Frequently asked questions

No. Ski Club is an independent, parent-organized activity and is not sponsored, operated, or administered by St. Bartholomew School. School facilities or administrative processes may assist with certain logistics, such as early dismissal where applicable, but Ski Club itself is independently organized. All participants come from the St. Bart's community.

Skiing and snowboarding carry an inherent risk of injury, including serious injury. Lessons, rental equipment, helmets, and attentive chaperones reduce that risk. Nothing eliminates it.

The Ski Club waiver below is not a formality. By signing it, you and your child accept and assume those risks. Please read it rather than skim it — if you are not comfortable with what it says, this is not the right activity for your family.

Ski Club is run by volunteer parents. Chaperones are not ski instructors, ski patrol, or medical professionals. On-mountain instruction and safety are Whitetail's responsibility, and Whitetail has its own terms that apply to everyone on its slopes.

The Safety & Responsibilities page lays out the risks in full.

Yes. Every participating student must have a completed Ski Club waiver on file before their first trip. The waiver is separate from registration, and the link will be posted here once it's available for this season.

Yes. At least one parent or guardian of every participating student must attend the preseason parent meeting in November or December. Participation is contingent on it, along with completed registration and the required waivers.

The meeting covers how a trip night runs, transportation, chaperoning, student conduct, the risks of skiing and snowboarding, weather decisions, emergency procedures, and the waiver. It is the one time all of it is explained in person and questions get answered.

The date will be posted here and emailed once it is set.

See Safety & Responsibilities for what the meeting covers.

No — and most don't. Last season roughly three-quarters of our participants had never skied before. Lessons cover the fundamentals from the very start.

Grades 2 through 8. Preschool, kindergarten, and first grade are not eligible this season.

Students also need to handle a long group evening away from home: following instructions from chaperones and mountain staff, staying with their assigned group, behaving on the bus, and being at meeting points on time.

Five Fridays between January and February. The specific dates are being finalized with Whitetail and will be posted here as soon as they're confirmed. Email us to be on the list that gets them first.

Two parts. Estimated $300–$350 per student to Ski Club, covering the charter bus for all five Fridays, pizza on the way up, and cookies and snacks on the way home. The final figure depends on enrollment and bus pricing — the bus is split across the group, so more participants means a lower price per family.

Separately, families register and pay Whitetail directly for its Slope Days package, which covers a lift ticket for each trip, rental equipment, and the hour-long lesson at a group rate. We'll publish that figure once the resort confirms our group.

No. The charter bus is booked and paid for in advance against a headcount, so a seat costs Ski Club the same whether or not your child rides. Payments to Ski Club are non-refundable and non-transferable.

That holds for any reason a student does not participate — illness, injury, a conflict, a change of mind, or removal from a trip for conduct under the Code of Conduct. Please treat sign-up as a commitment for the full season before you pay.

Amounts paid to Whitetail are a separate transaction with the resort and are governed by Whitetail's own policy, not ours.

No. Ski Club is not-for-profit and organized on a volunteer basis by parents. Nobody is paid, nobody takes a commission, and there is no markup on anything.

Your payment to Ski Club covers the charter bus, the pizza, and the snacks — that is all it covers. The Whitetail fee goes to the resort at a group rate.

Chaperones are volunteers. They are not reimbursed and they are not paid.

No, and this is the step families most often miss. Whitetail's booking system and Ski Club's bus are separate, and the resort does not send us a list of who registered.

Email us as soon as you complete Whitetail's registration, with your child's name and grade. If we do not hear from you, we have no way of knowing your child is coming, and the bus seat will go to another family.

Sign-ups aren't open yet — we're locking in the dates first. The registration form will go live on this site for registration, ski-or-snowboard preference, ability level, rental needs, and chaperone date selection. Email us now and you'll get the link the day it opens.

Whitetail Mountain Resort near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania — roughly ninety minutes from campus. Students travel together by charter bus and return the same evening.

Yes. Families may drive their own child up and meet the group at Whitetail. Tell us in advance so the headcount and lesson groups are right, and so nobody is held on the bus waiting for a student who was never coming.

Students who travel separately still ski with their group and take the same lesson. Check in with a chaperone on arrival and again before you leave, so we always know who is on the mountain.

Driving yourself does not change what you pay Ski Club. The bus is booked in advance against a headcount, so the seat costs the same either way.

Safe and appropriate behavior is required, particularly on the bus and during transitions between the bus, the rental shop, and lessons. Unsafe, significantly disruptive, or repeated inappropriate behavior can cost a student Ski Club transportation for the rest of the season.

A student who loses bus privileges may still take part in Whitetail's program, but a parent or guardian becomes responsible for transportation and for any additional supervision required.

Ski Club fees are not refunded in that situation, for the same reason they are not refunded in any other — the bus is already booked and paid for.

The Safety & Responsibilities page covers behavior and transportation in full.

Students must be at the bus by 8:00 PM and it departs at 8:15. Arrival back at St. Bart's is usually between 9:30 and 10:00 PM, traffic depending. Parents receive an emailed ETA as the bus leaves the mountain.

Lessons run 6:00 to 7:00 PM, grouped by ability. An optional free ski period follows from 7:00 to 8:00. Instructors assign lesson groups, not parents, and adjustments are made weekly.

Yes. Pizza is served on the bus on the way to the mountain, and snacks are provided during the trip. Eating on the road means the students spend their time at Whitetail skiing rather than sitting in the lodge.

No. Rental equipment is available and many students rent for the entire season. Rental details and pricing will be published with the season information.

No, and most students can't — that is expected and it is fine. Getting boots fitted, collecting skis or a board and a helmet, keeping track of gear, and getting ready to go out is one of the main things chaperones do on a trip night.

Students get noticeably better at it as the season goes on. A first-timer who has never rented equipment before is not at a disadvantage here.

More on how we support students is on the Safety & Responsibilities page.

Yes. Both skiing and snowboarding are accommodated. Indicate a preference on the registration form.

We evaluate road conditions, transportation, the mountain forecast, and overall safety before each trip. Ski Club does not automatically follow MCPS weather decisions. A snowy forecast can force a postponement because the drive becomes unsafe even when the skiing would be excellent. Rain alone does not cancel a trip.

Families are notified directly if a trip is postponed or rescheduled.

You do. Parents keep the right and the responsibility to decide whether their child travels and skis on any particular night — for weather, road conditions, illness, how their child is doing that week, or any other reason.

A decision to run a scheduled trip is a judgment about the group and the conditions we can see. It is not a statement that the evening is risk-free or right for every child. If you are not comfortable with a given Friday, keep your child home and let us know.

This is set out on the Safety & Responsibilities page.

Please keep your child home if they're contagious or not well enough for an active outdoor evening, and let us know as early as you can.

Contact us as soon as possible — we coordinate with the bus company and the resort to recover items. Please label helmets, gloves, bags, and clothing. Gear gets left on buses; labels get it back.

Chaperones are volunteer parents. They supervise the group, manage the transitions, help students through rentals and equipment, and account for everyone across the evening.

They are not professional childcare providers, ski instructors, or ski patrol, and they cannot provide continuous one-on-one attention to any one student. Whitetail's instructors run the lessons and Whitetail's staff are responsible for the mountain.

If a student needs individualized supervision beyond what a group setting reasonably allows, we may ask that a parent or guardian come along on the trips for that student to participate. That is not a judgment about the child — it is the honest limit of what volunteer parents can cover.

The Safety & Responsibilities page explains the limits of volunteer supervision in full.

It is highly encouraged, and we mean that sincerely — we cannot do this without parents. Ski Club has no paid staff and no budget for supervision. Every adult on the mountain is a volunteer parent.

Here is the arithmetic. Each trip needs about five chaperones, and there are five trips. That is upwards of twenty-five chaperone spots to fill across the season. If only a handful of families volunteer, those same people carry all five Fridays, and the program stops being sustainable.

So please plan on taking at least one trip. It is the single most useful thing you can do for Ski Club, and most parents who do it end up glad they came.

Once the five Fridays are confirmed, chaperone dates are claimed on SignUpGenius — first come, first served. Two parents from the same family can split a trip, and every parent who wants to come along will get the chance.

No. Many of the most important chaperone responsibilities — bus loading, headcounts, rentals, boots, lesson transitions, getting everyone back on the bus — don't require advanced skiing at all. Some chaperones never put on skis.