About SPOC
The Rules!
Ok. So there are no rules for self-propelled trips. By that I mean that in real life YOU make your own rules. Maybe you took a 60 minute bus ride to complete a 200 Km ski traverse. Maybe you accepted a hitchhike as part of a 6000 km bike ride. As long as you feel good about it then that is great. Your trip was probably awesome and we would still love to hear about it, BUT there is no place for it on this website. If the non-self-propulsion must be included in your story to be part of previous attempts, then by all means do so. However, in a world of shades of gray, one has to draw the line between black and white somewhere.
Here are some guidelines to help guide your trip into self-propelled status.
• The trip must be fully self-propelled from, and returning to, your home.
• No motorized, electric, or non-self-propelled modes of transport shall be used.
• You should be as self-sufficient as possible. So bring your the Kayak with you, rather than renting it further along in the trip.
• Having a motor-assisted drop off of equipment is a big no-no.
• Sailboats are in, however, no motor can be used, and of course don't forget your oars.
• Other wind-assist devices are OK too (IE: kiteboards, kayak sails, parachutes, etc.)
• Just one of the participants needs to be fully self-propelled, but they should carry all their own equipment. See the Diadom trip report for an example.
• Contradictory to the above, buying food along the way is OK. Buying local foods, foraging, and bringing all your trip food with you is, of course, way cooler.
• Sum Zero: When all is said and done, the sum of input and output should be zero or less (carry skis up, ski down. Carry a parachute up, parachute back down). Perhaps you will luck out and get the only exception and have a tailwind both ways. More likely you will have a headwind both ways, but such is life!
Have Fun! We can't wait to hear about your trip.
Just what in the heck is a SPOC anyway?
The Self-Propelled Outdoors Club (SPOC) is a Vancouver based agglomeration of enthusiasts dedicated to fully self-propelled, wilderness adventures . They have climbed Rainier, Baker, Meslilloet, Alpha, and even mountain biked the heli-access-only Goat Ridge (Read about them in Trip reports). We are disenchanted with the incongruent relationship between the use of fossil fuel combusting transportation and the pristine wilderness we seek. We are inspired to demonstrate actually self-propelled trips; you won't find us with a roof rack for our bikes, riding buses or ferries, or using helicopters (get the picture?). Our motto (constantly in debate): "By bike from town for fun" and often "Making it hard the easy way". We are a "less talk, more rock" kind of group. Our objective is to encourage, promote, and sustain fully self-propelled adventure through an economically and socially accessible manner. We have fun, not a lot of money, and a long to-do-list of self-propelled first accents, so if you can, we really need some help!
A Bit More...
Why self-propulsion...well bicycles facilitate many great adventures, transforming trips from the ordinary to the extraordinary. They can even make an adventure into an epic. The late Lars Olaf Goran Kropp biked from Sweden to Katmandu where he then proceeded to climb Mt. Everest before cycling home again. The coastal mountains are no Everest, but there lies an "Everest" in all of us; one could go on a trip to the corner store, commute to work and part with our car-addiction and undergo a similar challenge . Being self-propelled is about shedding off our learned automobile dependence, regardless of what activity you are engaging in. For hikers, climbers, and mountaineers, this means new challenges, new learning opportunities, and new ways of relating to our environment. Reinhold Messner, could have been describing self-propelled trips when he stated "it was a different mountain altogether- even though it had the same summit." (High Lonesome ed. J Long). So why not try going selfpropelled?