calhikingandoutdoorsociety's Blog

Hello Chaots

Thank you to those who responded. Sorry for not having gotten back to you all sooner. Here are answers to questions some of you asked or may also be wondering about

Cost for a day pass at Iron Works (IW)- Every third Friday is discount college student day. The regular price for a day pass is $10, your student ID gets you in at a discount ( not free). I'm not sure what the discounted price is, but do please remember to bring you student ID to show at the front desk.

Gear: You will need a harness, shoes, and a ATC (belay devise). These can be rented at the gym too. I think the price is $8 for harness and shoes. The gear shed currently does not have climbing gear so you can ask around folks who may be willing to lend their personal gear to use that evening.

What to expect: When you check in for a day pass at the front desk they will have you sign a liability waiver. The front desk is also where you will rent your harness and shoes. Please keep in mind this is a casual, introductory session to help fellow Chaots, who are new to climbing, learn to belay before heading out on the beginner climbing trip. There are formal, introductory climbing sessions taught by IW staff for new gym members. Fridays session is NOT such a session, so asking the front desk where the 'beginner climbing session is" might not be useful, because they won't know. Look for Val, if you know her, or look for me- black curly hair and I'll wear camouflage pants or Dave ( who will be wearing??). We'll go over the basic, climbing precautions, knots and how to belay. The whole session should be about 1.5. You can take a short 'belay quiz' given by the IW staff to everyone who has signed a waiver, that gives you a temporary belay pass for the day, so you can certainly stay on longer to climb with each other afterwards.

Time: Lets meet at IW at 6pm.

Folks interested: right now, judging by the responses I got, 5 people are interested. Please let me know if you interested in joining so if needed, I can request more teachers to join us.

See you Friday!

CHAOS will be putting together a beginner-oriented climbing trip sometime in October, exact dates and location yet to be determined.

Once we drive a few hours to beautiful mountains we'll want to spend our time climbing, not learning or teaching knots. To that end, folks considering going on the trip should attend one of:

- an "intro to climbing session:
+ Sept 11 at 5:30pm at Cragmont Park in north Berkeley.
(teachers Mark, Kent.)
+ Sept 19 at 6:00pm at Ironworks climbing gym in SW Berkeley.
(Teachers Sumi, Val, Dave.)

- one or more BCOD sessions (BCOD = "Butt Crack of Dawn," when a CHAOS and friends meet at the Berkeley Ironworks climbing gym most Wednesday and Friday mornings, ~6-9am)

When: Monday, Sept. 22nd

Where: Cordonices park (site #2); straight up Euclid
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=12118

When: BBQ starts at 6pm
**set-up and grocery volunteers, show up at 5-5:30pm. Grocery folks, don't forget to bring your receipts to Kasper
**other volunteers (clean up crew and grill-meisters) check the chaos wiki if you're not sure what you signed up for...

Bring: your own plates, utensils and water
Also: someone bring a slackline, frisbee, and any other fun things to play with!

Any questions? Post them here or email Jennifer Aengst: jcaengst at yahoo dot com

How do I go on a trip?

To find out about trips, join the club and then subscribe to the email list (you must join before getting on the list.). If you're not ready to become a member, you can still check out the weekly calendar. Then contact the person running the trip directly.

Who organizes CHAOS trips?

You do! All trips are organized on an informal basis by club members and everyone is expected to make their own contribution of effort to ensure things work well. If you would rather participate in a more structured activity with everything arranged for you, there are many companies in the Bay Area who run outdoor activities - Cal Adventures in Berkeley is a recommended local company.

In short, CHAOS means taking more responsibility for yourself; CHAOS is great, but if you want to be guided, get a guide.

Do any trips happen regularly?

We do try to make sure that certain things happen every so often. These club trips include Beginner backpacking, climbing and snowcamping trips, Full Moon Hikes somewhere local, the semi-annual Gourmet trip at Pt. Reyes, and a Cabin Ski Trip.

However, even these trips won't happen unless someone organises them, contact the empress if you'd like to volunteer.

How do we pay for trips?

Being CHAOS, this is left to each individual trip organizer, and thus is highly variable. The important thing is to either be casual about the matter, or else work out the details up front. Generally, all costs such as food, park entrance, permits, etc. are shared. The official CHAOS policy on gas is that the cost are doubled before being split to give the car owner some compensation for wear on their car. But many drivers make other arrangements.

In general CHAOS is a cheaper way to get into the outdoors than going through an organization like Cal Adventures, because you only pay the costs of the trip itself and aren't paying for someone to take you, but does mean taking greater responsibility for yourself. But that doesn't mean it's right for you.

CHAOS Email List
note: you must be a member in order to subscribe to the email list

* who can subscribe?
how do I subscribe?
how do I unsubscribe?
how can I post?
what can/ can't I post?
* what if I'm having problems?

Who can subscribe to the list?
First, you must be a member in order to subscribe. (See How To Join to learn... how to join.)

This email list is for the active members of CHAOS... those active members form a community, and that community controls this email list (and all other details of the club's operation). We operate by consensus or general acclimation.
How do I subscribe?
New members are automatically added to the email list unless they request otherwise (See How To Join). New membership requests usualy take a few days to get into the email system. If you are a member who was previously not on the email list but would like to be added, send an email to admin "@" uc-hiking-club.berkeley.ca.us.
How do I unsubscribe
Send email from the email account you put on your membership application to list-request @ uc-hiking-club.berkeley.ca.us with a subject line containing just the word unsubscribe. (If you are subscribed with a different email address then the account you are sending the request from, then you must add your email address from the roster to the end of the subject line.)

Please note the difference between the address for unsubscribe requests ("list-request") and the address for sending e-mail to all CHAOS members ("list")

Unsubscribing does not remove your contact information from the website, just your email from the email list. And you may resubscribe to the list, later.

If you have any problems, please send email to admin /a-t/ uc-hiking-club.berkeley.ca.us.
How do I post to the email list?
You will be told this once you join -- we don't mention the actual list address on our web site in an attempt to reduce SPAM.

If you've forgotten, contact a current officer or try the list maintainer admin "at" uc-hiking-club.berkeley.ca.us. And please, DO NOT send administrative requests to the entire list!!! 300 plus people will be very annoyed with you.
What can/ can't I post?

There are over 300 people on the CHAOS email list. Please keep in mind that if you post, you will be demanding the attention of all these people, so please make it worthwhile to them:

* format your messages for easy reading.
put a nice summary in the subject line (i.e.: TRIP to wherever, PARTY at so-and-so's, RANT on tail litter, etc.).
re-read your message before pressing that send button
make sure you've said what you wanted clearly and completely.
be interesting and nice.

The CHAOS community is centered in Berkeley, California... keep that in mind when deciding what to post. We are interested in what's happening to CHAOS members as they travel around the world though! We even had day hikes in far away countries when multiple CHAOS members happened to be near each other.

The email list is primarily for:

* publishing the weekly calendar
announcing trips
trip reports
selling outdoor related gear (personal, or a great discount sale)
gear questions/discussions
social activities for the CHAOS community (parties, movies, etc.)
housing requests or availabilities
* whatever the active members (a.k.a. The Cabal) decide

Additionally, informative postings on items of a political/environmental nature (protests, letter writing campaigns, etc.) are allowed, as long as you feel they will be of general interest, and as long as this exception isn't abused. If you want to make regular posting on some issue, it is best to form a new list, to better target your audience.

The email list is not for debating. Debates are better carried out in person over a beer, or other poison of choice. To limit debates, each person is only "allowed" two posts relating to any specific issue. Please do your part to keep the list traffic to a minimum.

When responding to a post, please be sure you are responding ONLY to the poster and not the entire list . Most email programs have both a "reply" (sending to just the original poster) and "reply-all" command, and we are requesting you generally use the command which replies to just the poster. If you REALLY want everyone to know your opinion/idea, then go ahead and reply to the entire list.
Problems with your email?
First, are you sure you're a member? If not, you must join the club before you can join the email list.

If that fails, email admin "@" uc-hiking-club.berkeley.ca.us.

This is for emails that should be a discussion! Email the list (list@uc-hiking-club.berkeley.ca.us) and refer folks here to discuss. That's the plan. Make it your own. Love it. Feed it. Pet it.