WMS SKI AND SNOWBOARD CLUB

2025
All trip dates are Fridays - immediately after school, returning to WMS approximately 9:30 pm

January 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 (cancelled - make-up 2/28), February 7 ** Please note that January 17th and February 7th are early release days at WMS. Students should leave school and return back to WMS by 2:15 on those days.

If any individual trip date is cancelled by Mr. Colchamiro (or Wachusett), it will be made up on a future Friday.

Equipment drop off is Thursday morning, Thursday afternoon until 3:45, and Friday morning. Students should bring their own gear into the auditorium. All bags (and hopefully the gear inside) must be labeled with the student's name. You should probably also write Walpole on it.

Wawa intro.MOV

This is a video of where we go when we get off the bus. Great for anyone new to either skiing and snowboarding or just Wachusett in general.

The Ski and Snowboard Club is an optional non-curricular 6-week program where WMS students take coach buses to Wachusett Mountain on Friday afternoons, immediately after the end of school, and return to WMS later in the evening. There are a limited number of spots on each trip. The trips will be chaperoned by Mr. Colchamiro, other members of the JMS staff and parents.

Recording of Information Meeting below

Ski/Snowboard Club Parent/chaperone meeting - 2024/12/20 17:46 EST - Recording

Trip Dates: January 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, February 7

Please email me at dcolchamiro@walpole.k12.ma.us with any questions. If your child is going to be absent and you know ahead of time, please email me as far in advance as you can. If your child is sick the day of a trip, please email me during the day so we are not waiting for them.

Never been to Wachusett? Check out the Trail Map!

Information:

Students will take coach buses to Wachusett, where they will ski or snowboard, then return to WMS. A WMS staff member and parent chaperones will be on each bus with students. Students will take the same bus to and from Wachusett each week. Each student will get a card/pass when they are on the bus that includes whatever package they registered for from Wachusett Mountain.

Students will bring their school backpacks on the buses with them and students with skis/snowboards will put those under the bus. Every student should have a bag with their winter gear in it. Please make sure all gear and bags are labeled with students’ names. Wachusett is a very busy place and there will be other schools there besides us, as well as the general public. We will not hold buses to look for gear at the end of the night.

WMS Ski/Snowboard Club 2025

Information for parents AND students

https://sites.google.com/walpole.k12.ma.us/jms-skisnowboard-site/home Please check this site for updates to the trips.

Buses leave at 2:30 right from school, returning to WMS by @ 9:30 pm.

Each student will get one plastic card that contains their lift ticket and rentals and lesson information (if applicable). The lift ticket should be kept in a pocket that can zipper, away from money and phones. It gets scanned when students go on the lift and to get rentals each trip. Students use the same card for the entire season.

It will be given out each trip by the chaperones on the bus and needs to be returned to the chaperone on the way home, on the bus. If the ticket is lost, Wachusett charges a fee to replace it and there will be a delay for the student until I can talk to customer service and get another ticket printed.

Students who are not dressed appropriately (in cold-weather clothing, including snow pants and a jacket) might not be allowed to ski or snowboard and will have to wait inside.

EQUIPMENT DROP-OFF

· Students’ equipment can be dropped off Thursday morning, Thursday after school until 3:30 pm or Friday morning. Everyone should have a bag with their ski/snowboard clothes and many people will have skis or snowboards and boots. Equipment should be brought (by students) to the auditorium. Bags of gear will go in the back section seats. Any skis, poles, or snowboards, even those in bags, will go in the center aisle, in between the front and back sections. There will be signs directing students where to place their gear. EVERY BAG SHOULD BE LABELED.

Rentals/Lessons

Lift tickets are a plastic card that students must put in a pocket with nothing else. Other object might interfere with the card’s ability to be read.

Ski and snowboard rentals take some time, so, if you are taking lessons, try to get to the rental shop as soon as possible, especially on your first day. We will have some chaperones by the rental shops to help you, but you need go over there with all your winter clothes and gloves on, ready to go. You should not have to come back into the lodge after you get your rental gear. Shoes can be left in the rental shop, under the benches.

Lessons begin at 5 pm, so please get changed and get your gear after we arrive. You should be at the ski/snowboard lesson meeting area by 4:50. If you are taking a lesson, you will need to not waste time when we arrive. If you have questions about where to find anything, please ask a chaperone.

All students attending the trip are required to wear a helmet while skiing or riding.

Leaving / Returning

Parents: When we return, buses will park on the left side of the school, next to the sidewalk, past the small upper parking lot. Please do not block the bus parking or it will delay everyone returning. Once the buses are parked, we can always use help unloading the gear from underneath the buses.

If you are renting equipment, you should begin to return your equipment at 7:45 pm. If you have your own gear, you can wait until 8. Do not come in later than 8 pm because you will have to get in the bus and ride back to Walpole in all of your skiing/snowboarding clothes.

If your child is leaving early for any reason, you must check in with me first. Please do not come to pick up your child without checking in at the chaperone table. Failure to do so will result in your child not being allowed to attend future trips.

Absences

If your child will not be attending on any particular week, please email me at any time before the trip. If you know of any trips that will be missed far ahead of time, feel free to email me at dcolchamiro@walpole.k12.ma.us. If your child is sick the day of a trip, please email me during the day so we are not waiting for them. Wachusett will issue a $30 credit (good towards a future lift ticket, I think, and cannot be combined) for each absence. I don’t think there is a credit for rentals or lessons.

Chaperones

There will be a chaperone table so you will know where to find us at all times. At least one chaperone will be sitting inside at the WMS chaperone table at all times to assist students. If you have any questions, problems, or someone does not feel well or gets injured, please talk to the chaperone.

If you know of someone who was injured, tell a chaperone immediately!

INJURIES

INJURY PROTOCOL: If a student is injured, they will be treated by Wachusett ski patrol and a WMS chaperone will be paged and will join them. Unless the injury is minor, ski patrol or I will contact the student’s parents to discuss the injury and course of action. If you receive a phone call from an unknown or unlisted number while your child is on the ski trips, please answer it.

Ski patrol will let you know if they think your child can ride home on the bus, if you should come and get them, or if they should be sent to the hospital, where you will need to come meet them. If they do have to go to the hospital, a chaperone will stay with them the entire time until your arrival.

There will not be a nurse with us. Any concerns/injuries will be treated at Ski Patrol and parents/guardians will be called. Please accept unknown phone calls while we are on the trips.

Skiing / Riding Information

You must always ski/ride in groups of two or more. No one is allowed to ski/ride alone. You should find people who have similar abilities to ski or ride with before the day of the trip. No student should deny another student of similar abilities the opportunity to ski/ride with them. Please be inclusive of others.

If you have friends who are better than you, they may not want to wait for you. If you have lost your group, wait at the bottom of the trail for them (near the lift), find another group, or come into the lodge and find people in our area of the lodge to go with. Students might not be skiing/riding with teachers/chaperones during the day, but will always be able to locate chaperones in the lodge. All trails at Wachusett lead directly to the lodge.

You should not be on any trail that you are not capable of skiing/riding. If your friends ask you to go with them and you cannot handle the trail, take off your skis or board and walk down.

If you are a beginner or intermediate, you should not go to the top of the mountain with your friends. Start on one of the easier trails and lower chairlifts. If you find that you can ski/ride those trails, then it’s ok to go to the next hardest trail. The beginner chairlift is on the left, intermediate on the right, and the expert chairlift is in the middle.

The Terrain Park is an expert-rated trail. It includes jumps, rails, and other features. Do not go in the park if you do not have experience in a park before – it is not a place for beginners or intermediates. Helmets are strongly suggested for all skiers and snowboarders going in the park. Additionally, wrist guards can be helpful in preventing wrist injuries to snowboarders. There is a charge to buy a park pass to the park and you also have to watch a safety video. If you go to the Wachusett website, you can purchase the pass online and save yourself some time or you can purchase it at the entrance to the snowboard park. You will also have to watch a safety video. There might be an intermediate park on a different trail that does not require the purchase of a pass.

Food

You should either bring food and snacks or bring money for food. You should bring about $25 for food if you are planning on buying food. There is no set eating time – you can eat with your group whenever you want to.

General Information

Your school bag should be brought onto the bus with you, not put under the bus. Same seats on the way and the way back. You will not be able to get back on the bus after we get dropped off at Wachusett until You can bring extra food and drinks to eat on the bus ride, but you must clean up after yourself. There are bathrooms on the bus. You should definitely bring a drink for the ride home. Wachusett has water fountains where you can refill your water bottle. We will all clean up the bus on the ride home.

· When we get off the bus, students will leave their school stuff on the bus. Same seats, same bus on the way back.

· Bring anything you’ll need for skiing and snowboarding with you. We will not be coming back to the buses until we leave Wachusett.

· We are all going to walk together into Wachusett, especially on the first trip. We’ll stop for a brief orientation on the way in. After that, you should head into the lodge, change into your warmer clothes, and head out. If you have questions, follow the adults in or come find the WMS Chaperone table.

All your gear (not including skis, poles, or boards) should be in one bag that you can leave in the lodge. It is usually a safe place, but there are no guarantees. There are lockers for rent.

Please label all of your equipment, including skis/snowboards, poles and boots. Label your equipment bag – many bags look alike. You can get changed once we get to Wachusett. Bring a change of clothes to change into after the trip for the ride home in case your clothes get wet. You may want to bring extra gloves in case your first pair gets wet. Please label all of your equipment, including skis/snowboards, poles and boots.

You may bring electronics with headphones and cell phones on the bus. Nothing valuable should be left on the bus while we are at the mountain. You can put electronics and other valuables in lockers at the mountain (lockers can be shared) or leave them in your bag. Headphones may not be used while skiing/riding. Bring electronics at your own risk.

You must be on your best behavior. All usual WMS school rules apply and the Code of Conduct must be followed. Students with poor school conduct will not be allowed to sign up for trips. If a student has poor conduct after registering for the ski/snowboard club, the privilege to attend the trip may be revoked. Rules violations, whether on the bus, in the lodge, or on the slopes may result in a student having their lift ticket revoked.

Any student who is seen skiing/riding recklessly will have their lift ticket revoked without refund and will have to sit in the lodge. Safety of everyone is the most important part of this trip.

Dress warmly. This includes warm socks, snow pants, long underwear (sweatpants or flannel pjs are ok, although synthetic materials or wool are better), sweatshirt, jacket, gloves and goggles (optional). You should bring an extra pair of gloves and clothes to change in to for the ride home. Wool or synthetic clothes insulate the best and outer clothes should be as waterproof as possible. Clothes should be in a backpack or bag. If it is very cold, you should go into the lodge to warm up, if necessary. Label everything – including skis/snowboards, boots, poles and gear bags – with your name.

Absences

If your child is absent, please email me when you know (even the day of the trip). Wachusett will issue a $30 credit (good towards a future lift ticket, I think, and cannot be combined) for each absence. I don’t think there is a credit for rentals or lessons.

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