Welcome to another GDHL newsletter! First off, we're delighted to introduce a new feature for your interactive enjoyment. Rob Mathers has built a database that will be used to deliver GDHL race results during the upcoming season. In the meantime, the past two seasons' results have been loaded in and you can revisit past glories while you await the new season. The database is found on gdhl.org here. (Remember to hover if the link isn't in differentiated font.) And immediately below is Rob's screencast concerning the use of the database.

Rob's efforts in building the database and our website have earned him (and his alter ego website) a position as a GDHL sponsor.

grmm.ca provides provides development services for the web, iOS and Mac OS X. Run by longtime Craigleith member and ski school instructor Rob Mathers, grmm.ca has developed the new GDHL results database, and set up the gdhl.org site. The new site and database are crafted with a great combination of readily available web services (like Squarespace and Parse) and custom developed code.

If you or your business need a new website or app, an update to your existing site, or just a general technology consult, get in touch with Rob on his site at grmm.ca.

Sun Peaks Update

We've previously told you about our sponsor Michel Pratte's offer of a discount at his Sun Peaks race training and ski improvement camp at the beginning of the coming season. We've reached our minimum numbers but there is room for more. Even better, Michel has agreed to extend the original deadline for those who haven't yet made up their minds (or convinced other interested parties) and has agreed that, if you can't make the 23 to 30 November camp, you can have the discount at the 30 November to 7 December camp! Full details are available on our website here. We've also added full details for signing up with Michel, booking discounted rooms at the Delta etc. But don't delay - among other reasons, the Delta discount expires 30 days before camp starts.

Meanwhile, Michel's camp at Zermatt has just concluded. Rob Cassels reports that, after a frustrating number of blown-out days last year, this year he and Glenn Blaylock enjoyed eight days of perfect training conditions (and one day of hiking) . See pics below and remember that a place at next year's Zermatt camp will be up for auction at the season opening Calcutta!

*Race training lanes on the Zermatt glacier*

Sign-Up Time

Registration for GDHL and adult race training (plus whatever the rest of your family will be doing while you're doing that) is now available online in the members' section of the Club website, here. Remember to take advantage of reduced prices by registering by 31 October. And could the scene below be the adult equivalent of the Snow School's crazy helmet day?

Attention Snowboarders

Please bear with us as the new GDHL committee struggles to acquaint itself with a host of new experiences before tackling what is (for us skiers) the great unknown of snowboarding. Andrew Conway is helping to guide us on that journey of exploration, and we're trying to find ways to integrate snowboard racers more fully into the GDHL, including participation in the teams if possible. In the meantime, check out the Club's online program guide for details of a new Snow School program aimed at snowboard racers.

Diversions

See right for a reason why I'm hedging my bets by being a ski coach on the weekends. And thanks to Rob Cassels for the following gender neutral story.

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publikenthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi TU understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united Urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.

See you soon,

James Mathers