IMPORTANT SAFETY MESSAGE FROM PROGRAM DIRECTOR - DEC 27th

Hello Tyees,

Hope everyone is enjoying their winter hollidays!

This is a special safety bulletin directed to all Tyee members including racers, parents and coaches.

We're entering the busiest period on Grouse Mountain as all Y2Players are coming up to ski at the Peak of Vancouver. In addition, it's school break so local and tourist families are enrolling in the Ski School programs. In addition, we've not had a spectacular snow year. The Grouse Mountain snowmaking crews have been working hard to make up for lack of natural snow, but only the main runs have snow coverage. Combine that with the number of people skiing the hill at this time (mainly beginners), and it gets very crowded starting late morning.

All of the Tyee programs have safety education identified as a top priority for the start of the season. The coaches are working hard to increase the kids awareness of safety hazards and to adjust their skiing for the conditions and volume of skiers.

Today was an extremely busy day and the groups struggled to adjust to the sheer number of public skiers on the mtn.
In agreement with the mountain management, Grouse Tyee members need to take a stronger position with regards to safety and courtesy on the ski hill.

Being a separate non-profit organization from the mountain, we rely heavily on their support in order to run our programs. We are very visible on the ski hill because of our skiing ability and our awesome team jackets. This partnership, our visibility and skiing expertise makes us the Grouse Mountain ambassadors and with that come responsibilities.

Below are some important points related to Tyee operations on Grouse Mountain:

• All Tyees must load the tram prior to 8am. We have identified and communicated staggered loading times for all groups. If you miss the pre-8am times, you need to load up through the regular public lineup. The kids and coaches head over to the Paradise/Greenway area and do their morning warmup. The rest of the mountain is not open until 8:30 so no skiing is permitted on any other run. Even if you see public heading down Expo or the Cut, please educate them there are ski patrollers and snow vehicles on the run and it's a safety hazard. Please resist the urge to have that run before 8:30. The only exception to this are coaches and course setup crews and this is by special mtn permission and precaution only.

• When you see that the mountain is getting busy, please adjust your speed and turn size to match the masses. At busy holiday times, it's a good time to work on your technical proficiency in short turns. Focus on control and precision rather than speed.

• Obey slow and caution signage. Resist the temptation to jump that roll if it's in a slow or caution area or if it is blind. For the kids, remember that the peak roll that we all love to pop is right above the ski patrol hut.

• Be patient and courteous with the mountain staff. They are all here to make our skiing privilege as enjoyable as possible and work hard at their jobs.

• Ski and speed patrol is at the peak of their and have the right to sanction skiers that compromise safety. The current going rate is a 2 week pass suspension for all passholders (racers, coaches and parents inclusive). The club encourages these sanctions and will not contest any of their decisions.

• Safety is #1.

With our programs, we will be adjusting the content of our afternoon training session. We'll need to stay out of the busy ski areas and focus on some other aspects of development (eg agility, coordination, teambuilding, games, ski tuning, mental training, etc)

Thanks for everybody's patience and hope we have a safe season.

If you have any questions please find me at the Tyee cabin and let me know!

Regards,

Sead