It is certainly feeling like spring out there. But up in the alpine, plenty of snow will still greet you (snowshoes or spikes).  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 - Family Hikes

In response to member requests to include their kids on trips, we have created a new way to allow minors to participate. Trip leaders can designate a trip as "family-friendly" at their discretion. This means it is okay to bring your kids on that trip! A parent or guardian who is a club member has to accompany them on the trip. The only other requirement is a new waiver that a parent or guardian must sign. See below.

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. There is a new "Minors Acknowledgement" waiver form for minors (that means anyone under 18  years old) that parents need to sign before the trip starts.

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 hikes and bike trips. We tried to streamline them and you can always ask any seasoned leaders for help. We are a friendly bunch.

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.

April Trip Schedule

DATE/TIME	CATEGORY	EVENT	NOTES
Sat 2 Apr	B2b	Mt. Galiano	medium pace
Sat 2 Apr 9:00 am - 12:00 pm	A2a	Burnaby Mountain	medium pace
Sat 2 Apr 10:00 am - 3:00 pm	Cycling	6 lake Cycle from Trout lake to Coquiltam’s Lafarge lake on quiet trails/sideroads
Sun 3 Apr 10:00 am - 4:00 pm	Cycling	Cycling White Rock: 1000-year-old Semiahmoo trail, Nicomekl river trail, Elgin park, Blackie spit, Crescent beach and more
Tue 5 Apr	Back-country Ski	Mt Seymour
Sat 9 Apr	Back-country Ski C2c	Alpen Mtn	snowshoers welcome
Sat 9 Apr	A1a	Jug Island
Fri 15 Apr	D3d	Zum Pk	long tough day optional car camping Thursday night
Sat 16 Apr	A2a	East Canyon/Hiker’s Beach, Golden Ears	moderate pace
Tue 19 Apr	A2b	Raindancer (lower Seymour over to Quarry Rock)
Sat 23 Apr	Snow Hike B2b	Elfin Shelters Vehicles require snow tires and chains	relaxed pace
Sat 23 Apr	C3c	Mt. Fletcher (Chehalis)	medium/fast pace
Sun 24 Apr 8:45 am	A1a	Pacific Spirit Park, A1a
Tue 26 Apr	Back-country Ski	Mt Strachan (or Seymour)
Sat 30 Apr 8:00 am	A2a	Two Canyons	medium pace

12 Steps to Organizing Successful Multi-day Trips

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 the Club socials.

What Happened? 1976

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! Usury. An introductory fee was also considered as a way of reducing the annual turnover of 250 people/year, but this was rejected. Trip report statistics for 1978:

A Hikes = 1570 people
B Hikes = 1258 people
C/D Hikes  = 446 people

The average number of people out each Sunday was 70. 

Happy Trails and thanks for reading