Category: Long Trips

HPSC returns to Niseko, Japan for 2025 from Wednesday, January 8th to Sunday, January 19th. Pricing and sign-up details will be available soon. Once again, our trip leader will be a very experienced Japan traveller with skill in navigating the streets and subways of Tokyo. Fact: Japan receives the world’s most snowfall! Why risk another ski season? https://www.hgtv.com/lifestyle/travel/snowiest-places-on-earth-pictures Experience 3 full days in Tokyo (4 nights) and experience the sights and bright lights of Tokyo, as well the exceptional food and service that Japan is renowned for.  You’ll spend 5 days skiing in the Niseko area. IKON pass holders will have 5 days of free lift access with your pass at Niseko United resorts. This trip is modular! If you want to stay longer in Japan and tour around, you can book a personal extension for this trip. You can use your airline points to book your airfare!We will be hosting 2 video calls in the next 2-3 weeks to answer questions and walk you through what to expect. We will have pricing information for the calls. Stay tuned! If you are interested contact don.lefresne@gmail.com to get times and details for the calls.

Thanks to everyone who made our 2023/24 season such a success! The Ikon Pass pricing will go up as of April 18, so we want to give you a sneak peak at our next season so you can purchase your pass at the best prices. Be sure to purchase your pass through the group website and be entered in the draw for a free pass.  Our special 75th anniversary trip will be to the iconic ski resort of Sun Valley, Idaho from Jan 26 to February 2, 2025. This special 75th anniversary trip will require an Ikon Base Plus pass or a full Ikon pass. More details will be posted soon with instructions on how to ensure that if you purchase the full pass or Base+, your spot on the Sun Valley trip can be confirmed.    Other amazing 2024/25 trips will be to Ikon Base pass destinations in the Dolomite region in Italy, and to HPSC favourites like Sun Peaks and Banff. At your request, there will be four trips to Mont Tremblant. More trips will announced when details are available but include a Club Med destination in France that is new to HPSC, and a return to Jasper in Alberta.Please keep reading SnoBiz over the next few months for news on next season’s trips including how and when you can sign up to lock in your spots on the trips of your dreams.

It looks like members on our last long trip of the season, Club Med Charlevoix, are having a wonderful time skiing at Le Massif and enjoying the terrific food and dining at Club Med. Check out their pictures on the HPSC Facebook page. There are lots of administrative tasks to be done to close off the season but rest assured that planning for our 75th anniversary season in 2025 is underway. We will have a special announcement about a super early sign up in the next SnoBiz and on Facebook. Many members choose the Ikon pass, with 5 days available at many resorts. However, this special 75th anniversary trip will require an Ikon Base Plus pass or full Ikon pass. We want to ensure that if you want to go on this trip, you will be able to guarantee your spot in April, and can benefit from the best Ikon pass pricing, on now, for the 2025 season. I hope that you have had a wonderful season and are thinking about where you want to go with HPSC next year!

Did you have a great experience on a long trip that you would like to share with club members? Send your comments and photos to be featured in SnoBiz to communications@hpsc.ca

Be sure to check out the member photos on Facebook showing the fabulous snow conditions on our trips!  It’s hard to believe that our long trips season is about to wind down but the last charter trip is already in process. There are just three overnight bus trips to come:  Killington, Tremblant and Club Med Charlevoix.  For those who have just returned from a trip, please be sure to fill out surveys and let us know what we can do to improve and where you want to go in the future. For our upcoming trips, spots are offered first to those on the waiting list. You can add your name at no cost, but if you are contacted by a trip leader, there is a very short window to respond.I hope that you have had a wonderful season and are already starting to think about next year!

We’ve had some great trips to member favourites like Mont Tremblant, Sun Peaks, Banff, Holiday Valley and Panorama plus great experiences in Japan, Club Med Peisey Vallandry, Red Mountain, Winter Park and Ottawa. We’ll be heading back to Banff, Sun Peaks and Tremblant again along with SilverStar, Quebec City, Killington and Club Med for skiing at Le Massif before the end of this season. Your trip leader sends out post-trip surveys to gather your feedback on how you liked the hotel, destination and ways to improve future trips to those destinations. Most importantly, we want your input on trips that you would seriously consider signing up for with HPSC trips in the next couple of seasons.

Can you believe that we are halfway through our season already!  While the winter has been mild in the city, some of our long trip destinations have had so much snow that there have been travel disruptions. Thanks to your trip leaders for managing these situations with members’ best interests at heart. When a flight is cancelled within 24 hours of departure, the trip leader must stand in line and advise the airline to rebook the group so that they can travel together, and then advise the bus company and hotel. A large group may be split and sent on different flights. In the rare event that this happens, and you are  already at the airport, please be patient and stay with the group until the trip leader updates you on the new flight.   If you are booked on an upcoming HPSC, think SNOW and hope you have a wonderful time! If you are not on a trip, cancellations do occur for various reasons. Please watch for news on the website, SnoBiz and Facebook. Please be sure to respond quickly if you are on the waitlist and are contacted by the trip leader to fill a spot.

Your intrepid SnoBiz editor traded Blue Mountain for Red this past week and what a week it was! We arrived to a winter wonderland of extensive and varied terrain all the way from groomers to steep and deep tree skiing. Some of the group took advantage of an optional side trip to Whitewater in nearby Nelson as well as experiencing epic powder cat skiing in the surrounding mountains. Ski-in, ski-out accommodation was at the gorgeous 4-star Josie Hotel, with perks such as ski valets and saunas. Red Mountain was truly a bucket list trip! Suzanne de Grandpré HPSC Communications Director