- Not only for older members (I am getting there) - isn’t it sometimes difficult to remember all those names of fellow climbers you want to talk to at the Social?

- Imagine how newer members and guests must feel – they hardly know anybody – some may feel foreign, intimidated and awkward during their first few Socials.

- As a solution to this problem – the Executive decided to ask all participants of our Socials to make and wear their own name tags. – Nothing fancy – Blank ‘Stickies’ and pens will be provided at an entrance table.

- Executives and Volunteer Mentors (please be one – you decide by choosing a yellow label) will wear yellow ‘Stickies’ – just as a sign that anybody and specifically newer members can ask them any question and they will help all and newer members as much as they can!

-This will make talking with each other a little easier.

- It will help particularly newer members to feel comfortable with the BCMC crowd quicker.

- SO, PLEASE MAKE AND WEAR YOUR NAME TAG/ “STICKY” STARTING WITH THE COMING SOCIAL!-

The first proposed amendment will only affect new members who join after October 1, 2012, but will institute a twelve month membership period where their renewal date is the date that they join, rather than a fixed date of September 30.

The second proposed amendment will modify the automatic transition for newer members from Associate to Active, reducing the waiting period from 24 months to 12 months.

To implement these membership system changes, your executive team will seek membership approval to some minor changes to the constitution. A formal notice of a Special General Meeting for the social of June 12 will be made soon to all members, to formally approve the proposed changes in the amended constitution.

Rationale behind rolling membership: Improving the club membership system

As you may be aware, Paul Olynek, our Webmaster, has been working on a new website for the club. The website engine that Paul is using supports a new system for membership that the executive believes will be better for the club. This new membership system is based on a membership period of 12 months from the date of joining the club, as opposed to the current system where a membership always expires on September 30th, our fiscal year-end. The new 12 month membership system will be more fair to new members, as all new members will be paying the same fee and benefit from the club for 12 months, regardless of when they join the club.

Our membership volunteers look forward to this change as the current system with a pro-rated fee for members joining after January 1 has led to complaints in the past from new members. Clearly, for example, new members joining the club in August or September have not been happy in paying a slightly discounted rate of $31 instead of the regular $40, when their membership will be expiring on September 30th only a month, or so, later. This new system is expected to be introduced on October 1, and will only affect new members joining the club after October 1 – there is essentially no change for existing members of the club, as their membership will remain on the same 12 month schedule running from October 1 to September 30th.

Rationale behind reducing Associate Membership from 24 months to 12 months:

1. We have currently over 50% of our Members (growing every month via new members) in the Associate category that has no voting rights.

2. The ‘BC Society Act’ states under “Voting 7 (2): …A Society may have none voting members but their number must not exceed the number of voting members…”

3. The change to a 12 month period for ‘Associate Membership’ will bring down the number of non-voting members to below 50% and we will be in-line again with the law - coming from the BC Society Act.

4. Supporting reasons for the Change:

a) It will also make the club look more inclusive and more welcoming for newcomers as they get full voting rights after being with the club for one year – an incentive to renew membership.

b) The main reason to keep the ‘Associate’ Membership category is to protect the club’s assets’ so that a group acting in collusion cannot vote right away at a general meeting to divest club funds into another organization or entity of their own interest.

The proposed changes also streamline our administration as Associate Members can be approved as ‘Active Members’ by the Membership Chair. This change reduces unproductive administrative work within the executive.

Past Partner Lists showed:

● Over 60 Members who were looking for Partners for

● Over 100 specified routes – in the Coast Mountains - across N. America - in Africa - in the Himalayas.

● 25 vacation and road trips where members were searching partners for.

● On 38 days privately organized trips - on average about on 3 days each week.

What the Partner List does:

-It is a very successful tool to bring climbing partners together for their private trips.

-This helps particularly NEW MEMBERS to find partners quickly when they need them.

-Please be aware - resulting private trips are non-BCMC-sanctioned trips. Neither the participants nor the organizers are covered by the BCMC Liability Insurance.

On our ‘Summer-Fall Partner List 2012’ you will find other Club Members who are searching for:

= Rock Climbers = Sport Climbers = Boulderers = Aid Climbers

= Alpine Climbers for all difficulties

= Week Day Climbers ● Weekend Warriors

= Hikers for day trips or multi day traverses = Scramblers

= Families climbing or hiking with Kids or Teens

=Out Door Seniors =Climbers or Hikers with dogs =Kayakers =Mountain Bikers =Grouse Grinders …and all are members of the BCMC.

-Our Partner List also has an attached Calendar where any Member can advertise their private trip – one, two days in advance or 3 months down the road.

Just click on the link below and fill in your info into this Google Doc list.

-On the list you can fill in, change or delete your info and partner search at any time yourself.

-Please be considerate - do NOT change anything outside your info line.

-Fill your info line with maximum three lines of text.

-If you have problems with the list, contact the coordinator Werner via wernergr@shaw.ca

-Only BCMC members are invited to view and join this list via the link below.

-If need be the coordinator / Werner will edit the list (your info) for shortness and clarity.

Check it out and ‘bookmark’ the link/address (If it does not work directly, just copy and paste the link into your browser)

http://bcmc.ca/members/PartnerListRedirect.asp

All the best

Kit Griffin

Here’s what Paul had to say:

“I was conservation chair and wrote the submission for the club to the 1990 Garibaldi Management Plan.

The question of hut building in the Spearhead was not really on the table for discussion at the time. Rather the discussion was deferred with a note in the management plan to that effect. What was discussed peripherally though was the bid by Blackcomb Mountain to remove a chunk of park land in order to “rationalize” their ski area boundary. At that time, there was a fair bit of goodwill in the mountaineering community towards the mountain and the bid was not strongly opposed by the club. In retrospect, perhaps it should have been.

The management plan that was adopted in 1990 should have been assurance that traditional recreational use and conservation of the Spearhead range would continue in perpetuity. In fact, there has been a steady erosion of protection and use. Additional to the Blackcomb exclusion, there was an expansion by Whistler into the Musical Bumps, the relocation of Singing Pass trailhead to W-B parking lot and the conversion of the access road to a playground for guided ATVs, harassment of hikers heading up Singing Pass on bikes to the park boundary and ongoing harassment when using traditional access routes such as the mining road to the base of Green Chair. The expansion of Whistler to the Musical Bumps turned the Singing Pass trail into a high-speed descent route for downhill skiers, the glazing of the trail into an icy sidehill and the conversion of Russet Lake hut into a party place.

Actually, partying at Russet Lake is nothing new. The likeable owner of the original Coast Mountain Sports, Randy Hooper, cultivated the persona of a bearded hippy on telemark skis. He ran the original store on 4th Avenue in the 1980s before he sold it to the current owners. There weren’t any plastics boots for telemarking. It was all leather and laces meant for long distances rather than mechanized-assisted technical descents that are popular today. Randy, however, was not averse to flying into Russet Lake for a weekend of partying and shredding. And make no mistake about it, the proposed huts are going to cater to those accustomed to mechanized access, by the lifts in this case.

So that’s where it stands today. If someone had said in 1990 that twenty-two years later that’s what the management plan would result in I would have said it would be the most pessimistic of outcomes.

What we have on the table today is three huts being proposed for 35 to 40 people. Estimated cost per hut is $300,000, give or take $100K. So, we’re looking in the neighbourhood of $1 million. For $1 million, we don’t even get another trail or improved access. That is to be funded from hut revenue. Time will tell. The huts are high elevation huts intended to be accessed from the top of Whistler and Blackcomb lift systems. The huts have a large number of backers in the business community in Squamish and Whistler hoping for spin-off benefits. There is widespread support in the slackcountry skier community. But that really puzzles me. I’m constantly hearing from hut supporters that there’s so many people in the Spearhead already. Why would anyone want to increase the numbers by another 120? But there you have it.

The number of three huts arises apparently because four huts were wanted in order to make travel between huts easy for the average. One hut was dropped for some reason. Anyway, the number three is just sitting out there in order to make it easy for the average person. Then why not just one hut with the option to fly in? There’s already a precedent for it in Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park.

Why are the only huts proposed high elevation huts? Would it not also be an option to have one large backcountry hut below tree line at the head of Fitzsimmons Creek with a low elevation access trail? You could also ski from a high point down to the hut at the end of a day and then climb back up in the morning when you’re refreshed?

There is any number of alternatives and one of them is do absolutely nothing. However, we are visualizing the future so everything should be on the table. Yet, there is only one vision coming out of the proposal. Three large huts and three locations have been determined. Who is making the decision? Already it seems a fait d’accomplis? Shouldn’t we be first examining alternatives rather than voting on a completed proposal? Because I don’t get the impression we’re really being consulted. Our club’s name is being used to indicate approval and widespread support.

We’re very short on details. Costs per hut are $300,000 plus or minus $100,000. That is a wide range but doesn’t give me confidence. There are many missing details. How much does it cost to maintain the hut per year. How much per night does it cost? What is the expected occupancy? How much revenue per year will be available to build trails? What trail and access improvements are planned? A single bridge and access road across Fitzsimmons Creek might cost as much as a hut or more and that’s without any trail being built. How much is our discount? Will there be beer gardens and cappuccino bars, as I’ve heard rumors of?

Is there a formal and binding legal agreement on how the huts will be managed, revenues disbursed? This is ultimately extremely important. What’s to stop a well intentioned understanding from being derailed by market forces and land managers as we have seen the 1990 management plan go off the rails? What will it look like in twenty years? There’s a lot of people looking one or two years into the future when really they should be looking 20 or 30 years ahead. What if hut fees climb from say $20/night to $100 or $200 per night? And why wouldn’t they? That money could be used to pay for all sorts of things. Anything is possible but at the expense of the park!

What’s your vision for the Spearhead? In twenty or thirty years it could feel like an extension of Whistler Blackcomb. Will there be any wildness left? It’s your vision, your time.”

Date: Tuesday May 1, 2012, 7 - 9pm
Location: MEC Vancouver, 130 West Broadway

Receive 10% off all items purchased that evening! (5% off boats)

Must RSVP to attend:email francis_stpierre@telus.net
Participants must be a member of Mountain Equipment Coop in order to make a purchase. If you are not yet a member, you may purchase a $5 membership that evening.

Here are the terms:

- Club night will take place at the MEC Vancouver store location, at 130 West Broadway.
- It will take place on Tuesday May 1 from 7pm to 9pm.
- As the store closes at 7pm and they are offering the store and the associated discount to members of the BCMC only, they will need a list of members planning to attend at least 4 days prior to the event in order to identify BCMC members from the general public.
- Members will receive 10% off of all items purchased that evening – and 5% off boats! All items must be in stock and purchased through the MEC tills that evening in order to be eligible for the discount. So this means that they can not offer the discount on items that must be ordered in, or that members wish to purchase online.
- All participants must be members of Mountain Equipment Coop in order to make a purchase. If you are not yet a MEC member, you are welcome to sign up and purchase a membership ($5) that evening.

Please note: You MUST RSVP with Francis by April 27- or sooner - if you plan on attending.

This is a special service offered by the MEC so please be considerate and RSVP promptly.

The survey can be accessed here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QG3QK63

It should only take 5-10 minutes to complete and it closes at the end of the day on March 25th, 2012. The survey is open to the public, feel free to pass it along to anyone you know who might be interested.

Thanks for your time,

Becs

Becs Hoskins, M.Sc.| BC Parks Project Manager | p. 250.387.5036 | becs.hoskins@gov.bc.ca

The best of the best mountain films will be screened on March 15th at 7:30 pm at Denman Cinema. This is not only a fundraiser for the Spearhead Huts project but also an opportunity to meet & mingle. To buy the tickets and to find out more please visit http://www.accvancouver.ca/Radical_event.htm.