Broadcast Email on 2/3/2009
Good Day, Monadnock District Scouters:
I've got some ice condition and other important updates for you for the upcoming Klondike on 2/14.
Conditions
I was out to check conditions yesterday on Gregg Lake and had a great
snowshoe hike. The good news is that we have lots of
snow, and the ice is 8-12 inches thick. The bad
news is that above the ice but underneath the insulating snow layer,
there is layer of slush. Total combination of snow/slush is
about 12-14 inches. There are areas which are windswept and
therefore frozen. We are going to shift the location of the
stations to take advantage of these areas, but will make sure the
distances are the same to keep the race at the end fair. If you
can find snowshoes for your patrols, I would strongly advise
it. Absolutely make sure your kids have waterproof boots in
any event, which is common sense for any winter event.
If we can't find enough windswept & slush-free areas to camp, this
coming weekend Troop 2 is setting up the bases and will clear areas of
snow to allow them to freeze up for the week before Klondike.
Rick Edmunds, a T2 committee member, will also bring his snowmobile a
few days before the event to pack trails a bit. Our
intent is still to camp on the ice. Be planning to keep
yourselves dry!
EMS Snowshoe Clinic
We have now confirmed that EMS will conduct a snowshoe clinic from noon
to 1 p.m. at Admundsen station. Kids and adults will be able to
try out different styles of shoes and bindings, and learn more about
snowshoeing as a sport.
Atlatls
I promised in my 1/23 update that I would post a picture of the atlatl
we'll be using for the penguin harpooning. See it at the bottom of the
page: http://troops.scouter.com/nh/troop2nh/Klondike2009.html
They turned out pretty cool, actually. On the basis of some
web research, we found out that weight of the tip is critical to
accuracy and distance for the darts. We've constructed our
darts out of saplings, with the atlatls made out of the crook of a
branch. The darts are about 32-inches in length, tipped
with 7, 3/8-in ID bolt washers. The fletching is made from
stiff paper covered in that universal material used by early man, duct
tape. We're going to deploy the penguins at distances ranging
from 30 feet to 50 feet.
Firewood & Charcoal
Charcoal: A major change on fuel from early versions of the
handouts. Originally, we were going to stage the
charcoal for your lunch fires at the stations. However,
we're going to shift that money and spend it on bringing in the mushing
team instead. Therefore, I'm asking all units to bring a
quantity of charcoal to fuel their cooking fire for three
hours.
Firewood: Second, for units staying the night, I had
said in earlier information that firewood would be
available. That was predicated on the Girl Scouts of the
Green & White Mountains (formerly the Swiftwater Girl Scout
Council) saying yes to us. They have, in true Scout spirit,
denied us access to their property for the event for wood or back up
camping. Firewood is available, but would need to come from a
greater distance down the lake at our troop camping area. I
would recommend that camping units bring their own supply.
Distance from the parking lot to the base areas is at most 3/4 mile,
but you can locate closer if you wish. We are
practicing Leave No Trace here, so make sure your patrols bring pans or
other fire containers.
Cooking/Eating/Clean-Up Schedule
Speaking of charcoal, I got questions from a couple of Scoutmasters regarding cooking lunch. Lou Kaletsky asked:
Regarding the Lunch at klondike. Please let me know if all my assumptions are correct:
The patrol brings all lunch items (cooking and eating equipment, food,
fire starting equipment) on their sled to the first station where they
will, in adition to do whatever that station is, make a fire and start
their lunch cooking. They can leave all the \fore mentioned stuff
at that station. The patrol returns to the station at lumch to
find their penguin cooked. They eat. Here is the tricky part
Theyleaver their hot dutch oven, coals, and cooking gear at the station
and oncontinue on their journey. At the end of the day, they
retreive their belongings from the station they had lunch at.
Yes, his assumptions were all correct. The base personnel
will keep an eye on your meal while you're out on the trail and add
additional fuel as needed.
Jeff LeCourse asked if propane was OK to cook lunch, but I declined and
asked him to stay with the charcoal. BUT, if you're staying
overnight, you can use whatever fuel you want for your camping meals --
wood, propane, liquid, cold fusion, etc.
Prizes
I have purchased the following prizes:
Klondike Competition
1st Place: A Buck camp axe (it's really a tall hatchet)
which is one of the newer, lighter versions with the synthetic
handle. AND a Backpacker Magazine Winter Camping Book. And one of
the CD case sextants we'll be using at the non-compass navigation
station.
2nd Place: A winter backpacking book, and one of the CD
case sextants we'll be using at the non-compass navigation station.
3rd Place: Handwarmers for the whole patrol and one of the
CD case sextants we'll be using at the non-compass navigation station.
Best Penguin Cooking: National Outdoor Leadership Training "Cookery" cookbook.
That's all for the moment. I'm glad to see such great support of
the event out there!
Brian Beihl
Scoutmaster,
Troop 2