| New to cross-country skiing? Our classic beginners series might be for you. Join instructor Vera (or Liora, depending on demand) for three consecutive weeks of beginner classes designed for new skiers. You will have the same instructor and classmates and learn to get moving on your skis. You must be available all three dates (January 7, 14, 21) and email crosscountry@hpsc.ca to register. If you can’t join the series, you can participate in our regular beginner lessons. We are also offering special hill clinics that will give you more practice time than in a regular lesson. Our beginner hill clinic on January 20 will teach you to get up and down hills safely. For more advanced skiers who want to play around going faster (step turns anyone?), we are offering an intermediate/advanced hill clinic on February 4 (TBD as to whether it’s classic or skate). Sign up online during trip registration. Also for more intermediate/advanced skiers, we are offering a classic trail handling clinic on February 24. Learn how to transition between techniques on the trail to ski smarter and faster. You will need some facility with all the main techniques – diagonal stride, double poling, one step double pole in particular. Sign up online during trip registration. And for those who just want to get tips for a specific technique, we are offering two dates of skate and classic tips and tricks (February 10 & 24). Book 15-20 minutes with an instructor to work something specific – whatever you want! Sign up online during trip registration.Please note that on the days we offer intermediate + clinics, we will not be offering any other intermediate/advanced lessons. We may schedule more clinics for later in the season as we assess how its going. If there is something in particular you would like a clinic on, let us know at crosscountry@hpsc.ca.  |
What to do in Buffalo on a Saturday in July?
At the turn of the 20th Century, Buffalo was a very wealthy city with the highest number of millionaires per capita than any other American city. One of these individuals was Darwin D. Martin of the Larkin Soap Company. A company he had started with at the age of 12, rising to the position of company Secretary (equivalent to a CFO now). After commissioning the up and coming Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new company headquarters, he also asked Wright to design a home for his own family. The end result was something startlingly modern for 1905, and very different from the traditional homes in the Parkside neighbourhood of Buffalo.
On Saturday July 22, HPSC ran a very successful daytrip to Buffalo to visit both the Darwin Martin House complex, as well as the Martin’s summer home, Greycliff Estate, situated just south of Buffalo on a 70 foot cliff overlooking Lake Erie. Fifty-three members and guests received in-depth tours of both locations.
We followed up the tours with a dinner in the Lafayette Brewing Company located in the historic Hotel Lafayette (built in 1904).
Ikon Pass Group Sale Extended!
Good news for any Ikon Pass procrastinators! Our Group Sale agreement (with our partner Skican) has been extended to May 5th!
If you are hesitant because you are recovering from an injury, or because you are worried you may not otherwise be able to use the pass next year, Ikon has a few different types of insurance:
Adventure Assurance lets you defer the value of your pass to the following year, so long as you defer before December 14, 2023. And it’s free and included with your pass purchase!
Pass Protection and Injury Insurance are also available. See link here for details.
Insurance is not available directly through the Group Sale. The Spot Insurance will need to be purchased directly with Ikon by calling their Customer Support Center at 888-365-IKON after you’ve purchased your pass through Skican. This can be done anytime before October 31 2023.
For further information or to participate in the Group Sale, contact Russ Harding at ikon@hpsc.ca.
Downhill day trips are officially finished for the 2022/2023 season
Thanks to all club members, instructors and new friends that came out to one of 51 scheduled day trips this season. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough interest to run our two bonus April Saturday trips to MSLM.
A huge thanks to all the hard work by our day trips coordinators, Michael Hardtke, Bishu Basuroy, Sheila Tolentino-Moshonas and Fran Burgess. They each put in hours of work before and after every day trip to make them happen.
Thank you also to the following volunteers for their huge contributions:
Lisa Ziegler for creating all the downhill registration modules. Yes! She set up all 102 registration modules (bus & drive-ups)!
Jason Tsang for taking charge of the day trips emails and coordinating all our lift tickets every Saturday for Mount St. Louis Moonstone.
David Manning, Christine Bellerose and Snow School for getting so many awesome instructors for each day trip. Our members love every ski and snowboard lesson. Thank you to all HPSC instructors!
Hilary Childs for your work with processing all trip cancellations and refunds.
And finally, thank you to all our amazing bus captains that made each trip experience smooth for all our members and guests: Andrea Palmay, Heidi Gay, David Flowers, Suzanne de Grandpré, Celeste O’Neil, Kim Wiebe, Rocco Romeo, Martha Wright, Ron Maruska, and Jen Beatty.
It’s now time to enjoy some warm weather in the off season. I’m already looking forward to when the snow and cold will return!
Amy Lam
Downhill Day Trips Director
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
Bringing a guest? Here’s how to register them:
On some trips, members are allowed to bring a guest. Guests are allowed to come ONCE per season (even if they know multiple members) and members can bring one guest per trip. If people are keen to ski with us, we encourage them to join. The club is only able to run because of its membership-based structure. But guest days are a good chance for people to try us out.
Registering you and your guest happens separately. First, register yourself on the trip. Then, when guest registration is available (typically the last day of trip registration), you can register your guest. Find the trip registration module again and click “Register”. On the next screen click the “New Registration” button. The next page will show the email associated with your account. If it is filled in, click “Next” (if not, fill it in with the email you used to sign up for the club and click “Next”). Then you can choose “Guest” and proceed with registration and payment. Essentially, you are just registering that you are bringing a guest; there is no place where you actually put in their name or other identifying information.
You pay for your guest and your guest pays you back. Remember that you are responsible for ensuring that your guest follows the policies and procedures of the club. You must also ensure that your guest brings a signed copy of our waiver (link to it), or you must bring it for them to sign on the bus. No waiver means they will be denied participation.
Day Trips: cancellation policy and refunds
The cancellation policy applies to both Bus registrations as well as Drive-up registrations.
You must email cancellations@hpsc.ca to cancel your spot for any day trips you cannot attend.
You will receive a full refund as long as you cancel by the following deadlines:
- Saturday trips: by prior Monday 8:00 pm before the trip departure date
- Sunday/Monday trips: by prior Monday 8:00 pm before the trip departure date
- Wednesday trips: by prior Wednesday 8:00 pm before the trip departure date
A No-Show fee of $10 will be applied to your account if you do not cancel by the deadline. The bus fare also cannot be refunded after the deadline.
If you are sick, leading up to or on the morning of the day trip, please do not come on a bus trip. Email cancellations@hpsc.ca as soon as possible and we can make arrangements for refunds on a case by case scenario.
The above policies apply to cross-country day trips as well, however, the deadline for both Saturday and Sunday trips is Tuesday at 8:00 pm the week of the trip.
What is a Walk-On?
Sometimes we run buses that aren’t full. If you miss the registration deadline, you may still be able to join the bus on the day of the trip as a “walk-on”. Walk- ons are on a first come, first serve basis and are usually restricted to the final pick up location at 400/7.
In addition to the regular trip costs (bus; lift ticket or trail fee) there is a $10 walk on fee. Unlike in the past, you do not have to pay the bus captain – we will invoice your HPSC account after the trip. However, you will not be able to register for any further HPSC trip or event until the invoice is paid.
To find out if walk-ons are allowed, visit the day trip status page for downhill here or cross-country here. The trip update should indicate if walk-ons are permitted for the trip and where.
If you really want to ski, don’t leave it to chance. We make trip decisions based on the numbers at the registration deadline. The best way to make sure a trip runs and to ensure your spot on it is to register as early as possible.
Downhill Day Trips News
| February Day Trips All February trips are now open for registration. Please register early to avoid disappointment. February day trips are popular, since winter conditions will be amazing during the height of the winter season. If a day trip is full, please register for the waitlist. If there is enough interest, there will be a second bus added. Bring-a-friend policy You are allowed to bring up to 3 friends on any downhill bus trip this season. However, to prioritize registration for members, guest registration will open 48 hours before the closing of trip registration. Space for guests will depend on the remaining availability of the trip.Guests may only come on ONE trip per season (even if they know multiple club members). If they like skiing with the club, encourage them to join. Our club can only run because we have a membership based structure. Guests must be 21 years of age or older, and the member must accompany their guest on the day trip. Guests are only allowed on the bus. If drive ups bring guests, they cannot participate in any lessons. Guests on the bus are allowed to participate in a lesson. The sponsoring member must help your guests register for a lesson or assessment. There is a $25 fee per guest plus the standard costs of a day trip (bus fare, lift ticket, rentals). |
| A Note About Bus Vouchers If you receive a bus voucher and want to use it for a trip, please remember to bring the physical voucher on the bus and hand it in to the bus captain. If you don’t, your account will be invoiced for the bus trip (but you can use the voucher for another trip). We need the physical vouchers – no exceptions!If you have signed up for a trip using a voucher, and do not show up for the trip, your account will be invoiced for your bus seat. The voucher can be used for another trip. In order to provide buses for all our trips, the club needs to ensure that the bus cost is adequately covered.The above applies to both downhill and cross-country day trips. |
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