3/22/09 Posting

Hooray--we are getting close to our start date, so that means that you will begin signup for April hikes starting on Wednesday, March 24^th. I have attached a word document with a list of the hikes available. This detailed hike description gives you some information on where the hike is located, what is special about the hike, and the mileage/gain. You will notice that there are two sets of hikes, one for CHS 1 and one for CHS 2. Hopefully you know which group you want to be in by now, but if you were unable to go on a pacing hike this weekend and you’re unsure of your pace, then you can still experiment with both groups this month to see which is a better fit by going on one of each. But if you’re sure which group you want to be in, then sign up for two hikes off of that list. Regardless of which level(s) you sign up for, only sign up for two hikes total until I notify you otherwise.

April Hike Signup:

Sign up for all April hikes begins at 9:00 AM on Wednesday, March 24th. Please only sign up for 2 hikes at that time! I strongly advise you to sign up for hikes as soon as you can on that morning so that you can get the dates that work best for your schedule. Please keep in mind that all destinations listed on the Hike Schedule are tentative. Low snow levels, avalanche conditions, and poor trail conditions may require that we change hikes to different destinations without much notice. Do not be concerned if you see that the hike listed in the Mountaineers' signup database has different stats on mileage and gain than that listed in the hike description. We use canned descriptions from the database and can’t change them. The mileage and gain estimate we give you in the hike descriptions is the correct one.

How to Sign Up for Hikes:

Signing up for the hikes takes place on-line. These hikes will not be published in the paper Go Guide and are only for CHS participants in the Seattle branch. All CHS hikes are listed under the name of the destination.

If you have never registered for a hike on-line, here are some basic instructions for getting started:

To register on-line:

1) Log into your account.

2) Click on the “Activities” link in the upper left-hand corner.

3) In the Search parameters input the date of the hike in the “Select a date range” field and input the name of the hike in the “Destination or Event Name.”

4) Click on the “Search for Activities” button.

5) Find the hike you want, and click on the “Go” button to register.

Alternately, once you’ve logged into your account, just input the following URL: http://www.mountaineers.org/source/aTrips/Tripselection.cfm?nd=yes&at=hik&b=sea&tr=hik_chs&ob=dt&ss=yes#marker

It will take you directly to all upcoming CHS hikes for the Seattle branch. All of our hikes are tagged with the term “Conditioning Hiking Series.” However, the Kitsap branch has also offered a version of this course in the past and sometimes uses the same tag. Be sure the hikes you are signing up for are actually Seattle branch CHS courses. If you always use the link above or search by hike name/date, you’ll never go wrong.

All CHS Hikes in a given month open up for registration on the same day and close the Thursday before the hike. For the April hikes, that first day is March 24^th.

If you have problems, contact the clubhouse at (206) 521-6000 and someone there can help you out.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I’m looking forward to meeting you at the first class on March 25^th.