After nearly two and a half years of editing our newsletter, this one is going to be Sarah’s last. As newsletter readers you will have noticed that Sarah has used her time in charge to transform our newsletter. Her legacy will be one of faithfully producing each month an informative and entertaining mega-snapshot of our Club life with contributions from all corners of the membership and beyond. Sarah has also directed the transformation of our website with great results as measured by site hits and length of stay on the site. If you have accessed the site, and I’m sure most of you do frequently, you will know exactly what I mean. The site reflects who we are and what we do better than it ever has before. Fortunately we have not completely lost Sarah’s services. She will continue to help out on projects through her role in the Web Group, helping out with the Club Journal and I’m pretty sure she will still be getting outdoors leading or otherwise participating in Family tramps as often as she can. Sarah is a dream to work with because she is practical, low maintenance, diligent, patient, reliable and supportive. Best of all she gets things done which is why her legacy is so impressive. WTMC is very lucky to have her on board and I wish her, Alistair and the girls well as she takes on fresh challenges.
We are very fortunate that it did not take long for Megan Sety to pinpoint Australia’s shortcomings and plot her return to Wellington via a few globe-trotting adventures in Asia and America (there must be some slideshows in the pipeline). Megan has generously agreed to assume the newsletter editor role and carry on the fine tradition of delivering great stories for us to read. Megan is usually round on Wednesday nights so make sure you introduce yourself if you see her. You can also support her efforts by continuing your habit of sending in trip reports and Club news. While overseas Megan gained qualifications for teaching Yoga and she is planning to run some “Yoga for Tramping” classes in the Clubrooms before our Club nights starting in August. Keep an eye out for more information about these classes.
If you did not make it to our quiz night on 12 June you missed an excellent evening, perfectly timed for before the great southerly storm that delivered more firewood than Wellington really needs. The quiz was won by Ray Walker (who knew Ray was a closet mountaineering geek!). Big thanks to Sue for all the hard work she put into organising the quiz and to Gareth Morton for acting as quiz master on the night. Don’t forget Sue is always looking for people to help out with the Wednesday nights, even if you aren’t keen on doing a slideshow you can easily show your support by coming along to watch the Wednesday night entertainment, getting others to put on slideshows or helping put out the chairs or washing up the tea cups. If you’re coming in you may as well sign up for door duty as well – check out the spreadsheet on the website, sign up on a Wednesday night or email David at I know it is easy to just stay at home and socialise with the television and your Facebook Friends on cold winter nights but the best way to warm up and lift your spirits is to come out and mingle with people face to face.
Feeling competitive? We have another quiz planned for later in the year.
Thanks to recent weather patterns Whakapapa has an unseasonably generous serving of snow available for your enjoyment. Spread the word. If you have a workplace, local school, gym or church that displays community notices or know somewhere crying out for a bit of graffiti get in touch with Brian and he will email you a Lodge poster that you can print off and display, or he can give you an actual poster if you prefer. .
If you are staying at the Lodge, particularly if you are leading a trip and are unfamiliar with how it works you can learn about what is involved by looking on our website. Hypothermia beckons if you get to the Top o the Bruce and you don’t know how to access the Lodge, turn on the electricity or you’ve forgotten your sleeping bag. It is definitely better to know what is required before you turn up.
Fancy some free pizza? Mike and Debbie are planning the Spring Trip Schedule. Pizza munching will start at 6pm on Wednesday 24 July. If you are on a diet or can’t make it email your road end ideas to . The dynamic trip duo are always on the hunt for people to help out with trip related tasks so if you have time and energy to contribute please have a chat with them or send an email. New trip leaders or people prepared to mentor trip leaders are always particularly welcome as are people prepared to help hand out and collect back in Club gear on Wednesday nights.
Enjoy your winter tramping trips. One way to reduce the workload of trip leaders is to refrain from signing up for a trip unless you are sure you actually want to go on the trip. We have noticed a relatively high rate of drop outs this year. This may be because newer members do not realise that the trip sheets are not for saving yourself a place on a trip “just in case” you want to come along. While this practice may be convenient for you it is highly inconvenient for the trip leader who then sends out an email to trip participants only to discover that half or more of the punters do not actually want to come on the trip. The practice is also inconvenient for other punters who did not sign up because it looked from the trip sheet like the trip was full or for punters who did sign up and were looking forward to the trip only to have it cancelled due to insufficient numbers.
I get that sometimes your enthusiasm for a trip wanes with a perusal of the weather forecast or the arrival of a better offer however we are the Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club not the Fine Weather Tramping Club or the Last Resort Tramping Club. Weather forecasts can be wrong. Honouring a commitment is character forming, you cannot be sure the better offer will be better. If the weather really renders a proposed trip infeasible the trip leader will either cancel, postpone or, more likely re-jig the route. Tramping like life in general is a journey heavily populated by less than stellar weather forecasts and the cloud of a better offer hovering just over the horizon. Whether you enjoy your tramp is up to you not the weather.