Category: Cross-Country Skiing & Snowshoeing

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Trip Sign-up #4 – Overnight BusTrips

Charter trip sign-up night was a great success with virtually all members getting onto the trip of their choice that night. Our strategy of doubling up on the most popular destinations and offering multiple trips on the same weeks worked.

Overnight bus trip sign-up night is coming on Thursday, October 26 at 8 pm sharp. As the bus company has just finalized pricing, we will be re-working and finalizing our prices for these trips this week. Don’t forget that you must be a member to sign up and participate on a trip, and be logged onto the HPSC website at 8 pm sharp for the best selection of trips. These trips have been set up as group travel with special rates for the types of rooms listed, so modifications are not allowed. As with charters, you can choose a ‘No Lifts’ option and single supplement (limited availability), however unlike charters there is NO price reduction if you do not take the group transportation to the destination (by luxury coach). Please read through all of the trip details in advance so that you make the choice that fits your needs. The $100 deposit guarantees your spot, but note that it is non-refundable once it is paid.

2024 Overnight Bus Trips

Mont Tremblant QC – Holiday Inn – Dec 15-17, 2023

Holiday Valley NY, USA – Microtel – Jan 12-14

Mont Tremblant QC – Holiday Inn – Feb 4-9

Gatineau /Ottawa XC – Holiday Inn – Feb 16-19

Quebec City QC – Manoir Victoria – MARCH BREAK – March 10-15

Killington VT, USA – Killington Grand – studio kitchenettes and hotel – March 17-22

Mont Tremblant QC – Holiday Inn – March 22-24

Le Massif QC – Club Med Charlevoix – March 24-29

There are still a few spots left on some charters, so do not hesitate to sign up before they are gone!

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Trip Sign-up Night #3

Before you know it, Trip Sign-up #3 will be upon us–September 28! Eight Charter trips will begin sales. The first two charter trips sold out quickly! Be sure to review the materials, talk to your ski buddies, and make your decision in advance.

If you have your heart set on one or more of the trips, make sure you are 100% ready to go at 8:00 pm. Some of these trips will sell out promptly, even in as little as a few seconds! A couple destinations have always sold out super fast, so this year we have doubled up on trips to Sun Peaks and Banff.

If your favourite trip appears sold out, you can register for the Waitlist. This is especially important for trips that travel later in the season, since cancellations are more frequent at that time.

Consider your insurance options in advance, since this must be purchased at the time you make the initial trip payment. We are happy to announce that “Cancel For Any Reason” coverage will once again be available.

Note that your $100 deposit is NON-REFUNDABLE. So, please take this into consideration when signing up.

On Thursday, September 28, 2023 at 8:00 pm, the following Charter Trips will go on sale:

C3 Red Mountain, BC – Jan 21-28, 2024

C4 Sun Peaks-1, BC – Jan 27-Feb 3, 2024

C5 Panorama, BC – Feb 3-10, 2024

C6 Winter Park, CO – Feb 3-10, 2024

C7 Banff-1, AB – Feb 10-17, 2024

C8 Sun Peaks-2, BC – Feb 10-17, 2024

C9 Silver Star, BC – Mar 4-11, 2024

C10 Banff-2, AB – Mar 9-16, 2024 

Click here to go to the Long Trips page.

Our overnight bus trips will go on sale on October 26. Mark your calendars!

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2024 Charter Trips 

Japan (Tokyo and Niseko) – Jan 11-21 (Due to the popularity of this trip, which filled up within seconds, we will work on a trip for the 2025 season)

Peisey-Vallandry, France: Club Med – (Les Arcs/La Plagne Paradiski) – Jan 20-28

Red Mountain, BC: Josie Hotel – Jan 21-28

Sun Peaks, BC: Cahilty Lodge (hotel + kitchenette units) – Jan 27-Feb 3

Panorama, BC: Approach Hotel (new) – Feb 3-10

Winter Park, Colorado USA: Vintage Hotel – Feb 3-10

Banff, AB: Banff Aspen Lodge – Feb 10-17

Sun Peaks, BC: Grand Hotel – March 3-10

Silver Star, BC: (Cross Country or Downhill) – Vance Creek Condos – March 4-11

Banff, AB: Banff Aspen Lodge – MARCH BREAK – March 9-16

2024 Overnight Bus Trips

Mont Tremblant, QC: Holiday Inn – Dec 15-17, 2023 

Holiday Valley NY, USA: Microtel – Jan 12-14

Mont Tremblant QC: Holiday Inn – Feb 4-9

Gatineau /Ottawa XC: Holiday Inn – (FAMILY DAY WEEKEND) Feb 16-19 

Quebec City, QC: Manoir Victoria – (MARCH BREAK) March 10-15 

Killington, VT USA: Killington Grand – studio kitchenettes and hotel – March 17-22

Mont Tremblant, QC: Holiday Inn – March 22-24

Le Massif, QC: Club Med Charlevoix – March 24-29

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2024 Cross-Country Long Trips

We’ve got lots of great choices for our Cross-Country and Snowshoe members this coming year!

Featured Charter

  • Silver Star, BC – Cross-Country/Downhill Combo, Vance Creek Condos: March 4 to 11. This HPSC favourite has 105 km of XC ski trails where you can ski from the door. Snowshoeing and ice skating are also available.

Overnight Bus Trips

  • Ottawa-Gatineau – Holiday Inn: February 16 to 19 – Enjoy 200 kms of ski trails by daily HPSC coach or skate the Rideau Canal.
  • Tremblant, Combo trip – Holiday Inn: February 4-9 – Enjoy cross-country skiing at: Tremblant resort (12km), Domain St. Bernard, (32 km), P’tit Train du Nord (29 km), Tremblant National Park (43 km).
  • Quebec City, Combo trip – Stay at the lovely Manoir Victoria: March 10-15 (March Break) and enjoy the cross-country ski areas of Mt Ste. Anne (176 km), Le Massif (32 km), and Camp Mercier (70 km).

Other Charter trips where XC skiing is available:

You can sign up on any of the following downhill trips by choosing the ‘No Lifts’ option.

Note: Since they are not featured as XC trips, there may be no other cross-country skiers on these trips. These locations are best suited for members who are comfortable skiing on their own, in a small group, or plan to enjoy both downhill and cross-country skiing. Trail passes must be purchased by the member.

  • Red Mountain, BC – January 20-27 – 50 km of trails within a 25 minute walk from hotel, local shuttle available on some days (TBD)
  • Sun Peaks, BC 1 – January 27- February 3 – 30 km of ski trails, ski from the door and take the lift to the start of the cross-country trails
  • Winter Park Hotel Colorado, USA – February 3-10 – 200 km of ski trails at Snow Mountain Ranch and 120 km at Devil’s Thumb Ranch. Note that these locations are a 20 – 40 minute drive away and would require a vehicle rental.
  • Banff, AB 1 – February 10 -17 – 13 km accessible from town of Banff. Rent a vehicle for other trails.

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More success for our amazing instructors!

Our Director of Cross-Country and Snowshoeing, Heather Steel, in addition to arranging and running a very challenging season of trips, also achieved a personal goal of passing the Level 3 CANSI instructor certification. Well deserved congratulations, Heather!!

Congratulations are also on order to Ephraim Fernandez, who recently achieved his Level 2 certification!

The excellence of our instructors are one of the things that make our club great! Thanks to all of you!


Heather Steel


Ephraim Fernandez

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Thanks for a Great Season!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our cross-country day trips this year. While winter got off to a very sluggish start, we ran 18 trips.

A huge thank you to all our volunteers who make it happen:

  •  Monica Sauer and Theo Kempe – who make sure that all the bus captains, DODs and guides have all the paperwork and info they need on every trip. Monica also volunteers on our long trips committee, organizing the long weekend bus trips.
  • Paul Moser – who does all the trip financial reconciliations and audits.
  • David Cloutier – who orders our buses every week.
  • Jean-Emile Paraiso and Gayatri Bharadwaj – who create all of our trip modules on the website.
  • Howard Gibson – who schedules all our bus captains.
  • Linda Lavalee – who runs our new member ambassador program.
  • All the bus captains – Monica Sauer, Marjanne Lyn, Carol Collinson, Howard Gibson, Jennifer Meyer, and Claire Patregion. Our thoughts are with Paul Dover, who we hope is well enough to rejoin the group next year.
  • Jeff Stainsby – who sets the schedule and does all the post-season administrative work for ski school.
  • All of our instructors who taught this season – Jean-Emile Paraiso, Regina Eiras, George Lorenz, Suzanne Denis, Owen Rogers, Nicole Pepper, Vera Polyakova, Adrian Butscher, Liora Freedman, Janine Jorgenson, Elaine Rennet, Andrew Mahoney, Ron Duffy, and Carine Wood.
  • Our snowshoe guides – Melain Cheung, Cynthia Johnson, Cynthia Wheatley, and Queena Kwok (who stepped in late in the season and will be leading next year!).
  • And the finance team, including Clark Seadon and Lisa Philpott, who ably and quickly dealt with our payment issues this season. Also, thanks to Hilary Childs, Richard Kinread, Steve Jonjev, Judy Chen, and Michele Williamson. There were a lot of refunds this year, due to the weather and the IT issues, and they did a great job.

After we wrap up the season, we will be taking a well-deserved break over the summer. We will ramp back up in late summer, but the schedule won’t be posted until November. You can expect the same pattern – the season will begin December 30 and then we will have trips every Saturday and Sunday thereafter until the snow disappears at some point in March. Registrations for the first few trips likely will open around December 18. Nothing for you to do before then except renew your membership and get in ski shape!

Have a wonderful summer!

Heather Steel

Director of Cross-Country Skiing and Snowshoeing

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President’s Message – Time to Have Fun!!

Dear HPSC Friends,

It has finally happened – we are back to our regular schedule!! 

This past Saturday we held our traditional Double Double day with lessons both in the morning and afternoon at Mount St. Louis.  And we were finally, after a number of weeks of disappointment, able to run cross-country trips due to the recent snowfall in resort country. Thank you to Heather for all her work in juggling the cross-country schedule to get the first trips run. This coming weekend our initial charter trips of the season leave for Jackson Hole and for France. I hope everyone has a fantastic time!

Just a reminder, for those who haven’t been on our day trips in a few seasons:  Last year we had to adjust our registration deadlines due to our change in bus company.  For weekend trips (Saturday, Sunday, Monday) the deadline is now on the Tuesday prior at 6 pm. The deadline for Wednesday trips is the previous Thursday at 6 pm. To avoid disappointment please sign up early. If the trip is full, please sign up on the waitlist. If there is enough interest, we will add a second bus (which also means using our two additional pick-up locations of Queen’s Quay and Liberty Village).

Regarding cross-country day trips, please make sure to read the trip descriptions carefully and follow updated posts on our Facebook group, regarding when trips open for registration. Due to the uncertainty of conditions, at least so far this season, registration is being opened when we are sure the resort conditions will allow us to run trips. This is to avoid having to process a large number of refunds which costs the club in credit cards fees.

Also as a reminder, if you need to cancel a day trip you have registered for, please send a message to cancellations@hpsc.ca.

To end on a personal note, I am very disappointed that I will once again miss skiing and snowshoeing this season. According to an MRI I had just before Christmas, I have re-ruptured my quad tendon and I needed to have surgery repeated on January 11. I am currently in a full leg cast for the next 5 weeks and will then start physio once again. However, I will try to be at as many club events as possible while I recover. 

Cheers!

Justin Graham

President, High Park Ski Club

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Cross-Country Update – Nov. 20, 2022

There is snow on the ground! Some of the resorts up north have opened limited trails. There is no track set yet – and it is definitely rough rock skiing – but it is setting up for hopefully some nice December skiing, which we didn’t have at all last year. Hopefully all this bodes well for great conditions through our season! A few updates as we get closer:

Heather has been out skate skiing in High Park twice!

Schedule: We are close to posting the schedule. The resorts are confirmed and we are just scheduling the guided snowshoeing. Stay tuned! It will be posted here by the end of the month. Registration will not open until two weeks prior to the trips. The schedule will indicate when registration for each trip opens.

HPSC XC 101: If you are a new member, join us Dec. 14 for a virtual session to learn all about our policies, procedures, what to expect on trips etc. It will be led by HPSC’s XC director, Heather Steel. Register here. Registration is open until Dec. 13 and is limited to 100 people.

Equipment: A hold over from the pandemic, rentals at a few of the resorts (Hardwood, Horseshoe) are a bit more complicated than in the past (as they require you to pay in advance online, which is fine, but if you don’t show up, you may have difficulty getting your money back). If you are joining us for snowshoeing, we recommend getting a pair of your own snowshoes. They are not expensive and will pay for themselves fairly quickly (and you will avoid all the hassles of renting). MEC has affordable ones, or you can buy online as you don’t need to be fit for them in the same way as skis. Ski gear is more expensive, but if you love it and plan on doing it ~5 times/year, a beginner package will pay for itself over 2-3 seasons (depending on what you get). The more you ski, the more it’s worth it. Of course, if you are new to the sport, it does make sense to rent to see if you actually like it. In Toronto, the best place to visit for equipment is Velotique. You can also visit the pro shops at Hardwood and Highlands. While you can buy gear at other locations (MEC etc.). we feel these three places have the most knowledge about fitting people on skis (which is important to a good ski experience). We have more information on the blog on the types of ski gear and snowshoes .

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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