Document type : vocene
Date : 2014-11-18
Description : VOCene #20 2014
Content :
VOCene #20: Tuesday, November 18th, 2014

In this Issue:
Special Mention:
   1. Vote: Climbing Wall Name Round 2!

The Regular Stuff:
   2. Recent Trip Reports
   3. Upcoming Trips
   4. Message Board Highlights
   5. Ms. Manners
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1. Vote: Climbing Wall Name Round 2!

Want to have a say in what we name our new climbing wall which is currently being built in the new SUB Building? Now is your chance! The initial voting has narrowed the options down to three main names and they are battling it out for the win!

The three contenders in no particular order are "The Fishbowl", "U-Wall", and "The Aviary". Get your votes in asap!

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2. Recent Trip Reports

Shame and Redemption at the Barr Creek Bridge (Oct 22-23 and Nov 7-8)
Ever since the Harrison Hut was built there have been access problems, occasionally coming from locked gates on the road but mostly from a big nasty volcano named Mt. Meager. Meager hasn’t erupted in a long, long time but it does have fairly regular landslides that sweep away logging roads and bridges. In the past we could normally access the hut when the bridge over Capricorn Creek was intact and not when it wasn’t...

Nov 8-9: (ad)Venture up Brew Hut
I was dying to escape the city when I signed up for the Brew Hut trip. Saturday morning finally came around, and though already exhausted, I eagerly “popped out of the ground” at Burrard Station to meet with Roland and company. The drive up was smooth. There were introductions, talk of Higgs Bosons and the types of outdoorsy folk, and many of Roland’s stories. We made a brief stop at Timmy’s, where the rest of the crew joined us. All together, the seven of us headed up to Brew for the weekend...

Cypress Resort, 2014 Nov 16
What we did: We snuck through the woods, Ninja-style, until we were past most of the guards, though the two employees higher up, not specifically tasked with harassing hikers, didn’t seem to care. A little further on, we visited the wreckage of the T-33 jet that crashed sometime around ’68, claiming the lives to the two pilots. Eventually we arrived atop the S peak of Strachan, just like we planned, and we ate lunch. Of course we entertained each other with lots of nice chatter about Terrace, Urbanites, looking after horses, being coached by an aggressive ski coach, and mostly whatever drifted through our heads. I harvested six empty beer cans. On the way down we got daring and went into the skiers restaurant and I heard that one of us actually used the skiers toilets, though that could not be confirmed...

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3. Upcoming Trips

THIS WEEK

Beacon Search Evening, Part II · Wednesday, November 19th
Its time for another evening of beacon searching. This time we'll have it at the beach near the base of Tolmie Street at 6 PM. If you don't have a beacon, could you please rent one during gear hours and familiarize yourself with it. Also, if you could do some reading on beacon rescues as well, that would be fantastic.

First Aid Refresher · Thursday, November 13th
Winter is around the corner.  Now is a great time to brush up on first aid skills.... just in case you need them this winter! We can start with the basics and common injuries, and move on from there. This event will be held at 6:00 PM in Henry Angus Room 295.

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THIS WEEKEND

Beginner friendly trip to Taylor Meadows (hopefully skiing!) · Sat. Nov. 22nd - Sun. Nov. 23rd
Winter is coming! And that means it’s….SKI SEASON! A few years ago we went up to Taylor Meadows for an attempt at early season skiing. Due to relative lack of snow, there wasn't much skiing to be had, although there were many mini-mis-adventures, including: a lost and found sleeping bag, 5 or 6 flame-engulfed stoves (admittedly I contributed one), backwards skiing with skins on, lost car keys in Black Tusk Meadows, and for most, a reasonably chilly night sleeping on snow. Despite the impressive fafftacle, it was actually a pretty fun trip with lots of type 2 humour and some type 2 fun! This year, I'm older and hopefully somewhat wiser, and I figured it’s my turn to run a similar trip. In theory, this will be an overnight ski trip. However, if there isn't enough snow, it might change to a winter hiking trip. Either way, we will bring full avi kits so we can do beacon practises and get you used to using your gear. Pre-trip meeting will be Wednesday, Novemner 19th at 7:00 PM  in the clubroom; Please note, however, that meeting location and time may change! Check the Trip Page for updates.

Icebreaker Sales Event · Sat. Nov. 22nd - Sun. Nov. 23rd
The VOC thanks Icebreaker for supporting our VIMFF Best of the Fest movie fundraiser earlier this year. Check out their upcoming sales event: Super Sale! Save up to 70%! Event runs 10 AM - 5 PM Saturday and 10 AM - 3 PM Sunday, at 1400 Robson Street.

MEC Vancouver 4th Annual Snowfest · Saturday, November 22nd
MEC Vancouver is hosting there 4th annual Snowfest on Saturday, November 22nd. This event marks the beginning of the snowsports season for MEC Vancouver where we bring in our participating exhibitors to educate and engage with the public. We run the event between 9am- 3pm in-store, along with our legendary snowswap which takes place on the roof between 9am-2pm. The event in-store hosts numerous FREE clinic specials focusing on snow safety, backcountry travel and ski and board repair. Sign up for these clinics will be posted on the MEC events page.

MEC Vancouver Film Festival · Saturday, November 22nd
MEC Vancouver, Protect Our Winters and Fresh Air Cinema are excited to host the screenings for Momenta (Canadian Premiere), The Little Things and All.I.Can. Tickets will be $10 with all proceeds donated to J.P Auclair Fund & CPAWS. Purchase of tickets include free popcorn, prize draw entries and an MEC club night 10% discount card. Food trucks will be stationed on W. Broadway for your convenience. Event runs from 4:00-8:00 PM at 130 West Broadway, Vancouver BC. Showings will take place on MEC Vancouver's roof inside our festival event tent.

Beginner Friendly Hanes Valley Dayhike · Sunday, November 23rd
I've always enjoyed traverses (trips that start in one location and end in another), and ever since hearing about the Lynn-Hanes Valley Trail, I've wanted to give it a try. The current plan is to head up to Lynn creek early Sunday morning (start hiking before 7AM, thus meet downtown to catch a bus before 6AM) and then hike for a few hours (however long it takes us to hike 18km) and end up on top of Grouse Mountain and then take the gondola down. Pre-trip meeting will be Wednesday, November 19th at 5:00 PM in the clubroom.

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NEXT WEEK

10th Annual Jared Stanley Memorial Lecture · Wednesday, November 26th
In January 2005, Jared Stanley, a UBC student, passed away while back country skiing on Mount Seymour. An annual memorial lecture has been held, and this year's will be the 10th installment. Jared's family, Anna and Bob Parton, fly out from Texas every year to attend the lecture and speak a little bit about Jared. The Partons are great speakers and great people. In previous years, after learning about SPOT devices from our guest speaker, a Search and Rescue team member, they promptly went out and bought the club a three pack of the devices because they felt that if such a device had existed back in 2005, then maybe Jared would still be with us. Much like the VOC sort of adopted Jared, the Partons sort of adopted the VOC. This lecture will be held on Wednesday, November 26th at 7:00 PM in Buchanan A202.

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NEXT WEEKEND

The Annual Brew Hut Debacle (Beginner Friendly) · Sat. Nov. 29th - Sun. Nov. 30th
We'll be heading up to Brew for the Annual Brew Hut Debacle. My last two attempts at being a part of this trip have involved not actually getting to Brew. We'll see if the third time is a charm. This will be a ski trip, but it is beginner friendly, so it's ok if you don't know how to ski. People will be there to help you out! It is not "Introductory Friendly" though -  It'll take us the better part of a day to get there, so overnight backpacking experience is necessary. We'll have a dessert potluck on Saturday night, so bring some snacks and perhaps something to imbibe if you like. Pre-trip meeting will be Wednesday, November 26th at 6:30 PM in the clubroom.

Avalanche Skills Training Block A (AST-1) · Sat. Nov. 29th - Sun. Nov. 30th
Every year the VOC works with Canada West Mountain School in order to provide its members with discounted rates on avalanche safety courses, with the intent to help students mitigate the risks of backcountry skiing. The courses available to VOC members run from November thru February and in total include four sessions of Avalanche Skills Training I (AST I), and one session of AST II. The dates, details and deadlines for each course may be viewed in the table below. Web links to the CWMS course descriptions may be found here. Please contact Tes at tedangus@gmail.com with questions or concerns about experience level. Sign up will take place in the clubroom during gear hours, and full payment is required at time of registration.

Tentative: Beginner friendly ski day trip · Sunday, November 30th
Plan is to have a day to get a taste of what backcountry skiing is like. It's okay if you've never skied or even seen snow before, all you need is general fitness, autonomy and curiosity. Probably we'll head up to Zoa or Zupjok on the Coquihalla for a day. Tentative, based on weather and other things. Trip size is limited to a car load-(spots are prioritzed to beginners). You can borrow everything you need from the gear room, because the VOC is special. Pre-trip meeting time and location are TBD. Please contact the trip organizer for details.

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4. Message Board Highlights

a. Come be our roomie!  We're nice! Check out our ad! Some friendly VOCers are looking for someone to move in to their beautiful home. Another friendly VOCer is also looking to sublet her place near Dunbar and 41st. Two good ads to check out!

b. Evening course: Decision making in the mountains · Tuesday, December 9th: Save the date now if you are interested!

c. Gear for sale: alpine touring boots, other boots, 45 L backpack, touring skis, harness, tele boots, bunch of stuff; For free: large appliances and hide-a-couch, stoves

d. Looking for recommendations for bindings? Check out this thread here!

e. Patagonia Vancouver is hiring, full-time and part-time jobs

f. Take this Avalanche Safety Equipment Survey!

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5. Ms. Manners
Do you have a question for Ms. Manners? If so, email it to to your friendly neighbourhood VOCene Editor and it'll get forwarded Ms. Manners for review. Remember, there's no such thing as a stupid question, so ask away.

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Dear Ms. Manners,

I want to get out to try back country skiing but have never gone before. I am nervous about my abilities to use back country skis and avalanche safety equipment. What should I do?

Sincerely,
Newbie

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Dear Newbie,

There are many trips planned in the club which are accepting of people trying out tele-skis (or AT skis if so inclined) for the first time! Check out the Trip Agenda for the numerous Beginner Friendly Ski Trips that are posted. There will also be an event called Tele School which will be held on January 17th, 2015, to help teach you proper teleskiing technique.

If you are concerned about safety in Avalanche terrain, there are a few ways you can increase your knowledge. The first would be to attend the evening beacon search practices conducted approximately every two weeks which are held at one of the local beaches! Once you have a little bit of back country skiing experience, you also have the amazing opportunity to take an Avalanche Skills Training (AST 1) Course through the club at a discounted rate which teaches you, among many other things, how to use an avalanche beacon, how to perform a rescue after an avalanche and what signs to be aware of in the surrounding terrain to make informed route-making decisions. 

Happy skiing!

Sincerely,
Ms Manners

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