According to several DPS'ers who have heard him, Graham Mackintosh, our Banquet speaker on May 5, gives a really great show. While teaching unemployed British youths in the early 80's he decided his students would be better off having adventures in foreign lands instead of standing around on street corners. To demonstrate how it could be done, he walked the entire 3,000 mile coastline of the Baja peninsula. Limiting his walk to the coastline forced him into many adventures, often life threatening over the next couple of years. Toward the end he let a wonderful white burro carry the load. I'm not sure how many youngsters from England have followed his path into a life of adventure, but Graham seems to have found his niche. He's apparently been living in Baja since he finished his walk in the mid 80's, and now makes his living by writing articles and giving lectures about Baja. We're expecting a really good turnout because of the good show. Send $22 and a SASE to Frank Dobos at 602 Frontenac Av, LA 90065, indicating beef, chicken or veggie-lasagna. The banquet is being held at the TAIX restaurant this year.

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Occasionally people hesitate about signing up for a DPS hike because of the extreme differences in speed between the fastest and the slowest hikers. Most of us are prepared to make certain adjustments in our usual hiking speed in order to enjoy the company of other folks, but how often are we willing to spend 8 hours instead of 5 (or do in 5 a hike we'd rather do in 8) in order to participate on a DPS hike? There are real advantages to going on a led hike. It often enhances the peak bagging experience, to say nothing of the comfort of having other folks along if the engine catches on fire or an arm gets broken. On the other hand, it can be annoying to hike for 20 minutes or so and then wait for 10 for someone to catch up. From the slow person's point of view it must often times be unsettling to be always looking up the hill at folks sitting on rocks waiting for one to catch up, knowing that they're going to take off as soon as you get there. Sometimes hikes break up into a fast group without a sweep and a slow group without a leader, separated by a half hour or so. What I'm wondering is why it's not more common for a hike to be broken into a fast and slow group, where each group has a leader and a sweep. This does require at least two participants besides the listed leaders have the appropriate rating but if it was known that there were going to be two group speeds on a trip then it's possible that more rated leaders would sign up. We have plenty of old-timers who may have been gazelles in their day but who now enjoy a more relaxed pace. Perhaps we would get more of a turnout of such people if they knew that they would be the leaders of the slow group. In fact they would be leaders without having the hassle of answering SASEs and arranging to publicize the trip. Just show up for the good part. On the other side perhaps more young tigers would sign up for trips if they knew they could move at something approaching their natural speed. It's possible that many trips now wind up consisting mostly with hikers of middling speed, fast and slow people not signing up because the middle doesn't fit their style. If a hike had two groups then the tigers and slower folk might not share the hiking experience but they would enjoy the rest of it as a group, perhaps a larger group. Breaking into two groups might sound like heresy to some, but it's possible that we'd all be a bit happier if more leaders took advantage of opportunities to separate the participants. - John McCully

DPS LOOSES POPULAR LEADER Gene Olsen, popular leader for the Backroad Explorers, Desert Peaks and Sierra Peaks Sections died in Northridge CA on March 1, 1993. He was for many years an instructor in the Chapter BMTC training program. Gene was born in Superior WI and was 65 at his passing. He lived many years in the San Fernando Valley and worked as an engineer for Litton Industries. Gene was well known for his Thanksgiving trips in the desert and participants on his outings came to expect the unusual. Once while hiking In a remote area of the desert he surprised the hikers with an airplane drop of the Sunday LA Times newspaper. Another time in the back country of Death Valley he arranged for a food parcel airdrop. Gene died after a lengthy and courageous bout with cancer and led trips as late as last year. He is survived by a son, Chris, a daughter, Jane, and one grandchild. The family has asked that donations be made in Gene's name to the American Cancer Society. Burial was March 6th in Chatsworth. -RJ

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