Starting a freeride club a your local hill, any advice?
Some background first,
Hudson Bay Mountain
Hudson Bay Mountain is a small, local ski hill located in Smithers B.C. Stats and details can be found here;
https://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Ski-Smithers
https://www.onthesnow.ca/british-col...skireport.html
What the stats don’t tell you
-Hudson Bay Mountain struggles in all possible ways. It is a bare bones operation that stays solvent due to sound financial management.
-Overall vibe at the hill is frankly depressing. Other than powder days, the slopes, lounge and cafeteria are hauntingly empty.
- There is a Ski and Snowboard club. Younger kids ski around and receive instruction from their group leaders but once you hit pre-teen and teen years it’s seemingly all gates all the time. They do good things but gates and racing are not for everyone. Not dissing them at all, I hope both my daugthers join their ranks next year soon so as to establish a sound technical base
-I have ski bummed at Whitewater and Fernie, have skied at most major resorts in BC and Alberta, as well as the bigger resorts in Quebec and Vermont and never in my life have I skied a hill that is so entirely devoid of chargers or anyone whom I would call a strong skier. In short, there is no basically no charging culture at the hill at all. No roving gangs of young punks taking hits. No twenty something members of the EI ski team. Nothing.
Smithers Info
-Small town, 6000 people serving a catchment area of about 12000 people.
-Tons of activities for kids. So many in fact that there is competition between clubs and groups.
-Smithers is a super active place in an outdoor sense and getting more and more so each year.
-Smithers is changing fast. We are seemingly transitioning from small, resource based, northern town to a burgeoning mountain town in a hurry. Lots of young people moving up here to settle and live a leisure filled lifestyle.
Our backcountry ski scene is booming
More on that here;
http://www.bbss.ca
-We have more enthusiastic skiers than anytime in my 14 years here. In fact, I used to know absolutely everyone in the room at the 2 or 3 ski functions I go to a year, and over the last few years I am shocked by how few people I know. Overall, the ski vibe in Smithers pretty darn healthy I would say but shockingly little of that positive energy is directed at the hill.
So why do I think this place needs a freeride club?[/B]
I am a teacher in town, I run an Outdoor Ed. Program at my school, I feel I am pretty connected to the whole ski scene around these parts etc. etc. Based on these things, I could rifle off 20 reasons why I think a freeride team is needed but the most salient are;
-I have kids in my class who are members of the Ski Club who are frankly miserable. Years and years of grade 7 kids telling me about how they wish they could just free ski instead of bash gates.
-The parents of said kids keep asking me if this is something I would like to take on.
A couple more random things
-Starting a freeride club is not a new idea around here. I know it has been bandied about before and I know who was involved in those efforts. I plan on talking to them and seeing what is up from there point of view.
-I have no certifications as a freestyle coach or anything else of that nature. I would rather start the thing and be a tail gunner or whatever. Real instruction would require someone else to come on board.
-I know the manager of the ski hill and have some positive relationships with him and some local stores and various other stakeholders in the local ski scene etc.
So what I am about wondering is…
-Insurance, membership in a governing body, certification requirements for coaches and leaders, how do freeride clubs structure their on-hill days, going to comps, organizing comps, etc. etc and 1 thousand other things that are not even on my radar.
So basically, how does one go about starting a freeride club at their local hill?
Starting a freeride club a your local hill, any advice?
AP - I for one fully support your initiative.
My oldest is in the one day program which is a little less spandexy - but still has that focus.
The hurdle I am not sure about is insurance. The club is through bc alpine and alpine Canada- they mitigate risk by having certified coaches/course setters etc. not sure who would provide liability coverage for a FR team- and without liability ins I would never coach a “club” (I mean your kids wanna go for a rip with mine on a reg basis is another story) - but the risk is kinda huge.
So in your conversations with other clubs - this would be a good point of inquiry. Also talk to Cormac or dave Bobb about our ins - they are died in the wool racer types but also great organizers (over 110 kids in the club in our little town from as far away as pr, kitimat and pg)
Edit - an example of alpine Canada managing risk is that I am not allowed to take my group (team4 Dragons ROCK!!!!!) into the park as I am not certified for park. (I also have no idea what I am doing there and often wreck myself there - so the system works)
Starting a freeride club a your local hill, any advice?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Angle Parking
Thanks for responding. I know you have deep roots at Hudson Bay Mountain and your feed back means a lot. Again, I mean no disrespect to the Ski Club or anything. They produce beautiful skiers and like I said, I really hope my daughters want to sign up next year. My oldest opened the door to the possibility so my finger are crossed.
From my point of view the lack of engagement or stoke whatever it is I am pointing at is not at the younger levels. Your Dragons do indeed rock sir and you guys look like you are having a blast. It's at the 12 and up level that I am perceiving a problem. Please dispel this perception if you disagree. Assuming I am right, and I think I am because I know dozens of teens who used to be in the club and are no longer......
1. Am I right in my assumption that there is a significant drop off in both numbers and stoke at 12 and up level?
2. If said lack of stoke etc exists at the teen level, why do you think it is and would a Freeride program keep them in?
And for that matter, why doesn't the younger paradigm of just skiing around and embedding instruction throughout the day (which is what I think you guys do) continue beyond 12?
1. Yep- def a drop off. - Goes in waves - right now there is a pretty big group of racers.
2. I don’t think there is a sport out there that doesn’t see a drop off at some point. I saw it in xc, happens in hockey, basketball, .. basically everything. Prob many reasons but a couple that come to mind - kids find other things to do (good and bad). Some kids aren’t that into the competitive aspects and that is when it gets “serious”. We can go on. But would a free ride team help? - sure. Anything that exposes kids to sliding on snow can’t be wrong.
The one day program (as opposed to the two day race orientated program) is a continuation of what we do with the u10s.