Awards
Every year at the VOC banquet, various awards are given out. They are divided into two categories, serious and humorous and are described below.
Awards - Serious
Bronze Pin
Given to a member who has made a significant contribution to the club over the previous year. The first pin was awarded in 1995 - prior to that pins could be purchased. One is not necessarily given out each year.
Past Winners
Silver Pin
Silver pin awards are given to those who have contributed their time and energy to the club "above and beyond the call of duty". This award was instituted in 1950 and had since been awared to about 60 people. An updated list of recipients is presented below. This list is compiled from records in past journals and therefore may not be complete (Last update '94-'95)
Past Winners
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Gold Pin
Gold pin awards are given to those club members eho have not only devoted much of their time, over a number of years, to the VOC, but have also done some form of outstanding work for the club.Endorsement by 2/3 of the membership at a general meeting is necessary to approve this award. To date only five gold pins have been awarded:
- 1950 Ron Leslie, Club Treasurer - Building the Seymour Cabin.
- 1966 Karl Ricker - Planning, designing and building the Whistler cabin.
- 1966 Byron Olson - Planning, designing and building the Whistler cabin.
- 1970 Roland Burton - Planning and building the Burton Hut.
- 1995 Andre Zimmerman - Construction of the Brian Waddington Memorial Hut
Most Active New Member(s)
Usually this is a book prize given to the new member(s) (one per gender min.) who has developed their outdoor skills the most during the previous year (not necessarily given to novices).
Past Winners
- 1987 Jeff Greenwood
- 1988 Ileana Paul
- 2004 Richard So, Kaja Sadowski & Janet Draganov
- 2005 Stephen Lerch & Greta Raymant (or Kim ?)
Journal Awards
There are several awards given to contributors to the VOC Journal at the discretion of the Journal Editor.
Photography Competition
The VOC holds a photography competition each year. Slides can be entered in one of the following categories: Landscape, flora and fauna, portrait, humorous and VOC activities. Prizes are presented at the banquet. Complete details are announced early in the second term.
Awards - Humorous
The Broken Board Award (& Broken Helmet)
Background
Originated in 1970 when a load of lumber destined for the Neve Hilton (a hut built on Mt Garibaldi, later demolished by snow creep) was destroyed after falling from a helicopter onto the only rock in a snowfield for miles around. It is awarded to a member who has broken something in an equally silly manner, or who has performed what is deemed to be the most spectacularly stupid act of the year. The Broken Helmet has joined this award lately, for those times when the stupidity required a team effort.
Past Winners
- 1970(?) Mike Miles - For carring the (broken) board back to the trailhead (see Background)
- 1980 Paul Phillips
- 1983 Pat MacLachlan - For bouncing the only cheque that year.
- 1986 Debbie Phillips - For breaking the glass ion the newly-built book cabinet in the clubroom.
- 1987 Peter Stone - For his cornice-jumping (or should I say falling) exploits on the Sphinx and for skiing on a broken ankle at McGillivray Pass.
- 1988 Richard Howes & Jeff Greenwood - Fot their marathon five-day assault on the NE Buttress of Slesse Mountain.
- 1989 Scott Phillips - For the many ingenious ways he devised to injure his ankles over the year.
- 1990 Jan Palaty - For giving food poisoning to 12 people on a Christmas camp with poorly cook beans.
- 2006 Jeff Mottershead, Christian Veenstra, and Scott Webster for various "Escapes" (see VOCJ48)
The Kitchen Sink Award
Background
"Early in the new millennium, I found myself wandering around Argentinean Patagonia with my long-time friend, Dave Campbell. Every mountaineer on earth knows the name and legend of Cerro Torre. For Dave and I, it was not to be missed. On a beautiful day in February, we took to frolicking around on the Torre Glacier. The sights were... well, let's just say that I highly recommend going there. Above us loomed the massive granitic finger of Cerro Torre; its South Face, vertical and some 1300m high, sanctifying its summit. The easiest route is rated a very difficult ULMTAN (standing for "Um, Let Me Think About...No!"). But that's ok. What I could take from standing below this tower was the simple pleasure of being in a magical place. On top of that, I gained instant respect for those that have climbed the peak.
While heading back to camp, something caught my eye in the bottom of a shallow closed crevasse. Dave investigated, finding a 1m by 1m mangled chunk of alunimium sheet. It all clicked instantly. In 1995, a team of three Italians (R.Manni, E. Salvaterra, and P. Vidi) climbed a new route on the South Face called "Infinite South". Undoubtedly the route was really hard, rated at 5.11+ / A4 / 70 degree ice for 36 pitches (alternatively rated ULMTAN). The team made the "intersting" decision to use an Aluminium box as a bivy. After climbing a few pitches and setting ropes, the team would spend endless arduous hours hauling the mutliple-hundred-pound beast up the wall. The thing was so heavy that they resorted to using a ratcheting, lever-based pulley. So, with every difficult push of the lever, they gained an impressive 2cm with the box. Hauling a 50 m pitch would take 2500 pumps of the handle!
Upon reaching the top of the wall, they realized that rappelling with this box would not prove easy. Besides, they wanted to summit. So they fitted the box with a parachute and prepared it for "touch down". Considering that the area gets some of the world's fiercest winds (eddies upwards of 70 km/h), you might think this was a doomed experiment. Within a few hundred meters, the parachute collapsed and the box free fell the height of a 300-storey building until making solid contact with the ground. A few days later, the team reported that they went to the base and found no trace of the box: all they found was a haulbag. What would you rather find: 200kg of mangled Aluminium or a haulbag? So, five years later, Dave and I found a big chunk of the above-mentioned box... 5 km away ! I smell a rat.
After carrying the scrap back to Cerro Torre base camp, I erected a monument with the metal entitled "Fly It In, Chuck It Off". Not more than half an hour later, I heard the monument being disassembled. As it turns out, a group of Germans were outraged by my monument; a heated argument ensued. After agreeing to keep the monument down for the sake of the tourists, we carried the scrap out and offered it to the rangers. How interesting that the 1995 climb received international recognition yet the rangers had no idea of how the aluminium got there nor had they ever heard of our Italian champions. Thus, the Kitchen Sink Award comes into being: dedicated to the Italian champions for bringing way too much stuff. The Kitchen Sink Award shall be given to that VOC member who knowingly or unknowingly overloads his or her pack with superfluous devices."
-By Jeremy Frimer, VOCJ43 2000-2001 p.150-152
Past Winners
The Loving Cup
An award cup designed to embarrass couples whose romance has blossomed during the past year or to an individual who has tried repeatedly to engage other club members in relationships and failed.
Past Winners
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Chorus Line Award
An award for a member whom has contributed to a trip or event involving memorable musicality.
Past Winners
- 2004 Oker
Old Geezer Award
Instituted in 1988 to honour long years of club membership.(Roland is obviously not eligible.)
Past Winners
- ???? Muriel Pacheco, Markus Kellerhals, Drew Brayshaw
- 1988 Andy Pacheco
- 1989 Peter Stone
- 2005 Jeremy Frimer (?)
The Goons Award
A public warning about the stupidity of certain members, usually including a prop to help them extract themselves from embarrassing situations in the future.
Past Winners
- 1958
- Geri-Lou Simpson - Able Asst. Cup
- George Gowdridge - Burping Cup
- Dave McRae - Official Waxing Instructor
- Albert Nickull - Shuss-Bomber
- Ann Hutton - Radar Speed Trap
- Jack Boulding - Railroad Award
- Nadene Gwyer - Vice Award
- Bill Shuttleworth - Order of the Animated Stomach
- Robin Clarke - Order of the Double Breasted Sweater
- 1959
- Graham Dawson - Goon Awarders Permit
- Linda Campbell Brown - Able Asst. Cup
- Parker Williams - Beachcombers Permit
- Jon Magwood - Burping Cup
- Chuck Boyd - Break of the Year
- Don Brown - Blue Boy
- Ian Mahon - Bed Time Story Teller
- Robin Clarke - Memories Are Made of This
- Nadene Gwyer - Mother Hubbard of the year
- Bill Preto - Cleanest Living Boy in Acadia
- 1960
- Carman Smith - Cabin "Mistress"
Dean Goard - West Van Parking Permit
- Ian Stirling - Poet Laureate
- Linda Griffiths - Able .Asst. Cup
- Sandra Caldwell - "Knee Caps"
- Jack Boulding - Operator's License
- John Pringle - "Hole in Sweater" Award
- Sandra Ellen - "Madam" Award
- Garry Cowan - Burping Cup
- Don Brown - Engineer's Railroad Certificate
- John Dick - "Mother" Award
- Carman Smith - Operator's License Reinstated\
- George Gowderidge - Gamekeeper's License
- 1978
- Paul Hooper - The Broken Tool Award
- Graham Underhill - The Broken Canoe Award
- Robin Bricel & "Claude" - The White Tie Affair
- Rob MacLaren - The Hard Hat Award
- Steve Ludwig & Julian Dunster - The Broken Ski Award
- 1980
- Vicki Seraphim - The Olympic Beach Heavy Weight Champion
- Audrey Gilmore - The Gourmet Cook Award
- John Baldwin - Smelly Feet Award
- Al Knutson - Music Hater's Award
- Graham Underhill - Pathfinders Award
- Paul Phillips - Tent Mate Award (from Leon)
- Audrey Pearson & Kathy Higgins - The Giant Blister Award
- 1983 Graham Underhill & Jean Heineman - For chasing "bunnies" (???)
- 1986
- Dave Williams - For taking off from a dinner in Squamish with Markus's car keys. Markus had to hitchhiker home.
- Brian Waddington - For neglecting to have his car insurance up to date and had his car impounded in Horseshoe Bay. This carload also had to hitchhike home, at midnight.
- 1987 Peter Celliers, Darlene Anderson, Chris Lague, Tim Booth & Peter Stone - For leaving a club rope behind on the East Lion.
- 1988 Richard Howes - One for the most memorable (and indecent) slide show of the year and a second, for his vague instructions on how to get to Glacier school which misdirected at least two vehicules.
- 1989
- Paul Kao - Hemorroid cream for his mysterious references to substances called 'roids' which might help his training regimen.
- Mike Hayden - Keychain for misplacing his keys and arriving at the parking lot fullyladen with gear after the Glacier school.
Past Awards
Steeplechase
Pletch & Dorka's Steeple Chase VOC Girls Cup
Past Winners
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VOC Dam Downhill Competition
The annual Dam(n) Downhill alpine classic is held on Mt. Seymour's Unicorn Run in late February
Past Winners
Mens
Class A
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Class B
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Class C
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Womens
Class A
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Class B
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Class C
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UBC Outdoor Club Skiing Trophy
Past Winners
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Photography Competition
Beginning in 1958, the VOC holds a photography competition each year. Slides can be entered in four classes with colored pictures and one black & white class. The four classes were:
- A - Alpine Pictures
- B - Climbing Pictures and Ski Mountaineering
- C - Alpine Natural History
- D - Club Activities and Portraits
Class A
Best Alpine Pictures
Past Winners
- 1958 Don Lyon
- 1961 B. Foster
- 1964 D. Hewgill
Jean Sharp Memorial Trophy (Class B)
Named for Jean Sharp, an active number for many years, who died while skiing in Yoko Park. This award is dedicated for Best Climbing and/or Ski Mountaineering Pictures
Past Winners
- 1958 Dave Kennedy
- 1961 G. Broatch
- 1964 Bruce McKnight
- 1965 Bruce McKnight
- 1968 Harry Bruce
Class C
Best Alpine Natural History Pictures
Past Winners
- 1958 J.J Fairley
- 1961 B. Foster
- 1965 D. Phelps
Class D
Best Club Activities and Portraits Pictures
Past Winners
- 1958 Don Brown
- 1961 Sue Tatum
- 1964 D. King
Black & White
Best Black & White Pictures
Past Winners
- 1958 John Fairley Jr.
- 1961 A. Zoltay
Frank Koch Memorial Award
Created in 1958,this trophy was named for Frank Kock, an old VOCer, who died while on a VOC climbing trip in the Rockies. This award is dedicated for best coloured slide of the annual photography competition.
Past Winners
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Edwin Ker Trophy
Created in 1958, this trophy is named for Edwin Ker, an avid skier, who was instrumental in introducting skiing to the VOC in the early 1930's and initiated the Damn Downhill. This award is dedicated for the best group of four coloured slides during the annual photography competition.
Past Winner
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