[Philmont] philmont peaks

After seeing Pete's where do we ship the body, I thought this might be
helpful to crews getting ready for Philmont.
 
 
Expedition Behavior – The Finer Points
By Howard Tombs
Many of you will be headed on expeditions this summer with your units. I
shared these rules with my Philmont crew. You might want to share them with
your crews before you head out.
A good expedition team is like a powerful, well-oiled, finely-tuned
marriage. Members cook meals together, face challenges together, and finally go to
bed together. A bad expedition, on the other hand, is an awkward ugly,
embarrassing thing characterized by bickering, filth, frustration, and crispy
macaroni.
Nearly all bad expeditions have one thing in common: poor expedition
behavior (EB). This is true even if team members follow the stated rules, such as
Don’t Step on the Rope, Separate Kerosene and Food, No Soap in the River, No
Raccoons in the Tent, Keep your Ice Axe Out of My Eye, etc.
Unfortunately, too many rules of expedition behavior remain unspoken. Some
leaders seem to assume that their team members already have strong and
generous characters like their own. But judging from a few of the campers we’ve
encountered, more rules ought to be spelled out. Here are ten of them.
RULE #1 Get the hell out of bed. Suppose your tentmates get up early to
fetch water and fire up the stove while you lie comatose in your sleeping bag.
As they run an extensive equipment check, coil ropes and fix your breakfast,
they hear you start to snore. Last night you were their buddy; now they’re
drawing up lists of things about you that make them want to spit. They will
devise cruel punishments for you. You have earned them. The team concept
is now defunct. Had you gotten out of bed, nobody would have had to suffer.
RULE #2 Do not be cheerful before breakfast. Some people wake up perky and
happy as fluffy bunny rabbits. They put stress on those who wake up mean as
rabid wolverines. Exhortations such as “Rise and shine, sugar!” and “Greet
the dawn, pumpkin!” have been known to provoke pungent expletives from
wolverine types. These curses, in turn, may offend fluffy bunny types. Indeed,
they are issued with the sincere intent to offend. Thus, the day begins with
flying fur and hurt feelings. The best early-morning EB is simple: Be quiet.
RULE #3 Do not complain. About anything. Ever. It’s ten below zero,
visibility is four inches and wind driven hailstones are embedding themselves in
your face like shotgun pellets. Must you mention it? Do you think your
friends haven’t noticed the weather? Make a suggestion. Tell a joke. Lead a
prayer. Do not lodge a complaint. Your pack weighs 87 pounds and your cheap
backpack straps are actually cutting into your flesh. Were you promised a
personal sherpa? Did somebody cheat you out of a mule team? If you can’t carry
your weight, get a motorhome.
RULE #4 Learn to cook at least one thing right. One expedition trick is so
old that it is no longer amusing: on the first cooking assignment, the clever
cook prepares a dish that resembles, say, Burnt Sock In Toxic Waste Sauce.
The cook hopes to be relieved permanently from cooking duties. This is the
childish approach to a problem that’s been with us since people first started
throwing lizards on the fire. Tricks are not a part of a team spirit. If you
don’t like to cook, say so. Offer to wash dishes and to prepare the one
thing you do know how to cook. Even if it’s only tea. Remember that talented
camp cooks sometimes get invited to join major expeditions in Nepal, all
expenses paid.
RULE #5 Either A) Shampoo, or B) Do not remove your hat for any reason.
After a week or so on the trail, without shampooing, hair forms angry little
clumps and wads. These leave the person beneath looking like an escapee from a
mental ward. Such an appearance could shake a team’s confidence in your
judgment. If you can’t shampoo, pull a wool hat down over your ears and leave it
there, night and day, for the entire expedition.
RULE #6 Do not ask if anybody’s seen your stuff. Experienced adventures
have systems for organizing their gear. They very rarely leave it strewn
around camp or lying back on the trail. One of the most damning things you can do
is ask your teammate if they’ve seen the tent poles you thought you packed 20
 miles ago. Even in the unlikely event you get home alive, you will not be
invited on the next trip. Should you ever leave the tent poles 20 miles
away, do not ask if anybody’s seen them. Simply announce, with a good-natured
chuckle, that you are about to set off in the dark on a 40-mile hike to retrieve
 them, and that you are sorry. It’s unprofessional to lose your spoon or
your toothbrush. If something like that happens, don’t mention it to anyone.
RULE #7 Never ask where you are. If you want to know where you are look at
the map. Try to figure it out yourself. If you’re still confused, feel
free to discuss the identity of landmarks around you and how they correspond to
the cartography. If you A) suspect that a mistake has been made; and B)
have experience in interpreting topographical maps, and C) are certain that your
group leader is a novice or on drugs, speak up. Otherwise, follow the group
like sheep.
RULE #8 Always carry more than your fair share. When the trip is over,
would you rather be remembered as a rock or a sissy? Keep in mind that a pound
or two of extra weight in your pack won’t make your back hurt any more than it
already does. In any given group of flatlanders, somebody is bound to
bicker about weight. When an argument begins, take the extra weight yourself.
Then shake your head and gaze with pity upon the slothful one. This is the
mature response to childish behavior. On the trail that day, during a break,
load the tenderfoot’s pack with 20 pounds of gravel.
RULE #9 Do not get sunburned. Sunburn is not only painful and
unattractive. It’s also and obvious sign of inexperience. Most green horns wait too long
before applying sunscreen. Once you’ve burned on an expedition, you may
not have a chance to get out of the sun. Then the burn gets burned, skin peels
away, blisters sprout on the already swollen lips. Anyway, you get the idea.
 Wear zinc oxide. You can see exactly where and how thickly it’s applied
and it gives you just about 100% protection. It does get on your sunglasses,
all over your clothes and in your mouth. But that’s OK. Unlike sunshine,
zinc oxide is non-toxic.
RULE #10 Do not get killed. Suppose you make the summit of K2 solo,
chain-smoking Gilanes and carrying the complete works of Hemingway in hardcover.
Pretty macho, huh? Suppose now that you take a vertical detour down a
crevasse and never make it back to camp. Would you still qualify as a hero? And
would it matter? Nobody’s going to run any fingers through your new chest hair.
 The worst thing to have on your outdoor resume is a list of the possible
locations of your body. Besides, your demise might distract your team members
from enjoying what’s left of their vacations.
All expedition behavior really flows from this one principle: Think of your
team, the beautiful machine, first. You are merely a cog in that machine. If
you have something to prove, forget about joining an expedition. Your team
will never have more than one member.
Cooper Wright

-------------------------------------------------------
Scouting E-mail Discussion Lists @ usscouts.org
Listserv Commands at http://usscouts.org/lists/lc.asp
-------------------------------------------------------
Send listserv commands to: listserv@troop47.com
Send postings to: philmont@troop47.com
List FAQ found at: http://usscouts.org/lists/faq.asp
List Administrator: philmont_owner@troop47.com
-------------------------------------------------------
To Unsubscribe send text email to:

     To: listserv@troop47.com
     Subject: unsubscribe
     Body: unsubscribe philmont@troop47.com
-------------------------------------------------------

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 Mon Nov 20 11:34:24 2006