Annual General Meeting
High Park Ski Club Inc.
Thursday September 17, 2015
7:30 p.m.
(official start of AGM)
Agenda
5:00 - Line up to get numbered entry ticket for Trip Sign-up
6:30 - Doors open
6:30 - Trip Sign-up for Long Trips
7:00 - Find out and sign up for volunteer positions
(Pizza to be served)
7:30 - Start meeting and introductions (Trip sign-up closed)
7:35 - Finance Reports
7:45 - Q&A re: financial results
8:00 - Approve financials and appointment of Auditor
8:05 - Establishment of Honorariums
8:10 - Thank outgoing directors
8:15 - President’s report
8:45 – Q & A’s for Director reports
9:00 - Prizes draw
9:10 - Motion to Adjourn (Trip sign up opens)
President’s Report 2014-2015
I am happy to report that our club had a great 65th year and continues to do well. This We will continue to
provide great ski trips and social events for our members.
We continue to do well financially and the club remains stable with respect to membership at 1047
members. Overall, the various areas of the cub have also had a great year. You can read about the detail
in each of the Director’s report.
We have kept our membership fee at the same level for the past few years and I am pleased to report that
there will be no increase in membership fees for the coming year.
Thank you to all the directors for their contribution and dedication to the club. Bill Bates in Long Trips,
Sandi Hymers in Membership/Volunteers, Randy Snyder in Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding, Mat Dinian
in Finance, Monica Sauer in Nordic and Fitness, Mary MacDonald in Administration, Horst Widl in Day
Trips, Laura Shepherd in Marketing, Stella Rossovskaia in Social, Melanie North in Communications,
Vivian Pallandi, our Board Secretary, and Ann- Marie Barker as assistant secretary.
I would also like to thank Peter Walsh for his work in renewing our bus contract and Lisa Philpott for being
our bus company coordinator. As always I would like to thank all of you who volunteered in some way
whether it be a bus captain, instructor, social organizer or any one of the many volunteer positions.
I am happy to report that the measures the Board implemented to solve the problem of low Sunday
attendance were very successful. We had guaranteed Sunday trips in January, Sleep-in Sunday trips, an
additional test drive, Special $65 Sundays and bring a friend – all of these contributed to making Sundays
a success. We will be continuing to allow guests on Sunday Downhill trips and will offer more sleep-in
Sunday trips with a late departure. The Board will access whether other measures are needed to ensure
our programs are serving our member needs.
The club has implemented a new website which is very user friendly and will enhance our member
service. Many thanks to Laura Shepherd for leading the implementation and to the website search
committee, Melanie North, Colin Leung, Maggie Xu, and Len Dobrucki. We will continue to upgrade the
website functionality and content during the season.
The coming year will be my fourth consecutive year as president and seventh consecutive year on the
Board. I also served on the Board and as President in the 90’s for three years. I have enjoyed my time
immensely. However, I think that it is time to hand over the reins to a new leader who can bring fresh
ideas.
Given that it is early in the season, prospective candidates could shadow me for the season to learn about
the role. If you or if you feel some other member would be right for the role, please talk to me about it. if
you feel that you are not quite ready for president, there are many director roles that can be filled.
This is a great club and I will always be involved in some capacity. I will certainly continue to instruct for Xcountry and likely be involved in long trips if they will have me.
Learn to love winter!
George Lorenz
President
president@hpsc.ca
Membership & Volunteer Report 2014-2015
Membership Fees & Registrations
With an eye on the competition, our membership fees did not change for the fifth consecutive season.
Renewing members were able to register at the 'early bird' rate of $140.00 up until November 1st with that
rate increasing to $160.00 for the remainder of the year. Approximately 93% of our renewing members did
take advantage of the early rate. Lifetime members were offered registration at $70.00 and New
Members were allowed to join throughout the season for $140.00. HST was charged on all membership
fees.
Membership fees were totally handled online with payment being made using Visa or Mastercard.
Cheques were no longer accepted. There were some problems with the old website causing a few
members to be overcharged but this was monitored closely and refunds were issued on a timely basis.
This year's new website should help to rectify this problem.
Any member requiring assistance registering this year should contact membership@hpsc.ca Membership
will also be present at the New Members' Nights to assist anyone in person.
Membership Statistics
We experienced a very long, cold winter this past year which didn't give us the snow we would have liked
to have seen. Regardless, the membership numbers held firm totalling 1,047 as compared to 1,046 in the
previous year. Similar to prior years, there was not a great deal of fluctuation in the membership numbers
with Renewing Members up 1% and New Members down by just under 1%. Lifetime Memberships
declined by 3 members.
The Referral Program worked very well. Existing members who referred a friend to the club, received a
voucher from Marketing which they could use towards a social event or to cover the cost of the bus on a
day trip if the new member made reference to them upon joining. All members should take note that a
personal endorsement of the club still speaks volumes!
2014/15 Year End Membership Statistics
Lifetime
73
New
332
Renewed 642
Total
1047
Comparison to Prior Year (2013/14)
Lifetime
76
New
350
Renewed 620
Total
1046
The primary snow sport still indicates that 72.6% are downhill skiers, 18.1% are cross-country, 7.0% are
snowboarders and 2.3% are snowshoers.
Volunteer Management
Linda Roy has worked throughout the past year as the Volunteer Co-ordinator. During that time, she
oversaw the nominations and final selection of the recipients of the club's yearly volunteer awards,
planned out Volunteer Appreciation dinner and issued all vouchers to the volunteers working within the
Membership & Volunteer portfolio.
This year we had 213 volunteers who gave their time to assist in the many duties necessary to maintain
the quality of the club. Members should regularly check out the volunteer positions posted on the website
as well as the articles that appear in SnoBiz asking for assistance. Linda will be leaving as co-ordinator
this year as she has completed a two year term. Anyone who would like to take over this very rewarding
position, should send an email to membership@hpsc.ca
Volunteer Recognition & Awards
As a way of recognizing those volunteers who spent a large amount of time and effort during the 2014/15
season, a Volunteer Appreciation dinner will be held on September 30th. There will be many door prizes
to be won and it will offer us an opportunity to give special recognition to those who made an exceptional
effort. The Volunteer Award winners will be announced at this event and presented with award certificates
and coupons that range in value from a full year's membership to a discount towards their membership
fee.
Ambassador Program
This year saw the departure of Liz McGroarty as the Ambassador Co-ordinator and the arrival of Linda
Lavallee. The Ambassador Program is in its 9th consecutive season and matches "seasoned" members
with the new members coming into the club. As each new member joined, Susan Gillingham, Assistant
Membership Director, would inform Linda. A "Welcome" email was sent out immediately, followed by
personal contact from one of our Club Ambassadors. New members were provided with an Ambassador's
name and contact information allowing them to make direct connection to someone who would answer
specific questions and make that new member feel welcome and comfortable within the club. This year
we had 27 Ambassadors and many of them took on more than their normal quota as the year progressed.
We can always use more Ambassadors and especially those who have experience with the cross-country
and snowboarding activities of the club. It is an extremely rewarding position that requires a minimal time
commitment. Interested members should direct an email to our Co-ordinator, Linda,
at ambassador@hpsc.ca
Directorship
I am pleased to see the membership numbers holding for this club but I look forward to seeing those
numbers increase as we go into our 2015/16 season. We have a new website, a line up of great trips,
wonderful social events in the planning and a first class ski school. We have just come away from
celebrating our 65th anniversary which is quite remarkable. We have a lot to offer and I look forward to
an exciting year.
Acknowledgements
A very special thanks to Susan Gillingham who assisted me throughout the year. In the short time she
has been in the club, she has contributed so much to make it even better. A 'thank you' goes out to Linda
Roy for overseeing the volunteers’ records and helping to acknowledge all volunteers at the end of the
season. Also, a thank you goes out to Linda Lavallee who stepped into the Ambassador Program and
made a smooth transition into the position as the co-ordinator.
Many others volunteered their time throughout the year at the AGM, on the assembly and mailing of the
membership cards and on the election/picture night. A person's time is a very valuable commodity and
when it is offered it is very much appreciated.
Sandi Hymers
Director Membership and Volunteers
membership@hpsc.ca
Marketing Report 2014-2015
Another great season with a strong new member showing combined with more members renewing than
the previous year. New members were recruited through various activities noted below.
Flyers were produced advertising our “New Information Nights” and promotional cards about High Park
Ski Club were placed in ski shops and coffee shops around town. We did a bulk information mailer of
6,000 flyers to 2 postal codes in the High Park area around the subway line. This generated great brand
awareness for the club and generate both new members and encouraged returning members to join.
New members also joined from the Snow Show awareness generated 2 years ago.
“Word of Mouth” is still the best way to advertise our club. A third of our new members come from
referrals. We encourage everyone to promote the club. In return we will give you a bus voucher for each
new member referral. Tell friends, neighbours and colleagues about our great club. Thanks to Stephen
Bishop who volunteered to manage the referral program again this year.
Our New Member Information Nights were hosted by Karine Van Driessche who organized the volunteers
and ensured that the fun and excitement of the club was well communicated to prospective new
members. We continued to successfully use a wifi stick to sign up new members on the spot during
these events. We couldn’t ask for a better role model for the High Park Ski Club.
We have spent the last 6 months working on building a new more user friendly website that will improve
some of the sign up glitches some members incurred this past season and ensure long term that the site
is up to date with all the latest technology. The new site will also be mobile friendly!
We thrive to continue to increase our social media presence and would like everyone to join us on
FACEBOOK and TWITTER.
If you would like to help promote the High Park Ski Club contact marketing@hpsc.ca.
Laura Shepherd
Director of Marketing 2012-2015
marketing@hpsc.ca
Communications Report 2014-2015
Last year the Communications team focused on providing members with current and informative
communication via the website to help and encourage participation in day trips, long trips and social
events. The team was also engaged in managing challenges with our website support and e-commerce
issues. We formed a committee to engage a new web developer and are excited to move forward with a
brand new look and easy-to-use website.
Due to an increased commitment to the portfolio and additional demands in my professional career, I
regretfully decided to step down early from my position on the Board. It was a great experience working
with such a dedicated and fun group of people who gave me a great deal of support throughout a very
busy year.
Heather Roseveare has stepped up to take over the position for me and I wish her the best.
Website:
The website has been completely redesigned to provide members and potential members a much better
experience in all areas: up to date information, easy navigation, simplified use in terms of booking trips
and better e-commerce function in addition to a great new look.
The HPSC Website is the vital centre for the club where you can find ALL information pertaining to the
club throughout the year.
I’d like to thank the volunteers on the Website committee for their hard work and they include: George
Lorenz, Laura Shepherd, Colin Leong, Maggie Xu, Len Dobrucki
SnoBiz (e-Newsletter)
Our electronic newsletter SnoBiz was emailed every other week through last season and offered up a
host of useful and important information for our members. It is also emailed out in a slightly edited version
to non-members who have asked to be on the mailing list. Editor in Chief Peter Simmerle pulled out all the
stops this year and put together an entertaining and informative bulletin. Thank you to him for his
tremendous commitment and creativity and to all those who submitted articles throughout the year.
Photo/Video Gallery
Photos and videos from our ski trips and social events were managed and uploaded to our website for
members. These are a great way to get a preview of what an event might be like but also to relive all the
fun times and experiences over the season. I encourage you to continue submitting photos through the
upcoming season. Thank you to Howard Gibson for managing this portion of the website!
Communications Volunteers
A huge thank you to those who provided assistance to the Communications Portfolio this year – we
couldn’t do it without your help and dedication:
·
·
·
·
·
Peter Simmerle – SnoBiz
Howard Gibson – Photo/Video Gallery
Colin Leong – Website Support
Lisa Philpott – Website Support
Board Members – submitting and posting information and schedules to the website for Ski trips
Melanie North
Director of Communications 2014-2015
communication@hpsc.ca
Social Report 2014-2015
It’s a very special year in the history of High Park Ski Club! We are celebrating 65th Anniversary and
continue to follow, rediscover and reinvent club’s rich traditions. The year began with Sailing Evening
and Dance under the Stars Cocktail Party at the National Yacht Club. About 90 people have
participated. Slideshow about trips of the year planned by Long Trip committee was presented. Don
Williams has coordinated skippers and boats to get everyone on board! It was beautiful evening on the
water. Our guest presenter fitness dance instructor Anna Kirovska was leading a dance. Beth Scannell,
Rocco Romero, Ray Bartodjey and Daria Payer made sure everyone felt welcome at the party.
We’ve tried Toronto’s biggest Oktoberfest in the tent organized by Maple Leaf Entertainment. Dancing
was fun although this year we’ll do it differently. Beth was helping with signups and tickets.
We’ve re-invented tradition of Climb the Mountain event and have spent the day hiking Blue Mountain.
Many new friends have met at that event. New member Jennifer McLennan has joined social committee
and became a leader and inspiration for all events of the year. “New Jen” as members call her with love
and appreciation has inspired many members to participate in the events and to contribute. The group
had a great dinner at Kelsey followed by a party on the bus to get ready for the Après Ski season.
Holiday Tracks Masquerade party was a great celebration and fashion show. Everybody dressed up and
danced their best. We explored a new downtown venue at AW Alexander and had a blast dancing. A few
late guests joined us after first ski day of the season. Jen was again the key organizer and the Santa baby
girl for this event. Beth and Rocco took care of registrations. We’ll do it again this year although at the
new venue that has the largest number of Disco balls in town.
Billiard Night at the Crooked Cue in Etobicoke in January was repeated for the fifth year with special
thanks to Randy Snyder and Jennifer Gray for organizing. This event was held as a New Member Night
which proved to be very successful with approximately 150 plus in attendance. Some guests who won
their billiard game signed up for the club on the spot.
Après Ski Diner at Mylar and Loreta after Blue Mountain day trip in February was a great success. We’ll
do it again this year in February and March.
We had a few smaller fun events like Friday live ROM nights and Bowling night. Whenever we meet for
social event, we always meet good friends – known or new.
Another very successful Fun in the Summer (FITS) night at the Lithuanian Hall was held in April with all
the old favourites and numerous new vendors, 15 in total and about 200 plus in attendance. This is one
of the most popular events of the year, a great way to catch up with ski buddies in Socal café on the stage
over pizza and to plan summertime activities with other clubs. Many thanks to Karen Evans who has
taken over this event and executed it with her usual enthusiasm.
Election night and Trip Reunion night were held in a new place – in the area where club was started in
YMCA 65 years ago. 3030 Dundas has provided the stage and the screen with some drinks and snacks
for us to enjoy pictures from the memorable trips of the year and to support the election of new Board
members.
65th Anniversary “Let it Snow!” Gala and Cocktail party in Arcadian Loft was a grand success. 220
members and friends attended. It was a beautiful and heart melting gathering of friends and a celebration
of club’s and members’ life accomplishments. It was a Magic Carpet event, special awards were
presented. We had special dance performances by members and their partners. The Special Breaking
news video was transmitted from India. Special 007 Mr. Nobody Agent movie was secretly filmed at Blue
Mountain and premiered at the Big White event. New member Chris Allen who’s parent were in the club in
70s digitized and scanned many of the club’s pictures from archives. Randy Woolman from Impact DJ
was our DJ and made the evening special. It was truly Unforgettable!!!
Thank you to all the volunteers who have contributed to the success of 65th Anniversary celebration and
all social activities throughout the season: Jennifer McLennan; Steve Jonjev; Tracy Strachan; John
McHutchion; Karen Evans; Martina Fischerova; Mike Romano; Peter Walsh; Rocco Romeo; Ron
Sabourin and his dance partner Mandy; Beth Scannell and her art partner Henry; Don Williams and his
art partner Aniko; Edit Pal; Bill Bates, Matthew Dinian; George Lorenz; Sean Galbraith; Chris Allen; Bryan
Vandenberg and his dance partner Julie; Steve Tang; Randy Snider ; Jennifer Grey; Neesa Rajbhandari;
Ray Bartodzej; Daria Payer and Alina Franko.
Special thank you to the communications team: Melanie North, Lisa Philpott, Howard Gibson and Peter
Simmerle for helping with website, gallery and Snobiz Social materials.
Stella Rossovskaia
Director of Social Activities 2014-2015
social@hpsc.ca
Long Trips Report 2014-2015
Long trips had another great year.
Volunteers
HPSC runs on volunteer efforts and the Long Trips portfolio requires a large volunteer contingent. Thanks
to all 17 overnight bus and charter trip leaders for their volunteer contributions. I would like to extend a
special thank you to the 10 hard-working and dedicated Long Trip Committee members, who each
devoted hundreds of hours to make our overnight bus and charter trips such a successful part of this club:
Peg McPhedran, Stella Rossovskaia, Kristina Nou, Ed Bezeau, Kim Wiebe, Christine Bellerose, Donna
Babcock, Guy Dobson, Michelle Vivar and George Lorenz. These members started planning the 2015
trips right after the 2014 ski season ended and continued working on them throughout the year.
Other volunteers include Kevin Chabot who handled vouchers for the parking lot for overnight bus trips.
Lisa Philpott was our primary interface with the bus company, Pacific Western Transportation. Lisa was
busy throughout the year keeping on top of each trip and completed the year-end financial reconciliation
with the bus company. Karen Hatchard the previous bus company coordinator, provided training and
support. Sean Galbraith was coordinator for SnoBiz articles about our trips. Peter Walsh took the lead role
in proposals and tendering for the new 2016 bus contract. Peter’s background knowledge and careful
reviews were instrumental in negotiating a successful new contract.
Important club events were the 3 trip signup nights at the Lithuanian Hall in September and October. Russ
Harding organized the hall layout for the signup nights and coordinated other volunteers who assisted him
with the entry to the hall and voucher handout process.
Approx 450 members signed up for overnight bus trips and 250 for charter trips. This is a strong
endorsement of the work done by these volunteers.
Overnight Bus Trips
The Long Trips Committee organizes all aspects of overnight bus trips – from planning (deciding which
resorts to ski, when to go, how long to stay), negotiating prices with hotels, resorts and other suppliers, to
marketing, advertising and sales and, finally, dealing with the financial reconciliation after each trip.
We organized 9 overnight bus trips this season. This was the 5th year that post-trip surveys were filled out
electronically as opposed to the old paper forms. This allowed members to submit detailed comments on
the quality and value for each trip and to identify any problems they encountered. It also allowed the
committee to carefully scrutinize the comments and coordinate them across all trips. Overall the surveys
indicated that members were very happy with the trip leaders and the overall Long Trips organization.
They felt that the Downhill and XC instructors did an excellent job and helped make the bus trips very
enjoyable. HPSC is the only club that offers instruction on overnight bus trips.
Virtually all seats on the overnight bus trips were sold out. Only two, Orford-Sutton in early Feb and
Tremblant mid season, had a handful of seats unfilled when they departed. Both were 3-day trips. Sunday
River 5-day trip on the other hand sold out within the first hour it went on sale and had a lengthy waitlist.
Unfortunately we could not accommodate all those who were interested in Sunday River as space at this
resort was limited to one busload.
The last overnight bus trip of 2015 was organized for the March Break week. We did not plan a later trip
even though there is always considerable snow in the Quebec region in late March – especially this past
season. Experience has shown us that members lose interest quickly once white turns to green in Toronto
no matter how much snow there may be “up north”.
US hotel rooms and lift tickets were paid from our USD bank account which avoided the foreign exchange
increases that occurred in late 2014 and 2015. For 2016, we will again pre-purchase US dollars before
the season begins and set the selling prices of our US overnight bus trips accordingly. The Canadian
dollar has fallen considerably over the last year to around $0.76 which will greatly affect our 2016 US
trips.
We used a commercial lot in the east end just off Hwy 401 for member parking on overnight bus trips.
This was our third season using 2 pickup locations with Stop #1 at Yonge & York Mills for subway
passengers, and Stop #2 at the commercial lot for members with cars. This required some coordination to
have efficient pickups and drop offs. We discontinued our searching for a commercial lot near the subway
where we could return to a single pickup location as we used to have. Previous searches proved fruitless
but we are always open if one is reported to us.
Pre-assigned bus seating was tried on most bus trips. This had an enthusiastic reception on 4 trips and
was the most significant item mentioned in the post-trip surveys. But it also got a mixed response on other
trips. Overall it is evident that members want us to continue with pre-assigned bus seating, so with some
tweaking of how seats are assigned we hope to resolve any negative elements.
Charter Trips
The Long Trips Committee liaises with our tour operator partners to assemble a lineup of ski resorts and
accommodations that would be of most interest and represent good value to our members. The charter
program continues to be very popular. Many members join HPSC specifically because of our charter trip
program. Despite the increasing cost of ski trips, we continue to have a high number of participants.
We organized 8 charter trips in 2015. Here are a few notable observations.
Zermatt Switzerland at $3,295 was not as popular as our previous European trips have been. The high
cost of Europe was a significant factor. This was not a Club Med trip since there is a segment of the club
who prefer regular hotel accommodations and we had been to Club Med resorts for the past few seasons.
Thus refreshments, etc had to be purchased separately which increased member’s expense further.
Since European travel has become quite expensive with the decline of the CAD, we will return to Club
Med in 2016. Most members like the all-inclusive Club Med experience which provides all meals, most
alcoholic beverages and tour guides around the mountain every day.
The Big Sky Montana trip in January had low numbers sign up. Although Big Sky was high on the survey
list, members did not follow through. Similarly Royal Gorge XC trip in March had low numbers sign up.
The lack of interest wasn’t due to the poor snow season in the West because sign-ups occur in Oct-Nov.
So we assume that the high cost of US travel was the main factor.
On the other hand Jackson Hole Wyoming on March Break was very well attended. In 2014, we did not
run a March Break charter trip for the first time in many years because of low interest in the last few
seasons. Grapevine chatter was that members didn’t want to travel during March Break because of
purported crowds at Pearson and also the higher cost for this week. However this did not prove to be a
problem and our 2015 trip was a great success with lots of positive feedback.
Banff at Easter was very popular. It was our lowest cost charter and sold out very early. Despite dismal
conditions in the West this past winter, the Banff trip lucked out with a major snowfall occurring on the day
of arrival which set the table for the rest of the week.
Airlines continue to cause transportation issues. Airlines can and do change their schedules arbitrarily
even though we have confirmed flights for our trips. And airline delays occur regularly. The Sun Peaks trip
was affected this way with delays and lost luggage. It affects member’s enjoyment of the trip but there is
little High Park Ski Club can do about it. In planning trips, we will avoid connecting flights and stopover
flights to the extent possible as well as airlines known for changing their schedules.
For 2015 US trips, we negotiated charter contracts to protect members from any foreign exchange
fluctuations. In order to avoid a significant “risk premium” for 2016 trips, we have set the price of US trips
in US dollars. Members will pay for them in USD.
The post-trip surveys tell us that members were very satisfied with the value of their vacation dollars.
They said that they really enjoyed the camaraderie of other HPSC fellow skiers and our good trip leaders
who organized everything to run as smoothly as possible. The Long Trips Committee will continue to offer
members high quality vacations and look for the best possible value for our club.
Bill Bates
Director of Long Trips 2006-2014
longtrips@hpsc.ca
Downhill Day Trips Report 2014-2015
In Southern Ontario the 2014-2015 snow season was even better than the year before. Conditions were
great, fewer trips got cancelled and participation was excellent. There were a lot of great ski/board days.
Thank you to the team of day trip volunteers who contributed so much!
For most of the winter, we again offered 5 trips per week (compared to 3 or less by other clubs). On the
weekends we went to Blue Mountain and to Mt. St. Louis. Sunday late trips were introduced to both
destinations and enjoyed instant popularity with the membership. I want to thank members Matt Dinian
and David Manning for their strong support on this.
The Monday Blue trips, originally introduced under Denise Janssen’s tenure at least half a dozen years
ago, finally found steady support among our members. Apparently some skiers/boarders joined our
excellent club just for the Monday trips. On Wednesdays we tried again to introduce new venues.
However the Wednesday group preferred the established resorts that HPSC has traditionally used.
E-Commerce and Refunds:
Thank you Randy Snyder, for posting the trips, opening them for registration and nursing the programme
through the winter. E-registering and e-collection of trip fees went smoothly after dealing with a few issues
on the old website. It put a little extra pressure on our refund volunteers Jenny Roberts, Steve Jonjev and
Richard Kinread to deal with cancellations, no-shows, double bookings, overpayments and a few extra
glitches. Matt Dinian and Melanie North also helped with this. A special thank you to all! Our iconic Jenny
Roberts is stepping down after a number years in refunds and we are looking for a replacement.
SnoPhone and Day Trips Info:
Trip information was available online and there were advance notices on the website and on Facebook.
For those who preferred to dial and listen for the information on the snophone, they got to hear twice
weekly, Sandy Hymers telling them exactly what to do. Thank you Sandy! General information was no
longer available on the phone. It has been redirected to daytrips@hpsc.ca, where Cathy Basuroy did an
excellent job answering members’ enquiries. We would also encourage members to get their information
on the new website as it will be easier to navigate.
Weekend Day Trips:
The test drive days were well attended. Members of the public were able to participate without paying a
guest fee. Two busloads went on the Saturday test drive trip to Mt. St. Louis.
Saturday trips to Mt. St. Louis were again the most popular as beginners and intermediates embraced the
sport. Some of our instructors did double duty for ski and snowboard lessons. There were eight two-bus
trips to Mt. St. Louis and one two-bus trip to Blue Mountain South Side with an added Dinner Social.
Beginner lessons were mostly offered on the MSLM trips, taking advantage of their great beginner rental
deals. Helmets were mandatory for lessons. Members without helmets were able to rent them from the
resort for a small extra charge. Beginner lessons were also offered on the Blue Mountain South Lodge
trips. Rentals were available at the regular rate. In March we had an amazing trip to Devil’s Glen which
gave weekend skiers/boarders a chance to test a private club.
1,792 skiers/boarders/instructors fully registered for 35 weekend trips. Drive-up ratio on weekends was at
about 20% for Mt. St. Louis, less so for the other trips.
Only 3 out of 35 weekend trips got cancelled. This must be an all-time low! Last year in this space I
promised that the Board was going to come up with some ideas to improve participation, especially on
Sundays. Voila, we introduced Sunday late trips, $65 Anniversary trips, Friends trips and also added
some more Apres. Thank you “Social”!
Again we used some of the 29-seat busses available from PWT. Three two-bus trips to Mt .St. Louis
engaged a mini bus and one Saturday we hired a small bus for Blue Mountain rather than cancel.
Mid-Week Day Trips:
We had 1076 BITS (Bums In The Seats) for our weekday trips. The 3 cancellations were almost
expected, coming at the very beginning and the very end of the season. The first Monday trip usually falls
into the Christmas Holiday season when Blue Mountain doesn’t honour the 5X7’s. Two-bus trips
happened to Osler, Alpine and Devil’s Glen. Four mini busses were used, only one of them on a one-bus
trip (Caledon). Drive-ups were at less than 10%.
The weekday trips offer the advantage of short lift lines and more time for skiing/boarding. The resorts
also offer excellent food at reasonable prices. They are a worthwhile option for advanced skiers/boarders
who are either retired or have flexible working hours.
Bus Company:
Transportation was again provided by Pacific Western. Weekend bus only fees were $27. Monday trips
to Blue remained at $30 per seat.
Bus Vouchers:
Bus vouchers continue to be used as an incentive for membership referrals and for volunteer
compensation. Vouchers received late in the season will be honoured in the 2015/16 season. They can
also be used for some social events.
Coordinators:
Huge thanks to Bishu Basuroy, James Baxendale, Fran Burgess, Michael Hardtke and Peter Petzold, for
getting the trips on the road. The trip coordinators are the project managers of our trips, from recording
registrations to ordering transportation and booking lift tickets with the resorts and coordinating also with
our SnowSchool. Michael Hardtke is the “techie” of this group and has helped considerably as the
designated day trips liaison person to Marketing and Communications.
Bus Captains/ Group Leaders:
Bus captains and group leaders are the front line volunteers who make the Day Trips happen. Thanks to
Donna Babcock, Bishu Basuroy, John Crowley, Suzanne DeGrandpre, Kevin Gillan, Margaret Hall,
Michael Hardtke, Chantal Lebel, Karen Knight, Borys Lenko, James Lexovsky, Oksana Opyr, Mae Pon,
Neesa Rhasbandari, Randy Snyder.
Treasurers:
The day trips treasurers reconcile the documents submitted by the bus captains / group leaders against
information provided online. This is a very important part of our operations. Thank you, Eliza Choi and
Gaby Tang. Again for this position more volunteers are wanted, preferably with an accounting/finance
background.
Refund Volunteers:
Steve Jonjev, Richard Kinread and Jenny Roberts were under a lot of pressure with the early season
website glitches, doing an excellent job in getting the refunds out in a timely fashion. Director’s note:
Members must realize that we are a volunteer driven club. Most of our volunteers put in their time after a
day’s hard work in their regular job. As well it takes a certain amount of time for the bus captain / group
leaders’ reports to be completed and get onto the refunds volunteers’ computer screens. I am happy to
say that everyone with a refunds claim got looked after. Refunds worked to a 100% success ratio.
Finance:
In reconciling and costing the Day Trips portfolio, making sure that everything was accounted for, we had
an excellent rapport with our Finance portfolio. Mat Dinian, Maria Nisbet and Judy Gillies were always
ready to help. A pleasure working with you!
Horst Widl
Director of Day Trips 2011-2015
daytrips@hpsc.ca
Nordic Skiing and Fitness Report 2014 - 2015
For the second year in a row, we ran most of our trips with great snow and great participation, particularly
of new members. This year turned out to be another great season for the Nordic Skiing and Fitness area,
with our highest numbers in years.
Highlights for the year are:
 Nordic Day Trips ran 25 cross country day trips again with 50 more skiers/snowshoers. We only had
to cancel 2 trips (due to a brief thaw) and added extras at the end of an extended great season.
 We averaged 45 participants/trip – similar to last year and up from 38 the year before.
 We had four weekends with three buses i.e. a 2-bus trip one day and a 1-bus trip the other day,
including one in March; the others were the two Test-Drive days and the Crossover Day.
 We had a great response to our Test Drive Days (two buses each day) and a number of new
members generated directly in response to them.
 Cross over day with Downhill skiers and snowboarders had a great turn out again (two buses, 70
people) and everyone enjoyed the wine and cheese.
 Our dinner trips continue to be popular. Our gourmet pot-lucks also continue to be popular on our
longer trips to Arrowhead and Georgian Nordic. (Yes, food is very important to us!)
 Nordic ski school had another successful Beginners’ Ski Series again and two Skate Ski Series; they
also continued providing the highly successful tips and tricks program.
 Nordic ski school has trained and certified four new instructors to help with the growing numbers.
 Our racing program continued with a variety of classic and free style races of different lengths.
 The snowshoe program continued to grow.
 Moonlight snowshoe in the city had good turn outs and they even got to snowshoe again this year.
 The XC long trip on the family day weekend to the Eastern Townships nearly sold out; the skiing was
great.
 Ski fit and brunch continued its very successful program.
Nordic Day Trips
We ran 25 Nordic day trips; only 2 trips were cancelled. There were a total of 1192 skier/snowshoer
bookings (50 more than last year, double four years ago) plus 139 instructor/tour leader/race
coordinators. Of those, 13 were on Saturday and 12 were on Sundays, with similar average numbers per
trip (~45).
We ran two dinner trips to Mylar and Loretta’s and The Mono Cliffs Inn. Thanks to June Larkin. We also
had our popular “Death by Chocolate” on a combo trip the weekend prior to Valentines Day. Thank you to
Nicole Pepper for organizing those activities.
The refund process succeeded in sending refunds within a reasonable time frame, thanks to Paul Moser
and Theo Kempe. Auditing was also done by Paul and Theo and reconciliation by Paul, so many thanks!!!
Nordic Ski School
The table below shows the number of “events” where an instructor, tour leader, snowshoe leader, race
coordinator or social director was present on a Nordic day trip.
Day Trips
Ski School events
Tour Leader events
Snowshoe events
Race events
Social events (incl. dinners)
Total
2015
132
6
10
5
9
162
2014
120
4
11
5
13
153
2013
97
3
6
5
2012
82
2
9
5
111
98
There were four lesson days taught on long trips this year and one ski tour day.
The two beginners’ series run by Vera Polyakova, along with Mike Connor and Suzanne Dennis, were
very popular and received quite favorable reviews from participants as did the bronze and silver skate ski
series run by Vera and Elaine Rennet. Suzanne Denis continued Tips and Tricks this year. Tips and tricks
are 15 minute private lessons for some fine tuning of ski technique. Due to great feedback all of the above
programs will be repeated this year.
Theresa Tomczyk, Jean-Emile Paraiso, Emma West and Regina Eiras were certified as a Nordic
instructor this year, while Denise Dale and Monica Sauer have been training to be instructors. We
currently have 18 certified instructors but we can always use more. The ski school will train and coach any
interested members who wish to become instructors. I would also like to thank Elaine Rennet for her work
as Nordic Ski School Director this year.
Ski Touring
We provided tours at Hardwood, Kolapore, Georgian Nordic and Glen Elg, coordinated by Howard
Gibson.
Nordic Racing
Five races were held throughout the year with good participation (33 different people). Thanks to Heather
Steel, our race coordinator, for running the program, Jean-Emile Paraiso and Andreas Gierke for being
team captains.
Snowshoeing
Cynthia Wheatley and Howard Gibson ran the snowshoeing events this year. We also had four Moonlight
Snowshoe in the City events, although there was not enough snow to hike; afterwards, everyone met at a
nearby pub for food and refreshments.
Nordic Long Trips
A nearly sold out trip to the Eastern Townships on the Family Day Weekend was led by Denise Dale and
everyone enjoyed skiing. Nordic members also had the opportunity to join the Downhill skiers on the
Vermont New Year’s trip.
Ski Fit and Brunch
The Ski Fit and Brunch continues to have a great turnout at High Park on Saturday mornings from
September to November. Thanks to John McHutchion and Karen Evans for running this program. Come
out on Saturdays this fall and enjoy the camaraderie.
Volunteers
Thanks to:
 David Cloutier and Theo Kempe for running Nordic day trips.
 Paul Moser and Theo Kempe for auditing day trips and preparing refunds
 Paul Moser for finance including reconciliations.
 Jean-Emile Paraiso for helping David edit Nordic daytrip modules.
 Cynthia Wheatley for her work on Nordic communications and spearheading the snowshoe program.
 Helen Heurter for ghost writing many SnoBiz articles and items.
 Howard Gibson for organizing the ski touring events.
 Nicole Pepper (social director) for running the various après ski and bus parties and pot luck dinners;
June Larson for continuing to arrange the wonderful dinner trips.
 Linda Lavalee for coordinating the new “on-snow ambassador” program.
 Lisa Mordaunt for volunteering on long trips committee.
 Congratulations to our new instructors: Theresa, Emma, Jean-Emile and Regina.
 Thanks to all the Instructors, Race director, Bus captains, Tour leaders and Snowshoe leaders.
 And finally thanks to my Nordic Executive of George Lorenz, David Cloutier, Theo Kempe, Paul
Moser, Howard Gibson and Cynthia Wheatley for many hours of meetings and organizing work.
Monica Sauer
Director of Nordic Skiing and Fitness
crosscountry@hpsc.ca
Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding Report 2014-2015
The 2014-2015 Season started slow weather-wise, but the long and cold winter gave us great
opportunities to get out skiing week after week with excellent local conditions. The ski school kicked off
the season once again in Tremblant mid-December for another great training clinic. Getting things rolling
with the annual clinic really helps the instructors get their minds and bodies tuned into skiing after the
summer months. A continuing theme with the ski school has been professional development. We are
constantly striving to improve the quality of instruction and observe the latest teaching methods. Once
again we engaged Sandy Gardner to help us hone our skills in various training sessions throughout the
season. Sandy is one of the top Level 4 CSIA pros in Canada, as well as a CSIA Course examiner.
The snowboarding team is also working with top level CASI pros to develop and improve their instruction.
The group expanded this year by welcoming two new instructors which allowed us to extend the number
of weekends of snowboarding lessons to our members. Additionally, this year we experimented with
offering instruction on one of the weekend long trips (Holiday Valley).
Free lessons!! High Park Ski Club can’t be beat for value. Our membership fee includes as many lessons
as members want to take. Each weekend and weekday trip provides a complete range of lessons and
special programs for any ski level. From the ‘never-ever’ skier/boarder to the expert, we have lessons
and programs suited to all.
Again this year, after a very solid 2014/15 season and few trip cancellations, we were able to deliver over
700 total group lessons.
Our special programs were also well attended this year. So many thanks to the instructors that put the
extra effort into planning and running them:
Beginner & Barrie Series – with Garry Winsor & Bonnie Pietras
Platinum- Steve Schwartz
Advanced Ski Series - Jacqui Snyder
Instructor Training - Tom Parks
Mogul Masters - Ken Harper
Wednesday Super Seven - Ron Sabourin
Gate Training and Club Races - Kevin Thyer
Monday Series - Ray Bielaskie & Dan Hamden
Two new programs were offered this year with Peg McPhedran delivering a program on ‘Mindfulness in
Skiing’ and Kathleen McCabe offering to ‘Keep it Simple’ with the KISS program. Snowboarding
programs included Instructor Training, Pipe Dragons and All Terrain (coordinated by Keith Whiston).
We continued with our member lesson feedback survey and appreciate the input we are getting. Please
keep filling out the lesson surveys, as we strive to deliver the best results we can to our members.
None of this is possible without volunteers. A big ‘thank you’ goes out to the executive team that works
many hours throughout the entire year to make all of this happen: Tom Parks, Lynn McMillan, Len Zucker,
Alek Marchewka, Peg McPhedran, Jane Weninger and Kevin Thyer
Ski Fit starts up in September so take advantage of a great program that will get you fit and ready to get
out on the slopes.
Randy Snyder
Director of Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding 2014-2015
downhill@hpsc.ca
Administration Report for 2014-2015
Administration’s job is to support the other portfolios in serving club members.
This is done by providing or assisting in providing the necessary facilities and tools to other portfolios at
the lowest cost.
This year Administration reduced the number of phone lines in the clubhouse resulting in a significant
reduction in our telecommunication bill. All other expenses remain roughly the same.
Mary Macdonald
Director of Administration
Finance Report 2013-2014
Report is not yet available as we are awaiting the final Auditor’s report. The Finance Report will be
available at AGM meeting on September 17, 2015.