We hope you will join us in Sun Peaks, October 25-27th, for the always popular annual Member Summit, Coach Meetings and AGM! Again this year we will gather at the beautiful Sun Peaks Grand Hotel and Conference Center. All BC Alpine members are invited and it’s free to attend (excluding transportation and accommodation).
Sunday, October 27 (AM/early afternoon) – AGM and Member Summit (Day 2)
What to Expect from the Meetings
The themes for the 2024 meetings are focussed on Club Support, in these categories:
1. Education
Pierre Ruel, from Alpine Canada, will be in attendance to walk us through the new Snowstars App and the Coach Education Strategic Plan. John Newton and Johnny Crichton will update on Coach Education plans in BC this season.
2. Mountain Relations
How can you strengthen relations with your ski resort management team? As we all know, this is critical to the success of our operations and events. We will hear from the Sun Peaks Resort Management team on some of their thoughts from the resort perspective.
3. Resources
The support mechanism’s that BC Alpine have in place now (that you may not know about!) and plans in the near future for club support: From Safe Sport guidelines to club governance to recruitment and retention strategies. Open discussion, bring your ideas!
Please reserve your hotel accommodations as soon as possible to receive the best rates! If you prefer to call and speak to a reservations team member directly, please call 250-578-6080 between 9 am-7 pm daily. Booking code is GELBCAS24. Info on the hotel accommodations, amenities, dining and other options can be viewed and downloaded here.
The election is right around the corner, and we need to make sport a platform priority for each and every candidate.
There are numerous health, social, and economic benefits attributed to sport. It can be a generator of social capital, supporting societal goals such as child and youth development, crime prevention, economic development, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion. Sport has so much to offer – yet, much of its tremendous potential remains untapped.
We’re asking you to use your voice to talk to people in your community – candidates, neighbours and your friends about the important role sport plays in your life. We want to know that the parties and candidates who will form the next provincial government share our commitment to sport, and that they understand how inclusive and accessible sport creates healthy communities.
We’re not just here for the game—we’re here for community, health, wellness, and social inclusion.
We are inviting you to join this campaign. Be a sport champion and use our activist toolkit, which includes social posts, letters and additional resources. To access the toolkit, click here.
BC Alpine has been partnered with Ski Canada Magazine for decades, which has allowed all of our members to receive the Ski Canada Magazine delivered to their homes for free. This offer has recently been extended to also allow members access to their digital offerings – but only those who OPT IN via the BC Alpine Member Update page.
Along with regular columnists, award-winning photography, gear reviews, instructional tips, nostalgia, news, gossip and racy photos, Ski Canada has been telling stories for 50+ years. From what’s in store in new gear to where to go play with it across the country, the U.S., the Alps and beyond!
Benefits of adding your email include:
Access to digital editions to read anytime, anywhere.
Access to the Ski Canada Insider’s Report monthly e-newsletter.
Ski Canada can communicate with you directly about any delivery problems.
Simply visit your BC Alpine Member Update page and scroll down to your subscriptions. Then make sure you have enabled both that you’d like to receive the magazine by mail, as well as you consent to sharing your email address with Ski Canada Magazine, as shown in the image below.
The 2024/25 season registration is under way! Online registration by the club through the BC Alpine’s registration database is all that is require to get on the FIS list however athlete will not be start eligible until such time that their paperwork is accepted by BC Alpine.
SAIP Changes
The SAIP (Sport Accident Insurance Program) is under a new provider this season which includes a new category allowing for travel up to 210 days out of country. The updated SAIP options are already available at https://bcalpine.com/programFees/#_saip. Please remember that all FIS registered athletes must have a SAIP insurance selected in order to be considered start eligible. Information about the new SAIP coverage and claims process should be made available next week and will be posted in the BC Alpine SAIP Information folder as soon as it’s available.
FIS Paperwork
Following last year’s new feature update all FIS paperwork can now be found and uploaded via the BC Alpine Members page at https://bcalpine.com/memberUpdate/. FIS members need to get their yearly medical completed, so please be sure to book with your doctor soon if you have not already done so. Note: A link to this page is sent to registered members provided that their email address is valid. Thank you to all of the members who I’ve seen already getting their forms uploaded!
Out of Country FIS Racers
ACA will again be applying a $150 International FIS Athlete Service fee. This applies to Canadian FIS licensed athletes who are participating in an international program outside of Canada and electing to start in FIS competitions as well as Canadian FIS Licensed Masters athletes who are participating in an international FIS race outside of Canada. This fee allows ACA to appropriately service CAN FIS licensed athletes participating in programs and/or Masters races outside of Canada, additional time and resources are required to ensure that their program(s) can be supported in the manner to which is expected. Contact KevenD@bcalpine.com via email to verify you are correctly listed if you believe this applies to you.
The SAIP Exclusion Waiver has been retired this season. Athletes who are training in NCAA or other out of country programs this year will no longer be able to sign off insurance requirements. These athletes will need to purchase a valid SAIP program in order to complete at a FIS race this season. Please note that the SAIP insurance only covers direct ACA sanctioned activities such as FIS races not training or non-FIS events, so they would need to have accident insurance either provided by their school/program for non-ACA sanctioned activities.
CWSAA All Areas Pass – Important Deadline: August 8th
Alpine and Ski Cross athletes in FIS programs born between 2004 and 2008 are on the qualification for this season. Deadline for selection is August 8th so any athlete or FIS traveling coach wanting to qualify for an All Areas Pass must be registered with BC Alpine and then the club registrar needs to submit those requesting passes via the “All Area Passes” registration form found in the BC Alpine Club Admin Login by that date. Cost of the pass this season is $761.25 for athletes and $1522.50 for coaches.
In order to qualify all applicants must both be registered as well as complete the appropriate CWSAA Waiver found on the link below. Failure to do either of these steps by the deadline may result in ineligibility.
Congratulations to the winners of the “Drive to Win” fundraiser raffle. Colleen Chow, of Vancouver, is the winner of the grand prize, a shiny new 2024 Porsche Cayenne!
All Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance and Sport Accident Insurance Policy (SAIP) purchased during the 2023/2024 season will expire as of July 1st 2024. Because of this, all insurance must be renewed for anyone participating in summer programs on or before this date. To make this transition easier BC Alpine will be accepting early registrations for the 2025 season as of June 15, 2023. Clubs running summer programs must have their registrations for both coaches and participants completed before the summer programs get underway.
Increased Membership Fees – BC Alpine
For the 2024/25 season, BC Alpine has increased its membership fees by 4% to account for inflation. The BC Alpine Board of Directors has also approved a $2 per member fee to subsidize the costs associated with reporting through our Safe Sport mechanism and the independent third party handling all complaints. Distributing the fee to all members ensures BC Alpine clubs and individual members are not deterred from utilizing the reporting system due to financial constraints. Alpine Canada have also increased their membership fees by an average of 8.6% (varies by category). Influencing factors for this increase include inflation, cost of providing service and enhanced programming (SnowStars).
You can’t purchase a FIS card or membership directly from BC Alpine. In order to be a member, you must register through one of our member clubs. A full list of current clubs and their contact information can be found at https://bcalpine.com/contact/