ACC National Board Meeting

October 29-30, 2005

The Fall 2005 ACC National Board Meeting was held in Canmore.  In the absence of fee increases and other stressors, it was a quiet meeting.  There was even the good news that our insurance premium would be dropping by over $20K.  More details about that later on.  The Guides' Ball was held in Banff, marking a break with the tradition of holding it at the Chateau Lake Louise.  It appears that Banff will be the location for the Centennial Ball in the fall of 2006.

My brief comments about the meeting follow below.  Read the actual minutes of the Board Meeting here.

boardmeeting_fall2005.jpg (41756 bytes)

Section Reports:

This part of the meeting is devoted to reports and discussion from each of the Sections in the Club.  While each Section has different issues, there were common threads - leadership issues, volunteer issues, money, declining membership in some cases, etc.  In one case (Rocky Mtn), the problem is attracting participants for trips; they have lots of trip leaders.  So, if you want to go on a trip and don't mind driving to Canmore, here's your chance!

Centennial Celebrations:

Events are developing and there are many activities and events that will celebrate the ACC's first 100 years.  For full information, look at the National webpage.  Keep checking back as events are being added all the time.

BC Parks:

The ACC's relationship with BC Parks is in good shape.  Currently, the ACC manages the huts in Kokanee Glacier (3), Elk Lakes (1) and the Bugaboos (1).  This will likely expand in the coming years, with some development in Mt Robson Park a good possibility soon.

Honorary President:

Glen Boles was elected to be the ACC's Honorary President for a 4-year term until the 2009 AGM.  Glen is a climber of some renown, having made 37 first ascents in the Canadian Rockies and summiting over 500 peaks during a 5-decade "career" of mountaineering.   He is also an artist and has just received the 2005 Bill March Summit of Excellence Award from the Banff Centre of Mountain Culture.

Liability Insurance:

The ACC has changed insurance providers and we will be seeing a reduction of over $20,000 in the annual premium.  This is perhaps the best (and only good) news to come out of the insurance topic in the past several years.

Information Technology:

The ACC has moved to an on-site web server, partly to facilitate on-line bookings which should be ready in the coming months.  In the short term, visitors to the website may notice some decrease in access speed.  This is being caused by limitations in the connections between the Clubhouse (and the server) and the ISP.  Currently, the connection is wireless and there are bandwidth limitations.  Hopefully this will be addressed in the coming months.

Facilities:

The ACC may be able to soon take over the management of the Asulkan Hut (Glacier National Park).  The ACC has received a number of complaints about the conditions of the Hut, but since Parks owns and operates the Hut, there has been nothing the ACC has been able to do.  There is hope that may change in the near future.

The Boswell Cabin is being constructed near the Clubhouse.  A picture of the construction is below:

boswellhut.jpg (36671 bytes)

The Energy & Waste Water Management Committee is developing a partnership with National Parks, BC Parks and the U of C School of Environmental Design.  This may translate into more and better projects and more research $$ in the coming years.

Mountaineering Museum?

There are studies underway regarding the feasibility of a National Mountaineering Centre in or near Canmore.  The ACC supports this initiative but is not involved financially.

Section Bylaws:

The Legal Committee (ie: Peter Muir) is developing a set of bylaws for use by Sections.  These should be ready early in the new year. 

Canadian Alpine Center:

The CAC, also known as the Lake Louise Hostel, is doing better financially.  As you may know, the ACC is a part-owner of the CAC and receives a portion of the profit from this facility.

Upcoming Dates: