Gear Hire Rules
- Gear is available on a first-come first-served basis. Only pre-organised club trips may pre-book gear.
- Club trips have priority over private trips as follows:
- club members on club trips,
- then club members on private trips, and
- then non-club members.
- A member may hire gear for only one other person. The private hire rate will apply for that gear.
- A member hiring gear on behalf of a non-member takes responsibility for that gear.
- If a club trip is canceled, hire fees will be refunded.
- The hire period is one week but may be extended at the discretion of the gear store officer.
- Gear is normally hired out on Thursday and returned the following Tuesday.
- Gear may be hired for an extended period during semester/year breaks, and periods of low demand.
- If gear is hired over an extended period, the hire rate may be reduced by at the discretion of the gear store officer. The deposit will not be reduced.
- Gear returned late will be charged at double the hire fee for each additional week.
- Hirers will forfeit their deposit or may have borrowing privileges suspended if gear is returned late.
- Gear more than one month overdue will be considered stolen. Hirers who steal gear will have their membership suspended and may be subject to police action.
- Gear hire period will not be extended during high demand periods.
- The hirer is responsible for the care and return of gear. Gear must be used in accordance with manufacturer's instructions of guidance provided by a gear store officer or trip leader.
- Gear must be returned complete, clean, dry, and ready for use. Hirers will forfeit their deposit or may have borrowing privileges suspended if gear is returned incomplete, wet or damaged.
- Boots are to be returned clean and dry (Non-plastic mountaineering and leather boots should be snowsealed. There is a tin of Snowseal wax in the gear store and people will be required to snowseal the boots before they receive their deposit.)
- PLBs may be hired for private trips, with the approval of the exec. Safety details and rescue procedure should be centrally recorded on the club website, by posting a trip with 'status' set to 'closed' (so it does not appear on the trip calendar).
- Gear must be inspected for damage before hiring, otherwise the damage will be attributed to the hirer.
- Damaged gear must be reported to a gear store officer.
- Plastic ground sheets for the tents must always be used.
- If a member is leader a trip, they may hire gear for that trip, at no cost. Gear store officers and activity officers also receive free hire, for club trips only.
- When retiring any gear, the activity officer needs to inform both 1) a gear store officer (so they can update the database) and 2) the committee at the next committee meeting, as part of their activity officer update.
- Retired, safety-critical gear can be donated, but the attached form must be completed and given to the recipient.
[Reviewed 2019]