How much does it cost to join?   (back to top)
There is an annual membership fee.

Do I have to become a member to participate in CWH events?   (back to top)
No; non-members are welcome to attend as guests of club members, depending on
the number of guests allowed overall, and the number of guests allowed per
member. Some events allow children as guests, but many are 18+.

What does membership get me?   (back to top)
- Ability to add yourself to an event that is not full
- Ability to add yourself to the waitlist on an event that is full
- Ability to post items on our Calendar
- Sign up to receive Notifications when new events are added to the Calendar
- Ability to Organize an Event
- Ability to Become an Officer
- E-mail Reminders/Newsletters

How do I find you when I've never met you before?   (back to top)
At a carpool or event location: The carpool location will be described in as
much detail as possible. Look for a group of people milling around
some vehicles, likely toting hiking and/or other outdoor gear.

What if I don't want to accept the CWH waiver?   (back to top)
If you do not understand and agree to the CWH waiver, you will be unable to
participate in CWH events. This is for the club's protection and safety, and we
appreciate your hassle-free agreement.

Can my children participate?   (back to top)
Events generally allow for children. You'll need to check the particular event's
information online to see event particulars.

Can I bring my dog?   (back to top)
Dogs are generally not permitted at CWH events.

How and when is your event schedule determined/planned?   (back to top)
Not all hikes are posted at the beginning of the year.
Hikes are posted online when coordintors are comfortable with hike details.
The online schedule includes details on coordinator contact info, group size,
carpooling, meeting place, extra safety requirements, and sign-up requirements.
To check for changes to events it is the members' responsibility to check online.

A hard copy of the schedule can be printed from an online list.
Note: a printed schedule is valid only up to the time of printing.

Do I have to be an Calgary resident?   (back to top)
No! We encourage anyone living in the surrounding region to join.

Do I have to be single?   (back to top)
CWH is not a singles’ club. It is a club for everyone who wants to
participate in our events - whether they're single or involved.

Why am I asked for my Birthdate on the "View/Edit Your Info" page?   (back to top)
There are two reasons why we ask for your birthdate.
- The program checks for mistakes in the entry (by checking age between age 4 and 90)
- The program uses the birthdate to calculate statistics.
There are no pages where your birthdate is visible to other members.
Although the birthdate is information that is required to be filled in.
there is no requirement that is must be your acurate birthday.
However, we do encourage members to provide a realistic birthdate,
to allow the program to provide realistic calculations on the left-nav   Statistics  page.

Why am I asked for my Gender on the "View/Edit Your Info" page?   (back to top)
There is only one reasons why we ask for your gender.
- The program uses the gender to calculate statistics.
There are no pages where your gender is visible to other members.
Gender is information that is "not" required to be filled in.
To see how gender is used, go to the left-nav   Statistics  page.

Do you sell/share my information with any third-parties?   (back to top)
We respect the privacy of our members and do not sell or share your information
with any third-parties. It is also up to you whether or not you want to share (see below)
your member information with the other members of the club via the website.

Do you display/print my information on/via the website?   (back to top)
We respect the privacy of our members and adhere to the Canada Privacy Act.
To display or print personal information that other members can see is the member's choice.
You can change your preferences by logging on to the website,
go to the  Change Preferences  page, on the left-nav and adjust your preferences at the bottom of the page.

There are places where of legal necessity a minimum of personal information
is disclosed to respective hike coordinators, in particular the signup sheets.
These signup sheets are available for viewing at the hike meeting points.

Via the website it is possible to print the current membership list.
The printout header shows our privacy policy and instructs that this information
is for personal use only, and is not to be disclosed to anyone.
What is printed is according to individual member's choices, as described above.

How does your event notification system work?   (back to top)
a) Notification of events posted at the beginning of the year
      are not notified to the members.
b) As hikes are posted during the hike season
      notification is sent to all members (per subscription) for events,
      and for events that are modified during the hiking season.

You can change your subscription for notifications by logging on to the website,
go to the  Change Preferences  page, on the left-nav if you are
receiving the notifications and don't want them, or want them but are not
getting them. There you can also subscribe or unsubscribe from our
newsletter service.

I chose to participate in the Member Network. Why can't I view other members' info?   (back to top)
Until you have attended 2+ events with the Calgary Weekend Hikers you will not
have access to view the information of other club members. This is a
privacy/security measure which ensures that personal information is not made
publicly available (ie. all someone would have to do to gain access to the
information is sign up for a free club). To protect our members' privacy we
have implemented a policy that the information is only made available to
participating members.

What if I can't attend an event that I'm registered for?   (back to top)
If you are a member, there are a couple of ways you can remove your
registration from an event. First, log in to the website, and then either:
- a) Click on the event details and scroll to the bottom for a button to remove yourself
- b) Select "My Events" from the left nav and use the section at the bottom to remove yourself
Note that to cancel after the registration cut-off, you must contact the
event coordinator to let them know. If you simply do not show up for an event,
it may impact your participation on future events.
Please review our  Cancellation Policy  for more information.

How do the CWH's difficulty ratings work?   (back to top)
The mission of the CWH is to provide events for all skill levels, with the main
focus being at a beginner/intermediate skill level. Our events are rated for
difficulty with this in mind. Because we are a variety club, and are not
hard-core into a specific activity, our events are often rated more difficult
than an expert would consider them to be (they are rated for our group, not for
the expert, or hard-core community). If you have never participated in an
activity before, you should be just fine attending an event that is rated Easy or Easy to Moderate. If your
confidence level is higher with an activity, our events rated more difficult
than that should still be fine. Make sure that you have an excellent fitness
level, and/or extensive experience with an event, before signing up for
anything rated Difficult or Advanced. Please see our  Difficulty Ratings  for detailed information.
If you are unsure of your ability to complete event in which you’re interested,
please e-mail the event coordinator to discuss before registering.

Can I be bumped off an event list for any reason?   (back to top)
Event sign-ups and waiting lists are always on a first-come, first served
basis. It is, however, possible for you to get bumped off an event list in the
following circumstances:
- You are not physically able to complete the event, or are putting yourself
(or others) at risk by attempting the event
- You arrive without the required equipment to complete the event
- The event hasn't got enough drivers, in which case a person willing to take
their vehicle may be given precedence on the event over someone who isn't
- You have more than four no-shows logged on your account (see our  Cancellation Policy  for more information.
- You have been notified previously that you are not welcome on this
coordinator’s events (due to past issues).

May I attend an event that I'm not registered for?   (back to top)
No, event crashing is against club policy. Please see "Event Crashing" on
our  Member Guidelines  page for complete information.

What if I'm not crashing an event but I do run into a club group because I'm out doing the same activity at the same time?   (back to top)
Most of our events do take place in public venues that are open to everyone.
Please see "Event Crashing" on our  Member Guidelines  page for complete information about what constitutes "crashing" and what does not.

Why was someone else from the waiting list taken before me?   (back to top)
Occasionally we have a situation in which we haven't got enough drivers to get
all event attendees from the carpool location to the event. In these cases, the
coordinator may skip down the list and take someone who is willing/able to drive
over someone who indicates "Unable to Drive" or "Prefer not to
Drive". Note that if you choose "Willing to Drive" or
"Definitely Driving", you will be expected to be willing/able to take
your vehicle, plus up to three passengers. See  Related FAQ  for more information about this and other reasons why someone else may be taken first.

There is a huge waiting list for the event I want to attend. Should I bother to add my name to the list?   (back to top)
For the most part we try to make every accommodation to get as many people onto
an event as want to attend. For hikes or other outdoor activities, the limited
numbers are more of a suggestion and some volunteers are willing to add more
people to the hike than they initially intended. In some cases, a second group
will be added to accommodate a growing waiting list. However, for social events
like dinners, paid events or house parties the number of people allowed is not
usually flexible. If there is a long waiting list it will depend on the type of
event as to whether you will be able to attend. There are almost always last
minute drop outs and the volunteer might call you, or they might send out an
email to all the wait listers to take an open spot as a first come, first serve
basis. Or you might just be out of luck. The best option is to watch your email
for any notification from the co-ordinator, or even to call the day of the
event to let them know you are still interested. If you do not want to be put
on a stand by situation, you have the option to be dropped off the waiting list
automatically at a certain number of days before the day of the event. Don't
forget that a guaranteed way to attend an event is to coordinate one!

What if I want to sign-up to more than one event on a particular day?   (back to top)
The CWH club does not permit more than one booking on the same day.
This rule applies identical to full event registrations and waitlists.
Only one of either is allowed on one day.
Note that Meetings, and Multi-day events are excluded from this rule.

My e-mail address and club e-mail subscriptions were reset."What happened?   (back to top)
Bounced back e-mails are a problem for our web host because they clog the
server and increase the chances that they will be flagged as a "spammer",
which they don't want (and neither do we). Because of that, we've set the website
to capture e-mail addresses that bounce back our messages and when that happens,
the member account that has that e-mail address is updated, and any
subscriptions to our general e-mails and event notifications are cleared.
Next time you log in, you'll be asked to input a valid e-mail address. Once you've
updated your e-mail address, you can go back in to your "Preferences"
and re-select your e-mail subscriptions. It is possible for a "valid"
e-mail address to occasionally bounce for another reason. Our web site is not
able to tell if that is the case, so occasionally, we may clear out someone's
subscriptions even though their address is "good". If this happens to
you, please accept our apologies and notify our webmaster so we can keep track
of how often it happens (to make sure the problem is not on our website).

            Carpool

Can I meet at a different spot than the official carpool location?   (back to top)
Normally, if you want to meet up and drive together to an event, you must meet
at the official carpool location. If you are unable to meet at the carpool
location, you will be expected to meet at the starting point (i.e. trailhead)
for the event. There are a few important reasons for this: first of all, we are
a transit-friendly club and have many members who meet at carpool via transit.
If some of our drivers are meeting at an alternate location, we likely will not
have enough vehicles at carpool to get everyone to the event. Additionally, the
time and complication involved with arranging alternate meetings for different
people could easily get out of hand if people want to meet at various locations
instead of at the carpool. Some coordinators may choose to make exceptions
depending on individual circumstances, so please e-mail your event coordinator
if you feel it is necessary to meet somewhere else.

Meeting at event: Note that when you meet a group at the event (rather
than at carpool) it is your responsibility to find the group, including being
fifteen minutes early for departure time (since it is difficult to estimate our
exact arrival time when carpooling).

How is your carpool "per km" amount derived?   (back to top)
Please read the document "Meeting Places and Carpooling" accessible from the left nav under "Documents".

I have an idea for an event that I may or may not want to organize."Who should I contact?   (back to top)
Great! We are always looking for new event ideas, whether or not you'd like to
organize it. Since we are a club run by the members for the members, we always
want to know what exactly you want to do.
E-mail the volunteer coordinator,  volunteer@calgaryweekendhikers.com  to discuss event ideas.

What does it mean when there's a star or something else by someone's name?   (back to top)
An icon of any kind by a person's name means that they are on our  Volunteer Team
The default icon is a star, but volunteers can trade their star in for an icon
of their choice.

Can anyone organize an event?   (back to top)
Currently, all we ask for is that you are
   a) enthusiastic,
   b) have some experience organizing/leading,
   c) have completed the event previously,
   d) an active member (ie. have been out on at least a couple events with us).
See our  Coordinator Checklist,  and/or e-mail our Volunteer Coordinator,
at  volunteer@calgaryweekendhikers.com  for more information.

How do I volunteer or donate to the club?   (back to top)
It's easy to help out.
We keep our web site updated with our current needs on our  Volunteer & Donate ,
and/or e-mail our Volunteer Coordinator, at  volunteer@calgaryweekendhikers.com  page.
Let us know how you'd like to help, and we'll get you started.
Thanks for your interest!!!

What if I have a complaint about a coordinator or a trip?   (back to top)
Please see our Complaint Policy on our  Member Guidelines  page for information.

What if I have a complaint about another member of the club?   (back to top)
Please see our Complaint Policy on our  Member Guidelines  page for information.
Please  "Contact Us"  with any additional questions you may have.