Troop 466 2010 XBox Games!

Move over Vancouver, the Troop and Crew 466 annual XBox games have started! Live from the electrical outlets of Valley Camp in North Bend, the athletes are warming up for what I am told might be an all night activity for most.



Our athletes once again descended upon the great Teneriffe Lodge to put their best skills on the line. The opening ceremony brought hopes from some for 466-Olympic gold and some brought old scores to settle where they were “owned” on the playing field from previous years.



Our athletes are bulking up and ingesting their allotment of 1500 Costco calories a piece.




Our stadium has 4 gaming consoles fired up and Halo is the sport to watch. Some of our Olympians are focusing on two new sports this year: Playstation and Wii. These sports have some of of our most seasoned contenders making a run for their money.



Others are taking the event in stride. Just look at this young sportsman hams it up for the camera.



Notable stats from the XBox games:

• 3 XBox consoles
• 1 Playstation 2
• 1 Wii Console
• 4 projector screens
• 4 screens
• 8 Pizzas
• 42 Costco muffins
• 24 yogurts
• over 144 chocolate chip cookies

After several hours of playing we called it a night and began a small clean-up effort to prepare for Saturday’s snow shoe hike.  Thanks to everyone for making this a great event!

Silver Star Day 5 - Heading Home

The group got up at our normal time, packed up and hit the road. No trip to Canada would be complete without a trip to a staple of Canadian society: Tim Horton's.

Now we're headed for the border, where you will likely see this post since we'll be looking for coverage when we get back in the states. See you all soon!

Silver Star Day 4 Wrap-Up

Here we are – 4 wonderful days of skiing and tons of great memories with great friends.  After lunch several of the boys and adults were feeling the effects of four non-stop days of skiing.  Ty noted that the “couch was eating him” leaving him somewhat unable to muster the energy to get up. 
The group headed out to get some of the last runs of the day.  Once on the hill, we took things slow (some would say too slow) and reflected on the great week we had. I have to warn you, some of the afternoon runs were a little aggressive as evidenced by these high-speed photos of the crew in action on the “Where’s Joe” run.




From there it was off to the park where the boys showed the adults how its done on the hill. Impressive stuff given the four hard days we had.

After a full day we grabbed our gear and headed out for dinner. Eastern Indian cuisine was the choice of the boys, although as we came to find out many of the boys haven’t eaten Indian before. Always on the lookout for an adventure, the meal was great and it became a big sampling for everyone at the table.



After dinner, we headed to the Vernon BC pool for some hot tub action, diving and general horsing around.  It only took a couple of hours before everyone was exhausted so we headed back to the hostel for some brownies. One thing the boys have learned – the quickest way to make friends is to share baked goods with the visiting UVIC college students (to the order of 70+ cookies last night, 90+ brownies tonight).
Thus ends our journey here at Silver Star. We’re headed home tomorrow early in the AM with a long drive ahead of us. Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you on the next trip!

Venture Crew 466

Silver Star Day 4 – Lunch Bunch

What a great morning! Like the saying goes: “waking up is hard to do”.  Or at least that’s what it felt like for us.  The group managed to get up and get on the lift, despite a late night of cookies and Olympic hockey.




The reward was great though, first tracks for everyone and the snow was perfect. As Josh put it, the runs were “untouched” and the skiing was amazing.  The conditions first thing in the morning couldn’t be beat and everyone stuck together and had a blast.

 

After a few initial runs we were determined to hit some of the freshly groomed blacks and double blacks. That plan worked out well for some, not so well for others.  We decided to go for “greener pastures” and get our feet underneath us.  After a couple of nice runs, it was off to the T-bar to get some back country skiing in the fresh powder.



Along the way we found an excellent natural ramp. We managed to get some of it on tape and I think I can feel my insurance rates raising as I type this.

So what’s for lunch on your last day when every other meal you are going to have is take-out? Everything. Honestly, I have never seen a noodle-nacho-egg-pizza-wrap before, but I think that the boys enjoyed eating their crazy leftover combinations.

OK, we're cleaning up our “lunch tornado” in the kitchen and planning out our last few runs of the trip. Stay tuned for what will likely be some crazy pool behavior later tonight.

Don’t Tell Mom What I Did at Silver Star – Episode 2

Move over Kelly Clarkson, we may have a new American Idol on our hands...

Silver Star Day 4 – New Snow Again

OK, at this point it is just getting old. Every day we wake up only find that several inches of new powder has coated the ground and we have to ski in it all day.

But seriously folks, we’re blessed with yet another day of exciting runs ahead of us. The crew made an executive decision this morning to wake up and take advantage of the great weather.  Yep, that’s right – first tracks.  We’ll let you know how well we execute on that plan, but for now I’ll leave you with a word from our sponsor…

Don’t Tell Mom What I Did at Silver Star – Episode 1

This just in.  We are interrupting our regularly scheduled Olympic coverage to show you the results of the Men’s Costumed Ski Jump event.
Ok, here’s a little “after dinner mint” for those who are interested. Here’s the extended edition of the  jump performed by Josh and Erik - posted by popular demand.  Moms and insurance adjusters, please close your eyes.