[Awclist] Fwd: Park tries to fill winter trips.

[Thomas Robey]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: RRFW Riverwire <riverwire at rrfw.org>
> Date: March 20, 2008 9:20:18 PM MDT
> To: trobey at cybermesa.com
> Subject: Park tries to fill winter trips.
> Reply-To: riverwire at rrfw.org
>
> RRFW Riverwire -
>
> Park Tries To Fill Winter Trips
> March 20, 2008
>
> Grand Canyon National Park officials have started a week long  
> lottery for 66 river trips all in 2009. The lottery ends at noon  
> Arizona time on Tuesday March 25, 2008.
>
> Of the 66 trips the Park has in this lottery, 51 are either in  
> January, February, November or December of 2009.
>
> There are only three dates available for the popular months May  
> through September of 2009, and one of these three dates is for a  
> group size of 8 persons or less.
>
> Demand for summertime river trips remains extremely high, and is  
> reflected in the last three years of lottery data now available at
> http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/noncommercial-riv-docs.htm
>
> During the main lotteries for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009, there  
> were 10 applicants or less for any 16 person launch date between mid  
> November and mid February.
>
> This is in stark contrast to the month of June, where for any 16  
> person launch date, there were between 174 to 320 applicants.
>
> Of note is a small but intense spike in demand for a three week  
> period beginning just after the start of the motor-free season,  
> beginning September 15.
>
> During this motor-free period, the demand for a coveted September  
> launch date has grown from 403 applicants for September 19, 2007, to  
> 457 applicants vying for the one launch on September 27 in the 2008  
> lottery, to a whopping 471 applicants jockeying for the one launch  
> on September 25 in 2009.
>
> The National Park Service has long known that non-commercial river  
> runners are the group most annoyed by concessions motorized tour  
> boats, and it comes as no surprise then to see the large spike in  
> demand for the launch dates in the second half of September when  
> commercial motor tour boats stop running the river.
>
> This latest follow-up lottery will attempt to find "winners" for  
> launch dates which were either not applied for in the main 2009  
> lottery or for which required deposits were not paid.
>
> This lottery will accept applications only through the lottery  
> website at https://npspermits.us from March 17, 2008 through noon on  
> March 25, 2008.
>
> The Park Service has posted a complete list of dates for this  
> lottery at http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/cancelled-dates.htm
>
> The lottery system resets all winner's points in a complex point  
> system to 1 regardless of whether or not the winner is able to  
> participate on the river trip or not.
>
> The Park Service continues to encourage two or more individuals to  
> sign up as co-trip leaders for non-commercial trips. Co-trip  
> leaders, called Potential Alternate Trip Leaders, may only apply to  
> the lottery on one joint application.
>
> Individuals are encouraged by the Park Service to combine Waiting  
> List points with other river runners. While combining points  
> increases a group's chances of winning the lottery, this has sparked  
> numerous conflicts between trip members long before the trip's  
> assigned launch date.
>
> The lottery drawings will take place in the afternoon of March 25  
> and email notifications will be sent by March 26. Statistics for  
> this lottery will be posted by the end of the day on March 26.
>
> River Runners for Wilderness (www.rrfw.org) continues to offer free  
> lottery assistance through email and a phone hotline for the  
> complicated 25 page sign-up and lottery application process.
>
> The RRFW telephone assistance Help-line is available at (928)  
> 856-9065, throughout this lottery on a first-come first-serve basis  
> and by e-mail at tommartin at rrfw.org
>
> Lottery applicants can refer to the RRFW online lottery tutorial,  
> available for download as an Adobe PDF file of 9.5MB by clicking on  
> the "Lottery Primer" link at http://www.rrfw.org/lottery.php
>
> Additionally, lottery information is available at the free Rafting  
> Grand Canyon WIKI at: http://www.rrfw.org/RaftingGrandCanyon/Main_Page
>
> Discussion of the Grand Canyon lottery and winning strategies may be  
> found at The Rafting Grand Canyon Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Rafting_Grand_Canyon/
>
> River Runner for Wilderness offers these services at no charge,  
> supported entirely through your generous donations at: http://www.rrfw.org/store.php
>
> The Grand Canyon River Permits Office also offers help at  
> 1-800-959-9164 or by email at grca_riv at nps.gov
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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>
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> .
>
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