Category: Long Trips

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It’s not too early to start thinking about next season!

We’ve had tremendous demand for long trips this season so I’m pleased to tell you that we will be planning even more trips for next season. With the addition of Sun Peaks to the Ikon pass, we’ve planned for two trips next year to that destination. We will also have two trips to Banff. Both of these HPSC favorites had long waiting lists and we want members to have the best chances to be on these trips.

Be sure to continue to read Snobiz as we will announce our list of charters and overnight bus trips soon and provide instructions on how to apply to be an HPSC trip leader. Being selected as a trip leader is a great way to ensure that you and your travel partner will both be on that trip. As in prior years, our Club Med trips will go on sale first, followed by the rest of our charters, followed by bus trips. Dates will also be announced shortly.

Kim Wiebe

Director of Long Trips

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Trip Report: Marmot Basin–a jewel in the Rockies

Our diverse group of skiers found that Marmot Basin has something for everyone. Even though it was not a good snow year, the base was reliable and quite skiable. Located in Jasper National Park, the scenery is absolutely spectacular.

We stayed at the Crimson Hotel  — nice rooms, good facilities, extremely well-run. Après-ski was well attended, sharing a drink with friends on a sunny deck. Almost everyone on the trip showed up for pizza night and the group dinner at Fiddle River Restaurant, one of the many excellent restaurants on offer in the town of Jasper.

Those who took a day off to do the Maligne Canyon ice walk raved about the experience  — most highly recommended.

Ed Bezeau, Trip Leader

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Trip Report:  Pragelato Club Med Italy

In mid-March, 22 High Park members embarked on the much-anticipated charter trip to Pragelato Club Med in the Italian Alps. The resort is located on the site of the Athlete’s Village for 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. The members enjoyed Club-Med style service, wonderful food, drink and amenities. The weather was perfect with sunshine and blue skies daily, providing magnificent views of the mountain ranges. Our experienced Italian guides provided excellent touring, ski guidance and local information throughout the week which greatly enhanced the skiing experience. The advanced-level skiers enjoyed off-piste exploration and participating in the required avalanche training. Wonderful farm-to-table style lunches were enjoyed outdoors at rustic inns on the slopes. Adventures also included skiing into France for a day.  Overall, a great trip and one not to be forgotten soon!

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Trip Report: Banff

The Banff trip is always popular with members, and for good reason! This year, 43 lucky members travelled to Banff with the club, and enjoyed a myriad of fun activities. Spa treatments, skating, cross-country skiing, museum visits, shopping, dining, live entertainment and of course, world-class downhill skiing and boarding were a hit. Banff is a fun playground, attracting people from all over the world, and HPSC members certainly took advantage of all the area offers. The weather felt a little cold at times, but the warmth of HPSC members and their joy of life will live warmly in our memories for years to come.

Caro Thompson, Trip Leader

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A Great Year for Long Trips!

The last 3 trips will depart soon… Jasper, Club Med Charlevoix, and Mont Tremblant.

Please show some love to your HPSC trip leaders this year! After several years with limited trips and limited social activities on the trips, this was a year of ramping things up. Our experienced trip leaders had to get back into the groove of what is required, and we were lucky to have some new trip leaders step forward this year. Some après-ski venues and restaurants were still not staffed up to handle groups, making it difficult for the trip leaders to organize social events.

While the long trip committee plans the trips, organizes the contracts, details, descriptions, and overall management of trips before, during and after the season, the trip leader role starts on sign up night. They handle the administration, member emails, itinerary, leadership during the trip and trip reports. Trip leaders are volunteers and have paid for their vacations just like other members on the trip. They receive compensation that helps offset the cost of their trip and the valuable work they do, once the trip is complete and a final report is done. We could not run our trips without them!

Next year we plan on more great trips, but in order to run them we need trip leaders. If you have enjoyed your experiences on HPSC trips, have an enthusiastic attitude, great communication and Excel spreadsheet skills, you may have what is needed. It can work well when two people team up to share the role. Training is provided and attendance at the sessions is a requirement. Watch for news on the trip leader application process later in the spring.

Kim Wiebe
Director of Long Trips

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Be in the Room Where it Happens!

To paraphrase the hit musical Hamilton – you want to be in the room where it happens! 

High Park Ski Club is a volunteer run organization managed by the elected Board of Directors. It is the Board that decides club policies and ensures that the club runs smoothly. For younger members, being on the executive is a great item to be able to include on your professional resume.

This coming April there are three executive positions that will be open to the general membership for election for a two-year term:

  • ·         Director of Administration
  • ·         Director of Finance
  • ·         Director of IT

To qualify you need to be a member in good standing for at least the current membership year.

In addition to managing the specific portfolio, directors are required to participate in the monthly executive meeting (mostly conducted via Zoom), submit a monthly report, as well as an annual report for the AGM.

As a director, you are eligible for one Front of the Line trip access (for you and a travel partner) for one charter or overnight trip per season. As well, Directors receive a cash honorarium as approved by the membership at the AGM.  Election night is scheduled for Wednesday, April 26 at the National Yacht Club.

For more information on the roles, please contact me at President@hpsc.ca

Be in the room where it happens!

Justin Graham

President, High Park Ski Club

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Long Trips News

It’s been a great season so far with trips to club favourites like Mont Tremblant, Holiday Valley, Killington, Jackson Hole and Whistler, along with two trips to Club Med Serre Chevalier in France. Our cross-country group travelled to Orford in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.The Sun Peaks trip has departed, with Banff, Jasper and Club Med Pragelato, Italy soon to follow. After that, Club Med in Charlevoix, Quebec and our final Mont Tremblant trip will depart in late March. All in all a great season so far!

The trip leaders are all doing their best to plan but as we have discovered in many resorts, the travel industry is experiencing staffing issues.This means that restaurant hours may be limited and shuttles may not run as in prior years.   

Thanks to those members who have been filling out the post trip surveys as it gives us planning data for future trips. It’s been great to hear feedback from both new and experienced members. The planning for next year has begun and we hope to have another great line up of trips for you. However, we need you to consider becoming a trip leader. Please reach out to me and I will put you in touch with our trip leader manager.

Kim Wiebe,

Director of Long Trips

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Welcome Home First LongTrips of the Season!

C8 Serre Chevalier – January 21-29

Despite the fears of no snow in Europe this year, we were happy to discover this was not the case for our week in Serre Chevalier. The snow Gods dumped 25 cm of fresh powder (on top of what was already there) for our second day of skiing. With the vast terrain, those that wanted to, could find stashes of powder off piste all week. When it was not snowing, we had sunny blue skies! With its abundance of piste and off piste terrain, Serre Chevalier has something for everyone!  We had a great group of High Parkers and even celebrated 2 birthdays. From the Great Skiing, Weather and Après – Serre Chevalier delivers!

W2 Holiday Valley – January 27-29

W2 Holiday Valley is in the books for another year. We had a great group of people that included lots of new members. We had amazing sunshine on Saturday and the conditions were pretty darn good considering the lack of snow this winter. We enjoyed our evening in Ellicottville with dining, shopping, and dancing. There was rain on Sunday but we didn’t let that stop us. Quite a few members skied all day while others enjoyed getting to know other members or resting in the chalet. Many members expressed how much they enjoyed the resort and were looking forward to returning.

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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

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Long Trips – Important Announcements!

We join clubs because we want to be around other people but have learned over the past couple of years that we have to work together to keep each other healthy!  As announced last summer, masks will be required on the bus portion of all long trips. While no one really likes wearing masks, we’ve gotten used to it. A number of respiratory viruses have already made their appearance this winter. Let’s continue to work together and adhere to our club’s mask wearing policy and keep each other healthy.

Don’t forget that cancellations do occur, so don’t hesitate to add your name to the waitlist for a trip. Once a spot opens up, that matches your needs, the trip leader will contact you. You can then make a Go/No Go decision. The $100 HPSC deposit will be needed to secure your spot. On most trips, the balance will also be due within the next 24 hours.