Exec report - Vice President 2018 - 2019

Ethos

VP 2018-2019: Luc Harvey

Having been a part of the VOC for 4 years prior to 2018, I had never been a part of the executive before. I became Vice President due to my past experience as Co-Captain of an engineering student team and because I wanted to get more involved in the VOC so that I could learn more about its ongoings and history, help organize some cool trips for our new and existing members, and learn more about our huts. I learned a lot in my year as Vice President and completed quite a bit. Rock Party (Longhike) was by far the biggest test of my organizational ability so, as many past Vice President's have undoubtedly said before me, be prepared!

Son of Rock

Sun of Rock is the first big rock climbing event of the year. This trip is usually held on the first or second weekend of May, before Victoria Day Long Weekend.

Disclaimer: It is recommended that the upcoming Vice President elected in March of the same year organize this event as a learning experience in preparation for Rock Party.

Venue - Mamquam River Campground

• Must be paid and reserved at the end of March - it is preferred that we pay this and the Rock Party camping fee as a single cheque from the AMS as soon as possible after the new Vice President is elected (preferably by the end of March at the latest).
• Total Cost for the two nights was $650
• This is a great location and the VOC will hopefully be able to hold both Son of Rock and Rock Party (Longhike) for the foreseeable future.
• Since Son of Rock is a smaller event (116 attendees this year) so we only rented out a portion of the campground to cut down costs. This included renting:
  • Friday night: the RC Area (as the campground manager calls it - a whole corner of the campground with 11 walk-in campsites and a large group campsite including two group fire pits in the NW corner of the campground), and;
  • Saturday night: The RC Area and the 7 drive-in spots around it.
• Because of this additional fee, everyone had to pay $10 to come on the trip. Instructors did not have to pay (this was used as incentive to get people to instruct).
• Son of Rock has been held on the Squamish River on a sand bank island up the Squamish Valley for free in the past. The executive have agreed that it is a good idea to permanently move the event to the campground (even with the fee associated with it) to reduce the club's impact on the local environment.
• This is not a large event like Rock Party where we serve food to attendees. Everyone must bring their own food for all their meals as well as lots of water.
• Please note that the campground DOES NOT have running water; make this very clear to everyone at the pretrip. Water bottles may be filled up at a bike wash station on the east side of the Brennan Park parking lot, only 2 minutes drive down the road.
• It is also expected that the club pay between $20 to $40 for firewood to burn in the group fire pits from the campground (talk to manager or other staff). $20 buys you one wheel barrel full of wood (as much as you can carry). You will need to purchase this before 8 pm as fire sales close after that.

Climbing Instructional Groups

• Total of 12 groups: three (3) Rock 1 groups, four (4) Rock 2 groups, two (2) Rock 3 groups and three (3) Rock 4 groups. There were two instructors assigned to each group with a maximum of 8 or 9 students per group (for Rock 2 only). This yielded a instructor student ratio of 1:4 maximum which is preferred if possible.
• For a detailed list of instructional topics to be covered for each level, please refer to this google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wZEc-Xao8yOwigmOwNstdxLPVWOXKUw0-4elxiQd2dQ/edit?usp=sharing
• People learned how to climb from 9 am to 5 pm on Saturday. Sunday is left for people to do their own thing and apply what they have learned from the previous day. We have held a Rock 5 course (intro to multipitch climbing) on the Sunday for those who were interested in the past (although it didn't end up happening this year).
• Instructors can be hard to come by so get the trip up on the agenda ASAP and try to reach out to potential instructors as early as possible. It is a good idea to contact past instructors from either Sun of Rock or Rock Party from the previous year.
• As mentioned earlier, use the voided trip payment for instructors as incentive.

Volunteering Activities on Sunday

• Send an email out to both the campground manager and to the Squamish Access Society offering up to 10 volunteers to help out with any work that they might need done on the Sunday
• Create a volunteer sign-up sheet ASAP to try to get help. You could potentially offer a discount for volunteering but then you may need to revoke that discount from the instructors. The goal is to have the sum of the $10 fees payed by trip attendees to pay the total cost of renting the campground as well as maybe the firewood too.
• Once you have people sign up, gather their phone numbers and email addresses and hold them to their promise to help. Last year was somewhat disorganized and people were unsure if help was needed or not.
• Make sure that they know the time and place to meet on Sunday morning ahead of time so that you are sure they will be there.

VOC BBQs

Four (4) events, usually held on the first Wednesday of every month of the summer (May, June, July, August).

• Location: Jericho Beach - usually held at the bottom of Tolmie St; last year for the July and August BBQ events, it was held at the picnic tables just West of the Jericho Sailing Club (we did a joint BBQ with the UBC Sailing Club).
• Usually held at 6 or 7 pm so that everyone that works can attend.
• Everyone brings their own friables (burgers, peppers, hotdogs, corn, etc)

• Need to remember 4 things for every event:
  • VOC Flag - so that people can locate the event (may take some time to locate the flag in the clubroom - has been buried somewhere in the back in the past, last time I saw it, Jan (2018-2019 membership chair) had it.
  • Two club BBQs - with spatulas, cleaning tools, etc.
  • Fuel - bring enough for the night (at least one full canister per BBQ); if one of the canisters is half empty, bring a third as a backup; probably best to buy extras for all four events and store them in the clubroom.
  • Garbage bags - I think I forgot to bring these every time but we always needed them
• You will need a car to transport the BBQs. If you don't have a car, find someone reliable that can help you bring the BBQs and fuel to the beach each month.
• Try to get people to bring soccer balls, a frisbees, etc. (or bring your own) as this is always fun to have
• It was also found that many people showed up with no food so, if you're ok spending a little money, bring a package of hotdogs, buns and condiments to share (they will appreciate it)
• Usually we run until dark. No later than 11 pm.
• The cops have a problem with open beers - they ride around on their ATVs and will fine you up to $250 if they catch you; so please make everyone aware of this and let them know that drinking alcohol is at their own risk (we don't want the club to get bad publicity for encouraging this);

Long Weekend Rock Climbing Trips

This is not part of regular Vice President responsibilities but it was quite successful this past year so if you are interested, I think it would be a good idea to continue with in future years.

The goal was to host a series of INTERMEDIATE FRIENDLY rock climbing (cragging) road trips in BC and the US (Washington or Oregon) for any new and upcoming rock climbers to join.

• Trips were held on the following long weekends: Victoria Day Long Weekend, Canada Day Long Weekend, and BC Day (August) Long Weekend; there is also a possibility of hosting a fourth trip on Labour Day Long Weekend (although it was not done last year).
• Trip location was left "To Be Determined (TBD)" until the pretrip (the week before the trip occurred). Location was chosen based on weather conditions and overall group interest.
• Last year's trips went to: Vantage, WA, Mazama, WA, and Penticton (Skaha Bluffs), BC.
• Camping would be figured out the week of, because the location is not known prior to the pretrip (as such, Skaha isn't the best location for May Long Weekend as it is usually very busy and campgrounds can be fully booked).
• Climber's are expected to take care of themselves; just cause you are organizing doesn't mean that you need to provide belaying and teach the inexperienced people how to climb; the expectation is that:
  • They know how to at least top-rope belay and can climb at least 5.8 or better.
  • They are aware that if they want to climb, they will need to find a partner in the group that is willing to climb with them.
  • Usually, people are pretty nice and will let newer climbers jump on a climb if they already have a rope set up (but make it clear that there is no expectation for them to do so)
  • They must bring all required necessities for camping and shouldn't have to rely on anyone else (sleeping bag, mattress, bowl and utensils, proper clothing, etc.) - they can of course share tents, stoves, food with cooking and tent groups.

• You do not need to be an experienced climber to organize these trips. You just need to make sure that there are some experienced climbers among the group. Your responsibilities include:
  • Putting up a trip posting (refer to last year's on the trip agenda)
  • Hosting the pretrip meeting (deciding on the location with the group)
  • Ensuring everyone is prepared for the trip before letting them join
  • Organizing car groups, tent groups (and maybe cooking groups although those usually sort themselves out)

• It is suggested that you make sure that each car group has enough TENTS, STOVES and ROPES to camp and be able to climb without relying on other car groups (this only happened by luck (but thankfully) on the Mazama trip which was key because we lost each other on the first night due to a lack of cell reception).
• Please ensure that for any location you choose:
  • Check if cell reception will be available at that location and if not, make sure that people are aware of this (try to plan meeting locations and times ahead so that you can find people on the first morning, especially if you arrive late on the Friday);
  • If the location is in the states, make sure everyone has a passport with them before leaving; remind drivers to check this when they pick up each of their passengers (and before they leave their own house); and
  • Make sure that drivers are either (a) able to drive the required distance, or (b) have a passenger that legally can and is willing to drive if the other driver needs to sleep / take a break.

Brew Outhouse Project

Disclaimer: Please refer to the Exec Report - Huts Coordinator 2018-2019 for further details on the project. This only summarizes my contributions.

• The design, pre-contruction and preparation for the outhouse project was completed in July and August of 2018; most of the work was completed by George with some help from Edward and I with the design and construction of the mechanical and structural aspects of the project, respectively.
• On the weekends of September 2-3rd and September 8-9th, the outhouse was flown up by helicopter along with 4 loads of fire wood, the foundations were constructed, the outhouse was assembled and the new Brew Hut door was installed.
• The foundation construction and the installation of the outhouse base structure were my main contribution to the project. This included:
  • Locating the best place to set the foundations (included finding the appropriate slope to fit the structure and finding a solid bedrock foundation to anchor into);
  • Digging / removing the dirt around each circular footing location to expose the bedrock, brushing the rock to clean and mark the locations of the anchor bolts;
  • Drilling the anchor bolt holes with a hammer drill rented from Dynamic Equipment Rentals in North Vancouver (ran out of battery at the last minute, couldn't finish drilling the last hole);
  • Installing 8" long rebar pieces, 4" deep into the rock, with Simpson AT10 Epoxy;
  • Cutting out the cardboard 10" diameter Sonotubes to sit level on the rock while removing the gaps between the rock and the base of the tube;
  • Filling the remaining gaps with spray foam (let epoxy and spray foam harden for the night, covered forms with plastic bags to protect from the rain);
  • Filled around sonotubes with rocks and dirt and compacted down to hold them in placed;
  • Poured concrete into forms the next day (concrete bags were shipped up with the helicopter loads - concrete was mixed in a hard plastic bin with water sourced from the local tarns);
  • Concrete was rodded and vibrated as it was placed, with a broken hammer handle (vibration was created by tapping the sonotube on the side with the handle);
  • Immediately after concrete was leveled off at top of the sonotube, Post Base Hangers were placed in the concrete, leveled and centered to fit the structure dimensions;
  • Finished footings were again covered with plastic bags when we left at the end of the first weekend to protect from the weather;
  • Installation of structure base was assembled as originally constructed the following weekend with no major problems; this was only possible because of the extra time spent ensuring that the post base hangers were placed properly and at the correct distances relative to each other (required measuring tape, stringline, plum bob and sharpies).

Rock Party (Longhike)

Venue - Mamquam River Campground
Disclaimer: Please refer to Son of Rock Venue notes for things that may have not been fully covered (or missed) here.

• Must be paid at the end of March at the same time that payment is made for Son of Rock
• Total amount charged for entire campground rental for 2 nights = $1800 paid in full ($900 per night - this may be increased to $1000/night for 2019)
• Attendees must clean up the Sunday morning (pick up garbage, collect lost & found items, empty out bear bins, etc)
• Notify people that running water is not available at the campground; fill up station at Brennan Park (bike wash station)
• Camping must be limited to actual campsites and group sites; multiple tents can be set up at a given site. Prevent people from setting up tents in the following locations (let everyone know at the pretrip):
  • No camping on the road or in the center area (group site is fine though)
  • No camping on the back road (not campground property) - this is marked by a fence; there are always people that don't listen (we had to move 4 tents ourselves from the back road onto the campground property); talk to campground manager to get clarification on where this is;
  • Do not hang clothes (if people go swimming) on fence next to adjacent property (horse property) - horses will eat the clothes and the owners will be very angry;
  • No camping in the overflow area (talk to manager);
  • Cars should only be parked in designated parking areas or in drive-in campsites; try to fill all drive-in campsites before having people park around central area; do not let people park on the ring road;
  • All food must be stored in the bear bins to avoid having bears invade the campsite; make sure that no one leaves food in their tents; this may also require a clean-up of the food in the party tent late at night once the party is over and the DJ has left;
  • Party tent was set up at the South-East Corner of the campground (which is a good place to put it) so suggest that people tent on the North-West corner (RC area) if they want to go to sleep earlier and not have the music be too loud (central group campsite hill acts as a noise muffler).

Party Tent Rental:

• Reserve and pay this no later than July 1st.
• Rent the party tent through BC Party Tent Rentals (operates out of Surrey, BC)
• Contact Name: Darcy - runs the company (his cell phone number is registered on Google Maps)
• Total cost was: $2,340.80 for:
  • 1 - 40x40' Party Tent
  • 1 - 10x20' Tent - used to cook burgers and lay food under
  • 2 - 10x10' Tents - used for raffle sales and for DJ cover area with speakers
  • 2 - BBQs & Propane - one BBQ broke half way through the night (have Darcy make sure they are both working)
  • 20 - Foldable Chairs - was a good amount
  • 9 - Foldable Tables - also was a perfect amount
  • 2 or 3 flood lights - included in the price

• It is highly recommended that you rent the additional 10x20 and 10x10 tents just in case it rains (better safe then sorry)
• Party Tent was set up in the SE corner of the campground adjacent to the electrical kiosk (near site 63)
• Power for the DJ's set up and for the lights provided by way of extension cords from the power kiosk (shed); bring multiple extension chords (the club should have 2 or 3) and a power bar (had to buy these from Rona on the day of but should be in the clubroom now)
• Darcy's crew will set up everything (except the power) a day or two before the event so:
  • Provide clear instructions to him so that he knows where/how to set up the tents (you could just ask him to set it up the same way that he did last year) - this past year he set everything up on the Thursday prior and took it all down on the Tuesday after; and
  • Inform the campground manager of when they will set up and take down everything so that campground staff have plenty of time to clear the tent area in advance of their arrival.
• Make sure that at the end of the day Sunday, everything is put back to the way you found it so that it is easy for Darcy's crew to take down and clean up.

Liquor License

• Apply for this in May (if they reject it for any reason, you will have enough time to figure out why and reapply)
• Take Special Event Server Course prior to applying (only takes a couple hours maximum) - application requires SES License #.
• Apply through BC Special Event Permit website: https://specialevents.bcldb.com/:
  • Indicate that the serving area is indoors (inside the party tent)
  • Indicate that control of minors will be by certified (have completed SES or SIR course) volunteers, and that non-minors will be given wristbands once ID has been checked
  • Only say that you will be charging $1.50/serving (minimizes tax paid) - to recover costs
  • Total amount of alcohol required will likely be no more than 6 kegs (we had 7 and it was too much last year) - you could probably get away with 5 kegs (50L kegs - 141 servings / keg)
  • Make sure to indicate that the location is a private campground and that the event is private.
  • Liquor sales occurred between 5 PM and 1 AM
  • 150 people max in the service area
• Total paid: $25.00 for license processing fee and $3.19 for the liquor tax (minimal).
• Must bring a physical copy of the liquor license and have it posted in the service area during the event (legally required)
• Should have two volunteers checking IDs throughout the night (rotate in and out every hour or two)
• Posted at entrance to the tent (roll of wristbands readily available)

Insurance

• Apply for this in August or early September
• Apply through Westland Insurance - they cost a little extra but can process your insurance in two weeks (AMS takes up to a month to process insurance requests)
• Total paid: $150.00 for 1 day of insurance - paid in full
  • $2,000,000 liability coverage
  • Ask for Party Alcohol Liability Insurance
  • Covers 9:00 AM Saturday to 3:00 AM Sunday
  • Covers both the UBC Alma Mater Society c/o UBC Varsity Oudoor Club and the Mamquam River Access Society (MRAS - Mamquam River Campground owners) - speak with manager to confirm contact information, address, etc for MRAS coverage

DJ Contract

• Contact in August or early September
• DJ found through Boogie Shoes DJ & Karaoke Services - great service, super helpful, operate out of Vancouver
• Company manages a bunch of DJ's and assigns one to your event based on the event type and your music requests
• DJ Randy was assigned to our event
• Total paid: $892.50 ($630 for general DJ services, additional $262.50 for karaoke system and services); general services include:
  • Microphone
  • Lighting
  • Music library
  • Request list .... as well as songs you don't want to hear!
  • Pro club DJ - played from 8 PM to 1 AM
  • DJ will make minor announcements (or you can request to make all the announcements yourself)
• Retainer must be paid in advance (half of the total price).
• The remainder must be paid in cash to the DJ (or you can just pay the total amount in full be e-transfer (you will need to request a receipt for reimbursement)
• Last year, we brought music and power from Long & McQuade (might be easier to just ask that DJ Randy bring their speaker system instead).
• See if you can get the same package with the speakers and sub added in for $1000 (or $750 if you decide not to include the Karaoke this year - although a lot of people liked it)
• For every extra half hour, the DJ's going rate is $60 or $120/hour (we had extra money so I had him play until 2 PM and paid him an extra $120, plus a tip because he did such a good job).
• Make sure that the DJ has a dry area to set up and keep all electrical stuff out of the rain.

Raffle

• Get Swag Master to get gear for the raffle way ahead of the event - let him/her know in April or May so that companies have plenty of time to consider our request
• Raffle money to be donated to SAS, SAR, or other group of the exec's choosing.
• Don't need to apply for MEC Grassroots Grant as it is not processed until September or October which is too let for Rock Party (you may still want to have another exec apply for it for another event in the future)
• Purchase one or two rolls of raffle tickets to be sold at event
• Apply for Raffle License - BC Gambling License application (try to do this no later than early September)
  • Details of prizes need to be known for application
  • Details of where donations will go to need to be known for application
• Last year, we had an Arcteryx Jacket and a bunch of climbing gear to give out
• Raffle prizes were announced at 10 pm (people were upset to have the music cut off for so long, too many people were drunk)
• Recommended to start selling the tickets at 5 pm to everyone as they are getting food (right next to the BBQ), and to do the draw at 7:30 pm (before the DJ arrives)
• Could also do this at the pretrip like in past years as door prizes (might make for a long night, particularly when you have more work to do before the event).
• Other exec were assigned (delegated) to deal with most of the raffle stuff (you will be very busy in September with other stuff)

Instructors

• Post a request for instructors at least 1 to 2 months in advance of trip; contact instructors from past Rock Party and Son of Rock events.
• Instructors get $20 off ticket prices (i.e. half price) - extra incentive
• Try to get people to sign up to instruct when selling tickets (let them know about the $20 discount)
• Assign instructor partner (who they want to instruct with) and the level they want to instruct base on their answers in the sign-up sheet.
• Send email out to all instructors the week before the pretrip and have them to choose their crag instructional location prior to the pretrip
• Create an instructor group google sheet and format group lists to show instructor names, Rock level and number of spots (sum to the number of people that said they wanted to take a given Rock level)
• Send everyone a group email requesting that all students sign up to a group in the Rock Level that they requested (don't do this yourself as this took way more time than expected):
  • Best way to do this is to send a separate email to everyone in each Rock level and only give them access to the spreadsheet for their specific level (so that you avoid having them sign up for a different level and pissing other people off by taking their spot)
• Try to have a instructor to student ratio of 1:4 maximum if possible

Beer

• 6 - 50 L kegs of beer were ordered
  • 2 - Lager from Howe Sound Bewing
  • 2 - Pale Ale from Howe Sound Brewing
  • 2 - IPA from Backcountry Brewing
• Make sure to get one ice bucket and one pump for every two kegs of beer
• Order the kegs at the end of August or beginning of September
• Pick up after 12 pm from the breweries - you will need someone with a car on Saturday to pick it up
• Have kegs set up and ready to be sold inside the party tent by 6 pm

Rock Party Ticket Sales

• Tickets should start being sold in the middle of the second week of September (2nd week of school)
• Create cool design for tickets - Maria Berno was able to make some pretty cool tickets using a website online
• Print out 10 or so copies of them per sheet of paper, cut them out, number them, and store them and sell them in the order that they are numbered
• Ask people the following questions when they come to purchase a ticket:
  • "Do you want to learn or instruct?" $20 for instructors, $40 for students;
  • "What Rock level do you want to take/instruct?"
  • "Do you have a car and are you willing to drive? How many car spots do you have (including yourself)?"
  • "Are you vegetarian or vegan?" (to figure out how many vegetarian vs regular burgers to buy)
  • Make sure to have them include their email address and phone number (makes it easy to sort cells and gather email addresses so that you can contact relevant people prior to and after the pretrip)
  • "Do you want to volunteer?" (describe the different volunteer positions) $10 off of the ticket price if you volunteer (have a volunteer list ready to sign them up to the position that they are interested in)
• Keep a record of everything in a master spreadsheet including how much they paid, if they decided to volunteer, or instruct (so you can figure out why they paid less)
• Cut off ticket sales the Friday before the pretrip or as soon as you reach the max number of attendees.
• Last year, we sold student tickets as physical ones and sold instructor tickets just by recording it in the spreadsheet and if they paid or not (no physical ticket). This allowed us to put a cap on students but not limit the number of instructors

Volunteers

• Volunteers are usually required for the following positions:
  • Beer Pickup - need a car
  • Sound system pickup (pickup on Saturday - may not be needed if you have the DJ bring their own) - need a car
  • Flipping Burgers (BBQ)
  • Selling Beer and Raffle Tickets
  • Checking ID's - 19 or older with Serving it Right (SIR)
  • Pouring Beer - 19 or older with SIR
  • Helping the campground (Sunday - last year we stacked wood for the next season in the woodshed) - confirm with campground manager
  • Volunteering with the Squamish Access Society (Sunday) - reach out to SAS representative a month or so in advance to plan volunteer activity
  • DJ Cleanup, Tent Area Cleanup, Dance Area Cleanup - Sunday morning
• Recruit volunteers via ticket sales (get ticket sales people to ask everyone if they want to volunteer)
• Create a volunteer spreadsheet; only have volunteers sign up at ticket sales (don't include one on the trip agenda like last year because this only led to confusion)
• Include lists with the number of volunteers needed for each position; specify the requirements of the position if there are any (needs a car, 19 or older, SIR required, etc)
• Record names, phone numbers and emails of all volunteers so you can call upon them when they are needed
• Set a meeting time for each volunteer group on each day; make it clear that they are expected to be there (don't give them the $10 until they have shown up to help on the day of - instead of giving them the discount up front)
• Send an email out to all the volunteer prior to the trip to confirm that they are still needed.

Food, Water, Accessories and Transportation

• Food & Water need to be purchased as follows:
  • Friday - need one or two cars to drive up Friday afternoon:
    • 12 Massive Bags of Chips
    • 288 Hamburger Buns
    • 98 Slices of Cheese
    • 3 LG Mustards
    • 2 LG Ketchups
    • 2 x 150 Plates (may be some left in clubroom)
    • 300 Cookies
  • Saturday - need one or two drivers with cars dedicated to helping out on Saturday (can't instruct or learn)
    • Tomatoes
    • Lettuce
    • Onions
    • 300 Burgers (100 should be vegetarian) - you will likely need to buy this from Cosco; you can buy the rest in Squamish
    • Relish
    • 4 or 5 bags of Ice for beer buckets
    • Big trash bags
    • Duct tape
    • Water (60 litres)
    • Red cups (charged $1/cup)
    • Trays for chopped lettuce, tomato, onions (can purchase aluminum foil trays from Save-On)
  • You will need people to help cut vegetables (preferably the drivers or the same volunteers that have been helping you all day) on Saturday afternoon before everyone arrives
  • Sunday morning - borrow someone's car to go pick this up before the meeting time set for the volunteers
    • Coffee (3 Starbucks 'to-go 12s) - only for volunteers on Sunday morning
• Accessories / Other Stuff Include:
  • Candy Necklaces - we bought 7 containers off of amazon for $150 (enough for 300 people)
  • Sharpies
  • Condoms (bring two or three boxes, they were completely emptied on the last trip)
  • Drink tickets, wristbands
  • Knives and cutting boards for vegetables
  • Printed instructor and participant google sheets, liquor license, SIR or SES certificate, gambling (raffle) license
  • Extension cords and tarps (in the clubroom) - ask campground manager if you can borrow a couple extra chords
  • Extra plates and cutlery from clubroom
  • Money boxes (bring two) - in the clubroom
  • Raffle prizes
  • Harnesses from the aviary (pick up after 11 on Friday)
• All of this will need to be brought in the the couple cars that will be bringing the food up on Friday.

Pre-Trip Presentation

• PSG should speak about consent at the pretrip
• Talk about crag ettiquette
• Answer any questions about car, instructor, tent groups that haven't been sorted out previously
• Collect any missing moneys from instructors
• Warn about dangerous behaviour in cragging area
• Post 2 weeks in advance in Squamish Rock Climbing Facebook page to warn that we will be taking over the crags that weekend
• Make it very clear that anyone who doesn't show up with a helmet will not be allowed to attend the rock climbing part of the trip (make this clear to instructors)
• Everyone should be aware that they must wear a helmet at all times when at the crag (there was an incident with this last year but luckily no one got hurt)
• Make sure that everyone is aware of what they need to bring (camping gear, food, climbing gear for their respective Rock level, etc.)
• See the OneDrive for an example powerpoint presentation

Car, Tent and Instructor Groups

• Car, tent and instructor groups were formed using google sheets that were formatted with the correct number of spots and information of the driver, or instructors so that people new who they were signing up with
• Emails were sent out to provide trip attendees with the correct links so that they could sign themselves up (don't try to assign people to groups yourself - this would be an endless amount of work)
• Car groups included:
  • Name of driver and contact information
  • Address - passengers were asked to sign up in a car that was taking off from the address nearest to them
  • Number of passenger spots available
• Tent groups
  • Allowed google sheet users to enter in their name, and the number of tent spots they had available
  • Second column was provided for people that needed to fill a tent spot
  • Contact information was provided so that coordination would be easier
  • Use your tent (if you have one) as an example for others to follow (as an entry in the sheet)
• Instructor group signup is described in one of the sections above.

Phelix FSR Alder Clearing

• Organized a group of 17 people in 4 cars to drive to the landslide location along Phelix Creek FSR on the first weekend of November.
• The group brought:
  • 3 brush saws - one (1) brought by Martin Carnogursky, one (1) from the clubroom (recently fixed) and one (1) rented from Kerrisdale Equipment Ltd. on Dunbar St.
  • 5 clippers - distributed among the car groups
  • 3 shovels
  • 3 mattocks
  • 2 chainsaws
  • 1 handsaw
• Met at the trailhead at 9 pm, worked until 5 pm (dusk)
  • Drove to the pullout just past the first bridge
  • Three car groups continued forward to clear up to and past the second bridge; they also cleared out a larger parking lot immediately before the second (zero) bridge
  • One car group turned around from the pullout and started working their way back towards the landslide
  • One brush saw was not working; this was because the blade was put on backwards (make sure not to do this because using the brush saw is 10 times faster or more than using clippers)
  • The other groups caught up to us after a few hours and we all continued clearing back to the landslide
• Once finished, all car groups drove to meet at the Skookumchuck hotsprings for some soaking
• Overall a productive and fun trip

Neil Mackenzie Adventure Grant (NMAG)

• The Neil Mackenzie Adventure Grant (NMAG) was a huge success this year. We received 9 applications (the most we have ever had) and many of them were very competitive.
• We awarded three (3) winners with their total requested amount with together, added up to a total of $4,500
• $1,500 is expected to come from VIMFF funding, $2000 will come from the Mackenzie's (Neil's parents), and the rest will come from the funding that was originally supposed to go to the previous year's winners (but was retained because they backed out before the trip was supposed to occur)
• For more information on the grant and past winners, visit the trust website here: https://theneilmackenzietrust.com/voc-adventure-grant/
• The major activities for organizing the grant include:
  • Advertising (see below for suggested promotional activities):
    • Post that applications are being accepted in early September (we didn't do this until November last year, which was quite late);
    • Put up posters in the clubroom and on the front door of the clubroom;
    • Get the public relations person to post every 2 weeks promoting the grant on the VOC Facebook and Instagram pages;
    • Include a link to the grant information website and a notice that applications are being accepted on the front page of the VOC website (at the top);
    • Include a posting on the trip agenda starting on the September 1st and running until the deadline with all the grant information and links to the relevant sites; include a message board thread dedicated to the grant (see a good example of this from last year's trip posting);
    • Make sure all links used are updated, all information relevant to the grant is updated and that the application form can be easily accessed from any of the sources discussed.
  • Grant winner presentations:
    • Host this on a Wednesday or Thursday night slideshow event (that doesn't conflict with an exec meeting);
    • Have the previous year's grant winners present (try to get Ben and Jess to present again since they will have completed their trip at that time);
    • Book a room for the slideshow at least a month in advance;
    • Include a 'how-to-apply' short (15 minute) slideshow at the end of the presentation to show people how easy it is to apply and to encourage more people to do so;
    • Organize more than one slideshow if you need over 2 hours for all presenters combined (don't try to hold people there for more than 2 hours);
    • Best times to organize would be in late early September, late October or early January (try to avoid midterm season - end of November was a bad time to do it because everyone was busy with school and preparing for exams).
  • Collecting and evaluating presentations:
    • Keep an eye on the [email protected] email address (probably best to add it to your phone email accounts so that you receive notifications regularly);
    • Forward applications onto the Mackenzies as you receive them (so that they have lots of time to look through them and give you feedback);
    • Set a date and time one or two weeks after the application deadline to review applications; you will need to gather a group of friends (all VOCers, preferably with some experience in the club; should have a good mix of exec and non-exec with different interests);
    • Remember to invite Elliot to the review session (I might be able to help as well in the next couple years)
  • For further information on the duties involved in administering the grant, see the following link: Mackenzie grant administration
  • The old page that was used this year and in the past as the main information page for the grant can be found here: Neil Mackenzie Adventure Grant (we are moving away from this page; from now on, you should refer people to the trust page instead)

Winter Longhike

• Winter Longhike was a huge success this year.
• Post this trip in December and try to recruit a few experienced people to help manage/support the beginners (they just need to have experience winter camping, snowcave experience is not required);
• 30 VOCers headed up to the base of the first pump at Mount Seymour to build snowcaves in a reported base of 2.75 m of snow but what actually turned out to be over 3 m deep;
• We had plenty of drivers, but actual access to the parking lot complicated things as we were forced to park temporarily at the backcountry day users parking lot to drop people off (we couldn't go any further) and then the driver had to drive all the way down to the lower overnight parking lot to drop off the car and had to hike up to meet the group (this is not expected to change in the future);
• We also ended up having someone in the group that was under-prepared, and didn't have proper footwear. Sorting this situation out and waiting for all groups to arrive at the specified meeting location took 2 hours longer than expected; as such we left the parking lot at 11 am instead of 9 am (this could be better organized for next year);
• We had a good mix of skiers and snowshoers. Considering the amount of time it took to build the snowcaves, the skis were more of a burden than a benefit (although the ski boots were nice to work in - very waterproof);
• Make sure that everyone has all the required gear they may need - particularly proper footwear, clothing, sleeping bag and mattress (ask people that have tents to bring them as backups);
• In the end eleven (11) comfortable snowcaves were built, and we only had one case of frostbite due to VOC rental boots that were not waterproof when the quartermasters made them out to be (might recommend that everyone brings a second pair of shoes as a backup in case the first gets wet);
• A snowcave competition was held and everyone was also encouraged to make some gourmet backcountry food around the snowkitchen for dinner (mulled wine was also shared around the kitchen table);
• Everyone left in the morning (no later than 12 pm) as it was snowing and the temperature had dropped significantly;
• Most people reported having a really great time on the trip this year.

Annual Banquet (Annual General Meeting)

• Annual Banquet (also know as the AGM) has been pretty smooth to organize so far.
• Put up a trip posting for it, apply for the liquor license, book the venue, and figure out insurance in early January
• Date: Usually mid March (last two years it has been on March 14 which was a Wednesday in 2018 and will be a Thursday in 2019)
• Venue: St James Community Square (Main Hall):
  • Talk to Maureen (phone number available on google maps);
  • Book from 6 pm to 10 pm (includes 30 minutes before and after for set-up/take-down).
  • Pay with credit card (avoids paying security deposit through AMS which you then need to resubmit to AMS later - complicates treasurer's job)
• Liquor License: See liquor license notes from Rock Party (change any of the information on the application as required)
• Insurance: Apply through Westland Insurance again:
  • Only needs to cover one day from midday on the day of to midday the next day);
  • Same insurance as for Rock Party (same form too);
  • Needs to cover $2,000,000 liability for less than 100 people (should be about $110 without processing and broker fees);
  • Covers both the VOC and St James Community Square.
• Send liquor license and insurance forms to Maureen at St James Community Square as soon as they are received.
• Buy beer from Hoyne (if we still have the 25% discount) or from another brewing company:
  • 80 L total should be fine for the evening (get one 50L and one 30L keg)
  • Order one month in advance of event (around February 14th)
  • Buy beer tickets and sell beer at event for $2 per cup (red solo cups) or $6 to fill a Nalgene (same as Rock Party)
• Food is provided by attendees in the form of a potluck as has been the norm for previous years:
  • Make sure that you can use tables and chairs that should be available in main hall (part of rental);
  • Bring paper plates for those you forget.
• Create presentation that covers all executive / AGM business, award winners, new exec, NMAG grant winners, photo contest winners, etc. (to be continued.....)