HiTAC December 2021

President’s Desk

Kia ora katoa,

Righto, last one of these for the year, and I’ll make it brief. Charlie is hovering over the keyboard to push send on this HiTac, so I’d better move fast.

First up, the Open Climb. A joyous occasion of club togetherness, enshrined by over 80 years of beautiful tradition and public service, happens all over again next February the 12th 2022. The Open Climb committee is rolling out the event programme, starting with a quick induction movie, which will be shown at the December Club night. There’s going to be a few changes to the way we run the event this year, so if you are helping on the climb; or want to help; or don’t want to help, but realise I know where you live, please come along Thursday, and get inducted. Its painless and I’ll even buy you a beer. Jon Crane will be our Open Climb controller, so he and I will be on the phones between now and February organising the 70 odd people we need to run this event. If you can’t make it Thursday, please email us your details.

And now this: Mountain safety council is leading a research project relating to mountaineers and avalanche safety. The purpose of this research is to help the MSC and partners improve avalanche prevention in New Zealand, specifically targeting mountaineers and alpine climbers. They’ve asked us to share this survey with our membership, see the link below. The survey should take you about 20 minutes. Your participation is completely voluntary. Your answers will be completely confidential. By following the link above you’ll get more information about the research before you start the survey. https://survey.researchnz.com/SE/1/W5222/?urlimport=1&questlist=GROUP&GROUP=22 Worthy research, also basically painless, but you don’t get a beer. See how good a deal the Open Climb induction is.

Club Night this month is the President’s shout and the annual photo competition. There have been lots of great entries this year. Greg Sharman’s done a great job getting this all together and all entries will be judged again by Chris Hill, who always gives great feedback and top tips for the photography enthusiasts. The event will be held at our usual venue at the Blind Foundation on Vivian Street, 7.30pm on Thursday the 2nd of December. Sorry for the hold outs, but at the request of the Blind Foundation, only vaccinated members can attend events held at these premises, so please bring proof of vaccination status or exemption.

Finally, the Taranaki Tuataras had a successful event at the Youth & Master National Bouldering Comps in Queenstown last month. The kids went OK, all making finals, but in the only competition that really mattered Dave Bolger got a bronze medal in the Master’s event. Old dogs can learn new tricks.
Wishing you all the best for a summer break.

Ivan Bruce
El Presidente!

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