by Ard. photos by Tawcan
Every year the UBC Varsity Outdoor Club begins the school season with a weekend rock climbing school and party. It's called Longhike, borrowing from the early roots of the club when the big kickoff event was in fact a long hike. At some point in the 1970s people figured out that long hikes weren't nearly as fun as rock climbing, so the objective changed but the name stuck.
Having been the club's DJ for over a decade, I've probably been to more Longhikes than anyone, except Roland who has been an active member since the '60s: "I believe I went on Longhike 1960. We chartered a ferry and went from downtown Vancouver to Woodfibre, where we were served spaghetti and then got to party in the school gym before sleeping there. My air mattress went flat. Sunday we hiked up Sedgwick or one of the related peaks (Roderick?), which have fallen out of favour since the Woodfibre Ferry shut down."
The rock school always takes place in Squamish. The location of the party traditionally has been at the VOC Whistler Lodge, now known as the UBC Whistler lodge after the Alma Mater Society appropriated the property from the club. Yes, the VOC built that lodge. Yes the AMS took it from us. Yes we fought in court over it. Yes we lost -- something about the VOC being a club of the AMS. Pfft. Anyway, for years the AMS kindly allowed us to have our Longhike party at the lodge, but then one year they claimed we were too rowdy and that was the end of that.
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