Hors Sentiers in English
Hiking and Outdoor Club
Summer Outings : Hiking, Backpacking, Cycling, Canoeing, Kayaking ...
Winter Outings : Snow-shoeing, Cross-country skiing, Downhill Skiing, Skating ...
Additional Activities : High ropes, Mountain Climbing, Nature Interpretation and Ornithology.
Some outings are organized during the weekend with accommodation in shelters, chalets or camp sites. The performance level of each activity varies from easy to difficult.
Mission
Our mission is to offer the gay community of the Montreal and Québec City area, an outdoors club where they may participate in various outdoor sports and recreation and in so doing, facilitate comradeship and endorse an appreciation and respect for nature.
Organisation
The club is lead by the organisers’ committee and volunteers who organise the outings. They prepare the program of events and administer the club. Each member is encouraged to organise outings where training sessions are offered to assist in its planning. The success of the club is determined by the devotion of its members. If you would like to get involved, fill out an application form or send an email to
History
November 10th, 2002
Carol Gagnon and several adepts of outdoor recreation meet to launch an outdoors club for the gay and lesbian community of the Greater Montreal area . After much deliberation, it was agreed to call the club, "Club de plein air Hors Sentiers". How did we come up with this name? We didn’t want to limit our activities to hiking but also wanted to include other outdoor activities like: canoeing, kayaking, cycling, skiing, snow shoeing and others. Our target audience would be gays, lesbians and their friends. During this first meeting, four interim positions were chosen. Carol Gagnon (president), Yvon Daigneault (in charge of registrations), Louis Falardeau (treasurer) and André Bourget (position to be announced).
November 20th, 2002
The outdoor club "Hors Sentiers" receives accreditation. The club is incorporated as a non- profit organization in virtue of the law abiding companies.
March 22nd, 2002
The logo of the club is unveiled. It was designed by David Hinton. Richard Guay and he provided the committee with some sketches which enabled us to make a decision. The logo was finally adopted in two versions, one with the trail of the rainbow in black and white and the other with the rainbow in colour.
April 26th, 2003
Official start of our outings. Before launching the official calendar some informal outings took place during the winter season. Afterwards, we became members of "Équipe Montréal" and the "Fédération québécoise de la marche". Between March and October of 2003/2004, we received over 200 inquiries about our club and our membership constantly increased from 12 to 70 in the month of April and to 105 the following November. Presently, there are approximately 200 members.
May 5th, 2003
Official launch of our internet website: ALGI (l’Association des lesbiennes et gais sur Internet).
November 8th, 2003
At the end of our first year in operation, a banquet was organised and we awarded our first honour membership to Robert Marcoux who became member # 100. Robert died on October 23rd 2002, a few days before the foundation of Hors Sentier. He was one of the main founders of this club and strongly supported Carol in his idea.
Affiliation
Hors Sentier is an affiliated member of "Équipe Montréal", a group encompassing several gay and lesbian sport clubs of the Montreal area. Becoming a member of Hors Sentier will entitle you to discounts offered by several sponsored establishments. For further information, please refer to equipe-montreal
Membership
Membership is not mandatory. You may participate in an activity for a small fee of 5$ ( 1$ for partcipants that are 25 yrs. or younger ). Membership is fixed at 15$ / year from April 1 to March 31 of the following year. If you become a member between September 1 and March 31, your membership is valid for the following year. You may also be a member for 2 years for 28$. Participants younger than 18 yrs. old must either be accompanied by a parent or have written consent. They need not pay for membership nor pay a fee for participating. They do, however, need to pay costs attributed to the activity.
Joining or renewing your membership may be done on-line. The on-line forms are safe and secure and deleted once we have registered the information.
Membership Rights and Responsabilities
Membership fees include: a membership card, the programm of outings, a phone directory of members only (if desired) and no participating fee is required for participating. You will also receive notification of meetings from the Organizing Committee.
Registration
Complete the registration form : "Mon formulaire d'abonnement" on line. On the registration list, "co" after your name indicates that you require car pooling; "paid" means that we have received your full payment for a given activity.
Day activities
Bring your lunch. Unless otherwise specified, it is your responsibility to rent or bring your own equipment if required. For all activities to the U.S.A., please ensure that you carry a Canadian Passport. If you are not a Canadian citizen, you might be required to get a Visa before.
Costs
It is mandatory to register for any activity. For all persons under the age of 25, the payment of one dollar will automatically make you a member for one year. In order to register, fill in the form that is available on-line or leave us your details including your name and phone number and we will call you back. It is important that you indicate if you do have a car or if you require a lift. The person responsible for each outing will contact you back before the date of the outing. Once you have registered you can go on our website and check under "Registre" to see if your application has been processed.
Payment
Payment will be collected the day of the outing. Registration for outings requiring a payment must be done by the date specified, either on-line or by phone. Afterwards, your payment must be received within 15 days of registration. If not, your registration will be deleted and you will need to register once again. Registration payments are not reimbursed, unless there is a replacement. We keep a waiting list for outings that are booked. Please do not send money unless your are asked to do so. In case of cancellations, we will contact you to confirm your presence. You may provide a replacement if you are on the list and you decide to cancel.
Car pooling
We encourage car pooling and calculate a fixed amount for each passenger. This amount is then forwarded to your respective driver the day of the outing. Please ensure to bring the appropriate cash with you.
Accommodation
Most accommodations are rooms with double beds. Firstly, they are attributed to participants who have been. Unless otherwise indicated, the fees for camp sites are based on two tents per camp site. If you choose, however to have only one tent per site, there might be an extra charge. We have a non-smoking policy in place; it is therefore forbidden to smoke indoors during our activities.
Overnight hikes
Unless otherwise specified, you are required to bring your own tent and are encouraged to share tent sites due to limited space on the camp sites.
Cancellation
In the rare event of a cancellation, the person responsible will contact you by phone and there will be message on our website to advise you that the outing has been cancelled. There is no refund given if you cancel.