Category: Long Trips

The date for registering for our charter trips is this Thursday, Oct 15 at 8:00 PM. Synchronize your watch to CP24 and wait for the clock to tick over to 8:00 PM. Be sure to login first.

Registration is already open for Whistler and St Moritz-Switzerland. Whistler has an early bird price that has been extended to Nov 15. St Moritz is an all-inclusive trip to a 4-Trident Club Med resort where all meals, all refreshments and all ski guiding are included.

Remember that you must have paid your membership fee for 2020-21 to be able to register.

Overnight Trip Registration

Registering for overnight trips will occur in two weeks on Thursday, Oct 29 at 8:00 PM. This Covid year, we had to make significant changes to our overnight trips with the emphasis on safety. Enjoying a ski trip to Quebec while being as safe as possible has caused us to arrange u-drive trips instead of our usual practice of bus transportation.

The difficulties of social distancing on a long distance bus ride, for many hours, with all hygiene considerations, and the reliance on everybody onboard to maintain Covid protocol, did not allow us to run our buses safely. Thus we have 5 u-drive trips with 5 excellent opportunities to “Ski-Quebec” including two weeklong trips. So plan your transportation, with a roommate, free up some cash, mark the signup date on your calendar, and get ready to register. Oh… we have single rooms available if that is your choice.

Quarantine for Covid

A few members have asked about the federal government requirement to quarantine following your return back to Toronto from a charter trip. This requirement now only applies to a trip leaving Canada; our BC and Alberta trips are not affected. The tour operator for the St Moritz trip has told us that by the time this trip runs next March, quarantining will no longer be required. But there have been many surprises during this pandemic so nothing can be ruled out for sure.

With summer over, the excitement of ski trip possibilities is upon us. Our 2021 lineup includes 6 charter trips and 5 overnight trips. To register for a charter or overnight trip, you must begin by reading over web page TRIP SIGN UP 2021. This page gives all the information about how to register and when to register.

Registration opens sooner than you think. Whistler is already open and at the end of this month, registration will open for St Moritz-Switzerland. As in past seasons, registration will open at precisely 8:00 PM on the dates listed. So don’t look for the Register button before those dates; the button won’t be showing. Although registration for overnight trips doesn’t happen until October 29, you will find it helpful to understand the procedure so you can ask any questions now about particular trips you may be interested in.

Note: You must have paid your membership fee for 2020-21 to be able to register.

Safety, Safety, Safety

Skiing is still great! But due to the pandemic, we had to make several changes this year to be able to run long trips in a safe manner. Safety was our primary consideration. A major change is that we cannot match up roommates for those who don’t already have one. Thus if you do not have a pre-arranged roommate, you will be required to pay the single room supplement. Another change is that all overnight trips will be u-drive. There is no bus transportation available this year because we could not guarantee social distancing on a long distance bus for the number of hours it takes to get to the resorts. A further change is that our normal après ski receptions cannot be held. Instead we will create opportunities to meet and mix with fellow travelers during the ski day. Skiers will be grouped up according to ability, and on all overnight trips HPSC instructors will provide guided touring as they have done in the past.

A final change you will notice is that while a supervisor has been appointed to organize each trip, they may not actually accompany the group to the resort. Supervisors are well-versed in the trip parameters and will respond to any questions you may have. The web page for supervisor name and email address is found by hovering over the Charter 2021 landing page or Overnight 2021 landing page. The supervisor page is a member-only page so you must login first.

FOTL Pass

Coronavirus cancelled charter trips C7 France and C8 Taos last March affecting 84 members (boo hoo!). These members received a Front-of-the-Line (FOTL) pass for 2021 to help them through their tears. They have the privilege to reserve a seat ahead of the rest of the membership. Thus when you are looking at the trip page, you may see that some seats have been sold before the registration night. These are the FOTL passes.

1. Whistler – Early Bird Offer

For a very limited time, HPSC is able offer early bird pricing on our trip to Whistler!  Until September 14^th.

This special all-inclusive price of $2,380 (per person, double occupancy) must be booked and all deposits paid by Sept 14.  The trip is already open on the website for registration. Hurry if you want this discount.

The trip includes 7 nights at the Listel hotel with hot breakfast, 2 Queen or 1 King bed, 5 day lift pass, 6^th day $85 extra, direct flights on Air Canada to Vancouver and shuttle from the airport to the hotel in Whistler.  The resort will be raising its lift prices next week, so our prices must increase at that point as well. 

The Listel hotel is located in Whistler Village, steps from the main gondola lifts and includes the award-winning Bear Bistro restaurant.  The trip departs Saturday March 6 and returns Saturday March 13, 2021, right in peak season.   This is a fabulous chance to ski with reduced crowds this year, at one of the top ten resorts in the world.

2. St Moritz Club Med

St Moritz Club Med trip opens for registration on September 30.

Sign up for our Club Med St Moritz March Break trip is September 30.  The trip will depart on Saturday March 13 and return on Sunday March 21.  As those who have travelled to Club Med before know, it is truly all inclusive and offers a fabulous opportunity to experience exceptional guided skiing in the famed Swiss resort of St Moritz at the unbeatable price of $3,055, with a limited number of single rooms for $565 extra. As a reminder, HPSC will not be assigning roommates this year.   

For those concerned about travelling during the pandemic, Club Med has included their own Club Med Covid-19 medical insurance within the pricing of all of their trips (details are available on their website). Spots are first being offered to those members whose Club Med Les Arcs trip was cancelled this past year due to the COVID shutdown, but all of the remaining seats will be available on Sept 30 to the membership. 

3. More Charter Trips

Other Charter Trips include 2 IKON destinations and 2 BC Interior resorts

Canadian destinations in this year’s line-up besides Whistler include the usual favorites, Banff and Sun Peaks, but we also arranged trips to Revelstoke and Panorama.  Registration for these trips will open on Thursday October 15^th.

Check out all of the charters and overnight trips on the HPSC website to read detailed trip descriptions by going to OUR TRIPS > Charter Trips , or > Overnight Trips and scroll down the page to see the list and then clicking on the specific trip.  Don’t miss out on any of these fabulous trips!  Contact your partners to arrange a roommate in advance of sign up or treat yourself to a single room this year.  As noted, HPSC will not be matching up roommates on this year’s trips. 

Day Dreaming about Winter 2021

The Long Trips team has been working on potential charter and overnight trips for 2021. We will follow all safety protocols to make sure our members stay as safe as possible from catching COVID19 on one of our trips. We know that travel will not be the same because of social distancing, face masks and hygiene principles. With safety as top of mind, we will make some critical decisions about the best way to offer trips.

The responses from the recent HPSC survey told us that there is little appetite for US or European trips. COVID19 has been rampant in US; who knows whether the situation this winter will be better… or worse. Thus we will plan only Canadian trips in 2021.  Fortunately there are lots of great western and eastern ski resorts to select from and as usual we will try to get the best possible deal for our members. For those with Club Med credits from the cancelled 2020 trip, we will slide the next Club Med Europe trips into 2022. For those who were on cancelled Taos, NM, this trip will be run again in 2022.

Travel Insurance

Please reread the blog item below from April on travel insurance. We never plan on using our insurance but when we need it, it comes in very handy. By not buying insurance for your trip, you are “self insuring” and just hoping that nothing will go wrong. In March 2020 members found out that things don’t always go as planned. Through no fault of their own, two charter trips got cancelled and they had to rely on insurance to recover their losses.

HPSC has always strongly recommended trip insurance on our website and in our other documentation.  For 2021 we may insist that every participant have it, ie, both medical and cancellation insurance. So when you sign up your next ski trip, keep a few dollars in reserve for insurance.

Disappointment reigned supreme last week as the last two charter trips of the season were cancelled due to the corona virus. Both trips had been sold out since October so these members were eager to finally get to ski those two beautiful resorts. Alas it was not to be! Refunds are now being pursued and members will call on their travel insurance policies to recover any loss. We will try to put on these same trips in 2021 when the smoke has cleared on COVID-19.

Over 100 members on our overnight Tremblant trip were very disappointed to miss out on the biggest ski party of the season. What an event we had planned! What a shame to have it cancelled by the corona virus. Full refunds are coming. Refunds will take some time for our volunteers to do so please be patient. Rest assured whatever amount you paid for W8 will be refunded back to your credit card.