Re: [Philmont]: Filling spots, etc.

Joe is correct. We took 44 in 4 crews out to Philmont on July 20. We had
only paid for 30 before arriving - paid for just enough to cover 4 crews
without Philmont trying to drop us to 3 crews. Philmont "frowns" on the
practice, but expect it and said nothing when we arrived with 14 extra
participants. We actually were able to refund three expedition fees this
way that would have been lost otherwise.

Have your admin paperwork ready. I was in and out of admin, taking care of
all 4 crews, in about 15 minutes. Another advisor started the same time as
I did, covering one crew only, and was in there for about 40 minutes. If
you are doing admin for more than one crew, make sure all of your crews'
rangers understand you are in charge of the paperwork. Two of our rangers
just couldn't understand how one person could take care of the paperwork for
all of the crews. I just said "Stand back and watch." Prepare your
administration kit well ahead of time - computerized crew rosters, balance
due to Philmont in expedition fees, computerized talent releases, extra
crew/contingent photo orders, extra meals, etc. Philmont DOES NOT take
credit cards, so have a check or a lot of cash ready.

For 18-21 year olds - They fit into one of the few grey areas at Philmont.
They can be considered youth members of the crew, or they CAN act as an
advisor in a crew AS LONG AS at least one other advisor is over 21 (a little
different rules for coed but too long to type here). We had to use one 19
year old as an advisor in one of our crews when two other over-21's had to
drop out - one on the trail and one before the trek. Philmont did not bat
an eye at a 19 year old advisor. We took the precaution of running all of
our over-18s through YPT just in case Philmont asked for it.

As for filling actual crew slots - in both 2002 and 2005 we ended up with
room for out-of-Troop/Crew participants. We let the Troops in the area know
we had a specific number of slots available with the understanding that the
out-of-Troop participants were expected to meet the same requirements to
attend as in-Troop participants - shakedown attendance, etc. For both
expeditions, we have not had problems filling the slots. No problems ever
arose from the "unknowns" and many new friends were made because of the
opportunity.

I'll have our 2005 trek pictures and journal up soon - check us out.

Shane Hoffman
Advisor Crew 445 - www.crew445.org - SHoffman@crew445.org
ASM Troop 445 - www.troop445.org - SHoffman@troop445.org
"Keep your nose in the wind and your eye on the skyline"~Del Gue
SR-347 - a good ole bear
Philmont 81/84/00/02/05

----- Original Message -----
From: <j.tavares@comcast.net>
To: "Multiple recipients of list philmont" <philmont@troop47.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 4:46 PM
Subject: RE: [Philmont]: Filling spots

> Unless its a council contingent, pay for 7 then pay for the rest when you
> get there. You will have to, perhaps, pay the travel up-front, but the
> Philmont fees should be no problem. If you are a council contingent, all
> bets are off and I'm not sure how the rules work there.
>
> --
> Joe Tavares

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Received on Tue Aug 16 23:13:22 2005