The weather is getting cool. Mornings are crisp and snowflakes are beginning to make an appearance once again. While it’s not ski season yet, it is ski trip planning season… You will notice a variety of hut trips and winter courses beginning to fill up the calendar over the next month or two. Some of the trips were booked, often many months ago, by dedicated individuals who have generously decided to share their booking with their fellow ACCers. Thank you to those great trip leaders. Some trips have been booked by the section and some of those trips still need a volunteer to lead the event. If you are interested in leading one of the events please contact skiing@acccalgary.ca
Many of the trips were in high demand last year so we have booked a couple extra ones for the upcoming year. Most of the trips in the calendar are un-guided. The trip leader is not a guide. All participants should be comfortable with executing the trip safely. What does this mean? If you are going to a hut that is within glaciated complex avalanche terrain – you should probably have AST 2 and know glacier travel/crevasse rescue. Similarly, if you are going on a trip focused on skiing advanced downhill terrain, you should be able to ski well. There will be a variety of trips, including AMP events in which a guide is present as a mentor, so hopefully there is something for everyone. If you are looking for more of a guided experience there are great trips offered through the National ACC, and other organizations.
What is the best way to get on a trip, besides being the leader? First it’s great to have some history with the club or with the trip leader personally. Don’t expect to be selected for a 5 day hut trip if you haven’t skied with the leader, or haven’t done any ACC ski tour day trips. Having a sufficient level of fitness to accomplish the trip as laid out is also important. If the trip posting says you will be expected to climb 2000 m per day, don’t sign-up unless you can climb 2000 m per day. Similarly, if the trip posting says the pace is relaxed with a target of 800 m of ascent per day, don’t be go expecting everyone to be high octane skinning machines.
If you add yourself to the waitlist for a trip please check periodically to ensure you still want to be on the trip. If you have made other plans, or no longer wish to attend, please remove yourself from the wait list. You can see your Wait List spots in the brown event calendar by clicking the ‘Events’ button and then ‘wait list spots’. Many of the trip coordinators have had problems with wait lists being full of people who don’t want to attend the trip any longer. Other people who do want to go on the trip are often discouraged from adding their names to long wait lists, even though they actually have a good shot of getting on the trip. This is a particular problem with hut trips as we often book them very far in advance.
If day trips are more your thing, don’t worry those will get posted in due time. Most people post day trips 3 days to two weeks in advance, so keep your eyes on the calendar when the snow starts to fly.
Happy Sliding!
Tyler Hallman
ACC Ski Chair
0 Comments
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.