Turk New #36 – Winter Meetings And AGM. Wanaka And Queenstown

President’s report

The President’s report for 2020-21 can be found here. It is a 10 minute read with many wonderful pictures so please take a look. Since it is the first complete report I have explained the club’s history and where it is heading. Email president@mountainturk.nz if you wish to comment.

Financial performance report

Find the year ending 31 March 2021 financial reports here. Email treasurer@mountainturk.nz if you wish to comment.

Meetings

Notice of AGM here. Proxy vote form here.

The meetings below are open to anybody interested in Turks. I will be at both of them from 6pm. Zane (Treasurer) and myself will give a 40 minute presentation about Turks and the state of the club. We will restrict question time to 15 minutes and try and keep things focused on general issues of interest to all people attending.
The goal is to make these inspiring and social evenings so please attend, get inspired and meet some people.

• Wanaka – Tuesday 8th June, 7pm at b.Social
• Queenstown – Thursday 10th June, 7pm at Cargo at Gantleys (also the AGM) Note the change of date and location

The Queenstown meeting is also the AGM so we will need to take time to approve the accounts and elect committee members. I will try and keep this as fast and efficient as possible.

Committee

To keep the club lean and efficient the committee for 21/22 will be as simple as possible with a President, Treasurer and Secretary:

• President – I am (Erik Bradshaw) happy to continue in this role.
• Treasurer – Zane Kerse is happy to continue
• Secretary – this position is vacant

I would like to thank Mary Jowett for being Secretary in 20/21 and Glenn Davis for being on the committee managing the consent and planning issues.

There are many things requiring attention in the club such as communication, signage, and maintenance planning. The goal is to set up working groups to tackle these without the need for a more formal structure.

Merchandise

At the meetings we will have Mountain Turk Club t-shirts and caps for sale at $30. These are good fundraisers for the club and they also look super cool.

Some thoughts for winter

The trips released for the Mahu Whenua Traverse in my last newsletter are now fully booked. About 50% of the bookings involved a person joining and booking at the same time.

An important goal is to ensure that all the people who put in the effort to create the club (please see President’s report) get adequate usage. To achieve this goal I have held back 30% of the availability. If you fit this criteria please attend one of the meetings or contact me.

On a cautionary note I want to make it abundantly clear that the Mahu Whenua Traverse in winter is no place to start your back-country skiing experience. If you are new to back-country, a few overnight trips to the Crown Basin Turk is a good place to start. You can bite off a more manageable goal and bac out more easily if you are uncertain about conditions.

When somebody contacts me and mentions how they are a good skier I think great, you have 1% of the skills required. If you have visited the gear shop and have probe, beacon and shovel you are at 2%. If you have done a course you are at 10%. The other 90% comes from gradually building up experience in easier country such as Wye Creek, Pisa Range, Craigieburn Range or other more accessible areas.

Back-country skiing requires a lot of judgement which is both imprecise and difficult to quantify. The people that stay alive know you can always do it tomorrow or next year if you are uncertain.

So, let’s be careful out there!

Cheers
Erik
June 2021