Longhike Logistics

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Organization Timeline

As far in advance as possible (just do it now)

Date

  • Decide when Rock Party (Longhike) will take place. It usually happens the weekend before Canadian Thanksgiving weekend (Second Monday in October) or the last weekend of September. Try not to book it on the long weekend, as people may not be in town or busy giving thanks, etc.

Venue

  • 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.

# of Participants

  • This will depend on how many the venue can accommodate. Remember to include instructors in the count.
  • In 2018, there were 240 students and 60 instructors (largest Rock Party to date)
  • Figure out how much to charge participants in order to break even. Remember to budget for instructors.

At least 6 weeks before event

Door prizes / Raffle

  • 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

One month before event

Climbing Instructors Sign-up

  • Post a call-out for climbing instructors on the message board. Make a google sheet to compliment it. Have them contact you so there is some quality control over who can instruct. Discuss at Exec meeting to have feedback about climbing qualification of instructors volunteering if you personally don’t know them. Instructors get a $20 discount off the ticket price ($20 instead of $40)
  • 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

Special Event 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

Book a DJ

  • Book a DJ for Saturday night. In the past, old VOCer DJ Manu (Emmanuel Beraud) has DJed for us (although he wasn't available last year).
  • Contact in August or early September
  • DJ found through Boogie Shoes DJ & Karaoke Services - great service, super helpful, operates 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.

3-4 weeks before event

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
  • Number of tickets: 200 or more depending on venue size and allowance
    • Make sure numbered tickets are correct (no duplicate or skipped numbers)
    • Date & location of pre-trip meeting and event is written on ticket
    • Make it clear that:
      • Tickets are non-refundable, but transferable
      • Pre-trip meeting is mandatory.
      • We do not guarantee that there will be a carpool ride for you, but there usually is. You might have to take the bus.
      • We do not sell partial event (people who just want to climb, just want to party, are not sleeping, not eating, bringing tents, or whatever).
    • You can change these rules as Event Organizer, but at your peril. If you do change the rules, publicize them clearly,and don't change them too often.
  • 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 in the spreadsheet 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)
  • Sign-up list (google sheet - share between exec that are helping with ticket sales):
    • Name, Email, Phone Number, Climbing level (1,2,3,4 or 5), Car or not (how many spots), Food preference (veg/omnivore)
    • Make sure that the numbered list matches the numbered tickets.
  • 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

Recruit Volunteers (Beer serving, cleaning)

  • When: Three weeks before trip
  • Where: message board, VOCene, trip agenda page link, recorded on google sheet (shared with everyone)
  • Counts as a workhike
  • 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.

Rocket Candy Necklaces

  • Where: Costco (need membership)
  • When: Any time before Rock Party
  • At least 300 necklaces (250 to 300 attendees)

Cash Boxes ($$)

  • Where: cash box in clubroom
  • When: pick up on from clubroom before leaving for Squamish (ask treasurer)

Pre-Trip Meeting Room Booking

  • Reserve a room sufficiently big to accommodate everyone (eg. Wood 6, Buchanan A100, etc)
  • Check with the club's Public Relations Officer to do it
  • A room with a big projector and preferably 2 screens is required to present Powerpoint to people.

Beer Order and Quote
Includes kegs, pumps and ice buckets. Roughly 1 keg/50 people from Howe Sound Brewery in Squamish (37801 Cleveland Ave, Squamish, BC). Get beers that most people will drink. Credit card deposit is necessary for each keg and will be refunded when all equipment is returned

  • Last year, the following was purchased:
    • 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

One week before event

Instructor Meeting

  • When: 1 hour before pre-trip meeting
  • Where: same room as pre-trip meeting
  • Pair up instructors (similar experience level) - can do this in a google sheet prior to the pretrip instead
  • Go over the 5 different rock levels and what they cover:
    • Rock 1: Intro to rock climbing
    • Rock 2: Top rope/Anchors
    • Rock 3: Sport Climbing
    • Rock 4: Traditional Climbing
    • Rock 5: Introduction to Multipitch climbing (if there is enough demand and people to teach it)
  • Review safety committee’s notes. (Mandatory helmets!)
  • Figure out how many instructors are needed at each level (or figure this out using the master spreadsheet prior to the pretrip)
  • Decide general areas (Neat and Cool, Burgers and Fries, etc.) for instructors
  • Instructors are in charge of their students and should make sure they all get to the post-climbing venue/festivities
  • Post information on Rock Party wiki

General Pre-Trip Meeting

  • When: 6:30 pm or 7 pm, Wednesday before trip
  • Go over trip schedule
  • 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
  • Organize rides, tent groups, and instructional groups through google sheets prior to or immediately after the pretrip
  • Show maps in Powerpoint for Saturday morning meeting location and post-climbing venue for drivers unfamiliar with the area (share Powerpoint with everyone in email after the pretrip).

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.

At least 48 hours before event

  • 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.

Day of event

  • Find someone with a car to pick up kegs, if the brewery doesn't deliver (don’t pay with debit, it is nearly impossible to get a refund for unopened kegs on a debit card. Not worth the trouble)
  • At the designated time proceed with the parking lot faff and then gather instructors and divide students by level in more or less even groups.
  • Re-iterate the time to meet back up at the cars and that instructors are in charge of making sure their students arrive at the post-climbing festivities/venue.
  • 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
  • You will need a small team of 3 or 4 people to help with setting up party tent, preparing food for BBQ, picking up Beer and setting up service/ticket sales stations.
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