Track Talk – November 2012

The fact that I seem to have written the last newsletter column only five minutes ago clearly indicates we’re on the downhill slope towards Christmas. But before then we need to get another trip schedule planned, lead and published! It’s not too late to get your road end ideas to me – email before 1 November please.

And make sure trip planning next Wednesday 7 November is in your diary. At 6pm we’ll meet in the hall for free pizza before getting down to  the business of assigning trips to each roadend. If there are particular road ends you’re keen to look at, please bring maps. Beginners welcome.

Today I’ve been doing some cooking and dehydrating in preparation for a couple of summer missions. One thing you don’t want out in the hills is a lack of food. But this has happened on a couple of recent club trips due to punters failing to bring their allocated ingredients for the evening meal. Now if you’re allocated garlic, this isn’t a big deal, but if you’re carrying most of the carbohydrate component, eg pasta or rice, then you’ll have some hungry fellow trampers. If you’re reading this newsletter, then I doubt you need this reminder. But it pays us all to ask that simple question of others at the station, or before the last supermarket – and not to let what can feel like nagging always fall to the leader!

Leaders have many tasks, with not all visible to the naked eye. A vital one is submitting your intentions to the weekend’s designated emergency contact. This is a great strength of the club and at the forefront of our safety processes, rather than an optional extra. Please make sure if you’re leading a weekend trip (or a daywalk away from civilisation) that you submit your intentions – and text when you’re out.

In that same cautionary vein, please can I remind leaders (and punters if necessary) to report to me any incident on a trip that could or did result in mishap. We are always looking for lessons that can be learned when things don’t go to plan. These can be simple or complex, with those of us involved in instruction keen to learn from both our and other clubs’ incidents so that we can keep people as safe as possible.

Part of gaining tramping experience is the realisation that things don’t always go to plan. Earlier this month, Richard and I were doing a nav trip from North Manakau Road (just north of Otaki) to Waitewaewae hut. This was unfamiliar territory, and study of the map had produced an eight hour guesstimate. But it took more than 10 hours to reach the hut, due to a near-total lack of ground trail and a few tricky ridge/spur junctions. I was glad we’d managed to get dropped off at 8am, and for daylight saving! Harry would not have been impressed at the number of times the GPS was consulted…

The next day it was great to catch up at Otaki Forks with the club trip who were our ride home. We’re encouraging people to take advantage of our van transport to do private trips. Bear that in mind next time you’re dreaming up possibilities.

Upcoming trips:

 7-9 December Tararuas – Otaki Forks