High Park Ski Club Blog – Page 29 – Read about all of the latest news and events from HPSC

2020-03-06

Race weekend had a bit of everything – bonus points, a costume preview and marshmallows

Race weekend – races on both days – was a huge success! Thanks to all our participants for their enthusiasm. You all make our club awesome! We had awesome conditions thanks to a 40-60cm dump of snow a few days earlier. Bring on Snowmageddon!

Feb. 29 we held our annual “Choose Your Own Adventure Freestyle Race” at Horseshoe Valley. We start and end from the same place, and there are two courses to choose from – a beginner course and a more advanced course that sends racers up Geunther’s Grind! If racers did both, they got bonus points!

Congrats to Graham, Sonia, and Janine, who did both courses. Graham lead the day with the fastest time. And congrats to Jennifer, our “beginner winner”, and to her three friends who did Patrolller’s Hill THREE times. Were they supposed to? Nope!

Mar. 1 at Wasaga we held our annual Pine Trail Classic, a classic only race that winds through the lovely Pine Trail. We started and ended at the fire shelter, where racers were treated to a marshmallow roast courtesy of Linda. Graham and Sonia practiced skiing in costume to prepare for the final official costume race. What a great end to an amazing day of skiing.

Congrats to Graham for his second win of the weekend, and to everyone for finishing in under 25 minutes and getting bonus points!

The podium finish – first to third (left to right)

Racers have one more chance to rack up points for the overall standings on Mar. 15 at Hardwood. It’s our Spring Fling Costume Race! Graham and Sonia are only two points apart at the top of the overall leader board and we can’t wait to see what costumes they have in store for us!

We finished off with a marshmallow roast. Fun fact: sloths like marshmallows

2020-02-24

Congratulations to our XC instructors

This year we had three members successfully pass CANSI certification courses!

First, we welcomed Ron Duffy to the instructor ranks when he passed the CANSI Level 1 course in January. Congratulations!

Second, Charles Ma and Heather Steel successfully passed the CANSI Level 2 course in February. Congratulations!

The L2/3 course – Heather is second from the left and Charles is last on the right. Thanks to Wendy Grater and Francoise Chatenoud for the excellent instruction!

Furthermore, a few of our instructors are in the process of completing their Level 3 certifications. Hopefully we will bring news of more successes in the coming seasons!

Our instructors are dedicated to improving their skiing and teaching skills to serve our members better. Thanks to all of them for their enthusiasm and dedication to our sport and our club.

2020-02-24

Race weekend – with bonus points – is coming!!

Race Results

Our first race of the season, Frisbee Biathlon, was a big success! Held on the new flat open area at Highlands (Teal’s Tango), members of all levels were able to participate in the fun. While our races are all about fun, there are results. And here they are:

Race #1 – Frisbee Biathlon

David Zoratto & Trevor Leech

John Kane & Frances Zeng

Sonia Dyett & Rob Dyett

Patty McVitty & Jaques Belik

Rubina Khan & Amanda Hollingsworth

Carine Wood & Ludmilla Chubey

Jennifer Beatty & Andrew Kerr

Maria Bridgemohan & Charlene Phillips

Our second race of the season was held at Scenic Caves – You Can’t Get Lost on the Northwest Passage Freestyle! It was warm and sunny and 10 skiers, including some newbies, put their skills to the test on a 1.5km course. No one got lost! And the results…

Skate:

Jeff Stainsby
Andrew Mahoney
Jiurong Li

Classic:

Andrew Osmond (who serenaded us in Italian as he crossed the finish line, meaning bonus points for all!)
Andreas Gierke
Andrew Patterson

Race Weekend!

Race weekend returns after a few year’s hiatus. What is race weekend? Races on BOTH daytrips with some serious bonus points! Check it out…

Feb. 29: Our annual Choose Your Own Adventure Challenge at Horseshoe Valley. Choose between two courses – a shorter easier one that uses Patroller’s hill (suitable for more beginner skiers) and a longer, hillier route that uses Geunther’s Grind. If you do both, you get bonus points!

Mar. 1: The annual Pine Trail Classic at Wasaga is back! This is our race director’s favourite race for two reasons: 1. It’s a beautiful course that winds through the pine trees. 2. Someone ALWAYS gets lost. It’s been years and this never fails! There will be bonus points for those who finish the course in under a certain amount of time.

Our races are all about fun! Participants accumulate points through the season and we crown our overall winners at our fun year end party in April. Join us!

2020-02-242020-02-24

HPSC discovers Sault Ste. Marie

On the family day long weekend, a full bus headed up to Sault Ste. Marie to experience some of the best cross-country skiing Northern Ontario – and indeed Canada – has to offer! We stayed in Sault Ste. Marie and skied two days at Stokely Creek and the final morning at Hiawatha Highlands. Both places delivered amazing skiing.

Konstatin is pretty tired after all that climbing!

Stokely Creek is not for the faint of heart. With over 100km of trails and some serious climbing, you are sure to get a workout! But, there are some lovely easier trails too if that’s more your style. And the snowshoeing looked lovely!

There was a huge base of snow, so no worries about bad conditions on this trip! It also snowed all day on Saturday, creating a lovely winter wonderland. Then the network was freshly groomed entirely for Sunday.

Members had all kinds of fun. There’s 6 huts to explore throughout the network and we hit all of them at some point! Norm’s cabin even offers full tea and cookie service! The sun peaked out on Sunday and gave us views of Lake Superior. Lots of members challenged themselves to climb King Mountain. Others explored the snowshoe trails.

Four of our members – Heather, Paul, Ian, and Jean-Emile – took on the 6 Hut Challenge on Sunday. That’s all 6 huts in one day. And what a day it was. In the end, this foursome skied 40km and climbed about 1000m! You don’t get that kind of climbing in Southern Ontario. They’re waiting for their t-shirts to be mailed.

The last hut!!! Then the death march home commenced.

The final day took us just outside Sault Ste. Marie to Hiawatha Highlands, the local nordic ski club. A smaller trail network and not nearly as challenging (thank goodness!), but also beautiful. The sun came out and everyone wished we had time to stay the whole day.

All in all, this trip was a massive success and we’ll add it to our roster of long weekend destinations! Special thanks to trip leader Monica, who always does a fantastic job.

Norm’s Cabin offers tea and cookies to weary skiers! Our members got a little comfortable…

2020-02-232020-03-07

Let’s all celebrate and have a good time

“Let it snow!” Gala celebration of 65th Anniversary was a memorable event.

Celebration of 70th Anniversary of our club continues. Many overnight trips are completed or upcoming very soon. Every weekend we have buses taking hundreds of our happy members up North. Are we having a good time? Tickets are on sale on February 25th for the Après-Season “Snow Ball” Dinner + Drink + Dance to celebrate in style the end of this amazing season with friends. The number of tickets is limited to 150 although there are tickets for the Apres party: Drink + Dance. The earlier you sign for the event with your friends, the better seats you get. Let’s all celebrate and have a good time.

Our club has reinvented itself multiple times. “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” ― Mahatma Gandhi. We’ve implemented many changes and have welcomed a lot of new members in the last two years. We’ll be looking for a new volunteer to become The President of High Park Ski Club to lead our club higher during the next two years. My new stellar job has found me and I am moving on to the next chapter of my life to focus on the greater good. If you are interested to become The President of HPSC, to learn about the role & responsibilities in the next two month before the election night on April 30 2020, contact me: president@hpsc.ca

Our club blossoms! Cheers for the blossom of snow and the spring to come!

Stella, HPSC Volunteer President

2020-02-20

International Women’s Day – HPSC Social

If you are a current member of HPSC and you are or identify as a woman, we invite you for a special women’s event on March 6th to gather and meet all female members of our club. Just 2 days before the International Women’s Day, it’s a perfect occasion to chat, have a drink and start celebrating being a woman among like-minded ladies! Please use the Register for the event and mark your calendar!

More details: https://hpsc.ca/event-3741141

2020-02-13

The Cyborg Chicks Ski Aspen

This pic might look like it’s back from the future, but it’s real life. HSPC members Angela Johnson and Carolan Mackay, both knee injured skiers, tried ROAM Robotics Exoskeleton out on the Aspen long trip. The exoskeleton fits over your ski pants and supports up to 30% of your body weight. Angela, 17 days post meniscus tear surgery, tried the device and said: “I found I could ski the whole day and I know that it took a lot of the stress off my knee. It never encumbered my turns.” Carolan, 21 days post ACL tear injury, was also able to ski for a half day despite being told that her ski season was over. “I was so curious to try out the technology. Really, words can’t describe how surreal it was to have that feeling of a structure supporting and responding to you.” Both cyborg chicks found that the device was easy to ski in, almost to the point that you could forget about it. The only reminder was the backpack containing the batteries, computer, and a bladder that inflated the pneumatic pump because it made constant noise like a baby goat. The onsite ROAM rep, Brooke Pashley, took amazing care to make sure they understood the device and were able to gain confidence using it. She skied with them until they felt ready to ski on their own. Roam offers the exoskeleton for rent or purchase at several locations in the U.S. The rental and tryout fee is very reasonable. The exoskeleton is not just for injured skiers, but can also help skiers who just find that they don’t have the strength they used to have or perhaps didn’t hit the gym enough prior to their ski trip. www.roamrobotics.com @Roamrobotics

2020-02-11

Payment Proccessing Issue with MacOS/Safari

If you are having issues accessing the payment screen; like the screenshot to the right. I think the issue might be that you are running an older version of MacOS or Safari.

Work Around
Please use Google Chrome, if you’re having issues.

2020-02-112020-03-07

Update on Long Trips

There are just a few seats still open on our overnight and charter trips. If you are interested in a trip, add your name to the waitlist because cancellations happen from time to time, sometimes very close to departure.

NEW for the Lake Placid trip is an option for XC. Here is your chance to ski and snowshoe the Olympic Cross Country ski trails of Mt. Van Hoevenberg. See Lake Placid details on the website, Learn More https://hpsc.ca/event-3508545

1. Lake Placid, 1 seat left to match a male roommate, register NOW!

2. Tremblant March, 2 buses… what a party! There are still seats open although the Register button isn’t showing. The rooming needs to be sorted out so add your name to the waitlist for a seat.

3. Taos, 1 seat for a Male to match rooming.

If you need to cancel the trip, please review and follow long trips cancellation policy. Learn more https://blog.hpsc.ca/2020/01/long-trips-7/

Our ski trips are like trips back to the childhood, when someone takes care of everything and we are just having a blast and come back for dinner after playing in the snow with the red cheeks and big smiles… Our ClubMed trips definitely have it all to feel like a child on a snow carousel.