Anyone who knows me will be wondering why I should be the one to write an article about organising anything. My lack of organisational skills is only matched by my lack of foresight when I volunteered to write this article. The fact that I have managed to organise a trip or two should be seen as an indication that you can too. This article comprises some notes on the practicalities relating mainly to informal meets, as described in the Club Policy on Meets.
If you’re motivated by a desire to help others and you are of a generally generous and friendly disposition, then you have your answer. If, on the other hand you’re anything like me, then this is your opportunity to go on a trip to the destination of your choice at a time that suits you.
It’s great if people can make it to the meets planning meets, but members can add meets to the website any time. You can even put meets up in competition with already planned meets, that is, the so-called splitters’ meets. The phrase may be controversial, but they can provide a useful alternative in many cases. It would be considered a courtesy not to compete with the beginners’ meets though.
Generally, email is the main means of communication in the early stages, although in extremis, people might talk to each other at the climbing wall or the pub. I only really know about the email option, but I’m sure there are other club members who can advise on the latter option. I’m told that the kids now use some kind of mobile technology that’s apparently very useful in the later stages of getting everyone to arrive at the same venue on the same weekend.
Of course, Google is your friend. When looking for accommodation in your chosen area, it’s mostly true that if it isn’t on the Internet, then it doesn’t exist.
During the summer months in the UK, camping is the default option, which is generally straightforward. Phoning the campsite to book spaces is about as complicated as it gets, at least for the sort of campsites that climbers frequent.
In the winter, and perhaps Scotland in the summer, indoor alternatives may be preferred. I mention the Scottish summer because the experience of the Scottish midge from about June on can be a little daunting. When I say the word midge in the singular, it’s because above a certain density they merge into one seamless entity. Hence the word takes on the semantics of a mass noun, like ‘the fog’.
But anyway, there are youth hostels, bunkhouses and club huts, as well as assorted other holiday accommodation. The latter category would usually entail booking a number of places up-front, e.g. a holiday cottage, and would usually need to be booked well in advance. This can also be true of some bunkhouses and club huts. Needing to book up and pay a deposit for a fixed number of people can be difficult, unless you can get people to commit well in advance and may be a difficult judgement call.
The official YHA and SYHA hostels generally meet a well-defined standard, especially the Scottish hostels. Independent hostels to some extent and bunkhouses to a larger extent may vary quite a lot. You can generally expect a good drying room in the official hostels, for example.
In all cases where people are committing in advance for a fixed price for the group as a whole, it is reasonable to make it clear to everyone that commitment extends to a commitment to pay their share, whether they later want to cancel or not. In the case of youth hostels, it has become the norm to pay the full amount when booking, so you will need to extract money from everyone who’s signed up. It’s your call whether to collect that money before booking. You should err on the side of caution in this respect.
Always be sure to find out what the rules are for cancellation.
For example, in the case of Scottish SYHA hostels, you can get back 90% up to three days before arrival. If you cancel at the last minute, or during your stay, you can still get back 90% of anything beyond three days ahead.
Independent hostels and bunkhouses aside, youth hostels require membership of a national youth hostelling association, such as the YHA, or the SYHA. Take your pick – I recommend the latter. Anyone not a member can usually join at the hostel, or pay a daily surcharge (£2 per day in 2011 for the SYHA), hope the hostel staff don’t notice, or if you have anyone in the party with a friends and family membership, use that.
Well, not all that, really. My one hint is to make a point of keeping all the information in one place. In particular, don’t leave all the emails in your in-box, put them in a trip folder. I have to do this or I lose track of just who said they were interested in the dusty recesses of my, for want of a better word, memory.
So, you want to go and climb the mountain that Brian Cox was standing on in the Wonders of the Universe?
Then now’s your chance to put in a trip to the Sunnmoere Alps with Mount Dalegubben on the itinery!
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