Silver Star 2012

Venture Crew 466 took the “break” in mid-winter break seriously and headed up to Silver Star Mountain in Vernon, BC once again.  17 members of the Venture Crew headed out on Saturday for three days of the best skiing of the season.

When we arrived in Silver Star we were greeted with snow as far as the eye can see.  While the locals said that it has been a low snowfall year, they could have fooled us as every chair was open and the runs were full of powder and packed-powder conditions across the entire resort.

After checking in at the SameSun backpacker’s hostel, our trip leaders Eric and Sean went over the crew duty roster for the week, the cooks made dinner and everyone settled in for some great skiing the next day.

		On The Hill… VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

By far this trip had some of the best skiing everyone’s seen all season.  Each run took at least 30 min to complete and the crew divided themselves into skill groups then scattered across the mountain.  Favorite runs included Eldorado, Sunny Ridge, Three Wise Men, Where’s Joe, Baker’s Acres and several of the black diamond runs (for the advanced guys).

 
 

Day 1 we took to the hills after a slightly late start, but we made up for it during the day with tons of good skiing.  Day 2 the sun broke out early in the morning and we were treated to blue bird conditions on the mountain for much of the day.  Day 3 brought a lot of new snow and fresh powder, allowing us to enjoy a great day of skiing for our last day on the hill.

Meals


The crew broke up into two person cooking and cleaning crews for most of the trip.  The hostel provided us the staff kitchen for our use and we were able to enjoy some great meals including teriyaki stir fry, breakfast burritos and Cincinnati 3-way chili.


 

Mealtime VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Lunch Bunch


Lunch on the hill provided lots of options for a great price.  Some ate at the lodge on the hill while others came into the main part of the resort to eat each day.  After sampling Bulldogs, the Den and other eateries many of us seemed to settled on Long John’s, which is located in the middle of the village next to the general store.   


 


All-in-all we took it easy at lunch and recharged our batteries with good friends.  The hostel’s open recreation area provided us a good place to unwind after a long day of skiing.


 

Before we left, Robbie found a good tip with the weekly snow carnival.  Tube Town provided evening tubing, skating, hot chocolate and marshmallow roasting for one cheap price. While many opted for tubing, some took to the rink and did ice skating.  Special-K had to fight off the local hockey players, but held her own so they could enjoy the frozen pond.  For those who decided to tube, we made what seemed to be the largest tube snake on the mountain.

 
 

After all that fun we settled back at the hostel and got ready for our trip home.  Another year at Silver Star behind us and many memories to take home with us for planning next year’s Venture ski trip.

Wednesday at Camp Parson

Not much new to report.  Making good progress on merit badges and rank advancement with a few minor bumps in the road.  Thanks for all the great care packages.  We gave them out last night after dinner and the kids really enjoyed them.  Thanks also for the Adult care packages – Cookies, Brownies and licorice hit the spot.  We also have some great banana bread for Friday’s troop breakfast in camp!

It been a great trip, with only minor hiccups.  We had a robust game of capture the flag with one of the other troops for friendship games.  It ended in a stalemate and called due to darkness.

No new photos today, we should get more on Thursday and the full set will get posted when we get back.

Camp Parsons Day 2

More fun with merit badges and troop activities.  For our evening troop activity the entire troop went pier jumping.

We will save the pictures of the adults jumping for later.

In the evening we also got to watch a flag retirement ceremony put on at the main firebowl.  The flag was huge 20’ x 15’ and one of the other troop did the ceremony.  It was very moving and the kids enjoyed it.

Monday at Camp Parsons

First full day is over and everyone is safe and having a great time.  The schedule was filled with merit badge work and rank advancements.  We also had some troop time to for rock climbing, and team building games.

Eric is keeping the troop on track and the Patrol Leaders are doing a great job getting the patrols moving.  Mornings are a little tough getting everyone out of their tents, but we are easing into a good rhythm and the routine is starting the make sense.

In the morning the kids work on Merit Badges.  First Aid and Wilderness Survival are the most popular, next to the trading post where everyone has figured out what treats are available.

In the afternoon, the younger scouts worked on some advancement activities and then we did some rock climbing and troop games as a group.

Food is even pretty decent and so far no complaints.

Sorry for the strange formatting.  I’m still figuring out how to post stuff to the blog.  More pics will get posted once we get back.

First Night at Camp Parsons

Arrived at Camp Parsons at 1pm yesterday, took swim tests and got settled in to camp and had our first meal – BBQ beef which was pretty good.  After dinner, got our beach orientation and the had merit badge signup.  Reminded me of signing up for classes in high school.  A little crazy, but all the kids got signed up for the badges they wanted.  A little down time, then off to the opening campfire and back to the camp site for lights out at 10pm. 

Of course, lights out didn’t mean many scouts went to sleep.  Some got into their tents and talked away for a what seemed to be hours before the camp went quiet, then nobody stirred until morning.   It is clear these guys are excited and ready to have a good time.

We are off to our first breakfast and merit badge classes this morning.  So far, no issues with homesickness and the troop is moving together well as a unit .  Just wanted to get a quick post out and will try and post some pictures posted later.

Philmont: Day 2 - On the Trail

On the trail! Day 2 of Philmont means leaving base camp as each of the three crews hit the trail for the next ten days in the Philmont back country. The last of the base camp activities was taking the traditional Philmont crew picture, grabbing some food and clearing out the tents for the next inbound group. We found that over 600 people hit the trails of Philmont each day, so the logistics of pumping that volume of scouts and adults on the trail is no easy feat. Each crew has a different itinerary and makes different stops along the way. For that reason, we’ll break out each post to show each group’s individual journey.

Crew 1 (715-J-01) – Itinerary 25

Crew 1 started their morning by reviewing their itinerary then headed off to Rayado Turnaround.  Once the bus dropped them off in the hot, breezy campsite the ranger set to providing them training on basic first aid and the use of the Red Roof Inn’s, which are make-shift bathrooms that are around camp.  For those who haven’t been to Philmont, the biffy’s are arranged in two ways: Pilot to Bombardier (back-to-back) or Pilot to Co-Pilot (side-to-side … or as they like to call it – “cheek-to-cheek no peek”). 


 


At the turnaround they took a tour of Kit Carson museum and took in some of the homesteading games the area had to offer.  In addition to the games and the tour the museum is home to some local livestock.  In particular there was a large, fat goat which Erik was able to make “purr” through his prolonged attention to the animal. Everyone from crew 1 and 2 gathered to marvel at Erik’s channeling of Dr. Doolittle before leaving for the trail.





Once hitting the trail, Crew 1 headed to Olympia which was three miles away.  This was a trail camp, so the group focused on training on bear procedures and camp setup.  The campsite was set upon a ridge and the sights were wonderful.  As the sun began to set, the crew reviewed their plans to hike to Bear Caves the next day, beginning their Philmont trek for the next 10 days.





Crew 2 (715-J-02) – Itinerary 14



Right after lunch Crew 2 took the afternoon bus to the Rayado River turnaround and started at the Kit Carson museum.  The museum consisted of a restored home and the surrounding areas.  There were plenty of activities outside of the home tour for the crew to enjoy including tomahawk throwing, blacksmithing, playing with livestock and other local back country games.





From there Crew 2 hit the trail, heading to the Rayado River camp. Each crew assigns a daily “navi-guesser” who attempts to navigate the Philmont back country trails with the maps provided.  On the way to our field camp we stopped by Zastrow which had a wonderful evening program including cake and horseshoes.  Some of the advisors took some time to play a quick round of horseshoes with the scouts, but quickly it was time to get back on the trail to set up camp for the night at Rayado River.  We arrived at our trail camp shortly before dinner and received some trail training from our ranger on sumps, bear bag procedures, campsite setup (avoiding the “bear”muda triangle). After our first freeze dried meal of the trek we set up our tents and  called it a night, eager to get our first day of hiking under our belt and ready to tackle the hike to Uraca Mesa.




Crew 3 (715-E) – Itinerary 10

After a late start in the afternoon Crew 3 was transported to the Lover’s Leap turnaround.  Upon arriving the crew started their backcountry training with the ranger, which involved everything from cooking, cleanup to how to use the bathroom properly at Philmont.  After a short hike of 1.5 miles, the crew arrived at Lover’s Leap and hiked out to the rock’s edge. 

 

There are 24 locations in the United States which carry the name “Lover’s Leap” and like all of the others, the one at Philmont has an interesting story. As the legend goes, a Local Native American village was nearby and one young star-struck man proposed to a young lady from the village.  He said that he would wait at the location until she made her decision.  After a few days without an answer he surmised that her decision was no and they would not be married, and in his grief he hurled himself off of the cliffs to the valley below.  The young woman came shortly afterwards to give her answer of yes, only to find her love had taken his own life. In her sorrow, she followed him to his grave on the very same cliff as others from the local village watched in astonishment. From that point on the location was given the solemn name it carries today.




Once the crew explored the area and had their fun it was time to get to work setting up camp, hanging bear bags, cooking dinner. The group camped in the meadow that night on the side of the hill.  As the night grew later, many of the scouts felt as if they saw coyotes up the side of the hill before they went to sleep awaiting the next day’s adventures.