Well, we said we’d post some pictures & we have.

You can browse to them at:

http://www.douglasscouts.ie/camp09pics

When you click on this, you’ll be prompted for a username & password. (We did this ’cause we didn’t want just anyone browsing to them).

The username is camp09 (the 0 in this is a “zero” and NOT an “oh”)

The password is a word, all in lowercase, that was shouted out quite often while on the campsite at Kandersteg. Anyone who was on camp SHOULD be able to work it out for you!! If they can’t – suggest to them to think!! What used to get called out quite often, during camp??

If they can’t work it out, you can email:

and ask for the password.

Cheers,

Enda & All.

We said it would be epic – I think in some ways it just might have been!

A huge thank you to everyone involved in camp.

To ALL the leaders. Different people contributed in different ways – but the most important think is that everyone gave 100% to the camp.

To the parents – your support is really a great encouragement for camps – and it couldn’t have been better.

Most importantly though – to the Scouts at Kandersteg ’09. Without you guys, there would be no point. All the way though, your attitude & both senses of fun & responsibility kept the whole thing running. If the same people were going again – I’d head off in the morning!

We’re meeting on SATURDAY NIGHT at 7:30pm for about an hour to look at photos & reminisce. It’d be great if you were there – bring along any photos you might have. It’ll only be for about an hour.

After that, we may look at posting more photos – but Saturday night will be the first posting of them…. Be there – you’d never know what blackmail material might pop up ;-)

Talk soon,

Enda.

Travel went fine yesterday.

We should see you all maybe around 5pm this evening at the hall…

Keep checking back as we will try to update this with some more info. But maybe a good nights sleep first!!!!

Regards,

All in Bergamo.

We’ve had our final campfire, and we’re all a little bit down.

We had a lot of rain yesterday & it continued through the night. Happily though, this morning proved much better.

After allowing the tentage time to dry, we arranged with Kandersteg Centre that we could stay in rooms tonight. This meant we could get down all our tents etc & pack them away for shipping back home.

In the afternoon, we went swimming which was great & then went to Des Alpes, a local restaurant, for a nice group meal of Pizza & Ice Creams.

When we got back to site, we had our tradidiontal end of camp campfire. This proved really great with contributions from leaders, Scouts & some of our new friends, like Neil & Johnny.

We presented various prizes, such as the Camp Log, Competition Dinner, Champ of Camp, Daily Inspections & of course the overall Camp Inter Patrol Competition Dinner. While we didn’t risk bringing the John Slye perpetual trophy to Switzerland with us, we look forward to presenting this to the winning patrol at a later stage.

As a final surprise, John & Veronica Brennan presented the group with a new trophy – “The Kanderman”. This is a really nice wood carving of a Scout. Their wish is that it would be a perpetual trophy for those who go to camp. We’ll sort out the details at a later stage.

That’s about it! It’s now about 12:30am in the Chalet in Kandersteg & all is quiet! Everyone is fairly tired at this stage. We’ll sign off & hopefully post again tomorrow. If not – when we’re home on Tuesday.

The Discovery Scouts and Rover Scouts returned from their Snow and Ice Hike. Sorry I should say Epic Snow and Ice Hike. Picturesque landscape, 30cms/12 inches of snow, blizzard, pure whiteouts and of course summer snow ball fights and snow men.
They arrived home and had the best showers of their lives shortly followed by an amazing chello player in a german mass. A fantastic day had by all!

Kevin and Ross. :-)

Firstly, thanks to “anonymous” who posted the link:

http://www.kisc.ch/media-centre/this-week-at-kisc-photo-gallery/

which has pic’s of us! We didn’t even realise they were there…..

Back to today…..

Today the Explorer Scouts took part in a service project for the Kandersteg camp site itself, they made all the preparation for building a fence however due to unfortunate weather conditions the project had to called off, however the Explorers were thanked profusely by the Kandersteg staff.
Later that evening the Explorers took part in an activity that gives them the International Friendship Award, which they all completed!

Now on to Discovery scouts…now early morning wake up calls are never fun but when told that a snow and ice hike awaits us we were much more enthusiastic. A group of scouts had already headed up yesterday and the remainder were looking forward to it today. The promise of a hot meal and a warm bed helped as we completed the hike up Fründenhorn. We arrived at the hut and after a quick lunch we geared up with harnesses and crampons and headed out onto the glacier. All jokes aside…it was cool. After a few scouts had been in and out of crevasses we headed back to the hut for dinner and bed. It was awesome!!!

That’s it for now! BY THE WAY, please do check back to earlier posts – we may have time to update / add photos!!

Kevin.

Today, the group ended up going in a few different “directions” for the day.

Half of our Discovery Scouts departed on their overnight “Snow & Ice” hike. It’ll be a real challenge for them, but should be the opportunity of a lifetime. After an early awakening, they left site at about 7:30 this morning with some of our leaders & 2 Kandersteg guides. They’re taking a cable car up as far as that brings them & then hiking on up, staying in a hutte overnight.

The rest of the Discovery Scouts spent the day in Thun – a nearby city. At this stage, they should be on the train home – “shopped out”.

Today was arguably the highlight of the day for our Explorer Scouts. They went rafting on the River Aare. On 3 rafts, they went from Thun, downstream to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. (A distance of about 27km’s!!!)

All arrived safely & on a high after the experience. (Promise to put up pictures here as soon as we get them!!) After a late lunch in a beautiful park in Bern, followed by swimming in the pool there, we headed back to site.

So right now, the remaining patrols are creating their culinary masterpieces. I haven’t seen any of them yet, but they certainly do have stiff competition after yesterday.

That’s about all to report for now. Our biggest problem is that we’re running out of time for everything we’d like to do! Will try to post again soon & get up some pics.

Bye for now,

Enda.

In the afternoon, the lot of us went up to Sunnbüel via cable car from near to the campsite. A fairly spectacular sight!!

Last night, some of the patrols took part in the “Competition Dinner” where they plan, buy for, cook & serve a meal for their patrols & others. To be honest, we were fairly shocked this year as to how high the standards were. Suffice to say, you can definately take time out from the kitchen when they get home!

Later, the first Scout Disco of the season took place in the village. A great night was had & all were tired when they got “home” at about midnight!!

Mary left us today – went back home…. BOO!! I suppose we’ll have to allow her though as she’s heading to Iceland at the end of the week – again for Scouting.

Anyhow. On Tuesday the Explorer Scouts came back down from their night in the hutte. They had a great time & the hike down the hill was a bit easier than the one up!

We don’t have any of their photos just to hand, but to let you see the hutte – it’s:

Where else would you find a place like it!!

After a bit of a rest in the evening, they went down to the village, some went swimming, generally just a nice all around evening!

At this stage, Johnny & Veronica Brennan are well settling in. It’s amazing how quickly you get used to someone being around!

Greetings from Switzerland! David and Cormac here :-)

We’ve loads to tell about our adventures so far, but all we have time for now is to quickly tell you about what we got up to on Monday…

We were all up at the normal time of about 8.30, following breakfast the Explorer and Discovery scouts split up for the day.

The Discovery Scouts went on an awesome hike to the top of Balmhornehutte, the weather was good and following an adventure or two along the way, everyone made it back tired and happy.
Along the way we came across this tiny road built into a mountain – it’s so small cars can only drive one way at a time – up for the first half an hour and down for the second.

Meanwhile, the Explorer Scouts were taking it easy for the morning in preparations for their hike up to the Ueschinenhutte. The Explorers will be staying overnight up there and it gives them a chance to experience a night in a high alpine hut. The Ueschinenhütte is the Scout Centre’s very own hut at 1,890m.

The Explorer scouts are currently on their way back down from the hut and we can’t wait to hear how the got on!

Last night, the remaining scouts on site (the Discos!) took part in the International BBQ, we made Colcanon and showed people how to play hurling as a way to represent Ireland. We also got loads of shortbread from the Scottish people, Dave (Me), Cormac and Saol all wore kilts! There were people handing out USA flags and you could also try food from Italy, Germany, Sweden and Argentina. It was a really cool way to find out about other countries.

The night finished with a sing-song around the campfire back on site. It was to welcome Johnny and Veronica and to say goodbye to Mary…her and her yaks!

Weather is staying good, probably had our warmest day so far on Monday.

Signing off for now!

Cormac and David ;-)