President’s Desk
Kia ora folks,
Stuff got done this month!
Pete Lethbridge and his merry band of electricians have installed the new power cable, flicked the switch, and got it all up and running again. The lodge is all powered up and whatever accounts for normal business up there has resumed. Because the works were taking place during the week, the retired were massively overrepresented in the vollie turn out, be it orchestrating logistics, shovelling dirt, feeding the workers, or messing about with dangerous bits of wire, so a huge thanks are due to the club’s boomers this time round. Pete is confidant the cable will outlast the last one, so that cable should be secure for another 30 years at least.
There will still be a little bit of work to be finished tidying up the steps coming up to the Lodge and the club will work alongside DoC over the next year to sort out the track, thanks also to DoC for supporting this track upgrade and promptly sending up timber for the works.
The rock and rope trip to Kinloch also went ahead, with rain holding off for the duration. Many thanks to Dave Bolger, Chris Hayes, and our VP Conrad for helping to run that one. Great weekend had by all, with Dave passing on lots of skills to the students, and some of us even managed to sneak in a few hours of sport climbing as well. Kinloch crag comes highly recommended for learner sport climbers and with K2 Crag and Kawakawa Bay just round the corner beckoning, this trip should become annual event.
Speaking of annual events, the snow craft courses are all booked out – told you to be quick didn’t I!
Steve will still take names on a waiting list but as of now the courses are full, the dates booked and we’re just hoping for the snow. Slight dusting on the Maunga as I write this, so things are trending in the right direction.
Lindsay is full of bright ideas for club trips over the winter and is always on the lookout for experienced clubbies to lead a few trips. So, if you have places you want to go, or ideas for other trips, let her know at trips.tac@outlook.com
Club night is this Thursday the 6th of May, which will be (by popular request y bunch of booze hounds) PUB NIGHT at Mike’s Bistro. So come along, buy the cable crew a beer and make some plans for winter trips. Ron runs a good kitchen, so the venue is kid/ family.
Also, don’t forget to get your tickets to the Banff film festival, run by the NZAC, proceeds go to the local Taranaki NZAC chapter. Always a good night out.
Ivan Bruce
El Presidente!