Jeff_R said
Tyler and I would like to see our club agree to work winch hill 5 at Sierra Trek next year. You can get to the top of winch hill 5 in a high clearance vehicle in 2WD. It is a lot of fun. You are only 20 minutes from camp where the other fun and action occurs at the camp at Meadow Lake. For $90 as a volunteer you get dinner and breakfast for three days and you can run one of the organized trail runs. Why would anyone not want to go?

  

Because as a volunteer, you shouldn't have to pay to work.

I volunteer for many events and Cal4Wheel is the only one that wants to charge me for the privileged.

Other organizations usually give you free food and t-shirts. It's the reason our club stopped working Winch Hill #5 in the past. 

However, the club's membership has changed a lot since then and newer members may be all good with it. I certainly don't want to discourage it. 

There are lots of pros & cons associated with having to pay to work, especially volunteer, but $90 is not really the point. We all spend a lot more than that for just about every thing we add to our Jeeps, without even thinking about it.

I think the real point here is knowing where the money ultimately goes toward benefiting our "sport" & not just a single event. Without Cal 4WD, in the long run, you have to ask where would we be? What trails would still be active & not closed? What would the state & Federal legislatures be doing to us, without the fight? I could go on, but I hope that everyone gets the point, all this goes way beyond Sierra trek's event & whatever money is forked out. I would hate to think the hardest open trail remaining is a trip to Burger Lounge (which isn't a bad thing)!

I guess my take on all this is academic as to where or how the money comes in, it really only matters how it's spent for the betterment of how is goes out. 

Bottom line: I would still be ok with paying to volunteer on any winch hill, especially with club members in one location.

I had a good time volunteering at the event. I totally understand JohnDF stance on the current format especially since he was part of past events.  I had a similar experience when I coached volleyball for USYBL. Being one of the newest members I would like to give my perspective on the event. I volunteered with the hope of getting to know the members and learn more about the sport. I have been away from it for over 25 years and was more into participating in mud drags than rock crawling. I saw the $90 as an investment in my 4 wheel education. I did appreciate that is was half off what others paid.  I could only volunteer on Friday so I came up solo. When I arrived there were only 3 people working Winch hill 5 and about 20 people in the peanut gallery drinking and having fun. Tyler and Jeff (the experienced guys) and James from Mad Hatters. I watched Tyler spot about 4 vehicles and then he told me to take over. I was not prepared for that as I did not want to be responsible for damaging someone else's vehicle. Tyler helped me through the first couple of vehicles and coached me on the proper hand signals. He told me as long as I act confident the drivers will trust you. I was able to see the line and adjust it for 4 doors and Toyotas. It felt good when drivers would compliment you on how easy the obstacle seemed with your help. I was unfortunately able to witness a couple of roll overs where they attempted the most difficult path.  I got to see how to use a 3 point recovery method.  We spent the better part of 10 hours there and really got to bond with each other. That made the following trail run the next day that much more fun. Started from Winch hill 5 then down across the river then turn around and come back. Jeff and I did an emergency repair on my jeep at the campsite so I could get home the next day. We hung out with the Mad Hatters that night and had a great time. Yes there were a couple of Asshats and a diesel driving around the campsite at midnight with the radio blaring. All in all to me it was invaluable experience in which I'll have for future runs. I would do it again next year. Did I forget to mention that some people recognized Jeff and I so we got a free drink at the bar.

Cool video Jeff! Thanks for sharing it.