Awards
Every year at the VOC banquet, various awards are given out. They are divided into two categories, serious and humorous and are described below. Past awards are also listed below.
Contents
Awards - Serious
Bronze Pin
Given to a member who has made a significant contribution to the club over the previous year. The first pin was awarded in 1995 - prior to that pins could be purchased. One is not necessarily given out each year.
Past Winners
- 2007 - 2008 Christian Champagne - For his contribution with the VOC Alumni and wiki
- 2008 - 2009 Piotr Forysinski - For his contribution to the Club’s gear over the past 2.5 years.
- 2011 - 2012 Marius Muja - For his contribution to the Club's website.
- 2012 - 2013 Jon Leighton - For organizing and teaching the amazing month long Lead Ladder.
- 2014 - 2015 Jeff Mottershead and Christian Veenstra- For building a bridge over Barr creek, restoring access to Harrison Hut
- 2015 - 2016 Nicole Ong - For creating the songbook committee and seeing it through to completion
- 2015 - 2016 Elliot Skierszkan - For organizing the first Neil Mackenzie Grant in conjunction with the Mackenzie Family
- 2015 - 2016 Caitlin Schneider and Sebastian Prass - For designing and building the new clubroom
- 2016 - 2017 Birgit Rogalla - For revamping the VOCene, running a plethora of beginner friendly trips this past year as well as regular WFA practice sessions, etc.
- 2017 - 2018 Else Bosman and Lianne McRadu - For organizing the Centennial Banquet with over 300 attendees
- 2019 - 2020 Krista & Piotr Forysinski - For their contributions to the Phelix Hut wood stove project
- 2020 - 2021 Haley Foladare - For her access advocacy work, in particular with regards to Rubble Creek and its ploughing
- 2023 - 2024 Adam Steele - For single-handedly organizing the helicopter and transport of materials to Phelix for the roof repair project, as well as coordinating the fundraising of $25,000
- 2023 - 2024 Jacob Grossbard - For living at Phelix Hut for almost a full month during the summer roof repair project, ending off by sacrificing his wrist temporarily.
- 2024 - 2025 Anton Afanassiev - For his dedication to the Sphinx Hut roof replacement project.
Silver Pin
Silver pin awards are given to those who have contributed their time and energy to the club "above and beyond the call of duty". This award was instituted in 1950 and had since been awarded to about 60 people. An updated list of recipients is presented below. This list is compiled from records in past journals and therefore may not be complete
2019 Nominations
Past Winners
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Gold Pin
Gold pin awards are given to those club members who have not only devoted much of their time, over a number of years, to the VOC, but have also done some form of outstanding work for the club. Endorsement by 2/3 of the membership at a general meeting is necessary to approve this award. To date only seven gold pins have been awarded:
Past Winners
- 1950 Ron Leslie, Club Treasurer - Building the Seymour Cabin.
- 1966 Karl Ricker - Planning, designing and building the Whistler cabin.
- 1966 Byron Olson - Planning, designing and building the Whistler cabin.
- 1970 Roland Burton - Planning and building the Burton Hut.
- 1999 Andre Zimmermann - Construction of the Brian Waddington Memorial Hut
- 2006 - 2007 Chris Michalak - Creating the VOC website and wiki section.
- 2020 - 2021 Jeff Mottershead - Many, many years of work on our huts and trails, in particular the many outhouses he has built, the bridges he built, and the bridges he designed but which may, through no fault of his, never be built.
Most Active New Member(s)
Usually this is a book prize given to the new member(s) who has developed their outdoor skills the most during the previous year (not necessarily given to novices).
Past Winners
- 1987 Jeff Greenwood
- 1988 Ileana Paul
- 1991 Chrystal McNabb & Denie Robichaud
- 1997 Steph Fung & Kate ???
- 2004 Richard So, Kaja Sadowski & Janet Draganov
- 2005 Stephen Lerch & Kim Humman
- 2006 - 2007 Christian Champagne & Natalie Stafl
- 2007 - 2008 Emma Vardy-Bragg & Ran Zhang
- 2008 - 2009 Rozzy Pedder
- 2009 - 2010 Lisa Pittl and Veronika Schmitt
- 2010 - 2011 Caroline Jung, Kathrin Lang and Charlie Beard
- 2011 - 2012 Kate Wooton, Jessica Litman and Sam McKoy
- 2012 - 2013 Ross Campbell, Marie-Eve Myrand-Lapierre
- 2013 - 2014 Anne Darby, Stuart Picken
- 2014 - 2015 Julie Houde, Tobias Klenze
- 2015 - 2016 Jessica Mellage, Jake Jones
- 2016 - 2017 Shane Monks O’Byrne, Swantje Moehle
- 2017 - 2018 Alex Wharton, Mia Fajeau
- 2018 - 2019 Chern Jie (CJ) Chang
- 2019 - 2020 Jacob Aragones, Ahmed Moustafa
- 2020 - 2021 Melissa Bernstein, Addie Truman, Bella LeDrew Guthrie
- 2021 - 2022 Ethan Somji, Settare Shariati, Morgan Cooper
- 2022 - 2023 Sri Chaitanya Bonthula, Mozi Lu, Aino Keinaenen, Brianna Ragsdale
- 2023 - 2024 Elizabeth Chu, Felix Dorn, Gabriel Csizmadia, Lucy Roberts-Lovell
- 2024 - 2025 Sunny Das, Ann-Cathrin Muller, Tejas Vijay, Paul Ramu
Roland Burton Award
Starting as of 2006-2007, this award is dedicated to a person who has contributed the most in leading beginner friendly trips and helping new members feel welcome to the club during various club activities.
Past Winners
- 2006 - 2007 Roland Burton
- 2007 - 2008 No winner
- 2008 - 2009 Line Lund Veenstra
- 2009 - 2010 Christian Veenstra
- 2010 - 2011 Katherine Valentine
- 2011 - 2012 No winner
- 2012 - 2013 Stephanie Grothe
- 2013 - 2014 No winner
- 2014 - 2015 Anne Darby and Reid Newton
- 2015 - 2016 Zack Wentz
- 2016 - 2017 Ross Campbell
- 2017 - 2018 Lianne McRadu
- 2018 - 2019 No winner
- 2019 - 2020 Cassandra Elphinstone
- 2020 - 2021 Isaac Borrego
- 2021 - 2022 Melissa Bernstein
- 2022 - 2023 Sonia Landwehr
- 2023 - 2024 Lucas Braun
- 2024 - 2025 Duncan MacIntyre
Jeff Mottershead Award
Established in 2023-2024. Awarded to an individual who can be counted on to always pitch in and who has saved the day time and time again. This award is named for Jeff Mottershead, one of the VOC’s rare gold pin recipients, following his mammoth efforts in repairing the roof of Brian Waddington Hut in 2023 in addition to a lifetime of saving the VOC’s collective behind.
Past Winners
- 2023 - 2024 Jeff Mottershead
- 2024 - 2025 John Sherk - notable mentions include his work on the Sphinx roof as well as the Phelix outhouse
Journal Awards
There are several awards given to contributors to the VOC Journal at the discretion of the Journal Editor.
Photography Competition
Beginning in 1958, the VOC holds a photography competition each year. Slides can be entered in one of the following categories:
- A - Alpine Pictures: mountains, waterfalls, glaciers, sunsets, etc.
- B - Climbing and/or Ski Mountaineering: views of climbing techniques or the attraction of skiing or ski mountaineering. (Not pictures of the party resting on top, or competitive skiing).
- C - Alpine Natural History: plants, animals, etc.
- D - Club Activities: Longhike, weekend trips, social activities, Christmas trips, etc.
- E - Portraits: Character portraits of individuals (not more than two persons per picture).
- F - Miscellaneous: Hero shots, any of those 'funny' shots, etc.
Prizes are presented at the VOC Banquet. Complete details are announced usually early in the second term.
Awards - Humorous
The Broken Board Award (& Broken Helmet)
Background
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VOC Journal Article |
| The following text is transcribed from VOC Journal 15. In the spirit of preserving the original author's work, please do not edit it except to correct copy mistakes. |
This award was originated in 1970 by a group of VOCers involved in building the Pringles Ridge Hut (renamed the Neve Hilton shortly after). It consists of a piece of 2 x 8 inch dressed fir about four feet long, which Mike Miles packed out of the Opal Cone. Now you ask, how did this lumber get to the Opal Cone? The lumber was originally intended to be used in building the hut, but the chopper which was transporting it ran into trouble and had to jettison his load. The pilot happened to jettison his load right over the only two-ton boulder in the meadow. The 2 x 8 x 12' rough cedar joists, 3 platform supports, and some cedar siding were all self-destructed upon contact.
Thus originates this award. It was also decided that the award should be given for "stupidity above & beyond and/or service below and beyond the call of duty"
- By Eric White, The Broken Board Award 1972, VOCJ15, 1972-1973, pp.8
The Broken Helmet has joined this award lately, for those times when the stupidity required a team effort.
Past Winners
- 1970(?) Mike Miles - For carrying the (broken) board back to the trailhead (see Background)
- 1971 Mike Miles - For various occasion: Shave his shapely ankles, serve a nourishing breakfast of popcorn and stale cheese biscuits, to the girls in bed. Banged in a bong so well a crowbar had to be used to get it out and took 5 hours to climb on one of famous climbs up Eleven Bolt Rock (usually takes ten minutes).
- 1972 John Frizell - For his efforts in constructing an outhouse for the Pringle's Ridge hut. This original masterpiece of construction, with the best view of any biffy in the world (the latter is true). However, the snow-creep had different ideas, and he put them to work that winter. Snow-creep proceeded to eat John's work of art, chew it up, and then spit out the pieces. The end result was a completely destroyed outhouse: all the pieces were at least separated, if not broken. However, a group of twenty people went in the next summer and built a new outhouse out of the pieces. This new outhouse has the same view, but has its lower portions buried in rock to foil the snow-creep, and as fas as I know, it's still standing (Not anymore..)
- 1980 Paul Phillips
- 1983 Pat MacLachlan - For bouncing the only cheque that year.
- 1986 Debbie Phillips - For breaking the glass on the newly-built book cabinet in the clubroom.
- 1987 Peter Stone - For his cornice-jumping (or should I say falling) exploits on the Sphinx and for skiing on a broken ankle at McGillivray Pass.
- 1988 Richard Howes & Jeff Greenwood - For their marathon five-day assault on the NE Buttress of Slesse Mountain.
- 1989 Scott Phillips - For the many ingenious ways he devised to injure his ankles over the year.
- 1990 Jan Palaty - For giving food poisoning to 12 people on a Christmas camp with poorly cooked beans.
- 1991 David Williams - For breaking various bones during the year.
- 1996 Mark Grist - See Harrison Hut: Two Perspectives, VOCJ39, pp.73 - 74
- 2004 - 2005 Dan Eagen - For dropping the rope at the top of a climb to clean it, then people decided they wanted to top rope it, so Dan hung there till they walked the rope around the back.
- 2005 - 2006 Jeff Mottershead, Christian Veenstra, and Scott Webster - For various "Escapes" (see VOCJ48) over the course of the year.
- 2006 - 2007 Ben Singleton-Polster - For cutting a tendon on a lampshade while coiling a rope in his room and having his appendix explode and skiing out without knowing it during the New Year's Eve Brian Waddington trip.
- 2007 - 2008 Jason Bedard, Evan Morris & Steve "Muffin" Mullen for crossing the Callaghan river in winter with water up to the crotch when someone on the opposite shore told them halfway across that a bridge was just 5 minutes downstream.
- 2008 - 2009 Gili Rosenberg – For dropping an ice axe in his front wheel and destroying it in the process while cycling back from the clubroom after renting it.
- 2009 - 2010 Piotr Forysinski - For breaking both his skis in half skinning up to the Lizzie Creek cabin and subsequently dozing off at the wheel and crashing Evan Morris' truck while driving to find other skis.
- 2010 - 2011 Tom Curran - For complete refusal to use any navigational or communication aides including: 2-way radio, cell phone, GPS or map and successfully convincing a party to follow him for several hours down the wrong spur of a logging road on their way to the Brew Hut.
- 2012 - 2013 Piotr Forysinski, Skyler Des Roches for building a large cata-raft, and to Artem Bylinskii, Jon Leighton, Jen Williams and others for taking it down a whitewater river that they had never run, with people who had no idea how to raft.
- 2013 - 2014 Ian Dusome, Neil Mackenzie and Lachlan Fleetwood for Advanced Alpine Swimming i.e. the series of mediocre choices that culminated in Ian plunging into Wedge Ice Lake while swinging ice tools and wearing crampons.
- 2014 - 2015 The participants of Glacier School 2014 - for collectively rearranging car spaces and, in the process, losing two of them and leaving the participants stranded to hitchhike home and for the mechanical work done to a van's oilpan by a marked boulder on the logging road
- 2015 - 2016 Amin Aziznia for getting lost in a white out on Garibaldi Lake for an hour and a half before remembering to look at his compass
- 2016 - 2017 Marc Rizkallah for bringing a snowboard, hammock and other non-essentials to Phelix, making the hike into a 2-day epic.
- 2017 - 2018 Nick Hindley For spending approximately one hour naked in -20 C, running 100 laps around Phelix Hut to celebrate the VOC Centennial. Distance around the hut: 55 meters
- 2018 - 2019 Edward Lim - A huge thank you goes to Edward for his contribution to the Brew Shit-o-matic, however the conveyor has broken down twice since installation 7 months ago.
- 2019 - 2020 Jeff & Devlin Mottershead - For getting their car stuck in the Phelix ditch with the much too heavy stove in the back
- 2020 - 2021 Jeff Mottershead - For carrying the entire new Brew outhouse up to the hut, without the use a helicopter
- 2021 - 2022 The Alder Slayers for spending a weekend during the Atmospheric Rivers clearing an alternate route to Brew which was never used by a VOC group and instead allowed sledders into the area.
- 2023 - 2024 Jeff Mottershead - For going for an unintentional swim and losing his skis in Garibaldi Lake which was in fact not frozen in February. Deferred to Anton Afanassiev for recieving a grant to go to Kazakhstan for mountaineering and destroying his shoulder on an electric scooter on the first day, ending the trip for him.
- 2024 - 2025 Noah Wyse, Nick Ayers, and Jasper Lincoln for spending 3 hours picking the lock to the safe after locking the key inside of the safe, only to find that the key was in Noah's (head QM) pocket the whole time.
The Kitchen Sink Award
Background
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VOC Journal Article |
| The following text is transcribed from VOC Journal 43. In the spirit of preserving the original author's work, please do not edit it except to correct copy mistakes. |
"Early in the new millennium, I found myself wandering around Argentinean Patagonia with my long-time friend, Dave Campbell. Every mountaineer on earth knows the name and legend of Cerro Torre. For Dave and I, it was not to be missed. On a beautiful day in February, we took to frolicking around on the Torre Glacier. The sights were... well, let's just say that I highly recommend going there. Above us loomed the massive granitic finger of Cerro Torre; its South Face, vertical and some 1300m high, sanctifying its summit. The easiest route is rated a very difficult ULMTAN (standing for "Um, Let Me Think About...No!"). But that's ok. What I could take from standing below this tower was the simple pleasure of being in a magical place. On top of that, I gained instant respect for those that have climbed the peak.
While heading back to camp, something caught my eye in the bottom of a shallow closed crevasse. Dave investigated, finding a 1m by 1m mangled chunk of alunimium sheet. It all clicked instantly. In 1995, a team of three Italians (R.Manni, E. Salvaterra, and P. Vidi) climbed a new route on the South Face called "Infinite South". Undoubtedly the route was really hard, rated at 5.11+ / A4 / 70 degree ice for 36 pitches (alternatively rated ULMTAN). The team made the "intersting" decision to use an Aluminium box as a bivy. After climbing a few pitches and setting ropes, the team would spend endless arduous hours hauling the mutliple-hundred-pound beast up the wall. The thing was so heavy that they resorted to using a ratcheting, lever-based pulley. So, with every difficult push of the lever, they gained an impressive 2cm with the box. Hauling a 50 m pitch would take 2500 pumps of the handle!
Upon reaching the top of the wall, they realized that rappelling with this box would not prove easy. Besides, they wanted to summit. So they fitted the box with a parachute and prepared it for "touch down". Considering that the area gets some of the world's fiercest winds (eddies upwards of 70 km/h), you might think this was a doomed experiment. Within a few hundred meters, the parachute collapsed and the box free fell the height of a 300-storey building until making solid contact with the ground. A few days later, the team reported that they went to the base and found no trace of the box: all they found was a haulbag. What would you rather find: 200kg of mangled Aluminium or a haulbag? So, five years later, Dave and I found a big chunk of the above-mentioned box... 5 km away ! I smell a rat.
After carrying the scrap back to Cerro Torre base camp, I erected a monument with the metal entitled "Fly It In, Chuck It Off". Not more than half an hour later, I heard the monument being disassembled. As it turns out, a group of Germans were outraged by my monument; a heated argument ensued. After agreeing to keep the monument down for the sake of the tourists, we carried the scrap out and offered it to the rangers. How interesting that the 1995 climb received international recognition yet the rangers had no idea of how the aluminium got there nor had they ever heard of our Italian champions. Thus, the Kitchen Sink Award comes into being: dedicated to the Italian champions for bringing way too much stuff. The Kitchen Sink Award shall be given to that VOC member who knowingly or unknowingly overloads his or her pack with superfluous devices."
- By Jeremy Frimer,The Kitchen Sink Award, VOCJ43, 2000-2001, p.150-152
Past Winners
- 2005 - 2006 Andrew Pare - For bringing a double-burner stove on the Winter Longhike.
- 2006 - 2007 Scott Webster, Jeff Mottershead, Christian Veenstra - For bringing mountaineering gear on their Mt. Waddington trip without coming even close to climbing it. (See VOCJ49)
- 2007 - 2008 Jeff Mottershead - For all the crap that was brought on Europa
- 2008 - 2009 Ignacio Rozada – For carrying fresh produce without protective containers, leading to an Avocado explosion in his backpack and a glass pie container in the backcountry on numerous occasions.
- 2009 - 2010 Jonathan Desautels - For carrying a full bottle of mustard and a glass jar of Salsa, despite significant suffering, across the Garibaldi Neve, resulting in getting to spend an extra night at the Elfin Shelter.
- 2010 - 2011 Merick Moritz - For bringing a ridiculously excessive sleeping arrangement (-30 sleeping bag with liner, an overbag, vapour barrier + down jacket + vest), along with massive amounts of raisin, a bag of fresh spinach, and a folding chair up to Sphinx Camp-resulting in a 100+pound bag and having his group carry his things.
- 2012 - 2013 Artem Bylinskii and Nick Gobin for bringing tons of stuff to Lizzie Creek for New Years. Including, a sled of fireworks, ice cream, a large unknown fruit/veg, shisha, among others
- 2013 - 2014 Luka Culibrk for hauling 26 litres of water up from Brew Lake to Brew Hut for the Brew@Brew trip, refusing any help, getting lost on the way back to the hut, hearing people yelling for him and not answering because, well, now he knew where they were...
- 2014 - 2015 The participants of Burns and Turns, refer to VOCJ 57
- 2015 - 2016 Not awarded
- 2016 - 2017 “Carrying a Scotsman”: The white house crew for sledding up Ross to Elfin
- 2017 - 2018 Julien Renard For having the option to put the chainsaw on the helicopter but choosing to hike it up
- 2019 - 2020 Hannah Bates for carrying up the folding kayak to an alpine lake only to find out the lake was frozen solid
- 2021 - 2022 Sumit Meghlani for various trips. Most notably for carrying a watermelon up to golden ears but also for his unnecessarily heavy packs on every trip and oversized sandwiches.
- 2022 - 2023 Allen Zhao for suffering up to Phelix with several oranges, spices, large bricks of sugar, wine, and rum for 15+ people’s worth of Feuerzangenbowle. Plus a “small” cantaloupe, just for fun.
- 2023 - 2024 Faisal Maqbool for carrying over 15 kg of camera gear up to Phelix for the New Years trip. Highlights include 2 tripods, many lenses, and a drone (?). The sweeper on this trip became aware of this indeed. One tripod was not even used. A super rad group photo was taken however, but allegedly it took ~2 hours to get the whole group organized. Thank you to Faisal for the amazing shot!
- 2024 - 2025 Ivan Fediaev for his extensive backcountry cooking talents - including a blowtorch to make crème brûlée and an entire raw chicken (separate incidents).
The Loving Cup
An award cup designed to embarrass couples whose romance has blossomed during the past year or to an individual who has tried repeatedly to engage other club members in relationships and failed.
2019 Nominations
Past Winners
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Chorus Line Award
An award for a member who has contributed to a trip or event involving memorable musicality.
2019 Nominations
Past Winners
- 2004 Oker
- 2005 - 2006 Nick Elson & Jay Piggot
- 2006 - 2007 Charlie Caunt
- 2007 - 2008 Matthew Carroll
- 2008 - 2009 Christian Veenstra – For bringing his Ukulele on all his backcountry trips
- 2009 - 2010 Len Goff - for singing and playing guitar all the way across Garibaldi Lake
- 2010 - 2011 Ran Zhang
- 2011 - 2012 Martin Matej
- 2012 - 2013 Murray Down
- 2013 - 2014 Nicole Ong
- 2014 - 2015 Brodie Granger
- 2015 - 2016 Emmanuel Beraud - For laying the beat down at Rock party and the Annual Banquet
- 2016 - 2017 Roseanna Gamlen-Greene
- 2017 - 2018 Martin Cermak for his “Simply Orange” drum
- 2019 - 2020 Lucy Buchanan-Parker - For her excellent spoofs including the VOC #1 hit "Jaggery" to the tune of Yesterday (co-written with Ross Campbell). Past success include the Faff edition of Obladi Oblada and the "12 Days of Lizzie Cabin" (to the 12 Days of Christmas)
- 2020 - 2021 Tom Curran - For his song, If I had a Million Dollars I’d plow Rubble Creek, premiered over zoom for the AGM
- 2021 - 2022 Ross Campbell for many years of running musical club activities.
- 2022 - 2023 Braydon Massoud and Sonia Landwehr for a legendary performance of “California Dreamin' ” on the Bring-Your-Own-Axe workhike at Brew Hut before things went south.
- 2023 - 2024 Elias Bowman for absolutely rocking out at Burns and Turns with his harmonica, recorder, and jaw harp in addition to always having some sort of instrumental accompaniment at the ready on any trip he attends.
- 2024 - 2025 Quintus Zhou for not only always rocking the guitar on various hut trips, but also for starting Monday night clubroom jam sessions (there are 4 guitars in the clubroom now).
Old Geezer Award
Instituted in 1988 to honour long years of club membership. (Roland is obviously not eligible.)
Past Winners
- ???? Markus Kellerhals
- 1988 Andy Pacheco
- 1989 Peter Stone
- 1991 Andy & Muriel Pacheco
- 1995/6? Blair Hammond
- 1999 Drew Brayshaw
- 200? Fern Webb
- 2002? Dave Campbell
- 2004/05 Chris Michalak?
- 2005/06 Jeremy Frimer
- 2006 - 2007 Sandra Nicol
- 2007 - 2008 Tim Blair
- 2008 - 2009 Chris Michalak
- 2009 - 2010 Scott Webster
- 2010 - 2011 Christian Veenstra
- 2011 - 2012 Craig Alfredson
- 2012 - 2013 Ben Singleton-Polster
- 2013 - 2014 Piotr Forysinski
- 2014 - 2015 Marcin Mirski
- 2015 - 2016 Caitlin Schneider
- 2016 - 2017 Clemens Adolphs
- 2017 - 2018 Cora Skaien
- 2018 - 2019 Ross Campbell
- 2019 - 2020 Tom Curran
- 2020 - 2021 Shuyu Fan
- 2021 - 2022 Cassandra Elphinstone & Alastair White
- 2022 - 2023 Will Raleigh-Smith
- 2023 - 2024 Sam Viavant
- 2024 - 2025 Haley Foladare, Nick Hindley
The Goons Award
A public warning about the stupidity of certain members, usually including a prop to help them extract themselves from embarrassing situations in the future. Previously, this was called the "Goon awards" and was mostly dedicated for humourous events over the course of the year. The transtition between them seems to have occured in the mid-80's (?)
Past Winners
- 1958
- Geri-Lou Simpson - Able Asst. Cup
- George Gowdridge - Burping Cup
- Dave McRae - Official Waxing Instructor
- Albert Nickull - Shuss-Bomber
- Ann Hutton - Radar Speed Trap
- Jack Boulding - Railroad Award
- Nadene Gwyer - Vice Award
- Bill Shuttleworth - Order of the Animated Stomach
- Robin Clarke - Order of the Double Breasted Sweater
- 1959
- Graham Dawson - Goon Awarders Permit
- Linda Campbell Brown - Able Asst. Cup
- Parker Williams - Beachcombers Permit
- Jon Magwood - Burping Cup
- Chuck Boyd - Break of the Year
- Don Brown - Blue Boy
- Ian Mahon - Bed Time Story Teller
- Robin Clarke - Memories Are Made of This
- Nadene Gwyer - Mother Hubbard of the year
- Bill Preto - Cleanest Living Boy in Acadia
- 1960
- Carman Smith - Cabin "Mistress"
- Dean Goard - West Van Parking Permit
- Ian Stirling - Poet Laureate
- Linda Griffiths - Able .Asst. Cup
- Sandra Caldwell - "Knee Caps"
- Jack Boulding - Operator's License
- John Pringle - "Hole in Sweater" Award
- Sandra Ellen - "Madam" Award
- Garry Cowan - Burping Cup
- Don Brown - Engineer's Railroad Certificate
- John Dick - "Mother" Award
- Carman Smith - Operator's License Reinstated
- George Gowderidge - Gamekeeper's License
- 1963
- Jim Fowler - Burping Cup
- Alexia Caldwell - Assistant Loving Cup
- 1971
- Mike Miles - Cream puff Award
- Wendy Watson - Hippy Award
- Bill Prescott - Bread, butter and cheese quiz
- Murray Fierhellar - Smmoth move of the year
- Chris Temple - Sphinx Sacrifice
- Mike Miles & Fred Thiessen - Rubber Piton
- Jill Bridgeman - Hot Dog of the month
- Eric White - 1971-72 Goon Awarder
- 1972
- J. Kelly - received a four foot drinking straw to prevent her from falling into any more streams while trying to get a drink.
- R. Beaty - Hot Dog of the Month - for a speech he made regarding the first-year girls and the sleeping facilities at thecabin.
- S. Golling - received a bed pan for her actions over a four day period during which she did not once venture outside the Neve Hilton.
- M. Lemon & S. McLean - received a long piece of kelp to help them when they go climbing at Bamfield again.
- E. Wood - the See-through Negligee Award - for "Just think, I could be having fun in bed this weekend."
- F. Thiessen - the Rubber Piton Award - for some so the climbing fiascos in which he was involved: tying into the railroad tracks and having five diesel units go by ?!
- I. Cordey - received a diaper for splitting his pants, "Bursting forth as a new star in the sports field".
- F. Thiessen & J. Crellin & E. White - received honours for an attempt on Siwash Rock one foggy Monday morning, culminating in a dive by Fred into the salt chuck with his climbing gear.
- C. Shaw, M. Lemon, S. McLean - Hot Body Award - they tried to germinate some Mung Beams by keeping the seeds close to their bodies. "We succeeded but they fermented because we were too hot."
- E. White - Dangerous Danger Award - a correlation was suggested between Eric White's dancing and Erich Hinze's broken foot after the banquet.
- N. Humphries - received a chain to hold his glasses on after he lost them during a climb on the courthouse fountain.
- R. Boyce - was given a long red string to help people find him if he falls into any more crevasses at Sphinx Camp.
- D. Whiting & Co.- received a face carved in a long piece of squash for their uncouth masquerade at the Hallowe'en party.
- T. Rollerson - received honours for jumping down from an ornamental rock wall (outside a restaurant) and putting his foot in a bucket of water.
- 1973
- Julian Harrison & Grant McCormack - after voluntarily spending a night out at the base of Rex's Pillar: a candle, a presto log and a songbook to help them in future bivouacs.
- Steve Schwartz - a knee pad to prevent him from impaling himself with his crampons on future ice climbs.
- Christreedfir McNeill - Hot Dog Award - for his actions as a portable rappel station on Mt.Shuksan.
- Julian Harrison, Rob Boyce, Mary Bussell & Bob McMechan - Grand Prize of 80,000,000 - for their presentation of Little Miss Muffet.
- Mike Miles - received a Boy Scout "BE PREPARED" Award for putting one of his skins together so that he would be ready to go backwards in the event of meeting a bear, Mazamo. etc. Wynne also gave him a bottler of Phisohex for his skin problem.
- Ann Carter - received the contents of a bucket of water for her rowdy actions at the Reunion party where she drenched numerous people.
- Julian Harrisonm & Mary Bussell - were noticed spending a lot of time in bed on their Christmas trip, but they appeared to be only talking and sleeping. It was felt that perhaps they were in need of guidance (just to be on the safe side) so: Diane Bodie gave Mary a copy of "How to get your Man" and "Bring 'em Back Alive", Ross Beaty gave Julian his copy of the "Allied Van Lines Guide to Moving In". and Rolf Kullak contributed his copy of "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask".
- Helen Lemon - received a pair of boxing gloves to prevent further damage to Stuart Lynne's front teeth after a scuffle in the clubroom.
- Stuart Lynne - received a two inch wide roll of tape to prevent further trouble in the clubroom.
- 1975
- Vicki ? - Cadwalder Range
- 1978
- Paul Hooper - The Broken Tool Award
- Graham Underhill - The Broken Canoe Award
- Robin Bricel & "Claude" - The White Tie Affair
- Rob MacLaren - The Hard Hat Award
- Steve Ludwig & Julian Dunster - The Broken Ski Award
- 1980
- Vicki Seraphim - The Olympic Beach Heavy Weight Champion
- Audrey Gilmore - The Gourmet Cook Award
- John Baldwin - Smelly Feet Award
- Al Knutson - Music Hater's Award
- Graham Underhill - Pathfinders Award
- Paul Phillips - Tent Mate Award (from Leon)
- Audrey Pearson & Kathy Higgins - The Giant Blister Award
- 1983
- Graham Underhill & Jean Heineman - For chasing "bunnies" (???)
- 1986
- Dave Williams - For taking off from a dinner in Squamish with Markus's car keys. Markus had to hitchhiker home.
- Brian Waddington - For neglecting to have his car insurance up to date and had his car impounded in Horseshoe Bay. This carload also had to hitchhike home, at midnight.
- 1987
- Peter Celliers, Darlene Anderson, Chris Lague, Tim Booth & Peter Stone - For leaving a club rope behind on the East Lion.
- Andy Pacheco - Flashy Pants Award from Muriel Pacheco & Jeff Greenwood for displays made (due to defective clothing) on the James Turner trip and at Smoke Bluffs.
- Rob Driscoll - Golden Jumar Award from Andy Pacheco to remind Rob of his climbing escapades in Yosemite with Peter Croft.
- 1988
- Richard Howes - One for the most memorable (and indecent) slide show of the year and a second, for his vague instructions on how to get to Glacier school which misdirected at least two vehicles.
- Richards Howes - A giant foam key for when he locked his bicycle to a tree on one side of the mountain and then left the key on the other side. Presented by Jeff Greenwood.
- Andy Pacheco - A coat hanger from Eric Clemson for when next locks his keys inside his car.
- Steve Dods - A picture of a whiteout by Jeff Greenwood to commemorate Steve's unsuccessful routefinding attempts to Brew Cabin.
- Kwon Kim - Rock Jock of the Year by Andy Pacheco and was given a spare blanket and a bag of marshmallows so he could survive more unplanned bivouacs.
- Jeff Greenwood - Fancy Pants award from Muriel Pacheco for acquiring a pair of Lycra running tights which he claimed he would never wear climbing.
- 1989
- Paul Kao - Hemorroid cream for his mysterious references to substances called 'roids' which might help his training regimen.
- Mike Hayden - Keychain for misplacing his keys and arriving at the parking lot fully laden with gear after the Glacier school.
- 1990
- Dave Williams - A pair of crampons for his booties so that on the next trip he wouldn't slip, fall, land on and destroy the tent.
- Jeff Greenwood - A tube of steroids "roid-cream" to help with those strenuous rock climbs. Presented by Paul Kao.
- 1991
- Eric Nodwell - Most Eligible Bachelor Award (presented by SWRC: the Single Woman's Rock Climbing Club, a subsidiary of the VOC).
- Scott Philips - Julie Andrews Award for his ever popular renditions of old favorites and his original improvisations.
- Andy & Muriel Pacheco, Jeff and Lisa - A cup of coffee for their bivy outside the 7-11 in Squamish.
- Marylin Noort - A pillow for falling off an elephant in Nepal.
- Carolyn Anglin - Best Sport Award for going on her first overnight ski trip alone with Eric Nodwell (Overnight Eric). Needless to say she got a good introduction to extended nighttime bushwacking.
- Peter Kalsaris (Non VOC member) - A honorary VOC membership, good for Wednesday nights only, for showing up to VOC telenights more consistently than any VOC member.
- David Williams - A razor for the best haircut (rumour has it that he cut it himself).
- Denie Robichaud - An award for the ugliest hat on a VOC trip.
- Eric Clemson - Some baseball cards (?)
- John McCarter - A Thermarest Couple kit for persistence in trying to zip together mismatched sleeping bags.
- Andy Pacheco - Bright Lycra climbing tights for showing up at the Halloween party in Lycra. Not being the shy type, he stripped off his pants in front of everyone at the banquet in order to try out his rad new Lycra!
- 2006 - 2007
- Christian Veenstra - An anti-rash cream for this itchy balls during the Mt. Waddington trip.
- Christian Champagne - A barbie doll named Lorna for bringing his Einstein action-figure doll on trips without having someone to spoon with. (given afterwards...)
- Sandra Nicol - A music shaker for all the time she sings on trips.
- Kaja Sadowski - A part of Jeff Mottershead's beard for complaining about people shaving their beards
- Piotr Forysinski - unscented deodorant for wearing smelly, scented deodorant on a trip
- 2007 - 2008
- Jeff Mottershead - Specialized yellow reflecting traffic sign with a Microsoft Paint drawn portrait of Jeff with the warning "Caution Pervert" from Christian Veenstra
- Jeff Mottershead - A speedo from Christian Champagne for his nude 5 hour swim from Wreck Beach to Lighthouse Park, which ended up in Stanley Park with a broken leg.
- Matthew Carroll - A conducting baton from Christian Veenstra for Carroll's nagging about VOCers being out of key while signing and making 3 ski songs.
- Piotr Forysinski - An inflatable Spongebob ring from Christian Champagne after he carried up an 16 pound dinghy all the way up to Wedgemont Lake just for fun.
- Andrew Silversides - A framed picture of Andrew posing as a stripper from Christian Champagne during the Winter holidays trip to Red Rocks after he decided to pose as on the business card he had in his wallet.
- Evan Morris - A special "69" framed sunglasses from Ran Zhang for his numerous attempts of hitting "69" on the radar speed traps on the sea-to-sky highway.
- 2008-2009
- Ran Zhang – A new pair of flowery hawaiian shorts from Evan Morris for bringing a pair of Red blazing shorts on every trip, no matter the weather outside or the activity.
- Bob Lai – A plastic spoon from Sophia Toft Moulton, Laura Catton and Sarah Marie Long for his extraordinary "emergency" spooning skills.
- Line and Christian Veenstra – A pair of ear plugs from Matthew Carroll for their humorous conversation in their tent during Glacier School ’08 of Christian wanting to have sex while Line refusing, all in a 10m earshot from multiple tents hearing them.
- Christian Veenstra – An one-page guide to foot massage from Anne Vialettes for Line’s feet after Line hiked over 43 km around Garibaldi Lake over a two-day weekend wearing a pair of mountaineering boots.
- 2010-2011
- Len Goff and Phil Tomlinson - a sticker from Katherine Valentine to put on their skis to remind them not to forget their skins, after skiing down from a hut just to find out they had forgotten their skins and then asking a beginner to go up and get their skins for them.
- Christian Veenstra - a nalgene punched with speed holes from Phil Tomlinson for being such a weight weenie.
- 2012-2013
- Olek Splawinski awarded a bag of Livesavers to Nick Gobin for actually saving his life on Mount Baker
- Dan Eagen presented a trekking pole to Phil Tomlinson for falling into the (sketchy) snow bridge accross Phelix Creek, and also handed him a Nalgine with water from Phelix Creek. Phil adds that this has been the closest he has ever been to getting killed on a VOC trip
- Erica Lay wants to give a fleece blanket to Jen Williams so they don't have to share another cold night in a single sleeping bag as they did when Jen did not bring a sleepign bag to their trip to Yak Chek.
- Jon Leighton related his version of the events going down the Coquitlam river in the sketchy raft mention above in the broken board award.
- 2013-2014
- Clemens Adolphs gave Piotr Forysinski a potted plant in a ski boot to commemorate the awesome summer-skiing trip to Mt. Breakenridge, which involved mostly bushwhacking, and was a reminder that the people you're on a trip with are more important than reaching an objective.
- Jens Vent-Schmidt gave Ross Campbell an award for giving up a seat in Jens' (his roommates') car to book a rental car so more people could join a trip, onyl to have most of them bail and drive an empty Modo car around.
- Caitlin Schneider brought Clemens a box of cheap Cliff Bars from the States because during a trip to Vantage his passengers thought his grocery bag was one of the trash bags and threw it away, and with it lots of Cliff Bars, trailmix, cookies and other goodies.
- Christian Veenstra gave a goon award to the crew of Julien Renard, Niusha Mahmoodi, Isabel Verse, Diego Ribas-Cadle and Jannu Casanova for ending up at the wrong route up (and down) Mt. Alpha, spending 48 hours there, having the police notified about one of them being late for work and having Veenstra reach them via cellphone just to tell them that they were on the wrong side of the mountain.
- Clemens Adolphs gave a goon award to Sam Viavant for until then never bringing a headlamp on his trips, including a trip involving lots of night-hiking through the dense forest on the way to the Meager hotsprings.
- 2014-2015
- Sam Vivant- A needle and thread to fix all the holes in his clothes from Caroline
- Marcin Mirski & Nick Matwyuk - A patch kit and booze for a self propelled trip years ago from Caroline
- Julien Renard and Clemens Adolphs- a space blanket for all the bivys during the year
- Jens Vent-Schmidt- a car (baby toy) for loaning us Clemens, Caroline, Jeremy, and Ian his car while he took car of a morning-sick
- Gabe- Bread for continuing to unpack food, from Katie
- Shane Duan- a thank you for organizing the memorial from Elliot
- Neil Mackenzie- a nut from Jens for pushing a boulder out of the way while alpine climbing
- 2015-2016
- Zack Wentz - a fire extinguisher for throwing water on a fuel fire and lighting 1/4 of phelix hut on fire
- Luca - a chocolate egg for accomplishing the Neve traverse after having packed nothing but a single container of Nutella
- 2017-2018
- Jeff Taylor - 10-punch loyalty card to Martin Cermak, eligible for one free pick-up and drop-off in Surrey for his taking transit every. single. weekend to central pick-ups in trip car pools
- 2018-2019
- Rob Shilton - A San Pellegrino water bottle for accidentally giving someone in need of water a swig of white gas from a San Pellegrino bottle at Phelix
- Robert Lachance - A plastic bag for the storage of his fuel bottles after one leaked into the pot on a Neve trip, resulting in white gas tainted water for the remainder of the trip
- 2020-2021
- Ross C giving Tom C a pen and paper to make a schedule to avoid leaving everything to the last minute (see Chorus Line Award)
- Birgit R giving a tub of vanilla ice cream, to be delivered at an indeterminate point in the future, to Cassandra E for forgetting Cassandra’s birthday, on which Cassandra tried to hang three 9-day packs off a thin bear hang line over a cliff, requiring an attempted rap to retrieve, resulting in a broken line and dropped packs.
- Tom C giving Cassandra E a package of Glad Cling Wrap for repairing the broken solar panel for the Phelix Solar Project, that was damaged in shipping
- Tereza J giving an alarm clock and ice scraper to Sam V for allotting less than 30 seconds to de-ice his car for a winter camping trip. It took him 47 minutes.
- Andrew W giving Declan T a beer in appreciation for two very ambitious post-quarantine ski trips where Andrew was much less fit than Declan
- Declan T giving Andrew W a tube of 110 SPF sunscreen for failing to apply sunscreen to sensitive areas while naked glacier skiing in late May.
- 2021-2022
- Jacob G to Kaylie - Safety Glasses for pouring fireball into Declan’s eyes from the Phelix loft during Burns n Turns, also for trying to open a bottle of wine with a blowtorch, causing it to explode
- Jacob A to Ethan - An analogue beacon for using a 2 antenna beacon that he’s had since he was 12. He now has a sum total of 4 antennae
- Seton to Will RS - a chock stone for getting a rope super stuck on Penny Lane
- Haley to Tom - extra rope for getting his car stuck down an ATV rode in Bella Coola
- Ethan to Jacob G - The rear view mirror from Ethan's rolled truck, for rolling his truck
- Kai to Settare - a bottle of ibuprofen, or something stronger, for going on G1 with a broken toe, then learning to crack climb the next weekend
- Ross to Settare - a mini splint kit for exactly the same thing as above. She also had strep throat at the time
- Ross to Luca - an empty bottle of head and shoulders for not bringing a sleeping bag, mat, or food to a 3 day trip to Phelix, but bringing a towel for the showers
- Kaylie to Jacob A - a broken ski for breaking his ski after transitioning too soon instead of downclimbing, against her advice
- Declan to Tom and Cassandra - a tow rope for crossing 6km of Garibaldi Lake in a Canadian Tire dinghy
- Alastair to Jacob A - imaginary winter tires for insisting he didn’t need winter tires, then getting stuck on the Brew road and asking for a ride
- Melissa to MJ - a pack of post it notes for bringing skins to lend out on a ski trip.
- Kai to Ross - for failing to control the weather at Phelix on Burns n Turns, a trip with over 50 beginners
- 2022 - 2023
- Kai Schwartz and Ethan Somji to James Maltman - plastic glove to keep things sanitary when searching for pop tabs
- James Maltman to Jacob Grossbard and Seton Kriese - "Oh S***" decoration for skiing of the only existing cornice while roped together in a whiteout
- Sonia Landwehr to Joel Bengs - camping bowl so Joel no longer has to eat his meals off the splitboard he made his car group drive an extra 20 km for
- Will RS to Al Templeton -
- pls fill in your goon awards!
- 2023 - 2024
- Alex Beauchemin to Elias Bowman - spork in honour of the titanium spork used to dig out his car from a water bar on a deactivated Forest Service Road by K'aayxada TlldaGawaay on Moresby Island, Haida Gwaii.
- Anton Afanassiev to Ivan Fediaev - nose plugs to give to the person behind him next time he decides to make fish and chips at a hut (the fish and chips were good)
- Lucas Braun to Declan Taylor - A box of tea to commemorate the thermos that Declan forgot at the top of Sphinx island in Alexandra Fiord (as well as the cell phone that he also accidentally left at the field site).
- Ketan Desai to Anton Afanassiev - A children's push scooter for destroying his shoulder on an electric scooter accident during the first day of an international mountaineering trip.
- 2024 - 2025
- Noah Macdonald & Sonia Landwehr to Evan Wong - a full box of Welch's fruit gummies to fuel his adventures in honour of Evan's habitual lack of food brought on trips, but in particular for a day spent trail running and climbing Yamnuska with nothing but one singular Welch's gummy.
- Julian Larsen to Evan Wong - A rock from the Grandwall base to add to his pack, since he tried onsight leading the Grandwall (at his limit) with a fully stuffed 45L pack.
- Julian Larsen and Evan Wong to Noah Macdonald - a climbing bolt, so Noah can start exposure therapy to stop melting down on bolted climbs, even though he climbs harder grades on chossy rock with rusted pins and fixed nuts.
- Nick Ayers to Julian Larsen - A calculator to calculate his chances of dying while simulclimbing Calculus Crack with 1 piece per pitch (with Nick).
- Elias Bowman to Alex Beauchemin -
- Aaron Lee to Nick Ayers - A log in case Nick misses hauling an arm-numbing amount of firewood on a spineboard (in the name of efficiency) during the HMVDITTRAH workhike at Brian Waddington Hut.
- James Maltman to Noah Macdonald -
- Noah Macdonald to Nick Ayers - A bottle of caffeine pills to keep him awake on future overnight climbs after proposing (and succeeding on) an after-class, all-nighter ascent of the North Face of Sky Pilot.
- Anton Afanassiev to Ivan Fediaev - A bottle of Polo Blue for pioneering the First Fragrant Ascent, and a fidget spinner to keep him focused on the grind.
Awards - Defunct
These awards are mostly related to various Downhill skiing competitions (Dam, Steeplechase, etc.) before the split of between VOC and UBC Ski and Board club in 1974.
