- SOY Ski Day Volunteer
March 18, 2017
9:00 am - 6:00 pm
SHARE YOUR WINTER PASSION
What do you enjoy about skiing/snowboarding? Is it the thrill of racing down the slopes? Or the connecting with nature? Maybe it's the spirituality of being at one yet also free? The social aspect, connecting with friends who share your passion? Or the majesty of the views you get to take in from atop a mountain?
Whatever your passion is... ALLOW OUR YOUTH TO EXPERIENCE IT TOO!!
The members of OUTSLOPES Toronto (formerly TGSC) team up annually with the Toronto based charity Supporting Our Youth (SOY) in sponsoring a ski and snowboarding day for LGBTQ youth.
Supporting Our Youth (SOY), is a program of the Sherbourne Health Centre in Toronto. It is a dynamic community development program designed to provide support to LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Trans, and Queer) youth aged 14-29.
OUTSLOPES Toronto SOY Ski Day operates as part of the SOY Get Out! programming. This program provides opportunities for youth to engage in a variety of outdoor activities, growing confidence, leadership and belonging.
This important event gives a chance for LGBTQ youth that would not otherwise have the opportunity to have winter fun, escape the city and get some exercise. They can be their ‘full selves’ for a change “without having to worry about being guarded.”
Over the past 15 years, TGSC has made it possible for over 500 SOY youth to get out on to the ski slopes to try out skiing or snowboarding. Some of the youth, as newcomers to Canada, have never seen so much snow before; none of them would have the chance to pursue this kind of activity in the usual way.
The sport of skiing is expensive. To remove this participation barrier for the youth of SOY, this trip is completely funded by the membership of OUTSLOPES Toronto through donations and fundraising work. We need your generous contribution to make this event a reality year after year!
You can also copy this web link and encourage your friends and family to donate to the cause and help as well.
OUTSLOPES Toronto SOY Ski Day 2017:
https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/startup.aspx?eventid=217134
We need a number of good volunteers. Most of the SOY youth have never been skiing/snowboarding before. So we as an organization help out on the day.
We'll be looking for a few people to meet up with the youth at the Sherbourne Health Center in the morning. This is an amazing opportunity to meet and connect with the youth during the bus ride up and back.
Upon arrival we'll ask everyone, those who are meeting us at the hill, as well as those who traveled up on the bus, to help everyone get into their rental gear, and ready for their lesson. They are often a bit nervous, and just don't know the processes and gear. So you just need to help them find the right sized boots, and figure out how to put them on.
Then they're off to their group lesson. This is an opportunity for our volunteers to go hit the slopes for an hour or so on their own to get a few runs in for yourself.
Then we'll all meet up again for lunch. Again this is a great opportunity to connect with the youth and provide encouragement and support. Asking how their lessons went, and finding a group to head out with in the afternoon.
After noon, we'll split everyone up into small groups. Ideally one volunteer for every 2-3 youth max so that you'll all fit on even the smallest of chairs.
Then we ask that you just ski with them in the afternoon. Providing encouragement and friendship. You're not an instructor, you don't have to feel like you have to teach them anything. Just be there for them and offer encouragement.
As the day wraps up, we'll help them get back out of their gear and return it. MSLM is open later, so you're welcome to stick around and get some more runs in for yourself after we get the youth safely back on the bus headed home.
It's an amazing and rewarding day. It requires some investment on your part, but you will walk away from the day happy you did it.
Venue: Mount St. Louis Moonstone
Venue Website: https://mountstlouis.com/
Address:
Description:
OUTSLOPES Toronto Home Hill
LIVE Webcam
Mount St. Louis Base Webcam
Located right off the 400 highway about a 1 hour 45 minute drive (weather/traffic dependant) MSLM is one of the easier hills to get to, and is located in a unique position where it’s in the snow belt, and somewhat sheltered. Coupled with a killer snowmaking system, this gives the hill some of the best snow conditions in southern Ontario.
With 36 runs across 170 acres of skiable terrain over two unique peaks (Mount St Louis and Mount Moonstone), there is lots of space and variety of runs to really fill out an enjoyable day on the slopes.
How Trips to MSLM Work
Being a public hill, and our home hill, OUTSLOPES Toronto does regular trips to MSLM throughout the season, which are open to all Blue Square Members and above (regardless of your home club, if you’re in Toronto area, you can join the trip as long as you are at least a Blue Square Member).
Register for the trip on the event page of the day you want to go. Registration for trips to MSLM typical involve a charge. This charge includes special OUTSLOPES Member pricing for lift tickets which you will receive upon arrival.
Carpooling
Spots for trips to MSLM are limited based on the number of carpooling seats we are able to make available. Upon registration you will be asked how you are getting there with 3 options:
I will be making my own way there – if you plan to drive yourself and are not able to accommodate offering up any seats to help get other members to the hill.
I will be driving and have seats available – this lets our trip leader know that you have a vehicle and have seats available to help get others there. The trip leader will base your pickups on your starting location to keep things as close and easy as possible. One or two nights before the trip leader will contact you by email to let you know who you are picking up, where to find them, and provide you with their contact information so you can find each other.
I need a ride – we will do our best to match you up with someone who has seats available and is in your general area. One or two nights before the trip leader will contact you by email to let you know who you will be riding with, and provide you with their contact information so you can coordinate a specific pickup location and time.
Arriving
As you come off the 400 at Mount St Louis Rd West exit, you will come to an intersection with a sign for MSLM with two arrows pointing in different directions to the two bases. Process straight ahead to the Mount St Louis Base. We always base ourselves from the Mount St Louis Base. The parking lot is large. It’s often very busy on weekends, but never has there ever been a problem getting a parking spot at this base. Sometimes it may be a little bit of a walk, but you’ll get a spot.
On Arrival
Get your lift ticket. Different weeks have different numbers and different coordination. If we have an on-site trip leader that week they will have your lift ticket for you. If we don’t, you will need to pick it up from the general ticket sales window which is located at the Mount St Louis side base lodge, outside, between the rental office and the front lodge entry. Some may be used to years gone by where we went into the office. DO NOT DO THIS anymore please.
Show up ready to ski!! If you need rentals be sure to allow enough time to swing by the rental department and get your gear for the day.
Gear up and make your way to the back slopes side of the Mount St Louis base lodge.
Meet up
Mount St Louis Base – Under the Clock Tower
10AM
We meet under the clock tower at 10am. If you arrive earlier feel free to do a few runs on your own, just be sure to make your way back to the meetup point for 10am so we can check everyone in and hit the slopes together.
Generally we’ll make a group consensus at this time to decide when we’ll be meeting up for lunch. This way if anyone gets separated from the group during the morning we have an easy time and place to reconnect.
We always do lunch at the Mount St Louis base lodge. You can buy food from the cafeteria (the food at MSLM is pretty good and reasonably priced) or you can bring your own bagged lunch.
Generally we start coming off the slopes around 4 – 4:30pm and start meeting back up in the Mount St Louis base lodge. But your OUTSLOPES Group Lift Ticket will be good for night skiing too when available (not available early and late season), so if those in your carpool want to stick around longer you are more than welcome to do so.
Have Fun!!
A day out on the slopes with OUTSLOPES is all about having fun, being social, and enjoying time with friends new and old. Support and encourage each other. We are all out for healthy recreational skiing and riding, we aren’t a competitive club.
A Little MSLM Story
Owned by the Huter family, Mount St Louis Moonstone (MSLM) is one of the very few public ski hills that haven’t been gobbled up by big corporations. The personal passion of the family can be seen in the development and care of the resort.
Founded in the early 60s by Josl Huter, an Austrian ski racer, MSLM first opened for business on December 16, 1964, with only a couple of trails, and two T-bars. The two T-bars is the core key to this family’s approach to the operation of MSLM. They were side by side because Josl didn’t want to have to shut down if one of them broke down.
That passion has continued over the years seeing many expansions and improvements to the resort, including some of the best snowmaking equipment in the east. When coupled with the geographic position of MSLM in the snowbelt area, this gives the resort one of the longest seasons in Ontario.
One of the drawbacks of MSLM used to be the 4:30pm closure of the lifts due to the stupidly short number of daylight hours in the winter. To enhance the skier experience, and extend the day, in 2014 MSLM added lights across 80% of the terrain. But the family tradition of excellence continued, instead of small pools of light down a slope from traditional floodlights attached to wooden poles, MSLM went with a state of the art MUSCO LED Lighting system, which provides nice even light across more of the run, allowing better visibility and more enjoyable and safer riding at night, extending lift operation hours to 9pm.
OUTSLOPES & MSLM
The Toronto Ski & Snowboard Club (TGSC) have enjoyed MSLM as one of their favourite local hills for over a decade. But it wasn’t until December of 2013 where the relationship became much more formal, through total chance.
TGSC has for years sponsored a ski day for the youth of the Sherbourne Health Centre’s SOY Program. In 2014 as part of a growing relationship with GayWhistler, the organizers of then called “Winter Pride”, now known as “Whistler Pride & Ski Festival“, TGSC ran a Toronto Launch Party for Whistler Pride with proceeds going towards fundraising efforts for the SOY Ski Day. As part of the raffle for the event, TGSC organizers contacted MSLM asking for a couple of lift tickets to include. The relationship took an abrupt turn, for the good.
As had been typical for the LGBT community, TGSC had been operating fairly under the radar, not fully disclosing who they were, staying a wee bit closeted. But as soon as MSLM learned that we had been skiing their hill for years, and hosting the SOY ski day there for years, they immediately wanted to be much more heavily involved with both the day, and the club.
In 2016 TGSC became a local member club of OUTSLOPES, and rebranded as OUTSLOPES Toronto. That relationship with MSLM continues to grow as MSLM continues to be (the now official) home hill of OUTSLOPES Toronto, and a club favourite.
Mountain Stats
Number of Runs: 36
(35 percent for beginners, 50 percent for intermediates, and 15 percent for the expert)
Ski-able Terrain: 170 acres
Vertical Drop: 550 ft
Longest Run: 2 km
Night Skiing: YES
Average Season: December to March
Snowmaking Coverage: 100%
Lifts: 12
- Uphill Capacity – 23,600 people per hour
- 4 Six Express Chair Lifts
- 3 Quad Chair Lifts
- 2 Triple Chair Lifts
- 3 Magic Carpets.
Terrain Parks: 3
- SkooL YaRd Grom Terrain Park for learning
- Junkyard Progression Park for entry level rider
- Outback Super Park for the advanced rider)
Half Pipes: 2
(groomed by Zaugg super pipe machine)