Event Preparation & Safety

• Trips are organized to be as safe as possible. Participants must come suitably clothed, with proper boots and equipment, and be self-sufficient with adequate food and drink.
• Participants must choose trips that suit, but do not exceed their capabilities. The trip leader can refuse or turn back any person who, in his/her opinion, is not well-equipped and sufficiently fit.
• Outdoor activities can involve hazards and risk of injury. Persons who participate in Kamloops Hiking Club activities do so at their own risk. In the event of accident or injury, the Kamloops Hiking Club, its members or Executive, cannot be held liable as per the Waiver signed by each trip participant/member. Each member is responsible for his/her own health and safety. Persons who need search/rescue services may have to pay the costs.
• Make sure you are fit and experienced enough for the event. If you are not sure, contact the event leader to learn more about the proposed outing.   Be honest with yourself about your abilities. If you over-estimate your abilities, or underestimate the difficulty of the trip, you put your own safety and the safety of the group at risk.
• Participants must have a current year KHC waiver completed prior to any event. No waiver, no hike (paddle, snowshoe, backpack, run, walk, participation).
• Make sure you have the appropriate equipment, that your equipment is in good working order, and that you know how to use it. We expect that each participant will carry their own 10 Essentials for Hiking. Note – The volunteer hike leader can refuse a participant if the leader feels the person is not adequately equipped.
• Participants with a medical condition must bring medications (or equipment) with them on scheduled club activities.  If a condition or disability is serious or potentially serious, the participant is expected to disclose the details to the hike leader in private.  The volunteer hike leader can refuse to include a participant if the outing is too remote/difficult.
• All members should be carrying their medical information (esp. medical alert patients), a listed emergency contact person and their phone number in the top of their pack where the leader can readily access it in case of an emergency.
• Arrive at the meeting place at least 10 minutes before the stated departure time to give yourself enough time arrange carpooling, organize your gear, receive information,  and meet the other members of the group.

Carpooling

• If you carpool with someone, remember to reimburse them for the recommended carpooling costs at the end the event:
  • On local day hike trips, we suggest that each passenger pay the driver $5 for every 30 minutes of driving time per trip. For instance, a 1 hour drive in total (30 minutes each way) would be $10 per passenger; 2 hours would be $20, and 3 hours would be $30.
  • On out of town backpack trips, recommendations are for the driver to start with a full tank, tally up all the fillups with receipts and then the carpool group will split the total cost of the gas.
  • Depending on the road conditions to the trail head, an extra amount can be collected for a car wash. A tip is optional and always a good gesture.
• Please put muddy (or wet) hiking boots in a clean plastic bag and change into dry shoes after the hike.
• It is not the Leader’s responsibility to arrange for your transportation to or from the meeting place or to organize carpooling for the event.
• Drivers should drive defensively, have a valid driver’s license, and be fully insured. Riders can choose to discuss this with the driver prior to accepting a ride.
• Please take a turn as a driver during the season.
• Participants may choose to drive their own vehicles instead of carpooling.

Event Registration & Participation

• Club members are expected to register for their events.  If a booking has to be cancelled, please do so as early as possible and no later than 1 hour before the meet-up time.  Cancellations are done by going to the Your Bookings Page on the menu bar, not by commenting to an event.
• No-shows are not acceptable.   Please cancel through Your Bookings, as required.   A series of No-shows and/or Non-cancellations will result in the user account being frozen, pending some follow-up resolution.
• If an event is full, members can watch for cancellations.   Hike leaders do not keep waiting lists, nor do they accept requests to contact specific members about openings.   When a cancellation is made, it is first-come, first-served for the available space.
• Club events are group events. The leader will do his or her best to make the event an enjoyable experience, but as a participant you have a responsibility to:  Be properly equipped, Be considerate of others and their abilities, and keep up to the pace of the group. If the pace is too fast or if you are having difficulty, tell the leaders.   Stay with the group and keep between the leader and end-person, unless the  leader has explicitly made other arrangements. (For example, depending on group size and abilities, the leader may decide to split the group into two parties.)
• KHC events are smoke-free, drug-free, and alcohol-free events.
• KHC events are scent-free in consideration of others.
• KHC operates with the principles of courtesy and respect and expects its members to do the same for all Club-related activities.   Harassment will not be tolerated and may result in the loss of membership privileges.  Review and follow the KHC Hiking Etiquette Guidelines
• Members are asked to directly contact the hike leader if there is an issue, rather than posting a negative comment on the website.   Comments sit on the front page of the site for many days,  whereas an issue can be resolved quickly between the persons involved, without “broadcasting” concerns in public.  Inappropriate comments may be deleted and certainly don’t support a positive environment.
• KHC posts events for all of its members, therefore most posted KHC events must be made available to all members on a first-come, first-served basis.   Some events, however, may be much more difficult, so hike leaders may require one-to-one contact prior to registration, especially for safety reasons.  This applies to long and difficult hikes, paddles, or snowshoes, events with scrambling required, most backpacks in the back country, and some other challenging outings.  When events are posted, leaders provide a contact email or phone number.  For the events that require leader registration, members should contact the leader directly (posting a comment is not sufficient).
• Hike leaders are already donating their time and efforts to organize, post and lead each hike.  Members are asked to help out (and be self-sufficient) by reading the listing details, clicking links on the listing or elsewhere on the website that provide more information (like meet-up spots, locations, trail info, lists, etc.), or to use a web browser to do a quick search for basic directional information, rather than asking for extra help from the volunteer hike leader, if possible.    Hike leader burn-out is a real challenge, so let’s make it easier for them to just lead events.

 

Revision History

• Mar 9, 2023 – MTaki – Added the link to the 10 Essentials for Hiking and fixed the link for KHC Hiking Etiquette Guidelines
• Jun 13, 2023 – MTaki – Reviewed & revised the page info/layout & added the June 6, 2023 Board carpooling cost recommendations.
• Oct 25, 2023 – MTaki/DMorris – revised the carpooling cost recommendations based on the Oct 23, 2023 Board Meeting