Document type : vocene
Date : 2012-03-06
Description : VOCene #48
Content :
VOCene #48– March 6th, 2012
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In this VOCene:
I. Upcoming Events and Trips
1) Movie Screening: Long Road North, 7pm (Norm Theatre) · Tuesday, March 6th
2) VOC Spring Gearswap · Wednesday, March 7th
3) Ice Breaker Pro Deal Night - Thursday, March 8th
4) Revived Annual Girls Just Want to have Fun Ski Trip! · Sat. Mar. 10th - Sun. Mar. 11th
5) To Brew and back again · Sat. Mar. 10th - Sun. Mar. 11th
6) Kayak Polo · Tuesday, March 13th
7) Snowshoeing to Elfin Lakes (beginner friendly) · Sat. Mar. 17th - Sun. Mar. 18th
8) St. Patrick's Day Phelix Hut Trip · Sat. Mar. 17th - Sun. Mar. 18th
9) Annual Banquet · Wednesday, March 28th
II. Trip Ideas and Partners Sought
III. This week in the VOC
1) Past trips and events
2) From the exec's desk
IV. Miscellaneous
1) Rewards and incentives for trip organizers
2) Call for Slideshow Presenters
3) 21 Mile Creek User Survey
4) Mammut Pulse 3.2 Firmware Update - Available Now from the VOC
5) Matt's Awesome Maps
V. Ms. Manners
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I. Upcoming Events and Trips
1) Movie Screening: Long Road North, 7pm (Norm Theatre) · Tuesday, March 6th
This is tonight!
"Seen from the handlebars of a bicycle, the world is a lot smaller than they ever thought. Leaving behind his office with no windows, a young Canadian dreams up an adventure to travel halfway across the planet at a human pace and experience the story of the road. From the mountains of Patagonia, through Latin American mega-cities and small-town America, to the sparse reaches of the Canadian arctic, the people and places he comes to know will forever change his perspectives about the world and the choices he decides to make. At the Norm Theatre (in the SUB), doors at 6:30pm, screening at 7pm. Tickets can be bought at the door, $5 - the proceeds to be donated to the VACC (Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition)"
http://www.ubc-voc.com/tripagenda/details.php?tripid=242
2) VOC Spring Gearswap · Wednesday, March 7th
We'll be having another VOC gear swap; the last few have been a huge success! All outdoor-related gear is appropriate, and it's open to non-members.
http://www.ubc-voc.com/tripagenda/details.php?tripid=215
http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?1,81464
3) Ice Breaker Pro Deal Night - Thursday, March 8th
Katherine exercised superhuman powers in organizing this buy night for us; come get 50% off Ice Breaker gear!
http://www.ubc-voc.com/tripagenda/details.php?tripid=249
http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?1,82903
4) Revived Annual Girls Just Want to have Fun Ski Trip! · Sat. Mar. 10th - Sun. Mar. 11th
A newly revived tradition! Unfortunately, Ms. Manners will not be in attendance. From the trip description:
"This trip will involve:
- No-tan-line sunbathing, skinning and skiing
- Laying beautiful curves in the powder
- Hot chocolate and baileys
- Pillow and tickle fights at night"
http://www.ubc-voc.com/tripagenda/details.php?tripid=241
5) To Brew and back again · Sat. Mar. 10th - Sun. Mar. 11th
This trip is "Beginner friendly" and will deposit you up in one of our clubs huts: the Brew Hut. Brew is known world-wide for it's awesome cozy-warm wood stove.
http://www.ubc-voc.com/tripagenda/details.php?tripid=258
6) Kayak Polo · Tuesday, March 13th
Once again kaya roll practice and polo in the ubc pool!
http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?3,77067
7) Snowshoeing to Elfin Lakes (beginner friendly) · Sat. Mar. 17th - Sun. Mar. 18th
This beginner friendly trip will take you to one of the most popular huts around, and for good reason!
http://www.ubc-voc.com/tripagenda/details.php?tripid=229
http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?3,81973
8) St. Patrick's Day Phelix Hut Trip · Sat. Mar. 17th - Sun. Mar. 18th
This trip promises to be a delicate balance of drunken St. Paddy's Day hut fun and epic skiing!
http://www.ubc-voc.com/tripagenda/details.php?tripid=259
http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?3,83116
9) Annual Banquet · Wednesday, March 28th
The Annual Banquet is one of our most important yearly events. We'll elect our new exec, give out awards and laugh about the year, listen to a sweet slideshow by Skyler, and then dance the night away with our resident DJ Oker. This is also the first and best opportunity to grab your copy of the VOC Journal. The banquet is a no miss event!
http://www.ubc-voc.com/tripagenda/details.php?tripid=254
II. Trip Ideas and Partners Sought
-Eddie R. and Michal. R. are heading up to Seymour tomorrow morning, back by 2PM. http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?3,83488
-Richard L. is looking two ski the Two Bears run on the Coquihalla: http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?3,83481
-Philippe L.B. is looking to ski the Spearhead Traverse on a (possibly extended) weekend in March, likely the 24-25 weekend.http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?3,83032
-Some folks are talking about getting out skiing this week, maybe Wednesday: http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?1,77773
-The Radical Reels film festival will be coming up, March 15th: http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?1,82969
III. This week in the VOC
1) Past trips and events
- A VOC trip up the Duffey turned semi-serious after Adriana M. suffered a knee injury. The group really came together, made a plan, and after spending an unexpected extra night on the mountain they coordinated getting her out of there with the help of SAR. Check out the fascinating story here: http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?3,83040
- Some folks went to Seymour for some ice climbing: http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?3,83392
- The number of VOC groups on the Coquihalla last weekend is at least four, check out some TR's:http://www.ubc-voc.com/2012/03/06/how-christians-awesome-ness-saved-my-day, http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?3,83266, http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?3,82684, http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?3,83284
2) From the exec's desk
IV. Miscellaneous
1) Rewards and incentives for trip organizers
Woohoo, prodeals for VOC Trip organizers! In return for leading trips, you now get not only immense satisfaction, but cheap gear too!!
http://www.ubc-voc.com/wiki/Discounts_for_VOC_Trip_Organizers
2) Call for Slideshow Presenters
Have you been on some crazy adventure lately, or do you have some advice to share? Consider attaining instant fame by giving a VOC slideshow this semester: http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?1,80896
3) 21 Mile Creek User Survey
From Scott N: "The 21 Mile Creek drainage is a non-motorized zone and snowmobiling is prohibited. The Federation of Mountain Clubs of BC is conducting a user survey to measure the frequency of illegal snowmobile use in 21 Mile Creek. The results from the survey will guide compliance and enforcement actions by government conservation officers." Please take a brief moment to complete the survey, if you've been on a trip to 21 Mile Creek.
http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?1,80729,80729#msg-80729
4) Mammut Pulse 3.2 Firmware Update - Available Now from the VOC
From the message board post: "The VOC can now offer firmware updates to Mammut Pulse beacons. This is handy because firmware version 3.2 was recently released. Why is the VOC offering this service? Because no one else in Vancouver does and because the same tool that lets us do this also lets us record the health of our new rental beacons. The cost for getting the upgrade through the club is $10 for members and $15 for non-members."
http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?1,82371
5) Matt's Awesome Maps
Matt P. has been putting together some super access maps for our huts, which are printable high quality PDF's. Check them out an the subsequent discussion here: http://www.ubc-voc.com/phorum5/read.php?1,82415
Update: There's a new Neve one on the Sphinx Camp thread!
V. Ms. Manners
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Dear Ms. Manners,
This weekend I found myself slogging along an endless ridge in howling, gale-force wind. Now don't get me wrong, I love the mountains and pushing myself even if it involves some physical discomfort, but this was just plain miserable. Like the wind was turning my cheeks into a stinging red mess, and it was so strong it kept literally blowing me and my friends over. The problem was, no one wanted to be the weak person to suggest turning around, so we just kept going and going until it became so blatantly obvious that this was no place for a human being to be. Then turning around was a no-brainer. It seems to me like it would have been better if we had just turned around sooner and lapped the forest below. How could I make sure that this happens in the future?
Sincerely,
Wind Affected
Hello Wind Affected,
You've identified what economist like to call a "public good". A public good is a good that everyone can enjoy, and nobody can be prevented from enjoying (e.g. clean air, free music on the internet). The thing about public goods is that while everyone gets to benefit from them once they are there, often someone has to pay the upfront cost of creating them. For example, a playground in a park gets paid for by taxpayer dollars or a community association, and then everyone can use it. Most people wouldn't find it feasible or worth it to pay for a playground themself though, so the free market tends to underproduce public goods. Similar to the Prisoner's Dillemma (see VOCene #43), the problem is that people's personal incentives are not in line with what is best socially.
In the case of your windy ridge, we have a classic public goods dilemma. It's not worth it for anyone to speak up and suggest a mutiny, yet everyone would benefit from someone doing so, which would totally make it worth it overall. If you like symbols, let C be the private cost facing the single person who initiates the mutiny (this is the embarrasement of being the weak one). Let B be the benefit to each person of turning around. Then we have a problem when BC, where n is the number of people (and we've taken the benefit to n people to be the sum of the n benefits to each person).
So, what to do? One option is to try to lower the barrier to being the provider of the public good, so that B>C. In the case of the turning around mutiny, a famous mechanism to acheive this is the so-called Veenstra Auction. In a Veenstra Auction, the most hardcore person (who may actually want to keep going) attempts to lower the cost C by offering mutiny to the others on a silver platter: "If anyone wants to turn around -- and I totally wouldn't blame you -- just cross your poles over your head". However, this may not be enough. Some would suggest turning the public good into a private one: this is a justification sometimes given for enforcing copyright on digital music. In our case, this would mean making it such that nobody else could partake in the mutiny unless they paid the creator of the public good for the priveledge (boo). This isn't a plausible solution for VOC trips ("Yeah, you can come back to the car with us, if you pay me you lazy freerider"). A final solution is to simply spread out the cost. The problem with a public good is that the nature of the good is public, yet the barrier to providing it is faced by someone privately. So, why not make the cost public as well? This is the idea behind pooling one's money as a society to build the playground. In your case Wind Affected, I'd suggest some sort of Anonymous Vote with the eyes closed. Then, the blame goes to no-one in particular, but to everyone a little bit.
If anyone has the guts to preempt this by starting the mutiny themself, well then good on them!
Sincerely,
Miss Manners
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