Spring Renewal

It is certainly feeling like spring out there. But up in the alpine, plenty of snow will still greet you (snowshoes or spikes? the eternal question).  April is a time of renewal and regeneration. Everything feels fresh again. Lots of new things are happening in your club. This is the "New" edition of The Raven. After all, that's what news should be.

New - Waivers

The Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC has updated their waivers and that means we get new ones as well. If you are signed in and go to the schedule page, you will be automatically asked to sign a new waiver. This is legit, so please do it.

New - Trip Guidelines for Leaders

Wondering how to lead a trip? There's a guideline for that. Our new guidelines for trip leaders are abbreviated in a single document for both hike and bike trips. We tried to streamline them to make it easy. Remember too that you can always ask any seasoned leaders for help. We are a friendly bunch. On that note: "seasoned leaders"  we have changed the email to send in your signup sheets from tripreports@northshorehikers.org to signupsheets@northshorehikers.org to make it super-duper obvious where to send them. Yes, duper.

New  - Carpooling Fees

Well, nobody likes fee increases, but here we are. We've raised the suggested amount for driver reimbursement.  As the costs of maintaining and fuelling vehicles go up due to inflation, we suggest $7.00 per person/hour of driving time on paved roads and $12.00 /hour on rough logging roads, and in adverse conditions. Inflation sucks! Buy Bitcoin.

New - April Trip Schedule

Want to join in on a trip? If you are a member, you can click here to find out more. Not a member? Then come along as a guest. But, hey why not just join?  Contact membership@northshorehikers.org

12 Secrets to Successful Multi-day Trip Planning

1. Decide on the destination
2. Research the destination including but not limited to: best time to go, potential itinerary, potential accommodations, travel arrangements, potential guiding professionals
3. Contact the  multi-day coordinator, currently Diane Whiteley, for advice and approval in principle to advertise the trip on the NSH website
4. Issue a formal request for expressions of interest from members
5. Maintain a list of interested parties and communicate with the people on that list
6. Hold a face-to-face meeting  to start defining the details ( time of the year, duration, proposed itinerary)
7. Continue to  refine the details  with committed people
8. Suggestions of approaches to coordinate the trip: have a co-leader; commit only to provide relevant information on flights/transportation /guiding companies/accommodations and leave actual arrangements and payments to the individual participants; provide a detailed list of daily activities and exact dates for the trip; choose a meeting point/time/date to start and end the trip
9. If there are any costs to be shared, charge people early in the process. That can eliminate people who are not committed
10. There are instances when accommodations can be arranged by the organizer for all participants, such as renting a camping group site or an entire hostel. In these situations, a full deposit is required from participants. The organizer or the club pays the charge and recovers the costs from the deposits.
11. In case of cancellations, the organizer and the cancelling party work together to find a replacement. At no time, is the organizer responsible for covering the cost of the cancellation.
12. AFTER your trip: Write a wonderful trip report and make a presentation at one of our club socials.

What Happened? in 1976/78

Okay, not new. But still cool. Here's a snippet from our past.

In 1976 the membership fee doubled from $1.00 to $2.00. Whoa! Highway robbery. An introductory fee was also considered as a way of reducing the annual turnover of 250 people/year, but this was rejected. In 1978, the average number of people out each Sunday was 70. That's huge!!

Happy Trails and thanks for reading