President’s Desk
With Christmas holidays immediately upon us, I hope our membership has managed to avoid the pitfalls of getting caught up in the spending frenzy of sales on offer or at least find a rare genuine bargain. One way to avoid it entirely, which me and my family are opting for this year, is the good old spend limited secret santa, so everyone can use their hard earned money to self gift themselves some new toys or an adventurous holiday.
The Rock Rats otherwise known as the Taranaki tuataras who predominantly climb on plastic who the club supports with their national registration fees recently travelled to Christchurch for the national youth and masters bouldering champs. The strong team of 5 including two masters (35 yrs +) Dave and Peter still proving they got it. Out of the Five, three made the top three and the two that didn’t make the top three gained massively in experience with tough categories.
Thanks to those who have indicated their commitment to volunteer on the 2023 open climb on Saturday the 11th February 2023. We have most of the positions filled however a few members may expect a call from me as we firm up the last 1-2 leaders and tails plus a small list of backups for critical roles like medics etc. Keep an eye on your email for information specific to your assigned/chosen role and we will need an acknowledgement ASAP once you have familiarised yourself with this information.
Thanks to the Twelve Volunteers so far who have signed up to help with Pakeho and potentially other local crags treasured by Taranaki locals. I have had an update from the crag liaison that things are progressing in a positive direction.
The Exec and lodge committees completed a task that has been kicked down the road for quite some time, which is getting our lodge valuated as a requirement of our insurer. As to be expected the lodge is now worth around double to replace compared with the last valuation which was approximately 10 years old.
We have had two notifications recently of operations that may affect members over this coming summer and autumn. One is a road cycling event that will see a rolling road closure from dawson falls to north egmont on the 28th January 2023 and the other is a DOC approved contractor doing aerial predator control sometime in April. We will remind members closer to the time but in the meantime feel free to put these in your calendar to help when planning trips.
As you travel over the summer remember to check, clean and dry your equipment when going between Taranaki and other regions waterways.
Conrad Murray
President