HPSC is happy to provide a special opportunity for members to access a professional fitness assessment and snow-sport-specific fitness program led by Stefan Overgaard, former member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, Under-16 race coach at Osler Bluffs Ski Club, and owner of SXS Fitness in midtown Toronto. Stefan provides fitness testing for Alpine Ontario, is a fitness trainer for athletes from a variety of sports, has his CSCF Level 3, CSIA Level 2, NCCP and a number of other certifications. Stefan and his team also lead the Ski-Cross-Fit series for HPSC members.
This special opportunity involves a 2-hour fitness assessment on Saturday August 14th and a 1-hour fitness session on Sunday August 15th (both afternoons) with a specific focus on proper form. The program is one part of a pilot project for the HPSC Snow School, but we wanted to make this available to all interested members.
If there is enough interest, we may run a second session in September. Note: At this time, you are indicating your interest only. You will NOT be charged for the assessment and program until we determine capacity limits and the final price.
We anticipate the cost per participant to be approximately $75 for the three hours and will also include a weekly exercise plan focusing on such aspects as strength, power, endurance, agility, coordination, mobility and injury prevention. After you register your interest, you will receive an e-mail of timeslot availability and the final cost, which will depend on the number of participants.
Whether you are an elite athlete, weekend warrior or getting back into a routine while working on rebuilding your fitness foundation, make this a part of your plan to get ready for the upcoming ski/snowboard/ snowshoe season.
We are excited to announce that we are planning a full downhill day trips season. Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday trips will return to your favourite Ontario hills including Blue Mountain, Mount St.Louis Moonstone and private clubs which we have held close partnerships with for many years, with some new additions.
We are also hoping with continued vaccination rates increasing and relaxing of restriction, buses will run for every day trip.
We have decided not to run our day trip to Holiday Valley in Ellicottville, New York for this season as we are focusing our trips on more local destinations to help the Ontario ski industry regain momentum after a challenging 2020/2021 season.
In anticipation for this season, the downhill day trips team is encouraging all members to get vaccinated. Only fully vaccinated members will be permitted to participate in enclosed/indoor spaces such as taking the bus, eating with other HPSC members indoors, etc. A detailed policy will be released closer to the season once updated provincial guidelines and specific ski hill policies are announced.
A schedule will be released in the fall including details on lessons for skiers and snowboarders. Until then, the best way to prepare for this season is to get vaccinated and stay active! We’ll be back on the hill together soon.
I sincerely hope that you and everyone in the HPSC community has had a safe and healthy spring!
There really appears to be a light at the end of this crazy year that we have all experienced. Over the last few months, individual Ontarians have done a fantastic job of moving quickly to get vaccinated when eligible, including many HPSC members. It appears that whoever wants to be vaccinated will be able to get both shots by the beginning of the fall in September (if not sooner).
Your HPSC board are moving forward with planning for the coming year based on the assumption that we will be able to have a much more normal season. However, not everything will be exactly as it was in previous years. Like most organizations will have to, we have had to make a decision regarding who will be able to participate in club events for at least the upcoming 2021/22 season.
After consultation with our lawyer, the HPSC Board, in order to do our best to protect the safety of ALL HPSC members, have come to the decision that for the upcoming season in order to participate inany event involving enclosed spaces such as buses, planes, trains, hotels, restaurants etc. we willONLY ALLOW THOSE WHO ARE FULLY VACCINATED TO PARTICIPATE.
We will be asking members to attest to their vaccination status and anyone who falsifies their status will be considered in breach of the HPSC Code of Conduct and will be subject to disciplinary action.
The bottom line is that only those who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to book ANY of the Long or Charter trips, take the bus for daytrips, or attend any social events held indoors etc.
Our lawyer has advised us that we need to provide some form of accommodation for members who CANNOT be vaccinated due to a health or religious reason. Since transmission of COVID is much lower in outdoor settings (especially when masked) these members will still be able to participate in events held outside. So, for example, they will be allowed to drive up for a daytrip, and take a lesson, but will not be able to take the bus. We will require these members to provide some form of proof from their doctor simply stating that for a health reason they cannot be vaccinated.
Our specific policies on how day trips will be run will be worked out with our resort partners as they become clearer later in the summer and fall and will be communicated as soon as we can prior to the season. As has been the case since the start of the pandemic HPSC will also monitor and follow the public health guidelines for Toronto and the location of any destination we are going to.
While the future does seems brighter, what we have learned over the last year is that nothing is guaranteed. But getting vaccinated appears to be the best option for our society and for HPSC to get back closer to the normal we were accustomed to prior to the pandemic. I urge all members to get both their shots as soon as they can!
I am really looking forward to talking with as many HPSC members as possible in person during the coming season.
Tremblant in my memory is a collection of the bright sparks of heartwarming moments . . . although Tremblant can be very cold at times. I remember the rays of early morning sunshine while gliding with friends on the perfect velvet corduroy of First Tracks. Skiing Tremblant is like a smooth dance that travels around the mountain’s perfectly groomed wide slopes with stunning views. “Rising and falling” like perfect waltz steps in a sparkling ballroom of blue sky and crystal chandeliers of snow and ice on the trees.
The name, Mont Tremblant, was derived from the Algonquin people, who called it the “trembling mountain”. “Climb every mountain”, “Edelweiss”, “Blue Danube” or other beautiful music is usually playing in my mind when I ski at Tremblant. These memories are of moments of love for life, dear friends, mountains, sunshine and the snow.
I remember finishing the descent of the mountain (on skis or hiking the snowshoeing trails) via Panache trails surrounded by the trees and chalets, crossing little bridges, inhaling the aroma of the pine trees and fireplaces. While skiing with our club’s expert instructors, I remember taking the deep dive on the St Bernard diamond run straight into the village, with the view ahead of colourful buildings, skiers & boarders lined up at the gondola and the vibrant après ski scene at the base of the mountain.
I saw a tiny picture in a travel magazine once of Tremblant and fell in love with the picturesque alpine village with the big snowy mountain. I learned cross country skiing in school and decided to go with the flow, travelling was my main inspiration. I joined the club 14 years ago to travel to Tremblant. In my first season I took a few downhill lessons, made many friends and that March I felt like I was flying on the Tremblant slopes, with a crew of happy beginners just like me.
That same year I volunteered for the Long Trips Committee. In my second year I lead a trip to Tremblant in March – perfect for spring skiing and to finish the season strongly after building my skills and confidence during the few months of winter.
Inspired by the people I have met in the club, and also by my favourite Cirque du Soleil, I organized an Après ski party trip with the theme “Tremblant du Soleil”. We watched a mix of Cirque du Soleil shows and Warren Miller movies on the bus, sharing jokes and laughter. At the party, a few members surprised us with their creative outfits, accessories and make-up. Seeing everybody’s happy faces after great ski days – priceless. Those moments of friendship are unforgettable.
The history of Tremblant as a ski resort has started as a one man’s dream. Joseph Ryan, an explorer from a wealthy American family from Philadelphia, who came to the region looking for gold in 1938 with friends. They climbed to the summit of Mont Tremblant with skis wrapped in seal skins for traction. After an exhausting trek to the summit, it is said that Joseph Ryan vowed to transform the landscape into a world-class alpine village. Only one year later, his dream was realized. In 1939, Joseph Ryan opened the Mont Tremblant Lodge and installed the first lift chair. The history of the resort includes rising and falling moments, ambitious investments and bankruptcies. The village we know now was developed by Intrawest, which expanded the pedestrian village with architecture reminiscent of traditional Quebec and built new ski lifts, including the gondola . Other changes included building the Grand Manitou summit lodge and a casino located at the base of the Soleil trails. Intrawest also transformed Blue Mountain and Whistler. Tremblant and Whistler have held the title of #1 Ski resorts in Eastern and overall North America, partially thanks to the beautiful and well planned villages.
HPSC has a long history with Tremblant. The club’s very first New Year’s Eve trip was to Mt. Tremblant to ring in the Centennial year in 1966-67. In the 1970s HPSC rented chalets in Tremblant (and also at Sutton and Blue Mountain).
I’ve been to Tremblant with the club many times. The most memorable trips being the 75th anniversary celebration of Tremblant and the year of our club’s 65th anniversary celebration. Some of the most precious moments for me are singing on the bus “Those were the days, my friends” – a song our members used to sing at the end of each day on overnight trips during the ‘60s and ‘70s; a tradition now forgotten, although remembered and shared with me by our instructors; as well as waltzing down and singing Blue Danube out loud and of course dancing.
Any Tremblant experience must include après ski at Place Saint-Bernard plaza with a live concert or DJ on stage in the spring and dancing at Le P’tit Caribou. We usually form a large circle on the dance floor and lead the dance starting early on and leaving just in time to rest before First Tracks the next day. The key is to dance until the point that you’ll be “steaming” when leaving Le P’tit Caribou on your short walk to the hotel.
We are living through trying times now, which brings out the best in people inspired with community spirit. By sharing our memories about the past and dreams about future happy moments with the club we celebrate life, elevate our spirit and generate positive energy to get through the last stages of this pandemic.
Cheers dear friends to future club trips to Tremblant and many memorable adventures. Our club will be always part of Tremblant history: View this wonderful video of the early days of Tremblant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQpbthhZjv8
I have been on many wonderful trips with HPSC and can remember all of them for tons of different reasons, the people, the snow, the resort, the weather, the food… one that stands out in my memory for all of the above is Jackson Hole, March 2015.
This is the trip where…
– One member arrived in a wheelchair but left the trip standing up after days of skiing!
– One member arrived standing up, skied a number of days and left in a wheelchair after breaking a leg at Grand Targhee but still a good sport!
– One member had to be rescued by patrollers after attempting to go down a chute; no, not Corbets Couloir. No name, you know who you are !
– One member was left behind, at the huge Jackson Hole airport on the way back home!
Jackson Hole, Wyoming March 2015
– At least twenty members made it to the Après every day, thanks to some dedicated skiers who stopped early to save us a table!
– We celebrated St Pattys as if COVID had never existed!
While there was the great Jackson Hole skiing, the spirit of the members made this trip a memorable week for all, great skiing and partying! That is what our trips are about! Soon to come again!
As we announced in January, due to the unusual nature of this season, the Board made the decision to deferral all memberships over to next season. No action is required on your part.
Some members have informed us that they would like to invest their current 2020/21 membership back into the club to help with our finances. We sincerely thank those members who have made this choice. If you would like to do so as well, please email membership@hpsc.ca by March 31st.
The club is financially stable and can withstand this unexpected year. However, for this fiscal year (ending April 30th) we will be showing a hopefully “once in a lifetime” sized deficit. This is mostly due to having to delay recognizing the revenue from all of the deferred memberships until next fiscal year. In addition, even without running any programs, the club has a number of hard costs such credit card charges, insurance premiums, costs associated with the club house (which will be reduced as of April 1st when move to a virtual setup), costs associated with IT, and the required financial review by our accountant, etc..
On the upside, the club will start the 2021/22 fiscal year with a significant balance of membership revenue already on the books and are very optimistic that membership will boom next fall with many of those who sat out this season, lapsed members, and new members all joining the best adult travelling ski club in the GTA (if not the country!!).
Top of The Crack trail in Killarney Provincial Park looking north to the La Cloche mountains – Photo by JK Graham
Dear HPSC Friends!
Spring has arrived here in Ontario and usually we would be planning the last trips of the HPSC season and looking forward to the year-end party. Unfortunately, this season we never really got started. All we have to look forward to is next fall and the kickoff to what we hope will be a fantastic rebound year.
While I am very optimistic about next season, right now I am reminded of when I was hiking in Killarney Provincial Park last fall. One of the highlight day hikes in Killarney is ‘The Crack’ – which refers to a steep gorge which you must navigate just before reaching the top and the fantastic views of the La Cloche mountains (photo above is from my hike at the top of The Crack). In the last leg of the hike the direction sign is basically an arrow pointing up! At this point in time, we are facing the third wave of this pandemic which some are saying will be worse than the previous two. However, the vaccination rollout has sped up with plans to have all Ontarians (at least those who want one) to have at least the first shot by the beginning of summer. So while we are currently facing a very difficult time, there is a light at the end of all this.
Please stay safe and do what you personally can to ensure that next season at this time the only topic of conversation will be how fantastic spring skiing is!
Moving into 2021, on a positive note, there appears to be a light at the end of this pandemic with the planned schedule of having all Canadians vaccinated by September. (Let’s all hope!) However, as the saying goes, it is always darkest just before dawn. And over the last few weeks we have been facing the darkest times of this pandemic so far.
Truly this has been the winter of our discontent. While we had hoped, at some point, to be able to organize daytrips this season, we did not want to drag out the decision and raise false hope that we would be able to operate this season when realistically we will not.
Given the current province wide lockdown, and the expectation that even if we move into the Red zone by mid-February for a month, followed hopefully into Orange, we would not be able to run any daytrips until mid-March at the earliest (if at all), your Board of Directors has made the difficult decision that we will be unable to run any daytrips this season. Therefore, both the Downhill and Cross-Country and Snowshoeing daytrip seasons have been cancelled.
The pandemic has also impacted our planned long trips. All of the u-drive trips to Quebec resorts have been cancelled, while the remaining charter trips to Alberta and BC are constantly under review based on the latest restrictions. The Club Med trip to St. Moritz was also recently cancelled.
Due to these changes to our plans, we have also made a decision on deferring membership to next season. Please see the next post for more on membership deferral.
I would sincerely and personally like to thank and acknowledge all of the hard work done by our Directors and their volunteers in trying to plan for a season that unfortunately we will not be able to enjoy. The club cannot operate without the numerous hours and extensive efforts by our volunteers. This pandemic season has been especially hard, tripling or quadrupling planning time for no reward. It is the volunteers who make HPSC the fantastic club that it is, so a big THANK YOU to all of you.
While we can’t organize any HPSC trips or events, we still encourage members to get outside and to enjoy local parks, ravines, and trails. It has been great to see the social media posts of members who have been making the best of the current situation and continuing to get outside and enjoying the winter through skiing, hiking, snowshoeing, and skating in our local parks. (I took the above photo of Colborne Lodge on Boxing Day as I circumnavigated High Park on my snowshoes).Although this has been a tough year so far, we will come through this and thrive as a community.
As the current saying goes “Stay Positive, Test Negative!”
With stay at home orders and lockdown restrictions, we’ve got to get creative this year if we want to ski. Luckily, cross-country skiing requires nothing more than some gear, snow, and a sense of adventure. Yes, you can ski in the city!
You won’t find groomed trails in Toronto, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ski. When we get enough snow (think a solid 5-10cm for most people), dig out your skis and head for your local park, Toronto city-owned golf courses (if not in Toronto, be sure to check your municipality’s rules), or anywhere that isn’t private property and has snow.
I’ve been skiing in Toronto for years. Every year I notice more and more people doing it, but this year the pandemic has definitely encouraged more people to try out urban skiing. I stick mostly to High Park and the Sunnyside boardwalk (as it’s my local area), but other popular ski areas include the Toronto Islands (you’ll have to take the ferry over), the Leslie St. Split, the boardwalk at the Beach, Sunnybrook Park and the Don Valley, and along the Humber River. I’m sure there are many more local parks that are great for skiing that I simply don’t know about. Get out and explore your local neighbourhood. Even a small local park can be fun for a little ski time. If you live in the northern GTA, you’re lucky to have access to conservation areas and forests (still won’t be groomed though).
I’ve started urban skate skiing this year, which requires less snow and I can more easily do on marginal conditions. It’s been really fun! But, I don’t recommend urban skate skiing unless you are pretty comfortable on skate skis already.
Years of urban skiing has taught me a few things…
This particular dog didn’t hate the skis, but also wasn’t particularly skilled at skijoring.
Don’t expect it to be like skiing on groomed trails. If there’s a lot of snow, it will be a slow trudge through it (honestly, I often think snowshoes would be the better option). If it’s harder packed, you’ll notice your balance is tougher to maintain. Embrace it for what it is!
I recommend using an old pair of skis in case they get scratched up (and in my experience, they will, especially if you are like me and ski on some questionable snow). If you only have one pair of good skis, maybe save your urban ski adventures for when we get a big dump.
Generally stick to fields/grass unless we get a lot of snow – then you may be able to ski on the paths/roads.
Dogs hate skis. Expect to be barked at and chased.
Watching the sun rise from my skis is the best!
We just got a lovely snowfall with more on the way. So get out and ski in your local area and share your fun with your fellow club members in our Facebook group!
Cross-country skiing has seen a huge uptick in interest this year due to the pandemic shutting down other avenues for winter enjoyment. I’ve long loved cross-country skiing and recently I got to share that love – and some tips – for beginner skiers in our club, pulling out their skis from the basement after a long hiatus.
At the beginning of February, we held a virtual information session for anyone in the club interested in learning more about cross-country skiing. 76 members attended! Thanks to all for taking the time, your enthusiasm for the sport, and for all your questions.
I covered the different types of skiing (classic, skate, back country touring); gear (skis, boots, poles, and clothing); and tried to go over some of the fundamentals from my living room. Not an easy task!
I’ve created a resource for anyone interested with all the main points I presented:
