Document type : vocene
Date : 2004-09-07
Description :
Content :
VOCene #6 - 7 September 2004

Upcoming Trips
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1) GLACIER SCHOOL

Glacier School will be held this weekend (Sept 11-12) at the Anniversary Glacier. If you'd like to learn how to travel on glaciers safely, this is for you. Topics covered will include snow and ice anchors, self arrest technique, glacier travel and crevasse rescue.

Participants are expected to have all personal backcountry hiking/camping equipment. Limited amounts of climbing hardware (ice axes, crampons, etc) will be available through the VOC, but some people will have to rent gear from other sources.

Everyone coming to glacier school must also attend "dry school". This will be held on Thursday September 9 at 6pm in the clubroom. At dry school we will arrange car groups and teach some basic rope skills.

Students should sign up on the sheet outside the clubroom, instructors should contact Tom.

Contact Tom Chen 

2) ACC LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT WEEKEND

Oct. 23-24, 2004

If you are interested in developing your leadership
skills, whether as a trip leader or participant, this
will be a great workshop weekend for you.

Highlights include: a leadership assessment tool where
you will learn more about your leadership style and
identify areas that can be improved; role-playing to
practice decision making and communication in tough
situations while on a hike; and an opportunity to meet
other club members, learn, and have fun--all at the
same time!

Cost:  for ACC members:  $25.00; for non-ACC members:
$30.00; for Varsity Outdoor Club members: $20.

Pre-registration and pre-payment are required.  To
register, contact Zoran Vasic at 604-438-9066; email:
zvasic@telus.net, before Monday, Oct. 18.

If you call, please leave your email address with
Zoran, as we will be contacting you ahead of the
weekend by email with materials for the workshop.

The workshop will be held at a learning facility in
the North Shore mountains; you can find out more when
you register.  Space is limited, so sign up early!


Club News
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1) SQUAMISH CHIEF GONDOLA PROPOSAL

As you may be aware, the BC government is considering a proposal to build a gondola to the summit of the Chief. The proposal that has been put forward by a group of Whistler developers includes 14-16 tram towers carrying 880 passengers per hour to the second summit, where there will be a hectare area fenced off for a restaurant and viewing deck. The route starts between Shannon Falls and the backside trail, and passes over the Bulletheads, Tantalus Wall and the backside of the South Summit on it's way to the centre summit. Though this would contravene the commitment to no mechanised access set out in the 1997 park management plan, the Ministry of Water, Land and Air protection has "informed the proponents that they may choose to seek community support for an amendment to the management plan". It is important that we as the community make our voices heard. You can do this by writing to the concerned officials:

Bill Barisoff, Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection
P.O. Box 9047, St'n. Prov. Gov't.
Victoria, B.C.
Canada V8W 9E2
(250) 387-1187, or WLAP.Minister@gems9.gov.bc.ca

Gordon Campbell, Premier
P.O. Box 9041, St'n. Prov. Gov't.
Victoria, B.C.
Canada V8W 9E1
Phone (250) 387-1715, or premier@gov.bc.ca

Ian Sutherland, Mayor
District of Squamish
P.O. Box 310
Squamish, B.C.
Canada V0N 3G0
Phone 1-877-892-5217, or isutherland@squamish.ca


2) MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

Seems like everybody is trying to get money off you these days.  Well, VOC
is no exception.  Your membership will expire soon if you haven't already
renewed it.  You can drop down to our fairly spiffy new Clubroom 12:15 to
12:30  M-F (for sure), and renew.  If you graduated or otherwise won't be
back this year, you can ask for Alumni status.  VOC Alumni get the emails,
but they don't have to pay (They don't get gear either, though).  If you
want to renew as an Alumnus, just drop us an email with your name address
phone and email, and mention that you are trying to renew as an Alumnus.

Trip Reports
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1) MOUNTAINEERING CAMP from Roland Burton

Various definitions of mountaineering were discussed as the name sounded a
little intimidating, but most settled on "going somewhere scenic where there
isn't a lot of organization or Resource Management happening".  It proved to
be fun and non-threatening.
The trail in, once we found it, was steep but short.  Our campsite was in
alpine vegetation, and the area had lots of small lakes, and a spectacular
waterfall.  The weather was kinda damp, and the initial group of eight (Snow
White and the Seven Dwarves) crawled into our tents and had a nap while
waiting for the serious rain to stop and the remaining twelve or so people
to straggle in.  Then we did a hike up one of the bumps (Railroad?) and
quickly returned to camp for some serious eating.  The next day weather was
better and we pretty much all took off to try and get up Locomotive, and
most made it.  Chris and Janez traversed the four bumps.  After our
climbing, the party degenerated into a few hands of cards with appropriate
violence, the usual sampling of each other's food,  and bedtime.  On the
last day we slept in, and some wanted to go up some more bumps but we pretty
much decided we had already gone up most everything in the area, or it would
be too much work, so we went home.

The blueberries on the trail were spectacularly good, big as cherries
almost, and perfectly ripe.

2) MOUNTAINEERING CAMP from Emily Chung

This weekend Mountaineering Camp was held near Railroad Pass. The hike  in to the campsite was steep and rainy, unfortunately for the guy with the busted knees who forgot his jacket (who shall be known only as Chris P). The camp was in a gorgeous meadow near lakes and waterfalls and rivers and mountains. The hiking was  fantabulous. Numerous ascents were made of the peak overlooking the camp,
Despite the fact that it was snowing up there, two VOCers independently managed to reach the summit in the buff (much to the chagrin of the guy who discovered he had made the *second* naked ascent, who shall be known only as Jordan W.) Unfortunately, glacier travel was hampered by the fact that the nearby glaciers were steep and/or inaccessible. However, many found the ice axes very useful for digging washroom facilities. Much gratitude goes out  to those who got the fire going each night - it was very welcome during those cold, cold evenings.

3) LAKE LOVELY WATER LONG WEEKEND from Martin Berka

Tamsin, Chris, Hannes and Martin hiked to Lake Lovely Water (Tantalus range) on Saturday evening to do the traverse of Alpha mountain (East to West) the next day. The party enjoyed nice views in good weather and the few gnarly pitches of 5.8 (A0 for one member) provided for much needed upper-body exercise. After summiting at 5pm we rushed down the west ridge (scree slope), then turned south for a quick rappel off a wet red sling that hugs a large boulder. We could just discern a black bear at two lakes some 400m below as the sun set behind Lydia but as we approached the lake the bear decided to leave us alone. We found a trail to Lambda lake in darkness, and followed it all the way back to the hut, arriving around 11pm. Some wonderful people gave us beer, wine, and a ride in the rowboat and a canoe to our camp at Sand spit. Dinner, more red wine, stars all around... the best of endings. We had a late start on Monday, up the E ridge of Niobe. Not taking the rope to speed up our progress, Hannes, Chris and I got stopped at an exposed buttress near 1850m. We voted for beer and headed back to finish the wine at the camp. The hike from camp to river took 2 hours and 45 minutes and we all felt well used and happy. Crossed the river by boat.

P.S. While on the summit of Alpha, we heard shouts from Serratus. We tried to establish contact to find out whether they were in need of any help but they seemed OK. Around midnight, we saw headlamps halfway down Serratus from our camp. We met all three of them while hiking down on Monday: a guy from Quebec took 2 people who have never climbed up Alpha (west ridge) but in the Alpha-Serratus col decided to head for Serratus ("it looked closer"). Caught by darkness way below the summit, he told the girl and a guy to rappel off (recall they never climbed) into darkness, stopping at some "good ledge". Laughingly, he said that at one point he had to dig around a rock to set up anchor for another rappel. The girl looked close to crying when we met them near the river and could barely walk down without a pack, and the other guy looked wide-eyed by the thrill he experienced previous night. The "leader" just kept talking.

--------------------------------
UBC Varsity Outdoor Club
Room 29A, Student Union Building
http://www.ubc-voc.com


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