Check out the Autumn edition of the EPIC!

This exciting edition features a number of trip reports from recent trips including bushwalking, kayaking and the Expedition to New Zealand. If you’re planning to conduct your own expedition to NZ be sure to check out ‘NZ for Dummies’ (pg 20). Intrepid bushwalkers can’t miss the guide to ‘Minimal Impact Bushwalking’ (pg 22) and those looking forward to the snow season, should not miss the Snow Shoeing introduction (pg28). The Research School of Cross Country Skiing has put together a jam packed trip calendar for the upcoming snow season, so check out the trips on pg 13.

The Winter edition is sure to be a cracker, with early snow falling in the Alpine region, so make sure you take your camera to capture all the action in the snow!

EPIC editing team

Lauren Bartsch, Lloyd White and Fiona Knox

Long time ANUMC member and friend Andrew Butterfield passed away in Christchurch on Friday 21 November 2008 following a long battle with cancer. Family and friends were by his side.

Andrew has been a vibrant member of the club for many years, active in rockclimbing, bushwalking, canyoning and kayaking. As a gear store and climbing officer, he contributed countless hours of his time to ensure others had a good time. As a trip leader, he regularly ran climbing trips to Araps, Point Perp, Nowra, Booroomba, and The Bluies as well as kayaking activities on the lake and local rivers.

He was always happy to assist others, to learn, share and enjoy outdoor pursuits. His contributions to the club were greatly appreciated and he will be sorely missed.

There was a strong field of applications for the 2009 Expedition Fund, with proposals received for adventures in four different continents and across a range of activities including climbing, ski-mountaineering, cycling and kayaking.

The Executive is pleased to announce that this year's winner is Matt Hollingworth, who is planning an expedition to climb the Nelion summit of Mt Kenya via the Normal Route. This is a challenging expedition that will involve a long approach march and around 20 climbing pitches.

Congratulations Matt! And thank you to everyone who submitted applications.

It is intended that this will be an annual award by the club, so keep a look out for the call for applications for the next round (August-September 2009)!

Please contact the president if you have any questions.

To reflect the increase in petrol costs and the fact that the current reimbursement rates were set around ten years ago, the recommended rates per kilometre have been revised. Click here for the new rates. These rates are used to calculate petrol reimbursements and participant costs for large trips where the club collects petrol money at the pretrip meeting (i.e. Huge Days Out, Bluies Extravaganza, Snow Huge Days Out and Cocktails on the Castle). Trip leaders are free to use these rates for other trips they run, or come to another arrangement acceptable to the drivers on their trip.

The SRA has now obtained an insurance policy covering off-campus activities. Trips are now fine to continue as normal. One condition of the insurance is that people taking part in club trips sign liability waivers. This year, this is required before every trip. The waiver form is now available on the club website for trip leaders to print out and get each trip participant to sign before the trip. While this is extra work, it does allow trips to keep running which is the main thing. Next year, we will work on a form so everyone can sign the form just once when they join or renew membership.