. Although at this time our government warns us that “Normal is a long way off” and we have to be careful and patient we can dream now and ski, ride and travel later, eh? We the True North strong and free!

Our friends at Switzerland. share hope with Canada! The Matterhorn was illuminated with the Maple Leaf and flags of other countries impacted by coronavirus. The Zermatt Matterhorn wants to give hope and solidarity to all of you. #DreamNowTravelLater #WeWillTravelAgain

On Thursday April 30 we would of get together in person for the Election night. Instead we’ll tune in to be together virtually, to vote for the new Board of Directors to lead us as the club through the new challenges, to climb every mountain even higher. Please join & vote!

During the two year term of our current Board we’ve addressed many steep challenges. We’ve accomplished the 20% increase of membership (after 10 years of slow & steady decline), we brought new generation of members to the club. We’ve guaranteed and filled the downhill day trips buses.  Our cross country day trips were sold out ahead of time with many two bus trips. We’ve implemented a new payment system and mobile App. We’ve improved our finance system and streamlined our processes. Our popular overnight trips were sold out under 1 min and we have doubled the size of the groups based on demand and the wait lists. We’ve moved the progress forward with the office virtualization project, which will allow us to save money for the club in the near future. We’ve embraced technology and have fostered the culture of innovations and continuous improvement. We had to address the coronavirus challenge with travel cancellations and worked very close with our business partners to get the best possible solutions for our impacted members. I am very proud of our Board’s work and results.

Dream Mountain… Trees in High Park are the gift of Japan to Canada. Today more than ever we are all united.

The Japanese cherry trees will blossom in High Park again soon. We’ll be dreaming about white snow while looking at High Park via web cameras. We may not always ski in High Park, although we love High Park, our club, our city, our province, our country, our people and our world! Cheers, for many winters to come!

Stella, HPSC Volunteer President

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HPSC Uniforms… So… Do you ski in High Park?

Do you recognize your favourite instructors?
Uniforms from different decades, saved thanks to Don The Legend….
Club Med Instructors – Ready to serve HPSC!
Do you recognize your favourite instructors? Back in 1970s….
One tradition never changes, the question: “So… Do you skin in High Park? ” “We ski everywhere!”
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Staying at home… Staying alive…

Dear friends,

Our new social responsibility to stay at home is our new norm. We are at the state of emergency declared by the Canadian government. As skiers and riders we know the importance of the discipline very well. When it’s minus 30 outside and there are 56 members going together to do what we enjoy the most and also to take the risk together – we are all for one and one for all. We also know the importance of keeping safe distance on the snow. We deeply sympathize with those who are not well, who are quarantined at home, who are taking care of loved ones, who can no longer travel, who have lost money because of the travel cancellations, who had to postpone professional and personal projects or give up precious evenings with family and friends. Canadian Government and Health officials have repeatedly shared important information about the actions we need to take to protect ourselves from coronavirus and to help slow the spread of the virus. These include non-essential travel, and practicing social (physical) distancing. Homes are our own castles, where we are in full control. So let’s do what we enjoy doing at home the most, relax in your own thrones of games, enjoy the life ride and it’s unexpected turns, sip smoothie or cocktail and dream about new adventures and travels… Let’s all act together to keep everyone safe! At the same time we have to stay connected to support each other. Join us for the on-line socials and the most important – Election night on April 30. Registration is open, please register in advance and do attend, we’ll need a quorum. Read bios of the candidates who are stepping forward to lead us higher!

Together we’ll climb every mountain. Stay strong, be well, carry on…

Stella, HPSC Volunteer President

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Social & Election – Zoom From Your Home

Quebec City during New Years trip – 2016. We’ll be back soon for in-person Apres Ski!

Connect with your winter friends during this challenging time of social isolation.

We’ll be conducting Election night on-line on April 30 – from the comfort of your home. You can register now here: https://hpsc.ca/event-3751842 You’ll receive an email with invitation to join Zoom meeting. The limit of participants is 100, we’ll need a quorum!

We have also planned on-line social gathering this week – Thursday April 9 at 7 PM. Register to receive the invitation. Prepare your delicious cocktail and share the recipe, share the pictures from club’s events. It’s the new way for us to stay connected! #TBT https://hpsc.ca/event-3807645

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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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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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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

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All will be well! Keep calm and dream on!

Dear friends, we are living through challenging historical time. All of us in the Board of Directors send you warm wishes to stay well and healthy. Some things are beyond our control. What’s in our control is to take care of ourselves and our communities.

The current Board completes 2 years term. Our team has worked hard and has implemented a lot of changed to take our club to the new hight. Our membership’s record increase of over 20% is our biggest accomplishment that many of you have acknowledged. Our club is growing and blossoming with the new generation and members joining. Although the 70th Anniversary Season has ended suddenly and unexpectedly, we can say that it was an amazing season to remember. Coronavirus has rained on our parade – we had to cancel overnight trips to France, to Tao and to Tremblant. Today we’ve made a hard decision to cancel The Apres 70th Anniversary “Snow Ball’ in the interest of health and safety of our community and in the light of the growing concerns about economical situation. We’ll be back next season stronger and united more than ever to execute on our mission: to inspire and enable members to enjoy winter snow sports in a fun, friendly and supportive community. .

Election night for the new Board of Directors is scheduled for April 30 2020. Please note that we are testing the opportunity to conduct the meeting on-line using collaboration tools. The registration for the meeting will start two weeks prior. The registered 100 participants (maximum capacity of the tools that meets our quorum criteria) will receive an email invitation to join the meeting from the comfort of your homes. Our past President David Manning has started a very important initiative of Club house virtualization, which we have continued. Now we are forced to speed it up.

Please know that very strong new candidates step forward to volunteer for the Board for the next term of two seasons 2020-2022. Election rules and documents are posted on the club’s web site before the meeting. You’ve received by now an official notice of election via email. Remember, our not for profit club is managed by volunteers to keep the cost of our activities and membership low. If you are interested to volunteer – please contact me, current directors or new candidates – they will be building the new teams. It takes many awesome people to run our club.

Below is the list of the candidates for the HPSC 2020-2022 Board of Directors, based on the submissions to Colin Marsh, who is leading Election Nomination committee. Adrian Popescu is a Nomination Committee member and will conduct the meeting.  New nominations can be submitted to Colin via marketing@hpsc.ca.
New candidates for HPSC Board of Directors 2020-2022:

  • President – Justin Graham
  • Marketing – Jennifer Beatty
  • Finance – Clark Seadon
  • Downhill Day Trips – Erika Clark 
  • Communications – Nemanja Davidovic (recently appointed by Board)
  • Social – Amy Lam
  • Downhill Snow School – the candidate will be nominated by the Snow School
  • Directors who are running for re-election for their current roles:
  • IT – Alex Radulescu 
  • Admin – Victor Schroter
  • Overnight Trips – Bill Bates
  • Membership – Ruth Schefter
  • Cross Country skiing – Heather Steel

Spring is taking over from winter. All will be well. The cherry trees will blossom in High Park again soon. Keep Calm and Dream On about big mountains and fresh white blossom of snow… Please stay socially connected on-line!

Stella, HPSC Volunteer President 2018-2020