Category: Day Trips

Posted on

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

Posted on

Masking on the Bus

Unfortunately, COVID and other respiratory illnesses are clearly still with us.  While this will not deter our plans for a more normal ski season, it still must be acknowledged.

The bus is the one indoor area that the club has full control over. As such, we made the decision and communicated numerous times during the fall, that we are leaving the mask mandate on the bus in place for this year. This requirement is also stated on all trip descriptions. 

Given the unpredictability of case counts, we did not want to have to reimpose masks if public health rules reverted back. 

Many of you have received every COVID shot available to you; however, there are others who have not. While it was extremely important last season, requiring proof of vaccination was a huge undertaking for a volunteer club.  Given that there is currently no recognized number of what is considered as the effective vaccination level and the proportion with booster shots is not as high as the initial shots, retaining masks on the bus is the most basic level of protection we could insist on.  

We apologize for any inconvenience, but this is the club policy for the current season. Those who contravene the policy may face club disciplinary action.

Justin Graham
President, High Park Ski Club
Posted on

Welcome New Instructors!

Bob Casson

Hello, I am a returning instructor at HPSC.  I initially joined HPSC in 2001 as my ski buddies were raising families and were not available to do the week long ski trip with the ‘boys’. I started taking lessons to meet fellow skiers and realized that I was not a good technical skier. Over the first few seasons I became friends with many fellow skiers and continued my skill development. With encouragement from the trainers, I took my Level 1. My goal was to have more exposure to improve on my skiing, but initially I did not have the desire to teach. However, once I started teaching, I found that I enjoyed the satisfaction of helping improve one’s ability and the enjoyment of skiing on more challenging terrain regardless of their ability.

I taught for 3 seasons with HPSC, getting my Level 2. An opportunity arose and I was hired to teach at Big White Ski Resort near Kelowna BC. Skiing on a mountain the size of Big White and the expanse of terrain available and the “Okanagan Champagne Powder ” challenged you, especially the daily training sessions helped develop your skill and the number of lessons taught helped fine tune your teaching/skiing.

During my first season, a fellow instructor commented that ‘You should go to Australia’ to which I replied, ‘They have snow there?’. It was often noted that if you want to teach, go to Australia, if you want to ski, go to New Zealand. Wanting to continue working on my teaching, I spent the next 4 seasons at Mt. Hotham in Australia. It is an inverted ski resort with the village at the top of the mountain. The last 2 seasons, I taught 1448 and 1500 students and over 220 lessons per season.

I continued to be involved with various programs at Big White for the next few years. After my 4th season, Josh Foster, the Ski & Board School Director asked me to be his Assistant Director to the Adult side of the Ski & Board School which  I continued for the next 11 seasons, before I retired. After 15 seasons, the transient life made my decision to return to Ontario. I had the opportunity to work for one of the best instructors in Canada and my staff made working a joy.  With Covid during my last season, I was able to teach more than a handful of lessons a season and it reinforced my enjoyment of teaching.

I look forward to renewing friendships and teaching again to see the smile on their face when they take the next step.

Cheers! Bob

Jay Son

I have been snowboarding for more than 20 years (I can’t believe it has been that long!) and an instructor for about 3 years. I love snowboarding because it makes me fully focused and forget everything else in life while snowboarding. What I like about HPSC is how it has allowed me to meet great people with different backgrounds from the city I live in. By meeting and interacting with other HPSC instructors and members, I feel I have matured as a person and learned how to be respectful to others. 🙂 My favourite ski memory is riding down a slope covered with a lot of powder at Revelstoke Mountain, which felt like riding on silk.

Posted on

Basic Information About Concussion

We love to ski! The twists and turns, the pivoting and edging, the thrill of the next hill and run, the fresh outdoors, the thrill of the ride!  While we take precautions to ski safely, unfortunately, accidents sometimes do happen.  It is good to have some basic information about concussion awareness.  We minimize the impact of the severity of any head injury by wearing helmets. 

Of note, loss of consciousness is not necessary for a person to have sustained a concussion.  While there has been controversy in the scientific community regarding criteria for traumatic brain injury and concussion, what is now commonly accepted is that among several criteria is some alteration in awareness associated with biomechanical forces to the head sufficient to cause neuropathological changes to the brain.

The good news is that for cases of mild concussion/mild traumatic brain injury, the physiological disruptions to the brain (and associated impairments in attention, memory, and information processing speed)  generally resolve for the majority of individuals within days or weeks.   

 Symptoms associated with concussion include (but are not limited to):  headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness.  As well, there may be impairments in orientation, short term memory, and information processing speed.

As first line responders, ski patrol may ask some basic questions about a person’s awareness and orientation.  For example, asking the person’s name, day of the week, birthdate, etc.  This information may be of subsequent benefit if further cognitive testing is conducted.  The following link shows some of the questions on a standardized assessment of concussion.

https://newburghschools.org/files/departments/athletics/ConcussionTestForm.pdf

Given that loss of consciousness is not a requirement for a determination for sustaining a concussion, it is always good to speak to ski patrol if you have had a fall and hit your head with any sufficient force which you think might be of concern.  Remember:  in the vast majority of cases, the natural course of events is for the brain to fully heal when there have been minor physiological disruptions.

Jonathan Siegel

HPSC Instructor

Posted on

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 .

Posted on

2022/23 Downhill Day Trips Schedule

We are happy to announce the downhill day trips schedule for the upcoming season!

The coming season has 50 downhill day trips scheduled including a special Family Day trip to Beaver Valley. As in the past we will be following our usual schedule of trips on Saturday to Mount St. Louis (MSLM), Sunday and Monday to Blue Mountain, and Wednesday to the various private clubs. 

The first scheduled trips are December 10 to Mount St. Louis and December 11 to Blue Mountain.  The first Monday trip is January 9.  The Wednesday trips start on January 11.  There are three Wednesday trips to Alpine, and two each to Osler and Craigleith, and one to Devil’s Glen and one to Blue Mountain. Later in the season we have a number of TBD Wednesday trips since the private clubs cannot guarantee they will be open. 

Final prices for the day trips will be confirmed in the next number of weeks.

Hoping you have a fantastic season! 

Posted on

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

Posted on

I’m a new XC member – where can I find information?

Welcome! We’re happy to have you in the club and looking forward to skiing and/or snowshoeing with you this season. We’re planning a relatively normal season, pending procedures at the resorts (which will not be clear until later).

We know that being a new member comes with a lot of questions – and we’ve got you covered. Below find website and blog links where you should find all the information you need. The cross-country pages are kept updated; if the information isn’t yet there, we don’t yet know it! Information is updated as it becomes available. Given the ongoing COVID situation, it is taking time to confirm information with the resorts.

You should also be contacted by a HPSC ambassador – sometime this fall – who can answer your questions. We will also be holding a new member info virtual session in November.

We would appreciate it if you would take the time to see if your question is answered in the following resources before reaching out. We’re busy planning the season (and with our day jobs!). But if you can’t find the answer online, we are happy to help.

The most detailed information (on day trips and lessons) can be found on our FAQ page: https://hpsc.ca/Cross-Country-FAQ

Here is a XC ski/snowshoe 101 resource sheet I created last year, with ski tips (since we weren’t able to offer trips and lessons yet): https://blog.hpsc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cross-Country-Skiing-101-Resource-Sheet.pdf

The schedule will be posted when ready (later November) here: https://hpsc.ca/Cross-Country-Day-Trips-Registration

Curious about what happens on a day trip? This was written in 2019, but should be largely applicable, with maybe a few tweaks, this year. But, it will give you an idea: https://blog.hpsc.ca/2019/11/what-to-expect-on-a-xc-day-trip/

While no one can give you a definitive answer, here is some advice how to choose between classic and skate skiing: https://blog.hpsc.ca/2020/10/classic-vs-skate-whats-the-difference-and-what-do-i-choose/

Looking for ski gear? This is my most comprehensive advice for what and where to buy: https://blog.hpsc.ca/2019/10/gear-talk-skis-poles-boots-edition/

Questions about waxing those new skis? Check out this: https://blog.hpsc.ca/2019/11/gear-talk-wait-what-i-need-to-wax-waxless-skis/

Looking for snowshoe gear? This is my most comprehensive advice for what and where to buy: https://blog.hpsc.ca/2019/10/gear-talk-snowshoe-edition/

Wondering what to wear when skiing and snowshoeing? Look no further than here: https://blog.hpsc.ca/2019/11/gear-talk-clothing-edition/

Want to ski in the city? It’s possible when we have enough snow! https://blog.hpsc.ca/2021/02/yes-you-can-ski-in-high-park-or-any-other-park/

Posted on

A unique opportunity 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.

Lesson options:
October 1, 9:30 – 10:15 am
October 8, 9:30 – 10:15 am
October 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.

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, we don’t have skis for you). If you have your own roller skis, you are welcome to attend. Heather will confirm your participation prior to the first session.

Heather SteelDirector,
Cross-Country Skiing and Snowshoeing
crosscountry@hpsc.ca 
Posted on

Last Call for the Ikon Pass!

Our Ikon Pass Group Sale is scheduled to wind up September 1. The club has organized trips to numerous Ikon Pass destinations such as Jackson Hole, Banff, Killington, and three trips to Tremblant. And of course, many day trips to Blue Mountain.  

Our Group Sale not only gets you a better price, it also gets you a chance to win an Ikon Base Pass (or equivalent refund)!  

The Ikon Pass provides access to 50 destinations, so if you wish to venture out on your own in addition to the club trips, there are many options. Plus, there are numerous discounts on food, beverages, and retail shops (10% for the Ikon Base Pass, and 15% with the Ikon Pass).  

Adventure Assurance comes free this year with every 22/23 Ikon Pass. Designed to alleviate uncertainty while providing flexibility for Ikon Pass holders, Adventure Assurance gives pass holders credits in the case of COVID-related closures and the option to defer the purchase price of an unused pass by December 8, no questions asked.  

Have you already purchased a Blue Mountain Pass? The 5×7 Pass is quite popular with our members. If you purchased this pass and are now realizing that the Ikon Pass would have worked better for you, I have good news. If you buy an Ikon Pass or Ikon Base Pass, you can get a refund for your 5×7 Pass! The Ikon Pass gives you unlimited access to Blue Mountain 7 days a week, with no blackouts.  

If you have already purchased an Ikon Base Pass, you can still upgrade to the full Ikon Pass. Simply login to your Ikon Pass account, View Account, and look for the upgrade link near the top of the page. It is presently $400 to upgrade to the Ikon Pass, and $250 to upgrade to the Ikon Base Plus Pass ($CDN).  

https://www.ikonpass.com/en/compare-passes

Contact Russ Harding at ikon@hpsc.ca for further details if you are interested or have questions.