Hikers apparently having difficulty finding young Members
When executive director of the “North Country Trail Association” (NCTA), Bruce Matthews, was visiting Delmar for an event to create a backpack trail spanning from North Dakota to New England, one of the striking features noticed by him was the fact that the mean age of local volunteers for hiking was in the mid-60s, meaning many volunteers’ were in the late 70s. He noticed this extreme shortage of the young volunteers in the event at other places also.
He recalls telling the volunteers present in the event that, though he loves to have them as they have the time and the income, but considering the future planning, he would also like to include young people in their 20s as they would be there for a lifetime.
This problem is also being encountered by other clubs like the “Taconic Hiking Club” having a membership of 150 out of which 50% are retired and the younger members are those in their early 40s.
Similar problems are also being faced by the “Adirondack Mountain Club” (ADK) and the “Appalachian Mountain Club” (AMC).
Taking this issue seriously most of the clubs are now trying to find young members. The “Schenectady Winter Sports Club” made efforts by launching recently a chapter specifically for the 18-30 years of age group with a view to get the young blood interested in the events. The “Adirondack Mountain Club” is doing a lot in this direction, like they are planning to organize events which are more family- friendly and simultaneously offering membership to first timers at very cheap rates. They are buying lists of addresses from various stores selling climbing gear and backpacking and are also marketing their lodges to be used by families. Young people are often attracted to more ‘active’ outdoor activities than simply hiking, such as taking a mountain bike like the Apollo Bikes XC.26S through the wilderness, skiing, snowboarding, motocross, four wheeling, etc. As a result many other clubs are trying to use these activities to attract new members like the “Out of Control Ski” Club which organizes discounted skiing trips and includes rides to the locations and organized get togethers after returning home.
