News from the Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC
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The Raven eNewsletter
The Raven eNewsletter
Winter 2021/2022
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
Whoa, let’s play in the snow! With over 100 cm of fresh on the hills this week the mountains are looking superb. But with all the snow, please be careful in the backcountry.
Make sure you consult Avalanche Canada’s site for the area you are interested in. Put a link to their South Coast forecast on your phone so you can check it anytime, anywhere.
Avalanche Training Discount
Canada West Mountain School is offering 20% off any AST-1 course for North Shore Hikers members. Their AST-1 course for back-country skiing and AST-1 for snowshoeing cost $285. Interested? Please contact Alastair Ferries 604-329-1637 or natlakeele@hotmail.com to receive a discount code.
Hike Leaders Needed
The best way to attract club members is to fill the schedule with interesting and varied hikes at all ability levels. To do this, we need more hike leaders. If we all agreed to lead just one hike per year, we’d have a lively program full of choices in no time.
Most of us don’t just hike with our club, but also with other groups and personal friends. We invite you to share some of the hikes you’ve learned about and enjoyed, by proposing them on the schedule and leading them. We really need more B and C hikes.
And that’s the beauty of joining a hiking club: you learn new routes and meet new, compatible people to hike with. Don’t worry about leading a hike: if you’re already comfortable with whatever level of hiking you normally do, you know what it takes in terms of fitness and stamina.
Here are the steps:
- Decide which hike you would like to lead and when
- Categorize it as per our system here
- Create a trip announcement with details about location, category, date, time, pace, car-pool spot etc.
- Email this information to the club trip planner depending on the category. He or she will post it to the schedule. Or if you are a pro, post it to the schedule directly using the add event function on the website, then wait for the trip planner to approve it.
Get the Picture? 2022 Photo Contest
We are pleased to announce a member's Photo Contest for 2022! North Shore Hikers members can submit one photo for each category, up until October 31, 2022. There are six categories:
| Category | Prize |
| A scenery photo from a 2022 North Shore Hikers trip. | $100 |
| A scenery picture shot anytime, anywhere. | $50 |
| A wild animal (mammal, bird, reptile, insect, etc.) picture taken anytime, anywhere. | $50 |
| A wild plant (tree, flower, mushroom, etc.) photo taken anytime, anywhere. | $50 |
| A people (companions or locals) picture taken anytime, anywhere. | $50 |
| A humorous photo snapped anytime, anywhere. | $50 |
Professional photographer, Chris Barton, will judge the entries in the first five categories. At the November Annual General Meeting, he will present a slide show of the winners and best submissions. At the AGM members will cast their vote for the best humorous submission. For rules and how to submit, click here.
New Instagram Account north_shore_hikers_bc
Send us photos. Email photos from hikes etc. to
instagram-nsh@northshorehikers.org. If there are any recognizable people in them please ask their permission to be on Instagram (scenery pictures are also encouraged). Like our posts, comment, share. Tell your friends and family about the Instagram page, the more the merrier.
Woof! Dogs and our Hikes
We are discussing the idea of including “dog-friendly” hikes. These hikes would allow dogs at the trip leader’s discretion -- so long as the trail permits our furry friends and all potential participants are made aware of the possible presence of dogs prior to the hike.
Carpooling is a Gas (or an E)
We are all in this (car) together. In addition to protecting each other from Covid-19 by
wearing masks, please ensure you contribute to the driver's operating costs. The suggested rate is $5.00 per person/hour of driving on paved roads and $10.00 per hour on rough logging roads or in adverse conditions. If the driver prefers cookies, gummy bears or hotshots as compensation, that is cool and they can let you know, but always offer. If you switch rides, going to the hike with one person and back with another, offer the appropriate treat to each.
New Vision Mission Values
The executive recently approved a new set of Vision, Mission and Values statements for the club.
Our Mission
To inspire members, potential members and the general public to safely engage in self-propelled outdoor activities in the spirit of camaraderie and appreciation of nature.
Our Vision
To facilitate participation in self-propelled activities (such as hiking, biking, canoeing, snowshoeing, and backcountry skiing) by offering and leading a wide variety of trips every week, year-round.
Our Values
Discovery: Explore routes and trails both new and not well-travelled.
Excellence: Provide effective leadership for all participants and thoughtful mentorship for members new to an activity.
Respect: Foster deep respect for the environment and ecology.
Service: Be of benefit to our stakeholders and the public.
Integrity: Carry out all our endeavours safely, with responsibility and accountability beyond reproach.
Hike Leaders Needed
Hike Leaders Needed
by Mariken Van Nimwegen, mid-week hike planner/coordinator
The best way to attract club members is to fill the schedule with interesting and varied hikes at all ability levels. To do this, we need more hike leaders. If we all agreed to lead just one hike per year, we’d have a lively program full of choices in no time.
Most of us don’t just hike with our club, but also with other groups and personal friends. We invite you to share some of the hikes you’ve learned about and enjoyed, by proposing them on the schedule and leading them. We really need more B and C hikes.
And that’s the beauty of joining a hiking club: you learn new routes, and meet new, compatible people to hike with. Don’t worry about leading a hike: if you’re already comfortable with whatever level of hiking you normally do, you know what it takes in terms of fitness and stamina.
Here are the steps
- Decide which hike you would like to lead and when
- Categorize it as per our system here
- Create a trip announcement with details about location, category, date, time, pace, car-pool spot etc.
- Email this information to the club trip planner depending on category - they will post it to the schedule. Or if you are a pro, post it to the schedule directly using the add event function on the website and the planner will approve it.
Pace information
The best thing about being a trip leader is: you get to call the shots. Indicate the speed you’d prefer to take - easy, moderate or fast. This is perhaps the most important info for many people. Will you be taking breaks? Some people see hiking as a form of exercise and go straight to the summit; some like to take photos, groove on the landscape, take a snack and break from time to time. Discrepancies regarding pace may make a hiking group incompatible, leading to unnecessary frustration.
Take a look at the A, B, C, D and mid-week categories on the website to judge where your trip fits in best. The mid-week hikes tend to be a bit more relaxed, aren’t too far away and don’t need to take all day, but there’s nothing keeping you from scheduling a C or D-hike on a weekday – fewer people on the trails, that’s for sure.
Carpooling and Cancelling
Consider reducing our carbon footprint and increasing access for members without vehicles, by encouraging shared-cost carpooling from a central point. Take Covid-19 precautions into account. If the weather is truly ghastly that day, the trip can be postponed or cancelled, no worries, just send an email to the planner, or make the announcement yourself using an update.
Changes can be made up to one week ahead of time and sometimes even within a few days. We welcome your trip proposals anytime and thank you for helping to build our club.
New Year, New Instagram Account
Daisy on Mount Frosty
Hi North Shore Hikers,
My name is Daisy Eyre and I joined NSH in October. I've been lucky enough to meet some of you and I'll take this opportunity to say thank you so much for welcoming me and for being such great company on hikes.
Chatting to Mark, we had the idea that I could help out by running a North Shore Hikers Instagram account (being from the iPhone generation this is a skill-set I can bring!). Hopefully, it will help to encourage new members. To help me out, there are a few things you could do:
1. First and most importantly, "follow" the Instagram account which is called north_shore_hikers_bc
2. Send me pictures! Email photos from hikes etc. to instagram-nsh@
3. Like our posts, comment, share - Tell your friends and family about the Instagram page, the more the merrier. Let's try and get lots of likes for the first post!
Thanks, everybody! Please feel free to email me suggestions
(again to instagram-nsh@
Webinar: BC Resource Access Roads
Want to understand more about the roads that we use to access trailheads? This webinar will help you learn more about public use of resource roads, different resource road types, tenuring, maintenance obligations, road user information, and the process for resource road closure/deactivation.
Register for the webinar here.
Presenters:
Lyle Knight, Manager, Legislation and Policy, is a senior manager for Engineering Branch within the Rural Opportunities, Tenures and Engineering Division of FLNRORD. Lyle has been with the Ministry since 1991 and the “roads program” since around 1995 in the Lillooet and Okanagan Shuswap (Vernon) Resource District Offices and with Engineering Branch.
Wayne Hagel, RFT is a senior resource road policy analysis with FLNRORD in Engineering Branch. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Wayne has held many resource road-related positions in District and Regional offices around the province and currently resides in Vernon, BC.
Back Country News from the Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC
North Shore Hikers is a member of the Federation of Mountain Clubs of British Columbia (FMCBC). The Federation of Mountain Clubs of British Columbia is a province-wide umbrella organization dedicated to protecting and maintaining access to BC’s backcountry. You can subscribe to receive their excellent publications in your inbox here.
Recent FMCBC Publications
| Cloudburst (quarterly newsmagazine) | E-news (every month or so) |
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Joan Ford Passes Away
It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Joan Ford, who was a valued member of North Shore Hikers. During her decades with the club, Joan led over forty hikes between 1980 and 2001 as detailed below. Her full obituary can be read here: Joan Ford | Obituary | Vancouver Sun and Province (remembering.ca)
Free Online Bear Safety Course from WildSafeBC
WildSafeBC is offering a free online course on how to avoid conflicts with bears and stay safe when recreating in British Columbia. If you're interested in this course, you can sign up here:
wildsafebc.thinkific.com/courses/wildsafebc-Bear-Safety-When-Recreating
You then have 14 days to complete the course.
WildSafeBC is a provincial leader in preventing conflict with wildlife through collaboration, education and community solutions. WildSafeBC's mission is to provide information to communities across British Columbia on how we can reduce human-wildlife conflicts in all aspects of our lives. The group evolved out of the highly successful Bear Aware program, and is owned and delivered by the British Columbia Conservation Foundation. Their motto is "keeping wildlife wild and communities safe".
Annual General Meeting via Zoom on November 4, 2021
Greetings to all North Shore Hikers Members!
We invite you to attend our Annual General Meeting via Zoom on Thursday November 4, 2021, at 7:30pm – please save the date. Before then, we'll email you a Zoom link, alternative phone-in instructions, executive reports etc.
Draft agenda can be viewed by clicking here:
northshorehikers.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-AGM-Agenda.pdf
We have vacancies in our Executive Roster. We are searching for volunteers to fill the roles of Webmaster, C Hike Planner and President.
- The Webmaster is responsible for maintaining the North Shore Hikers website, which uses WordPress.
- The C Hike Planner is responsible for soliciting and inputting (into the web schedule) the C hikes for the NSH Quarterly Schedule, and short notice hikes during the year. C hikes tend to be more than 7 hours in duration; and often involve a good level of fitness.
- President: Convenes and chairs the bimonthly Executive meetings and AGM. Presently the AGM is held in the 1st week of November. Executive meetings are usually held at the Renfrew Public Library from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Interested parties can contact Carol, our current President, to discuss the required qualifications and position duties.
The club is run by volunteers, and your several hours contribution each month will help ensure our club success. More information on the AGM will be sent to all members closer to the meeting date.
Finally, if you haven't yet renewed your membership, now is the time to do it. Don't delay – unless you want to lose your forum subscriptions...
See you on November 4th,
NSH Executive Committee
Honorary Lifetime Membership Award – Awarded to Lesley Bohm Aug. 12, 2021
Lesley Bohm joined the North Shore Hikers in approximately January 1985, and has been consistently active with the club for 36 years. When I joined in 93/94, she was the artist for the Raven Newsletter for years and everyone would comment on her drawings in the Raven. Without fail there was always a drawing in the Raven from her. She has served on the Executive for years in many different positions, including the North Shore Hiker representative for the Federation of Mountain Clubs.
She is knowledgeable about the Federation and the politics surrounding it. She is an avid Cross-Country Skier and is the current Ski Trip Planner for the club, as well as the current “A” hike coordinator. Lesley has also led the annual bike and camp trip to Salt Spring Island every year for many, many years.
Lesley knows all about flowers, plants, trees, and mushrooms, and she tells everyone about them on many of her hikes; she is a professional Botanist. Whatever hike she leads, she knows the route and the terrain very well (in fact perfectly) and she is a good Mentor. She is a real pro and a real trooper, and her hikes are always a lot of fun. Her research on any hike is excellent. Lesley always keeps everyone in good spirits on all the trips she leads, and she is flexible when situations arise.
On many trips, I would have other club members ask me for her email or phone number because they wanted to hike with her. There were also many club trips that I was on, where other club members would say, “I wish Lesley was here.”
Lesley is also very generous, and would kindly invite club members over to her place after a hike. She also hosted the Club Christmas party at her home on numerous occasions.
Thank You Lesley, you are an inspiration to others. The club is grateful for all your contributions and time you have committed to the club over the years.
Carol
President, North Shore Hikers