Welcome to Klondike Derby, 2011, Fort Utah District There is no such thing as too cold, only bad clothes. Welcome to the wonderful world of Klondike derby, camping, playing, cold, crisp, challenging, magic snow time. We salute you brave leaders that are willing (?) and able to be with this incredible group of youth in the hopes of teaching them values and skills that will influence their entire lives. You Leaders are so valuable but we want you to keep in mind that the youth learn by performing the roles you have trained them for. This is their chance to exercise their leadership, their learned skills, their patrol method and understanding their interdependency on each other. What a great chance for you to observe and note how great they are and where they can improve. What fun!! If you have some time, teach them more about the real Klondike and Iditarod and surviving in the cold. Recite stories, watch videos and get into the spirit of it. You are invited to adopt a country and their flag and some phrases in that language and great the fellow Klondikers that came from so many foreign countries. Good talent to be able to greet others in their language and this could be a great start. Friday night we will have the 2 nd annual Night Time Sled Parade, any kind of lights (no generators); cyalume sticks, Christmas lights powered by a car jumper battery, flashlights or anything that glows. Headlights, turn signals, low riders, spinners, HO! Right after the sled parade we will hold our Howler event and we will let you figure that one out!!! It is a blast. Saturday showcases 9 towns (with Alaskan names) with a Mayor and town council for each town; you will need to bring the required gear in a sled (Be Prepared) to participate at that town s skill. All the skills are outdoor skills from the Scout Handbook: Fire, lashing, knots, compass, team work, first aid, sled pull and more. These are not competitive towns; nothing will be a timed event so the Scouts can do a quality job in accomplishing the task. Time allocated per town is 25 minutes but if your patrol is learning more than ever, stay a little longer. The patrols performance will be evaluated and scored and the Patrol can self analyze at the end by weighing their gold poke! A scout unit is a Patrol with 4-8 Scouts and 2 leaders with a sled and the required gear. Large groups need to broken into Patrol size with sled and gear or it is too hard to handle at the Towns. This campout give the Scouts time to refine their skills in a challenging environment; setting up a tight and efficient camp without bringing too much gear, cooking their meals and running their own community in effect. Baden Powell stated A Patrol cooking its own meals is playing one of the most fascinating games in Scouting and I heartily agree. Have fun, support the Scouts in their learning and have a blast watching them. You will be entertained!! See you there or be square!! If you have any questions, contact Mike Nielson 801-377-4787, wmnielson9@gmail.com Contents: this Welcome letter Required gear list Guidelines and rules Agenda Klondike sled tips
Required Gear for every unit Klondike 2011, Fort Utah District - Required Gear- Patrols (8 Scouts, 2 leaders) MUST have this gear on the sled for the events. Make, buy, obtain, cut, drill, prepare items ahead of time. sled that can hold the gear scout stave like sticks Qty 5 at 5-6 long: (2 x2 s rounded off, long tool handle or official Scout Stave like a hiking stick) rope: 5-10 long with finished ends (see page 380-381 New Scout Handbook), 4-2 1/2 long ropes with finished ends (whipped or fused) foreign flag from adopted country or banner or strip of cloth on pole on sled patrol first aid kit as in the New Scout Handbook on page 128. Bring Optional Items compass for each buddy pair of Scouts hatchet with flat back and protective sheath pocket knife small hand wood saw with safety cover, folding or any kind at all clipboard or notebooks, 4 pencils and paper to write on, in plastic bag 6 x 8 plastic tarp 12 th edition Scout handbook in water proof bag (ziplock is just dandy) drinking water for group cold and exertion dehydrates you and you feel colder fabric blanket space blanket closed cell sleeping camp pad gold nugget sack or Poke. Leather, cloth, old sock, Fire starting items. Patrol needs to bring: 2 or more matches, wood and hatchet to make kindling and fuel (bring Totin' Chip. NOTE - do not chop wood ahead of time), You are allowed to bring tinder: jute twine, grape vine, cedar bark, tow, char cloth but only natural materials. You can bring alternative methods to start fire for more points: battery/steel wool 10 pts, hot spark 15 pts, magnifying glass 20 pts, flint/steel 25 pts, friction fire (bow and drill, pump, Polynesian push stick, 2 person friction stick) 30 pts, fire piston - 35 pts. NO vaseline, NO petroleum products, NO wax, YES Char cloth. You will be heating water with the fire.
Klondike 2011 rules and guidelines NO straw, NO newspaper, NO cardboard NO Fires on ground, MUST have fire OFF the ground using fire barrel, wheel barrow, fire pan ashes from fires must be taken home, dead and out and wet. NO trash in the fires, Pack it in, Pack it out. Paper okay but not foam or plastic because of toxic fumes and mess. curfew is 11:00 PM (2300 hours) lights out, fires down, quiet time, get some sleep, you will need it for Saturday fun!! NO electronics, NO generators PLEASE use the out houses. Or the snow tastes and looks funny!!! NO fireworks, no weapons NO gathering wood from campsites, NO cutting, NO burning, NO chopping, MUST BRING WOOD NO sledding except in bowl Stay off of the pond, very dangerous. There are springs underwater that keeps the ice very thin in places. BE VERY CAREFUL with heavy out of control sleds. Legs and backs have been broken in the past. We are not the only Klondike using Camp Maple Dell; the camp gets heavily used every weekend in January and February. Leave it nice for others. MANY many hours are spent cleaning up messes in the spring left over from winter camps. Do not make these messes... AND your Mom is not here to clean up after you!! EACH Scout unit (patrol) doing the skilled events at the towns consists of 4-8 scouts with 2 adults AND a sled with the required gear.
Klondike 2011 Schedule Friday Troop check in, haul gear up and setup camp, dinner on own 8:30 PM sled parade and Howler @ Horse Pasture 11:00 lights out 11:30PM all quiet Saturday Troops arise and do breakfast on own - Scout units get sleds loaded with gear and adopted country Flag 08:45 Flag ceremony starts @ Horse Pasture flag poles, Opening & greeting 08:55 move to assigned starting points (start event as soon as you arrive) 09:00 official start in Horse Pasture area and Bowl area, about 25 minutes per town 11:00 snack time at each town for whatever units are there. 12:20 Klondike derby ends Self scoring weigh gold nugget pouch and post score on white board, handout patches 12:45 closing Ceremony at Flagpole, final cheer pack up, clean up, trek on home!
Klondike 2011 Fort Utah District Klondike Sled tips Typical sled problems - many sleds have the front of the ski break off because it is not supported. It hits a rock or log unseen in the snow and breaks. - Many designs on the internet show using soft pine and to reinforce it they put x braces under the sled. Makes for wonderful snow brakes and bust out when hitting submerged objects. - Brakes, no running brakes. Put a ½ metal rod between the two sides at the back, use U clamps to hold board that 2 L bars are bolted to. A spring holds up the mechanism until it needed and then just push down to shove the L bars into the snow or ice. - No parking brakes- could be boat anchor with rope, could be tent stake with rope, could be rod slipped through eye bolts to shove down into snow. Construction to overcome problems - support the ski the entire length with the full dimensioned 1x4 that sits on it. You will have to curve the board to match the ski top. - use stainless steel screws to attach ski to full dimensioned 1x4, pre-drill. - have the push handle, side shafts push clear to the front of the sled for best vector. - Have a smooth varnished under deck that slides smoothly on deeper snow like a toboggan. - Have supports for the side slanting rails - Cross brace the back to stabilize the entire sled Safety sleds get out of control and run over peoples ankles breaking them as their foot is caught in the snow. Control the sled, get brakes, - sled going down hill has some weight and can flip and injure people - sled going down hill can hit bumps and throw people off and injure Rope and pulling with hedden knot - have a low attachment for the rope to the sled for better pulling. - Use thick rope with smaller ropes or webbing attached. - The smaller ropes or webbing can be attached using a prussic knot with rope or a hedden knot with webbing. It is easily adjustable and yet holds solid. An old tent pole makes for a great flexible flag pole to hold a flag at the back side of the sled.
Night parade fun. - use a car portable battery jumper to run Christmas lights on the sled. Use an inverter to go from 12 volt to 110 volt. - Use flashlights as turn signals, brake lights, - Put on sparkles, garland, ribbon, bling bling - Put a red velvet cushion in for the passenger - Have fun and admire the crusin sleds. Even some low riders.