RE: [Philmont]: Unscheduled Crews Camping at Shaefers Pass

<Snip> I was extremely upset, because I'm sure some of the crews there
(that had actual campsites) were *supposed* to be camping at either
Upper
Clarks Fork, Ponderosa Park, or North Fork Urraca <End>

Our sister crew asked the staff at Clarks Fork to obtain permission for
them to camp at Shaefers Pass or maybe even Tooth Ridge for their final
night on the trail, so they could get into Base Camp earlier. They
received an "Access Denied" from Logistics in Base Camp. Coming in over
the Tooth of Time to Base Camp is very popular and treks are often
chosen with this as one of the main criteria. Lots of crews go through
the funnel of Tooth of Time Ridge each day. It is not surprising that
these camps are often full and that Logistics was unable to accommodate
the request.

Our sister crew broke camp the next morning and started hiking before
us. I didn't see them to ask when they arrived in Base Camp, but they
were a fast crew and it was probably in the 11-1130am range. We left at
515am, spent a leisurely amount of time on the Tooth and were in Base
Camp at 215pm for 9 hours on the trail. Our crew could smell
civilization and pizza and the kids could have flown to Base Camp. I
happened to be slow man on the totem pole and probably added 30-60
minutes to the hiking time. I had six mile feet on a 10 mile hike that
day. We didn't make the last bus into Cimarron for pizza and I was too
brain impaired to realize that we could have had pizza delivered to the
Welcome Center, no problemo.

The three crews that did not camp in their designated camps violated a
basic Philmont safety rule. If a fire evacuation had been necessary that
night, the SAR folks would not have known where to locate these crews.
The SAR team would have been placed at greater risk, while they searched
for these missing crews. Philmont is so emphatic about camping where
you are scheduled each night that it is a requirement to receive the
Arrowhead award.

There are probably lots of reasons for not camping at your designated
camp.
a. Lost for too long and stopped short of designated camp.
b. Slow crew on a long hike and stopped short of designated camp.
c. Illness of a crew member.
d. Not hiking after dark and stopped short of designated camp.
e. Fill in the blank.

If the reason they went on to Shaefers Pass Camp was pizza or personal
convenience then, the advisors did not fulfill their purpose to guard
the health and safety of their crew. The advisors set a bad example for
the crew. They showed the crew that the rules don't apply to us. They
put people other than themselves at risk as well.

Larry Sims
610-C4 2004 Trek #24

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Received on Mon Jul 19 15:16:57 2004