Sport

The Tramping Club Marches on

Do you know that the Victoria University of Wellington Tramping Club actually does exist? And not just as an excuse for socialising either. We do go tramping, and climbing.

The Club was founded in 1921 (just two years after the Tararua Tramping Club) and has been going ever since, though not always strongly. Over the years the Club has suffered the normal ups and downs of all University clubs but has always managed to survive, often by the skin of its teeth.

At the moment, when compared to a few years ago, we are suffering a depression in the numbers of members and in the activities of the Club. This could be due to many reasons and probably all are important. First, there has been a heavy work load on students since the introduction of internal assessment, giving people the excuse of having assignments to do whenever a trip is suggested. Second, the financial position of students is not as good as it once was and there is the excuse of not being able to afford a trip even if the person would like to go on it. Third, many more people already belong to other Tramping Clubs and find that trips the VUWTC would like to run clash with trips run by other clubs. A possible fourth reason for the current low activity of the Cub is that, in the last two or three years, many of the longer serving club members have become interested in climbing as much or more than they are interested in the standard tramping activities.

It must be admitted that many of the senior members of the club have left university and Wellington. Those that are left just cannot run trips every weekend. The solution to this problem is obvious. More people must come forward to lead trips. You don't have to be a highly experienced tram per to lead a simple trip. More necessary is a reasonable amount of common sense.

The club can give you a lot of information about routes and advice on how to organise a trip. Also, members must be willing to suggest a trip. And, if a trip is suggested, the club will do its best to see that it goes. Of course, if you suggest a trip you must be prepared to help organise it. Not that organising a trip is difficult (for the normal weekend at least, longer trips, naturally, are more involved but there is a basic way to go about things).

One of the main aims of the club is to nuke tramping available to students as cheaply as possible. To do this we run the club on a very tight budget and, somehow, by means unknown even to the treasurer, we manage to last each year and break even. Sure, we would like more money but to get it we would have to charge more. And you wouldn't like that. Our trips are planned to break even or make a miniscule profit. We don't always manage it but we try.

A weekend trip to the Tararauas, transport by rental van, costs you no more than $10/$15 for transport, any hired gear and food. A three day trip to Ruapehu or Egmont, again by rental van, will cost you about $20. South Island trips are another matter and are only worthwhile for periods of 4/5 days or more. This year, Foster in Northwest Nelson cost $28 each. A week in Nelson Lakes National Park in August will cost less than $40 per person, even allowing for any cost increases between now and then. (You thought you might like to go to Arthur's Pass, well, think about $70....)

This year the club has a hut. To be specific, the Forest Service has given us Penn Creek Hut in the Tararuas for use as a club hut. The hut is in good condition as the result of a number of working parties and we hope that the hut will give the club a base for more tramps in the Otaki area.

If you have not done much tramping before, don't worry. We can arrange basic instruction in anything. From how to light a fire from sodden wood to how (in theory) to climb an ice cliff. And we like to run all sorts of trips. We grade our trips as Easy, Medium and Fit, Start at easy trips and move up to a Gut buster.

And, if you go on a club trip, or any other trip for that matter, don't forget to write about it. The club produces an annual magazine called Heels (not always but often blistered). We'll print almost anything. And we try to print photographs as well.