Opening Remarks:

Thanks to Tim for hosting last month’s meeting!

Events to Come:

VRRRT:

• Jim reported that they do have a VRRRT meeting on Saturday Feb 11^th at Mackie House at Crystal Beach.  If anyone wishes to come for the evening it is $8.  If you wish to stay overnight Friday and Saturday, it is $18.  The Venturers are invited as well as Rovers.  For more on VRRRT, contact Erin Pate.  Elections are coming up on Apr 9^th.  It has been agreed that Venturers in their final year, i.e. Venturers moving to Rovers, can have a vote and are eligible to run for executive positions.  Will follow up with more information by email.
• Side note: Alan Griffin was at the CRRRT in Midland had they had 60 people take part.  The Rovers unanimously voted the Venturers in to come to the table.  This helps them to smoothly move to up to the Rover level.  The youth had lots of fun participating in the meeting and it worked out very well.

Service Corps:

• Service Corps Medvent will participate on the canal this year.  The Police Venturers are undergoing training so if anyone wishes to have them at activities, to talk to various groups, then let Phil know.  Will also be some at attendance at the open house held at Scouts HQ on Feb 18^th.  Lost Childrens did the ceremonial patrol on Scout Day.  They unveiled their new Lost Childrens’ jackets (yellow with Lost Childrens’ on the back).
• Winterlude:  Registration is at www.geocities.com/vrscwinterlude .  For questions, contact: Amy McRobert at Ladylavergne@gmail.com
• Shifts are from 10 to 6 on Saturdays and 10 to 5 on Sundays.  The teams go out in groups of 2-4, look for lost kids and skate around and have fun.  Venturers, Rovers and Scouts can come.  Forms are on the web site as well.  NOTE: Everyone needs their physical fitness certificate and permission forms to participate.  If youth come as an individual, they are to provide the forms to the trailer coordinators.
• Amy will send out emails in the next 24 hrs (after the VAF meeting) with who/where and if there are any trailer cancellations or what the contingency plans will be.  Bill noted there is a link from the VAF website under Announcements.

OPE Work Weekend

• Tim noted that registrations are coming in fast, so please get your requests in if you want to send your youth.  Tim sent out a quick question to poll the youth to see whether or not youth want a dance on Saturday, movies or whatever.  Let Tim know if you have any feedback.

White Water Canoeing

• White Water I & White Water II – Bill spoke and said we have the same deal and prices as last year.  For WWII and WWIII scout HQ is picking up ½ of GST.  There were information and registration forms at the back.  Participants do not need experience in moving water but participants MUST take the pre course given on Sunday morning at 10:30 AM of the OPE Work Weekend.  Mike Miller will do the safety presentation and then the course will move on to the water in the afternoon.  Be sure to also book your lunch at OPE that day.  Tim noted OPE canoes with all the gear are available for this pre-training session only at no cost to save people having to bring them to OPE.
• For the full White Water weekends, there are 7 canoes from OPE that can be rented.  The OPE canoes are available at $25 per weekend per canoe alone; participants need to bring their own paddles and other gear.  If anyone wishes to reserve one, use the standard OPE form on the second page for the ABS white water canoes.  Email or send a fax to Pamela so we know how many are required.
• Level I is fun and they tend to get 50-60 people out.  This level allows youth to have vastly improved flat water skills.  Level I is a prerequisite for Level II.  In Level I there is a large rapid (Big Eddy) but is safe.  The camp is near Petawawa at Kiska with the camp 10 minutes away from the water.  Participants can rent canoes through the outfitter, bring your own or rent an OPE canoe that Tim will bring to Scout Headquarters
• Level II - Camping is right on the water.  This site has water and kybos and a place to gather at night at the Paddler Coop boathouse.  Same canoe deal as for I as for II.  Note that if participants bring their own, they will need to take them up and down the river in II.  If you rent from the Outfitter, they will move them for you.
• Level III – Registration forms are at the back.  It is going to be the same company as last year.  We will also use the same camping facilities and co-locate the event at Petawawa with Level I.  It was well received from last year.  Steve asked leaders if we should turn it into a solo course as lots of youth wanted to get right into the solo boat.  Leaders: let Steven know if your youth want to do solo only or tandem by noting your choice somewhere on the form when you register.  Steven will follow up with Bear Creek to see about cost of solo alone.  The prerequisite is Level I and Level II although if you know your youth is ok at the ORCA level 1 then talk to Steven.  There is a limit of 30 registrations.  At the site, the session may go to Centennial Park if the water level is ok, otherwise they will go back to Big Eddy and the island.  Will scout it out when they get there.

ROVENT: crests are here.  See Jen after the meeting to sign for your crest envelope.

Camp Fair at Scout Headquarters:

• Jim asked if we are we interested in participating at the camp fair at Scout HQ for the open house.  He is proposing to use a slide show of pictures from our events.  Jim will work with Marilyn to put together a display.  Gord will also be doing a thing for JC too.

Commonwealth Sunday:

• Alan noted he brought some information with him for the Inter-Faith Service for Commonwealth Day.  It will be on Sunday March 12^th with everyone meeting at 2:00 pm.  He wants to see some scouts there this year as last year only guides showed up.  We now have a month and 5 days notice.  Scouts, Venturers, Rovers, and leaders can all carry in the flags.  Alan will email the information to Jim and he will send it out.

Training:

• Stewart noted that the Coaching and Mentoring course had 12 participants.  Expect a lot more next year.  As a reminder there will be a Senior Section basic in April as part of the all section basic at OPE.  Look for more information on the web.
• Sean noted that there is a first aid course with a few spots left for the 25^th and 26^th.  The course will be the standard first aid and CPR Level B held at Workshift Systems Corp at 373 Poulin Ave, Ottawa.  The cost is $36.

Scout Trees:

• This year it will be held on May 6^th.  It is usually hard to get Venturers out so talk to them now as the younger sections need help.  It counts towards their 40 hours of service.  Same weekend as RSVP.

RSVP Camp:

• Also on the May 5^th to 7^th weekend at OPE.  The information is up on VRRRT website.

JC Report:

• The JC winter camp was attended by 85-90 people.  It was run by Alex and Stephanie.  It was a good time and everyone had a lot of fun.  The JC asks that advisors who had pictures, to please send them to the JC account to put on the JC website.  They are also on the VAF Website.  Gord also has a CD with tons of pictures.
• The March event is on the last weekend of the month, 25^th, 26^th, and is a lockdown at Laserquest on St. Laurent Blvd.  They need a minimum number of people or they will pay a flat rate of $900.  Therefore the group needs those forms and money at the next JC meeting!  The April event will be a dinner and a movie at a location TBD.

Next Meeting:

• The next meeting is on March 7^th .  The theme for the March meeting will be GPSs.  Bill Bowman will do a presentation on how to get data for maps and data onto GPS.

• Note that if anyone wants to see what the events are for the VAF, look to the website maintained by Bill Bowman at http://www.ncf.ca/~ad554/

Christiaan’s presentation:

He has a handout about layering clothing, choosing boots and raingear for winter hiking.  Same as from last year.  It is also on his website. Jim will send email or link on  http://www.redpointgames.com  take the climbing menu option on the left and pull down the document on clothing.

Christian then did a presentation on clothing and equipment for winter hiking that would be of interest to all.

Clothing:

-         First layer, long sleeve synthetic top, and long johns, NOT COTTON.

-         Then a pair of nylon pants for shedding the snow.

-         Light fleece on top.  And that’s it even in -20.

-         Also a toque, sun glasses,

-         On the feet, will have wool socks, and waterproofing gortex socks (or milk bags) and hiking boots, lightweight.  Look for waterproof if you can but hiking suitability is priority feature.  Big clunky boots will give blisters.  Also make sure they fit well.  Also have gators on (optional) prevent snow coming in tops of boots.

-         On hands, light gloves, cross country gloves or short wool gloves.

Gear:

-         Technical Snowshoes with crampons on the bottom – showed the ones getting.  Help in sinking in snow and with traction as it may be icy.  Note it is mandatory to keep the snowshoes on by DOC (US Dept of Conservation) to keep the trails in decent shape.

-         Downhill Ski poles or hiking poles (cross country are too high) to keep the arm square. 

In the Pack during the Hike (Christian uses a 30 Liter pack, about $35 at MEC):

- One liter of water and a cup/thermos.

- Light nylon jacket for snow, rain and cuts the wind.

- Big down jacket.

- Another pair of mitts to put on over his gloves.

- Another pair on thin waterproof pants to also keep him a bit warmer.

- Tarp.

- Balaclava with neck cover.

- Flashlight as it does get dark early.

- Small first aid, gauze, pain reliever of choice, etc.

- Little multi tool thing to fix snowshoes, knife, etc.

- Duct tape.

- Map of the area.

- Compass.

- A good watch.

- Whistle

This is about it for what he expects us to bring.  Enough gear to spend the night comfortably outside if necessary.  For eating, aim to bring snacks versus big lunches.  It is too cold to stop for very long.

Christian also covered the trip arrangements for the Winter Adventure, and went on to talk about the rules for staying in the Huts and/or camping outside in the area. He then covered the various hiking routes available with the groups going on the trip.