Document type : vocene
Date : 2004-10-12
Description : VOCene #11 - October 12, 2004
Content :
VOCene #11 - October 12, 2004
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THIS ISSUE:
1. UPCOMING TRIPS
    - North Cascades National Park
    - Squamish climbing
    - Stanley Park by bike

2. CLUB NEWS
    - VOC Climbing Wall
    - Conservation & Recreation Committee
    - membership renewals
    - Wednesday slideshow
    - VOC apparel
    - work hikes

3. CLUB TRIP REPORTS
    - Smoke Bluffs, Squamish, Oct 1-2 
   
4. POINTS OF INTEREST
    - New Hut building donation
    - Sea-to-Sky Highway Project Access Update
    - Alpine Club of Canada Leadership course

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UPCOMING TRIPS:
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NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK

Tyler Linn is trying to organize a trip to Washington State this Friday-Saturday. Destination is still being decided.

SQUAMISH CLIMBING

Jordan Tam may be doing another trip up the Sea-to-Sky this weekend since Wedgemount doesn’t seem to be panning out. Keep a close eye on the message board.

STANLEY PARK BY BIKE

Reza Shahidi is looking for cyclers to circuit Stanley Park this Saturday. Contact him if interested (info on the VOC website).

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CLUB NEWS
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VOC CLIMBING WALL

The Climbing Wall officially opened this evening and will be open for weekly use on Tuesday evenings. Contact Nick Waber the Climbing Wall Coordinator (see VOC Exec list on Member List of website) for more info.

CONSERVATION AND RECREATION COMMITTEE

A Conservation and recreation committee is being formed to address all the recreation access and conservation issues that are of concern to club members. The committee will be writing letters to government and stakeholders expressing the views of the VOC's members and will help keep the VOC informed of current issues.
Meetings will be held on the last wednesday of every month, with the first meeting Oct 27. If you're interested please email Tim Blair (tjblair@interchange.ubc.ca) for time and location.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS

2003-04 memberships have expired (finally). All lapsed accounts have been removed from the mailing list. So if your account has been deleted, then you shouldn’t be able to read this. So there’s not really a reason for writing this. Moving along then…
 
WEDNESDAY EVENING SLIDESHOWS

There is a list on the Wiki section of the VOC website of upcoming presenters; you may also add your name if you’d like to present. Tomorrow’s slideshow is by Scott Nelson.
 
Lillooet Icefield Traverse Slideshow:
Wednesday Oct. 13th 7pm
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Join Dave Campbell, Sandra Nicol, James Griffiths, Krytsal Koetler and
Scott Nelson for a fabulous 15 day traverse of the Lillooet Icecap
northwest of Pemberton.  Spectacular scenery, rugged mountains and
powder turns guaranteed.  Best of all no effort is required on your
part.  We depart on this grand adventure from the club room on
Wednesday, October 13th at 7pm.  See you there.

VOC APPAREL

We still have stylin’ VOC shirts for sale. Long sleeve tees are $15, short sleeve are $12. There are also some older styles going for $5 (CHEAP!!). Come by the clubroom and snag one - supplies are limited!

WORK HIKES

To borrow VOC gear, we ask that you perform an altruistic act that directly benefits the club. We call this a “work hike”. If you are looking for one to do, sign up on the sheet on the gear room door or contact an Exec member. If you are a new member, do this and you will be able to take out gear.

GEAR

This request has come from a fellow member. The club can relate to this, I think…

If you attended Longhike and climbed a bit at Calcheak on the way home and
borrowed a rope at the crag from Chris Barrington-Leigh, or know who did, please contact him a.s.a.p.  He would like his rope back.
cpbl@interchange.ubc.ca
604-221-5632

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TRIP REPORTS
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VANTAGE, WASHINGTON

No written report but here are pictures of Tom Chen’s traipsing in the desert:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/ovaries_or_not/21955.html
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=3105265093

BREW HUT

By Roland Burton

We cleared a lot of trail on the way in. It rained on us. We discussed hut building options. We got home in time for more turkey.
Editor’s note: People from the Brew Hut Rebuilding Committee and others went up the winter trail which had pretty bad access due to excessive bush.  They will go up again mid-February to assess the snowpack.

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POINTS OF INTEREST
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NEW HUT BUILDING DONATION

The VOC is grateful to the  contribution to the club from the family and friends of former VOC member Jean Kay who have donated $545 to the VOC's new hut fund in her memory. She was an active member in the 1940's.

SEA-TO-SKY HIGHWAY PROJECT ACCESS UPDATE

The following is from the Climber’s Access Society of B.C.:
 
OCTOBER 11th, 2004
  
Greetings! We hope this message is useful, and encourage readers to share, post and forward it. Our apologies if it is unwanted! Let us know, and we'll remove you from our list. Also, apologies if it is a duplicate.
 
The Sea-to-Sky Highway Redevelopment Project will have significant impacts on all climbers during construction over the next four years, and for years beyond that. The impacts will particularly be felt in the Murrin Park, Stawamus Chief frontcountry, and Cheakamus Canyon areas. The Squamish Access Society ("SAS") has sent the following information about ways in which climbers can become involved in public consultations with the Ministry of Transportation about the highway project. The SAS, and the Access Society, have put considerable work into this over the last year. The information should be of interest to all who climb at Squamish - we are simply forwarding a message sent by the SAS, modified for a wider audience. Thanks to Kevin McLane for his work on this!
 
Anders Ourom (president, Access Society)
 
ps See also www.access-society.ca for general background.
 
 Highway 99 Rebuild Impacts at The Chief -- Opportunities are now available to tell the Ministry of Transportation what you think about the impacts on Squamish climbers of the highway redevelopment project.

Public Open Houses
The Ministry of Transportation ("MoT") is holding public open houses in Squamish to show its designs for the new four lane highway through the Squamish area, prepared after much consultation with affected groups, including the Access Society and the SAS.  The highway project will significantly affect Murrin Park, as well as road access to Stawamus Chief Provincial Park, and roads and parking there. The two events are: 

Tuesday, Oct. 12th  Sea-to-Sky Hotel.  6:30pm–9:30pm
Saturday, Oct. 16th  Howe Sound Secondary School.  9am–noon

The Project Team is seeking direct input and comment from the public via a special feedback form, available to all who visit the open houses. Please attend an open house if you can, to learn about and comment on the project.

Online Feedback 
For climbers who can't attend the open houses, the feedback form and much other information about the project is at www.seatoskyhighwayimprovements.ca/ - select "Consultations" on the links bar, scroll down to the Squamish section, and look for "Feedback Form - MS Word". If you are asked for a password, click cancel to bypass it.  The Feedback Form is a 9-page document in two sections.  The first part covers urban Squamish, the second covers the provincial parks (Murrin, Shannon, the Chief).  

Three Ways to Send in Your Comments
 
Feedback by any method must be provided by October 25th.  

1.  Print the feedback form, complete it, and mail or fax it to:

Sea-to-Sky Highway Improvement Project Office
#1300 – 1075 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC. V6E 3C9

Fax 1-604-605-5936

2.  Complete the feedback form online.  The questions are all multiple choice, with opportunity for unlimited text comments. Please fill out the form, save the document as directed and send it back as an attachment to an e-mail to:  info@seatoskyimprovements.ca    This online procedure was setup by MoT specifically at the request of climbers due to our limited capability to attend in person. For this we thank them. 

3   Or, if you prefer, you can make your comments simply by e-mail to info@seatoskyimprovements.ca. Please state "Squamish Open House Feedback" on the subject line and address your email to:

Rick Hyde
Community Relations Manager
Sea to Sky Highay Improvement Project

Climbers' Positions
We encourage everyone who climbs at Squamish to review the highway project plans, and comment on them. The SAS and the Access Society have taken positions on some key issues, which we ask that climbers support vigorously. They centre on what we believe to be designs that carry highly undesirable consequences for climbers and for public safety, and the risk they will be set in place for decades.

1.  The solution proposed for Murrin Park, of a temporary third lane for the 2010 Olympics has our support, as do the solutions proposed for Shannon Falls Park and the Papoose.

2.  The Chief. The new intersection proposed by MoT for the Chief is what is known as a "Protected Left-Turn Centre Lane"; essentially a fifth central lane used by southbound traffic to access and egress the Chief.  We have objected strenuously to this concept, which we believe is unsafe, is inadequate for existing peak traffic flows, doesn't allow for growth, and is an unfitting gateway to the Chief. The proposed intersection will require southbound vehicles entering the park to turn left across two lanes of high speed northbound traffic. Southbound vehicles leaving the park will have to do the same, from a dead stop, and then immediately merge into the fast lane. This seems a dubious, stop-gap plan, but the Project Team states that funds are not available for what we consider to be a more forward-looking intersection.   Please support our view that the proposed design is unacceptable and an overpass for southbound traffic should be constructed into the Chief.

3.  The Malamute.  With present designs, climbers will have to run across 4-5 lanes of high-speed traffic to reach the Malamute. Limited parking may be provided on the west side of the highway, but that is intended principally for tourist viewers. Please support our view that safe pedestrian access must be provided across to the Malamute. 

4.  Please advocate the best solution at the Chief as being to construct an overpass for southbound traffic, thus resolving both the matter of the intersection and the Malamute crossing.

Please attend an open house, complete the feedback form, or send in an e-mail, and pass this message on to others  who you believe are willing to speak up for a safe and appropriate traffic environment at the Chief. Thank you!

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!

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