[at-l] Little Lyford Pond camps (just an AMC rant)

[rickboudrie at hotmail.com (rick boudrie)]

"I don't know what if anything AMC employees smoke, but I think if I bought 
a successful business I would make changes slowly and only after I had 
gained knowledge and experience". says Bob.

What Bob fails to realize is that no one here has questioned the AMC's 
business savy.  Only thier vision for the facilities it operates.   I am 
delighted that he will play a part in the process of shaping that vision.

The AMC now has 90,000+ members. Understanding that the club will never be 
able to satisfy the needs of everyone, it makes choices.   Recent evidence 
suggest to me that the club's vision for its facilities do not sartisfy mine 
with regard to the facilities it runs.   The devil is in the details, of 
course.  An education center in the Whites sounded wonderful, right?   Then 
you discover that to learn there you need to shell out something like the 
$399 a person (yes, a person) they charge for a 3 day 2-night photography 
course which includes meals and a bunk bed.  That may be a wonderful value, 
but its not what I envision an education center to be all about.  And while 
its true that the AMC may do pro bono work for youth at this center, its 
hardly the focus of what they are all about (I welcome corrections, being a 
cynic isn't all that much fun).  They don't even have hiker's room.  Yea, 
the devil is in the details.  A bunk room at the center sounded kind of 
cool, too.  Then one discovers that you can't crash cheaply there on a 
Friday night before heading out the next day (as my wife and I did many 
times at the one they bulldozed), but rather must spend more than $60 
aperson (yes, a person) for the privilidge in staying around people with a 
similar range of interests.  Is it a good value?  Probably.  But not for all 
the club's 90,000 members.  Not for me.

Now the club has done something wonderfull.  They have bought land.  Thats a 
good thing, no two ways about it.  But is it any wonder that so many people 
wonder about the club's vision for the facilities will be run on that land?

Bob suggests that Crawford Notch was converted to self-service because it 
was "losing money".  Ha!  It was converted to self-service because a few 
people at the AMC recognized the need to provide a better range of 
facilities to its membership.  It was a bone tossed to cheap bas@#$Ds like 
me.  So Bob,  I hope that when you help shape the vision for that area, you 
do so as the cheap SOB hiker that eats on the trail for $1.50 a day, and not 
the Suburu-driving, Dean-loving, salt marsh residing sophisticate that can 
twist logic to justify building an running facilities that can only be 
enjoyed a small percentage of the clubs 90,000 members.  They really need to 
hear from more of us.

Rick B

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