An official organized Five Winds winter day includes a luxury coach bus on Sundays. If you are new to the club, expect a friendly person to call you after you register to help you with your expectations and recommendations for what to bring.

Be aware that a club's winter day is a long day. Expect to be outside for five and a half to six hours.

On the Bus:  

Our luxury coach travels from downtown Toronto, making stops at the designated pick-up locations as we head north. At your pick-up, you can store your skis/snowshoes/poles in the coach's cargo hold. Any pack that doesn't need to be accessed during the bus ride should be stored in the hold as well.

On our way up to the trail system, our organizers will hand out the group lists to the group leaders based on the participants' abilities to form a compatible and evenly matched group. Ski groups are typically 6-8 people. Snowshoe groups are typically 6-10.

Group leaders coordinate with each other and the day's head organizer. This provides awareness of the intended routes and which trails will be broken for another group. The group leaders also talk with each member of their group to review the plan for the day, and which stop they will be getting off the bus as there could be a number of drop-off points along the roadways. We encourage each group member to be aware of their group's plan. The day's organizers may make announcements about the day's conditions and ensure everyone knows their groups' pick-up spot at the end of the day.

About a half hour before we arrive in the general vicinity of our trail system, there is a flurry of activity as people put on their boots, adjust their outdoor clothing, ready their backpacks, and line-up for the washroom, so when their groups' stop is called, they are ready to get off the bus, grab their ski or snowshoe equipment from the cargo hold, and head off with their group to start their backcountry adventure. The bus continues its journey to drop off the rest of the groups.

Ski/Snowshoe Adventure Begins: 

We'll navigate through marshes, forests, ridges, trails, wherever the group decides to explore. For some groups, the marked trails are just a guideline. Snowshoe groups travel off trail. There are no chalets or warming huts.  

 

Your group will occasionally stop for a snack or to hydrate, or for any clothing or equipment adjustment. Lunch is in the great outdoors, so out comes the warmer layers while we enjoy nature around us. Some people sit on their packs during this stop.

After lunch, we start off and typically within a few minutes stop to delayer our warmer clothing at lunch.   As we get closer to the bus pick up location we may see other groups  or their tracks.  

Your Group and group leader

A group will have one or two leaders. A group leader is volunteering to do this each time and is not paid. He or she is like you, a skier or snowshoer, and with ample experience in our trails and our groups. We encourage all group members to be aware of the group's location and time.

As well, we encourage sharing tips and advice between the more experienced members and the newer members of a group. Five Winds does not offer "lessons" but our members have a tremendous amount of knowledge and experiences in skiing or snowshoeing the backcountry.

Back on the Bus:

Back on the bus and in your seat, you may want to eat or have something from a thermos that you left on the bus. Some people also change to  fresh layers to be more comfortable.

The bus departure time is usually 4 pm early in the season and as the daylight gets longer, 4:30 pm by the end of the winter season. 

On the drive back to Toronto some people have a snooze, but most are usually quite chatty with people comparing their routes, talking with new members or catching up with each other. Try to keep your gear organized so when you arrive at your stop you can easily find and collect all your gear on the bus usually in the dark.

 

Snowshoe Note:  

We plan for at least one snowshoe group each Sunday. If you are interested in becoming a Five Winds snowshoe group leader, please contact the organizer or any club executive member before the outing. A group leader does not need to be the most skilled nor the most experienced; rather, the leader needs to be someone comfortable in working with the group and making overall decisions about the group's progress.