[philmont] columbia pants

Kevin,

You make a good point about helping outfit the scouts without spending
a lot of money. I think we need to temper our recommendations for
Scouts by thinking about the sizable investment that Philmont becomes
for most families. Frequently on this list recommendations are made
based on what we, as advisors, would do. We need to keep in mind that
most of our Philmont crew will not be doing much backpacking outside of
Scouting, and for many, Philmont will be their last backpacking trip.
They will also outgrow most clothing that they buy.

I am concerned about recommendations about what backpack to buy and
what tent the scouts should bring. Frequently, backpacks can be
borrowed and if the Troop does not have backpacking tents, the
Philtents will work fine. It is just unnecessary for a Scout's family
to buy specialized equipment and clothing (other than boots) for
Philmont and as adult advisors it is irresponsible for us to suggest
that the Scouts need state-of-the-art equipment. Not to mention the
carbon footprint of backpacking equipment made from petroleum based
products.

A $20 pair of nylon zip-offs are a good idea but if the Scout takes his
cotton pants, he will survive. Likewise with T-shirts. Cotton
T-shirts will work fine. Many crews have cotton T-shirts and they
function fine, especially in the low humidity environment. Are there
better high performance fabrics and equipment? Of course. Should you
recommend that your Scouts' families buy it? Not for a ten day hike.
Maybe for dedicated backpackers.

Dan Preston
Philmont '70, '72, '02, '06

> One point though, *I* started the discussion on pants by asking for
> some suggestions on decent, non-cotton pants to hike in that were a
> good value for a scout that is a late addition in my crew. The
> discussion on Columbia products happened long before I noted that I
> didn't like the way the switchbacks fit and it is moot anyway because
> neither is really what I'm looking for in this case because I was
> trying to find something for this scout that wasn't going to cost him
> $80 to $100 (for 2 pairs of pants) to get in addition to all the other
> gear he is buying 11th hour due to being a late addition.
>  
Received on Fri May 18 15:04:12 2007