Ascutney Mountain - Ski Trip Report

On the weekend of January 13, 2001 Troop 1 went to Ascutney Mountain Ski Resort in Ascutney, Vermont. There were many things to do there. They had skiing, snowboarding, ice-skating, an indoor pool and sauna, racquetball, volleyball and even an arcade. So even if you don't ski there were plenty of other things to do. During the two night stay the scouts slept on the floor of the lounge in the resort with about 20 other Boy Scout Troops. The most of the troop went skiing on Saturday, while four scouts tried snowboarding. They all reported the snow conditions were great. For lunch on Saturday they all got a FREE box lunch and on Saturday night they had a FREE Pizza Party, which all came with the weekend package deal. On Saturday night the scouts played volleyball, went to the arcade and went swimming. On Sunday morning they all turned in their ski equipment and jumped into the pool for a final farewell swim before proceeding home at about 11 AM.

Here's some more details and contact info:

The resort has 47 Trails and glades, 3 Triple Lift, 1 Double Lift and an Areal Tram, 120 acres and 50 miles of skiing. It is is located just off I-91 on route 44 in Brownsville Vermont. It's an affordable and accessible mid-size mountain, 26% of trails are novice, 39% intermediate, and 35% advanced. Average snowfall is 180" a year. Ascutney Mountain Ski Resort has completed a $3,000,000 snowmaking and resort expansion. They added a high speed detachable quad chair in 1999-2000.

They have a Special Offer for Scouts and youth groups. On-Mountain Sleep-Over Ski or Snowboard for 1 or 2 Days. Sleep Over in their Lodge and enjoy complete access to their Fitness Center Tubing and Ice Skating in the Village. You'll get breakfast and Pizza Party too. Priced at $44 per person (one day of skiing) or $66 per person (Two Days of Skiing) Interested? Call Group Sales at 800-243-0011 and get more information, or sign up on-line using a form at: http://www.ascutney.com/winter/groups.phtml (Be sure to mention the Scout and Youth Group special in the comments section of the on-line form).

Ascutney also seeks Leaders or Volunteers to chaperone bus trips. Benefits include free days of skiing.

See these two web sites for more details:

• http://www.ascutney.com
  
• http://outtakes.com/winter/winter.ascutney.html

Klondike Derby - Winter Campout Report

The Klondike Derby was held by the Massosoit District of the Nashua Valley Council, BSA on the weekend of January 27-28, 2001 at the Shirley Rod and Gun Club in Shirley, Massachusetts. We had twelve scouts that braved the cold for this overnight campout and competition. Our scouts joined about another two hundred other scouts from our Council to see who had the best outdoor winter scouting skills.

On Saturday morning our scouts began construction of a snow lodge that they were going to sleep in for the night. Will Pennington, one of our Assistant Scoutmaster's, who is an expert in survival and Scouting skills, came up with the idea on how to make this. The lodge was about 25 feet wide by 40 feet long and had walls made out of snow and a roof made with tarps. The floor of the lodge was covered with hay for insulation from the snow beneath and then tarps were placed over the hay. The problem was the snow this weekend was very dry powder and didn't stick together. So we had to melt large quantities of snow into water on our camping stove using a 5-gallon pot and then pour the water over the snow to get it to the right consistency to build with. The walls of the snow lodge were constructed by using two wooden planks to create forms, similar to what you would do to make a concrete foundation for a house. The forms were about a foot tall, by a foot wide and 12 feet long. Snow was shoveled into the form, it was packed down and then water was poured over the powdered snow to make it stick together and freeze solid. When the snow hardened, the two wooden planks were separated to reveal the long snow block inside. Next sticks that were longer than the blocks were wide, were placed on top of the snow block and overhung the sides so that they would support the two boards again to make the next snow block layer on top of the frozen one. This was a slow drawn-out process that took all day to complete.

During the day our twelve scouts were divided into two patrols of six, forming the "Floppy Donut" patrol and the "NSUC" patrol. The Floppy Donut patrol was all our older scouts. Our two patrols competed against about twenty-four other patrols in six different Scout Skill events and won four ribbons. Our patrols showed great Scout Spirit by cheering each other on as they competed in each event. The Floppy Donuts took 1st place in the main event, the Klondike Derby Sled Race. This is the second year in a row that we took first in the sled race. Again we need to thank Will Pennington for his ingenuity and skills in helping to design and construct our new "Stealthy Klondike Sled". The Floppy Donuts also won first place in the Ice Rescue event and second place in the Tree Identification event. The Ice Rescue was a timed event where as a patrol (team) you had to rescue a scout who fell in a make-believe lake. You had to throw him a rope from about twenty-five feet away and pull him out. The Tree Identification event was difficult because they had to do it by only seeing the bark and wood grain of the tree, no leaves or needles. Our younger scouts, in the NSUC patrol, gave it their all and won 3rd place in Ice Rescue too.

Below you'll see images of our 2001 Klondike Derby awards.

	1st Place for the Main Event - the Klondike Derby Sled Race. Won by the Floppy Donuts Patrol. This is the second year in a row that our Troop won 1st in the Sled Race!
	Here's other event awards our Scouts won: 1st Place - Ice Rescue (Won by the Floppy Donuts Patrol) 2nd Place - Tree Identification. This was hard because you had to identify them without leaves, just by the bark and wood. (Won by the Floppy Donuts Patrol) 3rd Place - Ice Rescue (Won by the NSUC Patrol)