Ski Club / Safety & Responsibilities
Safety & Responsibilities.
What Ski Club is, what it is not, and what you are agreeing to when your child takes part. Please read this before you register.
Inherent risks
Skiing and snowboarding are dangerous.
They carry an inherent risk of injury, including serious injury, from falls, collisions, and the conditions themselves. Trips run after dark, in the cold, on machine-made snow and ice. Lessons, rental equipment, helmets, and attentive chaperones reduce that risk. Nothing eliminates it.
Getting there carries its own risk. Students travel to and from Whitetail by charter bus, at night, in winter weather, roughly ninety minutes each way. Participation is voluntary, and by registering you accept and assume these risks for yourself and your child.
Parents make the final decision
You decide whether a given night is right for your child.
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 by Ski Club to run a scheduled trip is a judgment about the group and the conditions we can see. It is not a statement that travel or skiing is risk-free, or that a given night is right for every child. If you are not comfortable with a particular Friday, keep your child home and let us know.
Student readiness
Ski Club is not the right fit for every child.
Parents know their children best. Participating students need the maturity to follow instructions from chaperones and mountain staff, remain with their assigned group when required, behave safely on the bus and on the mountain, and be at designated meeting points on time.
We have a limited number of volunteer chaperones supporting a large group of children, so we cannot provide individualized supervision. If you believe your child may require frequent one-on-one attention, or is not yet ready to manage a group outing of this kind, please do not register unless a parent or guardian is prepared to accompany them.
Volunteer supervision
Chaperones are parents, not professional caregivers.
Ski Club is a parent-run volunteer group. Chaperones help supervise the group, manage the transitions between bus, rental shop and lessons, 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 supervision. Whitetail's instructors run the lessons, and Whitetail's staff are responsible for mountain operations. We may require a parent or guardian to accompany a student on future trips if we determine that additional supervision is necessary for that student to take part safely.
Transportation
The bus, and what is expected on it.
Students travel together by charter bus, booked and paid for in advance against a headcount. Safe and appropriate behavior is required, particularly on the bus and during group transitions. 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. Families who prefer to drive their own child may do so — tell us in advance, and check in with a chaperone on arrival and before leaving so we always know who is on the mountain.
Parent orientation & waivers
A parent meeting and a signed waiver are required.
At least one parent or guardian of every participating student must attend the preseason parent meeting in November or December. It is where trip operations, transportation, chaperoning, student conduct, the risks of skiing and snowboarding, weather decisions, emergency procedures, and the waiver are reviewed in person.
Every participating student must also have a completed Ski Club waiver on file before their first trip. The waiver is separate from registration, and it is the document that sets out the assumption of risk in full. Participation is contingent on completed registration, attendance at the meeting, and the signed waiver.
Questions? The frequently asked questions cover the practical details, and you can always email us. When you are ready, head to cost and sign-up.