[Philmont] ***POSSIBLE SPAM*** 30% pack weight limit

Clare,
We just got back and no Philmont staffer checked or enforced weight Limits
Some men my age (40+) were carrying 50-70lbs packs (insane).
One way to minimize weight is water --look at your itinerary if they are walking to wet camps or
up stream beds then they might need only 2 full nalgenes. If they need more then perhaps they
can borrow from the adult who always insists on 4 full water bottles because they can not trust God or their fellow crew member. Also, your Ranger will inventory your packs to make sure that they have the essentials and suggest that you leave some things behind --- like knifes -- the Ranger will suggest that you need 1 knife and 1 multi-tool per crew. That can be a great weight savings but do not try to separate a man from his knife -- in fact we had one Dad who brought 2 knifes.
 
Also, consider their clothes. Our scouts wore 1 pair of zip-offs and took a second pair without the legs.
The we left our thermal shirts and rain pants in the cars. We had long sleeve shirts and a fleece jacket each and these without the thernal shirt worked fine. Don't let them bring jeans -- they are too heavy and dry too slowly. My son did not use his 'sleep clothes' he used his black long johns as his sleep only clothes so he could have save 2-3 lbs leaving his dedicated sleep clothes in the car. Gloves also were no needed -- for Conservation projects they were provided by staff.
 
Have the smaller crew members share tents with the larger member and then the smaller one can carry a smaller portion of the tent. I did see some pretty small '14' year-olds when I was at Phil and really wondered if someone 'fudged' on the Birthdays? But boys grow at different speeds so maybe not.
 
Your 'conscience' should strictly enforce the 30% because we all want the Scouts to have a fun and positive experience. You load a 110lb Scout down with 45lb pack and it will not be positive on the second mile.
 
Work as a team and let the advisors and larger scouts carry more food and crew gear.
The lighter scouts can carry crew gear like -- poles for the dining fly, the soap,sanitizer,scrubby pad bag or the sump frisbee with spatula -- the light but essentilal stuff. Advisors are the hardest people to
agree to leave heavy unneeded stuff behind -- probably because they are older and 'wiser'
 
The philtents are a-frames that will fit 3 small scouts, so unless you have ultralight tents for them, have your crew lead check out a Philtent for the 3 of them --(its 6.5 lbs -- you need to buy tent stakes and a drop cloth). have one scout carry the tent body, one scout carry the rainfly and poles , and I scout carry the ground cloth and stakes.
 
Hope that these suggestions help
Have a great trek!
Sam Taylor ASM T89 austin Texas
701-H1 trek #9

>>> On 17-Jul-07 at 11:33 AM, in message <MDAEMON-F200707171207.AA0729860pd50003794181@troop47.com>, "Clare Grasso" <ClareGrasso@comcast.net> wrote:
Our crew is heading out to Philmont next week. We have 12 in our crew - 3 of them are in the 100-110 pound weight range. How strict is the 30% limit?
 
I understand that they need to carry the least amount possible. I have gove over their gear carefully to make sure they are not carrying anything more than they need. Their backpacks are weighing in at about 20 pounds without food, water, tents and crew gear. I have gone ultralight with all our crew gear, so they should not carry more than 2 pounds of it each. I am mostly worried about the first day of food pickups and dry camps.
 
Clare
Laurel MD
 
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As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
-------------------------------------------------------

 
Received on Tue Jul 17 13:01:36 2007