Event Organizer Requirements & Guidelines

Colorado Front Range
Cross-Country Ski Club

Introduction

The most important thing when adding new event organizers to the club is to preserve the unique spirit and culture of the group, which has created a fun, welcoming, positive environment for its members. That’s what has made the club successful, and what these requirements and guidelines are for. Remember that being highly skilled and experienced in the area of outdoor winter recreation does not by itself make you a good organizer and leader for our club; conversely you can be a good organizer without having to be a grizzled veteran of winter sports. To be eligible to be an event organizer you must agree with the letter and spirit of these guidelines. The club founder determines if you will be an organizer, or if you are removed as an organizer.

High-level requirements

Service leadership

The point isn’t for you to be awesome, it’s helping others be awesome. And if you succeed in helping other people be awesome, then that’s pretty awesome, right? 

Remember that this isn’t about you. It’s about them. Reset your ego. Rather than asking yourself “how am I doing?” try asking yourself instead, “how are they doing?”

You can do all this, and also have fun, and do some great skiing too.

Clarity

Everyone attending a tour should know what to expect from the tour when it comes to significant information and detail. At minimum this means you will provide a description of the tour, a link to a map of some kind, the skill level and fitness level required, and a weather forecast prior to departure. You must promptly notify participants of any significant changes as well. For backcountry ski tours specifically, the club provides a template for you to use.

Care

While organizers do not have a legal “duty of care” to participants (and participants sign a waiver which informs them of their risks), we do care about everyone on a tour – they’re our friends. This is especially the case for those having a difficult time. We do not leave those people behind. We watch out for every skier. 

This does not have to be addressed by everyone marching in unison – that’s not only very hard to do, but can also be not-so-fun for everyone, including the organizer. You don’t always have to be in front; people may ski back and forth within the group; some folks may venture ahead, with your permission — all within reason, which is your call.

Having an informal partner or partners on a tour can also help manage a group, particularly if they have a radio (more on radios below), and can either take the lead or be the “caboose.” 

Also note that if someone is in a difficult situation due to not following event guidelines, or has expectations of having a personal assistant on the tour, then see “Boundaries” below.

Boundaries

To serve others you have to establish the terms. Though you act in service of others, you are not a servant. You are giving something, and those accepting it can’t have it however they please. 

Boundaries are best set in advance, rather than having to enforce them ad-hoc, many times a day – this is why we have the “rules” we do. You must understand the “3 guidelines regarding the role of the tour organizer,” and “Have a good attitude,” as they establish your role and that of tour participants.

Be aware that it is almost guaranteed you will encounter individuals who do not respect the rules of the club, or your leadership, and will attempt to (at times willfully) undermine either or both. For example: they will arrive without having signed up for the event; they will bring an unregistered guest; they will refuse to ski with the group and even disappear; they will take the lead from you and attempt to force the pace of the group; they will attempt to lead others in a direction different than you are traveling; and so on. 

If you think “oh that’s all fine, why should we be so rigid” then you may be misunderstanding the challenges of leading a group backcountry winter ski tour. Allowing some people to not follow club rules becomes a problem because eventually everyone will not follow the rules. Secondly, even if only some people don’t follow the rules, you need to consider the integrity of the club, because participants will wonder why some people have to follow the rules and others don’t.

You’re not on a ski tour in order to get into a debate with someone who won’t follow a rule that everyone else follows without any problems. Setting a boundary during an event entails taking someone aside and patiently, courteously, and clearly communicating what you need them to do. For example: “Hey, I really need you to ski with the group, that’s one of the rules for taking part in this tour.” Or: “Hey, I need you to to let me take the lead and set the pace of group.” In addition, if the participant’s behavior appears willful, you should also remind them of the boundary you have set via a direct message after the event.

Feel free to consult with the club founder about how to handle difficult individuals or situations like these. You may also choose to show some flexibility, e.g. not sending someone home who shows up unregistered. Lastly, if anyone violates the “no jerks or assholes” rule — e.g. escalates the situation in response to a request you make; willfully continues with their behavior after your request; or any other J&A type behavior — then the club founder will remove them from the club.

Detailed requirements

No jerks or assholes

This is the most important single criterion. This is merely the same requirement that applies to group members: we’re nordorks, not nordicks. 

Active group participants only

You must be a dues-paying member of the club, and have attended (roughly) 8 events with the group, including (roughly) at least 4 with the club founder. “But that’s a lot of events!” you might say. You’re right, it is – but also it isn’t – and in any case it’s what’s best for the group. 

You should also not join the group with the sole purpose of becoming an organizer. Nearly everyone we ski with in this group becomes a friend, and some become very good friends. So get out there and make some friends.

It’s about cross-country skiing

You cannot become an organizer because you want to make use of the group to organize snowshoe tours, or snowmobile tours, or dogsled tours, or alpine touring / randonée tours. You can find another group for that purpose.

Fairness

You must respect the list of attendees and the waitlist. You cannot add someone ahead of others or allow unregistered attendees.  This includes your friends, your kids, your romantic partner, your romantic interest, or anyone you are hoping to impress. When organizing an event you have an obligation to the group’s members first. If you communicate otherwise by your actions then you undermine the integrity of the club. 

If you want to ski with people solely of your own choosing then you have every opportunity in the world to do this outside of the group.

Expanding the number of attendees is appropriate if you would like to bring in more people. Removing someone who does not adhere to the guidelines before an event (e.g. by not responding to your messages, not filling out the waiver, etc) is also appropriate. Giving someone a heads-up about an event, who you know really wants to come, is appropriate; filling an entire event with specific people (e.g. your friends) is not. Again, if you want to ski with people solely of your own choosing then you have every opportunity in the world to do this outside of the group.

Seriousness

If you organize an event, then you must do so with the expectation that it is your most important priority on that day. You must do whatever is required to ensure that is the case, e.g. working out responsibility for your kids, pets, etc. Canceling the night before an event because “I forgot I had to drive my son to his harpsichord lesson” or “I forgot my dog had a therapist appointment” or “dude I’m so wasted” is not OK. 

The event must also be a high priority for you for at least the week prior, as you must stay on top of the responsibilities and planning for the tour, which are summarized in, but not limited to, this document. It’s your tour! and presumably you want it to be fun and awesome.

You must arrive early to any event you organize. Getting your gear together and meeting-and-greeting participants and answering questions and figuring out who’s missing all at the same time is not always easy.

Serious illness or injury is of course a legitimate reason to reschedule or cancel an event. As are poor, unsafe conditions. Note that you must do this as early as possible, and in no circumstance can you leave participants at the trailhead wondering where the hell you are.

Know your route

As far as your route, you must: 

• have skied or hiked it before (a small subset of the route can be an exception)

• or you must call out the tour as being about “scouting,” “exploratory,” etc

• be comfortable skiing it – you cannot take people somewhere where you will be in over your head yourself

• be able to follow it without getting lost, using either GPS, map-and-compass, or repeated experience

• know about how long it will take for a group to complete it

• know the skill level and fitness level it requires

• know what the weather will be before you go, and (as best you can) the snow and trail conditions as well

• regarding avalanche awareness, see the next section

If you are not on top of all of the items above then it could potentially result in someone coming to harm.

(In addition, if you are on top of the items above then you do not need to listen to someone just because they’re got a cellphone GPS app and think you’re somehow off-trail by 20 feet.)

For weather, NOAA provides a useful hyper-local forecast tool, which can give you output like this. Another useful tool is hosted by the USDA, which provides data from SNOTEL stations. There is also a website from CODOT, which provides access to road cameras and as a result can help you to assess nearby snow coverage and to determine whether it is in fact snowing. A sense of local snow conditions can also be obtained by reading CAIC field reports for the region in question. You may choose to subscribe to OpenSnow, though that does cost money.

And you can read the Nordork News!

If weather and/or conditions are expected to be poor or risky then it is appropriate to reschedule or cancel an event. Note that you should do this as early as possible, and again in no circumstance can you leave participants at the trailhead wondering where the hell you are.

Avalanche awareness

If your tour travels close to avalanche terrain, you must know how to assess avalanche danger on your route and interpret an avalanche report. At minimum this means regularly, if not obsessively, consulting the tools provided by the CAIC, as well as mapping tools as described here and here. 

As a rule we do not travel on, or under (within the alpha angle), avalanche slopes. You may choose to make a limited exception for “traveling under” – though you must inform participants of this risk in the event description  – when e.g. the regional avalanche report is green or yellow and/or the “avalanche rose” does not indicate an elevated risk in the elevation band and aspect where you intend to travel. If you don’t know what any of this means then you need to learn before you can lead any tour that travels close to avalanche terrain.

Satellite communicator

You do not have to be a first-aid whiz, but if you plan to organize a backcountry tour then you will often be traveling outside of cell phone range and you need to have a way of summoning emergency help. The way to summon help when out of cell phone range is by having a working satellite communicator that you know how to use. (This requirement does not apply if organizing an event at a nordic center.)

Yes, such a tool will cost you money, sorry – a starting point for selecting one can be found here.

(If you are just getting started you can borrow a basic call-for-help communicator from the club founder on a “you break it you buy it basis” that must be returned immediately after your tour is over.)

You should test that your communicator is charged and working before every tour; it usually just takes a couple minutes. There is simply no way to predict whether or not someone will e.g. shatter their femur, have a stroke, heart attack, etc, on a tour where you are the leader and are well outside of cell phone range. 

There is one area where you should be especially mindful: head injuries and concussions. If someone appears to have had a head injury, and is exhibiting symptoms of a serious one – headache, confusion, dizziness, nausea, balance problems, combativeness – then they are an “immediate evac” to the trailhead to get medical attention. If they cannot travel then this is a situation to call for emergency help.

Remember, as a famous boxer once said: “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” A tour participant having a serious health problem would be said punch in the face; you should consider how you would react and what you would do in such a circumstance.

Event format

Everyone will have their own leadership and organizational style when it comes to events. There is one constraint, however: you must use the “standard template” provided for the description of Meetup events, which will be made available to you upon becoming an organizer. (An example of a winter-trail event based on this template can be found here; for a nordic center event, here) 

You can add your own tour summary and other variable information to it, but you can’t remove any of the other information. You must follow the established guidelines in that template and the documents linked from it. Yes, that is somewhat constraining to you as an organizer. However the guidelines are based on considerable experience regarding what is best for event participants, for the organizer, and for the success of events. You are of course free to make suggestions for changes to it, and the documents linked from it.

The event headcount is up to you, except that for a backcountry ski tour 10 people is the maximum. Very easy tours where it is easy to keep track of people (e.g. a fire road) might allow for about a dozen. The same reasoning works for nordic centers. If you want to have more or unlimited participants for some reason check with the club founder. Allowing fewer people is fine as well, if in your judgment that’s optimal.

The club founder may “check in” with you after each event to see how things went. The club founder can remove any event that is not in keeping with the spirit of the group.

Avoid being in a hurry

The group will naturally “accordion” out when traveling. Stopping and regrouping routinely is a good idea; this is especially the case after a difficult climb or descent, or an awkward trail section (e.g. crossing a creek, getting over a large obstacle). This allows participants to:

• Rest and catch their breath

• Eat a snack or take a drink (some people need to stop in order to access their drinking water)

• Add or remove layers

• Catch up to the group after a crash, or just falling behind

• Take a bathroom break

Lastly, allowing the last person arriving at a rest stop to get enough rest is a good practice; taking off as soon as they get there is a dick move.

The exception to regular rest/regroup stops is if you have planned a tour that needs a “forced march” strategy in order to achieve its planned distance or destination. In this case you need to be very clear with participants about this in the event description, and also be prepared for them to potentially turn back.

Miscellaneous

Guests (plus-one’s) and minors 

We do not allow participants to bring guests to our ski events; everyone must sign up on Meetup. Our insurance does not cover minors, and they cannot register on Meetup, so they are not allowed on our ski events.

Dogs

We do not allow dogs on our ski events. Dogs can bite or otherwise harm people, and this is especially the case with so many YAIDOs (Yet Another Idiot Dog Owner) out there. So absolutely no dogs are allowed at any ski event, and this is included in the event templates.

Hut trips

Before planning a hut trip (or any overnight trip) check with the club founder. You need to have organized a good number of ski tours previously, at a minimum. Overnight trips involve a lot more complexity and are at much greater risk of failure. Note that you cannot use the group event to “fill out” the remaining spots in huts (or any other lodging) that you reserve; you must set up a hut or overnight trip with the club in mind first.

Radios

These are highly recommended. They may seem like boy-scout toys, but they make a huge difference if the group gets separated a bit, or needs to separate temporarily, or if you don’t feel like yelling through the wind. Yes, it means spending money, but a relatively affordable set of radios can be found here. Note that if you are on a challenging tour, then along with yourself you probably want one or even two other people in a 10-person group to have a radio.

Photos

Please take a few, not just of nature but also people, and post them. Participants are always grateful to have the photographs, and we can share them with other club members as well.

Romance

While no one could object to your meeting a future romantic partner on a ski tour, you cannot view the group and its events as your personal dating pool / singles bar. You should not make club- or organizer-related decisions based on romantic interest. As should be obvious, you cannot sexually harass people.  Inviting a club member to join you for some other occasion is appropriate, as is dropping the issue if they decline.

Lastly

Approaching the above in sincere good faith is the most important thing. We all make mistakes, usually every time we go out. There are no “experts” when it comes to doing this; we’re all lifelong learners, and we learn from each other.