Review of Week Three
Brrrrr!
I have finally thawed out.
Great work to all skiers and instructors for braving the
weekend. We had lots of sun Saturday, but what a wind.
Next Weekend!!! February 8-9: Group Photo We will
take group photos for each Saturday, and Sunday at 12:30
each day.
February 15-16: Costume day!
Saturday March 22: End of year Banquet! Please do
what you can to identify an item to contribute to the silent
auction item, and consider contributing a bottle of wine for the
wine raffle. Tickets will be for sale soon.
Are you CADS-curious? CADS is a fantastic
organization, and CADS Edelweiss is full of exceptional folks. We
are always looking for volunteers to learn the ropes, and it’s a
great time to plan your contributions for next season and beyond.
There are opportunities to shadow and learn from the great people
around us – program planning and scheduling; event planning;
equipment and property maintenance; fundraising; coordination and
outreach; and more.
For those of you learning CADS instructing skills, that step
is central to the organization – thanks for that commitment. Please
keep at it – we’ve seen lots of skills development this year, which
is great for our club and our community.
See you next week!!
Randy
Randy
Review of Week Four
We are half way there! Woot! (or, wah-wah…). Four weeks down, four more to go.
This past weekend was another great one. A cold start Saturday
but the day turned out great, and Sunday did not warm up as much as
they threatened. The snow was great all weekend, and I saw lots of
happy athletes.
Some of you may know that CADS hosts a Spinal Cord Injury
Ontario day at Edelweiss every year. This year’s edition takes
place this coming Wednesday. This is a chance for people with
injuries to come out and be introduced to adaptive snowsports. We
have an amazing crew of volunteers who help out with this, from the
CADS clubs across the National Capital region. Looks like a great
day Wednesday with fresh snow. Have a great day!
Looking at the second half of our program, time to think of
our next milestones:
Seeking Program Photos for end of year
slideshow: We try to prepare a short video/slide show at
the end of every year. This year the slide show will be prepared by
Virgina, our fantastic Saturday admin. Photos will be crowd
sourced! This means we need a hand getting some shorts – on the
slopes, in the lodge, hanging out, etc., from everyone.
Virginia has created a shared folder. This should be pretty
easy to access, and I would ask people to share photos here. If you
do not know how to do this, let me know, and we can give you a
hand.
A note on photos: these are for us only. I do not do social
media or share photographs.
February 8-9: Group Photo Weekend! We will
take group photos for each Saturday, and Sunday, on Feb 8 and 9. In
order to make this happen, I will ask a special favour: I would
like to take these photos at 12:30 each day. This means
I would like to ask anyone who comes for half a day to try to stay
a bit late/arrive a bit early on these days. These are great
photos, and I hope everyone can make it!
February 15-16: Costume day! See what you
can dream up!
Saturday March 22: End of year Banquet!
The CADS Edelweiss Banquet will take place the evening of
Saturday March 22, 2025 at Ron Kolbus Centre, Britannia, Ottawa.
Mark it in your calendars!
Dinner, dancing, drinks, a silent auction, wine auction, and a
great setting. Tickets will be available for purchase on Snowline
in the next two weeks or so, once we nail down some details.
Seeking Banquet Silent Auction items: We would be
glad for any efforts to identify silent auction items you might be
able to identify from services or product suppliers. Please let me
know before the banquet, as we need to prepare the auction
materials at least two weeks in advance. Any objects/gift
cards/etc., can arrive on the day of, but we need to prepare the
auction materials in advance. In order to support your efforts, I
have attached a covering letter here. We will have some printed
versions at the desk next week.
Seeking Banquet Wine Raffle Contributions: Please
consider donating a bottle of wine (or more!) to the raffle table.
No home made wine please. Raffle tickets will be sold for 1 ticket
$5; 3 tickets $10; and arms length $20. If we have enough
donations, we may be able to hold three raffles! Or maybe four! The
more wine donations, the better the odds!
Review of Week Three
Hi all,
Classic regional weather! Close to 0 and warm Saturday (but
still snowing!), and frigid Sunday. Great results both days! It was
a really great weekend.
We have to be patient with the crowds – the lodge was super
busy, as were the hills. That said, I felt this weekend to be much
calmer on the hills than the first weekends this year. Edelweiss
has a great mix of skiers and ski clubs.
That’s all for this week! Short and sweet.
Take care and see you on the weekend.
Randy
Review of Week Two
Hi all!
A very pleasant week 2 is in the books!
It has been busy on the hill. Please take the time as much as
possible to scan around, and plan your runs. We can’t see
everything, but there is no rush to get down the hill, and we can
take a moment to scan around, think about our next moves, and enjoy
the setting at the same time.
A few housekeeping notes:
– Please do not lean skis against the lodge, in particular
that part of the “new” lodge that faces our CADS shack. The siding
is not super durable, and I would be grateful if folks could use
the ski stands. Our excellent CADS Shack team have built a bit of a
ski stand, and we may be able to have a bigger ski stand set up.
We’ll see what we can do.
– Photos and media: CADS Edelweiss does not do social media.
Most of us have phones, and these are great ways to share
accomplishments with family, or to review a lesson. I would simply
ask that any visual media be made and shared within an immediate
network.
– Communication: I’m very glad for volunteers and participants
to exchange contacts, and to get to know one another. We defer to
groups to make some decisions together as a team – no breaks, or a
few breaks but skiing a bit into lunch, etc. Please be sure to
contact me however if there is a change in your schedule. We have
many schedules to juggle, so it’s important to keep that info
centralized so we can balance the needs of the whole program.
– Slide show: In the past we have had a slide show during the
year end banquet. In order for this to happen, I would need someone
to come forward who can take this in hand. This takes a bit of
planning and skill, including starting to take and collect photos
and video now. We’re not talking Martin Scorsese here! Drop me a
line!
– Banquet: speaking of which, the CADS Edelweiss year-end
banquet will be Saturday March 22. We’ll have tickets up for
purchase soon. Mark your calendars! Dinner, DJ, silent auction, and
good times! Let me know if you want to help out.
– Get involved! I spoke up a few years ago and Jeff never let
me forget it. 🙂 CADS is a great organization and benefits from all
kinds of skills. You could coordinate the program, organize the
banquet, manage the scheduling of the Sat or Sun program, support
various admin tasks, fundraise, or bring your tinkering interests
to the fantastic CADS Shack. You don’t have to have CADS
certifications, be an instructor, or even be able to ski. The CADS
Edelweiss team will start targeting some discussions as we look at
legacy planning. Feel free to give me a call any time if you want
to learn a bit more about what would be expected.
– Training: For those who are curious about training, please
don’t hesitate to speak to CADS instructors. We may have the
opportunity to fit in some introductory sessions on weekends.
Wednesday evenings are great opportunities to learn with senior
instructors and others.
That’s all! Have a great week.
Randy
Review of Week One
Hi all,
What a great start to the program! It was a bit cold this
weekend but the snow was great. Not all runs are open, and Saturday
was especially busy on the hill. I had the chance to ski on the new
beginner/magic carpet hill – it is a great addition from the
perspective of our club – a longer, wider run with a gentle slope
gives skiers a bit more time and space to practice.
I want to thank everyone for your patience, especially Sunday
morning. We had quite a number of last minute cancellations, and
this means that we had to adjust the pairings on-the-spot. I think
everything worked out pretty well, and thanks to the instructors
and admin staff for the help. Please bear with us when this occurs
– we try to find the best solutions.
Reach out to me if as soon as you think or know you will
be unable to make your scheduled time. But overall, lessons
started on time, and people seem to have had a great start to the
year.
The ski patrol did come to our support this weekend, with one
injury to a volunteer. A collision occurred due to a non-CADS
guest at the hill. We can’t predict or manage for all events.
Please do your best to be cautious and considerate of other skiers
– which is what I saw from our folks. Thanks to the patrol for
their support.
With the cancellations, we were able to have some volunteer
skills training. This is a good outcome and use of our time, and I
was glad to see this happen.
Volunteers, please keep in mind the Wednesday evening training
sessions. You can sign up for these sessions on Snowline. Anyone
wishing to plan for CADS Level 1 or 2 certification can also sign
up for these on Snowline. We would be glad to answer any questions
people may have on training and certification.
Finally, the police were lurking in several areas this
weekend. Please be sure to drive safely.
That’s all for tonight! Have a great week, and see you on the
weekend.
Randy
Wakefield weather, January 14-19: