February General Meeting
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CANBERRA BUSH WALKING CLUB INC NEWSLETTER it GPO Box 160, Canberra ACT 2601 VOLUME 33 FEBRUARY 1997 N1TMRF.P FEBRUARY GENERAL MEETING Wednesday 19 February - Dickson Library Speaker: Major Zac Zaharias of the Army Alpine Association: The Challenge ofDhaulagiri - 7th highe st peak in Himalayas. Closing Date for Next IT: Wednesday 26 February Walks to Chris Bellamy 57 Gardiner Street Downer 2602 Articles etc to Frank McKone Tel: 254 5902 Fax: 254 5462 E-mail: frankmckonepeg.apc.org 22 Longworth Place, Holt ACT 2615 World Wide Web: Make the most of the evening and Join other members at 8.00pm for a convivial (BVO) meal at the Pl,o Pitu Quoc Restaurant In Cape Stree4 Dickson. Try to be early to ensure there will be ample lime to finish and still get to the meeting in comfortable time. PRESIDENT'S PRATTLE I would like to remind members that we receive numerous accident insurance please read the following two interstate club and association newsletters from around paragraphs. Australia which are held in the CBC library and are The Club does not carry personal accident insurance accessible at CBC's monthly General Meetings. These although it is available at a very low rate to members as an newsletters are a useful source of information for members individual option to the Club's liability insurance. All planning totravel and who may wish to join bushwalking persons should be aware that, though CBC office bearers or other activities of the local club. If you want to keep and activity leaders take all reasonable care, when joining abreast of NSW State matters then there are numerous in any activity of the Canberra Bushwalking Club Inc. they copies of the Confederation of Bushwalking Clubs' do so as a volunteer in all respects and as such accept quarterly newsletter, The Bushwalker, also available at responsibility for any personal injury or loss incurred. these meetings, We also receive magazines such as Habitat (Australian Conservation Foundation), National Parks Your fitness for the activity is your responsibility. Journal and numerous tour and trek promotional material Bushwallcing and other activities on the program have for both Australia and overseas. associated risks including, but not limited to, the risk of accidental injury. In the December issue we published basic details of the public liability insurance that covers members of CBC. I would also ask all members, including activity leaders, to This cover is for CBC activities but does not operate note the change of wording to the "Notice to all outside of Australia. To ensure that all members participants" at the beginning of the "Activity program". understand that this is not to be confused with personal Canberra Bushwalking Club IT February 1997 pate I In the January issue of It we published a letter from one of our members, Ted Fleming, regarding the re-routing of a I MEMBERSHIP MATTERS I section of the Alpine Trail in the ACT. The CBC Committee would like to see this proposal developed but it Prospective new members: Gariy Jobson will need the support of CBC members and probably other clubs to be successful. The Conunittee would welcome any New members: Peter Anderson; Gerard Crutch written comments on Ted's letter and we intend to hold brief preliminary discussions on the subject at the February Roger Edwards P and March General Meetings. And finally I would like to thank John Thwaite for WALKS SECRETARY'S WAFFLE I volunteering to be a Club Conservation Associate, assisting Allan Mikkelsen, representing CBC on the Conservation I will be away in February so Chris Bellamy will do the Council of the SE Region and Canberra. We are allowed program. Send trips for inclusion in March IT to three positions on the Council so if anyone else would like Chris Bellamy to join Allan and John please contact Allan or myself. 57 Gardiner Street Downer 2602 Chris Roper P 249 7167(h) 275 7528(w) I would personally and as Walks Secretary like to put in a NOTICE OF MOTION small plug for Ted Flemings proposal to amend the route for February Meeting of the Alpine Walking Track to encompass better scenery and alleviate some mundane fire trail slogging. It seems Motion an excellent idea, and worth the club's full support. That the Club purchase a rope for climbing and abseiling training of members and that this rope be Allan Mikkelsen is organising a Clean Up Australia Day held by only one designated member appointed by the clean up of Mt Ainslie on Sunday March 2. 1 urge all club Committee; that designated member to be the sole members to attend even for just a few hours and help do person responsible for the use, care and storage of the something really positive for our environment. rope; the cost of the rope not to exceed $250. Paul Rustomji P Proposed by Gary Trevean SPEAKERS COMING UP, CONSERVATION I Clean Up Australia Day Wednesday 19 February Sunday 2 March is Clean Up Australia Day. Major Zac Zaharias of the Army Alpine Association: The The day gives us a great opportunity to show the people of Challenge of Dhaulagiri - 7th highest peak in Himalayas. Canberra that the Club has an environment ethic. This Zac led an expedition there and got to 7600m in 1993 year we will be responsible for cleaning up Mount Ainslie, before windstorms drove him back. The top is 8167m, and an area where we sometimes have Club walks and many of he will lead another expedition there in April-May 1997. us walk independently. So see the Walks Program for (Note: See Trip Previews below) details and be there in your Club T shirt. Wednesday 19 March S.E. Re&on Conservation Council Trevor Harrison; Antarctica. Trevor travelled there last The Committee agreed at its January meeting to renew our Christmas in an icebreaker and has a slide show set to membership. music and with commentary. Allan Mikkelsen ft Nad2ee Road Closure Wednesday 16 April I recently got a letter from the NSW NPWS advising that Judith Webster will present an illustrated talk on her trip the road to Newtons Beach in Nadgee Nature Reserve is to to Iceland be closed at the staff residence at Merrica River Crossing. The closure is take effect after this coming Easter. Wednesday 21 May Meg McKone will present an illustrated talk on Central This will mean a 10 Km road bash (with one significant Australian bushwalking: Walking in the West hill) to get into Newtons Beach. MacDonnells. I thought you may care to include this information in IT. Roger Beddis P Ian Hickson P Canberra Bushwatking Club IT Febivary 1997 page 2 Little Known Facts often results in frustration, discomfort or exhaustion for (An Occasional Series) some members of the party. Estimating Distance (Specially for Road Surveyors) The observer holds up his her thumb, at arms's length, I believe that it is difficult to argue that groups of this size either hand, and lines it up with the distant object, at the do not have some negative impact on the environment, same time closing his or her right eye. S/he then closes even if only by adversely affecting the "wilderness her/his left eye and opens the right, and the thumb will be experience" of other parties whose paths we may cross. seen to have apparently jumped several metres to the left of the distant object. Then estimate how many metres the In an attempt to minimise the damage being done to fragile thumb seems to have jumped and multiply the figure by areas by bushwalkers, authorities in a number of States are nine. This will give the distance of the object from the increasingly placing restrictions on the size of bushwalking viewer. parties. For instance, under the terms of a recent For this information we are indebted to Doug Wright P agreement between the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the NSW Confederation of Bushwalking Clubs, trip leaders are now required to advise ALPINE TRAIL NPWS one week in advance of any proposed activity in a I NSW national park where the number taking part in the The Committee agreed at its Januaty meeting to support activity may exceed an agreed "notification limit". Under Ted Fleming's proposal for re-routing the Alpine Trail (see this agreement, the only activities that can be undertaken Januaiy 1997 IT). by a group of sixteen without notification are day walks on maintained tracks. Planning for my recently programmed The Committee also accepted an invitation from Australian trip to East Gippsland involved similar notification to the Alps National Parks to attend a strategy meeting on the Victorian Department of Natural Resources and Alpine Trail on 11 and 12 Februaiy at Mt Beauty. Ted Environment. Fleming, Allan Mikkelsen and Chris Roper will attend. My own response to these issues has been to place a trip TO THE EDITOR limit of eight on the walks I lead. I believe, however, that I it is now appropriate for the Club to consider placing a The Editor similar limit on most of its programmed activities. Canberra Bushwalking Club Dear Sir, If this is not done, I believe we rim the risk of losing our credibility as an environmentally conscious, minimal- I have, for some time, been concerned at the maximum impact organisation and being seen as merely a social club party size of sixteen that the Club permits on its which uses the bush as a venue for its activities. programmed walks. Yours faithfully, Parties of this size make the logistics of leading the walk Terence Uren more difficult and increase the risk of walk participants being separated from the party or being injured.