Category: Downhill Day Trips

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Downhill day trips need bus captains! 

We cannot run bus trips without bus captains. There’s a fun way to meet new members, help run day trips and cover the cost of your next bus trip, $35 in savings!

Day trips bus captains help lead our Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday trips. Bus captains are responsible for preparing and delivering bus announcements on the day trip, taking attendance, answering member questions, handing out lift tickets and completing end of day paperwork to be submitted to the Director of Downhill Day Trips. 

Bus captains receive 1 bus voucher for every trip they captain (value of $35).

Please attend an upcoming Zoom call to find out more information and to get some basic training on Thursday, February 1st, 8:00-9:00 pm.

Please email daytrips@hpsc.ca to register.

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IMPORTANT Update for Downhill Day Trips Drive-ups

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.

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IMPORTANT update for Downhill Day Trips Drive-ups:

Starting this season, Drive-up registrations will be opening on a weekly basis. 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  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.    

For the first week of January trips, drive-up registration will open on Saturday, December 30.
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Downhill Day Trips

Registration for day trips on December 16th and 17th are now open! 

Please register at: https://hpsc.ca/downhill-trip-registration-page

There will be NO LESSONS on both days. All instructors are training in Mont Tremblant that weekend.

January day trips will be open for registration before the holidays. Exact date will be announced on the next SnowBiz. Our awesome volunteer, Lisa Zielger, is creating each and every registration module. For just the month of January, there are 64 registration modules! Please be patient, the day trips team will open registrations as soon as we can. We also can’t wait to register for day trips in snowy January!
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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.

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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

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Bringing a guest? Here’s how to register them:

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.