Winter Leadership Training Opportunity in NY

from Larry Blumberg

Under the auspices of the Binghamton, NY-area Baden Powell Council of the Boy Scouts of America, a couple members of the Triple Cities Hiking Club and I will be teaming up with others to present a "winter outdoor training" course in early January, 2009 for scout leaders and others who lead winter trips.

This will be our fourth year of presenting this course...some examples of the topics we cover include winter-related first aid cases; clothing and boots; setting up tents in snow; cooking / menu planning; other backpacking gear specific to winter; hiking with skis, snowshoes, and crampons; and, building snow shelters.

The course consists of an indoor class session followed by a weekend outdoor overnight, it is permissable to attend just the indoor session if you wish (but to attend the weekend outdoor overnight, you MUST first attend the indoor class session)

a) Indoor Session - Saturday, Jan 10, 2009
Boy Scout office downstairs conference room, 2150 NY Rte 12, Chenango Forks, NY 8:30 am to 4 pm...cost of participating in the indoor session only, is $15 - includes course handouts and lunch

b) Outdoor Session - Friday evening, Jan 16 to Sunday morning, Jan 18, 2009
Highland Forest, Fabius, NY (SE of Syracuse, NY) - sleep in a woodstove-heated cabin or your own tent, your choice...cost of both the indoor and outdoor sessions is a total of $40, includes camping fees and some meals, participants will provide others.

It is assumed that participants will already have some level of three-season hiking and camping experience; the purpose of this training is to expand into and learn more about four-season outdoor activities, and to also begin to prepare participants to lead others on winter trips.

If interested in learning more about this training course, please e-mail Larry Blumberg. To sign-up for the course, simply call the scout office during business hours at 607-648-7888 or toll free at 1-877-674-8876 and indicate you would like to sign up for the "winter outdoor training course" taking place in January. Your credit card payment will be taken over the phone!