High Adventure Qualifications

[SR540Beaver]

Just out of curiousity, does your troop have some sort of qualifications that must be met to participate in a high adventure outing?

 

I know that the BSA's High Adventure Bases have their own set of qualifications for participants. My question is does your troop have qualifications above and beyond BSA's or their own set for troop planned outings that are not to one of the BSA bases?

 

I know it is an open ended question and some will inevitably ask for more details. There are no more details. I just want to know how different troops determine who can and can't go on high adventure trips.

 

Thanks!

[eagle90]

In our troop, we limit High Adventure trips to those scouts in high school. Even if the bases have lower age allowances, we restrict it. It makes High Adventure something to look forward to, and helps keep the older scouts involved.

[LongHaul]

First Class and he must have demonstrated the ability to participate.

Such as be a swimmer or have participated in 10 to 20 mile hikes, what ever the focus of the High Adventure outing.

LongHaul

[GernBlansten]

If they meet the HA requirements, we let them go. No sense in holding them back. If the HA is great, we have them hooked until they age out.

[Eamonn]

Funny you should ask.

Last summer we went to Camp Blue Heron, to participate in the HA Sea Kayaking.

Before the trip we were introduced via e-mail to the Boy Scout Troop from Atlanta that would be joining us.

Both the Boy Scouts and their adult leaders were and are a super nice bunch.

But their leaders did seem very concerned about our female Sea Scouts.

The Atlanta Scouts had a history of high adventure activities and sent me photos of them at Philmont, Northern Tier.

I was a little worried.

We were new to Sea Scouting and most of our efforts had been put into working on stuff from the Sea Scout Manual.

The girls hadn't done very much camping and we had only been river kayaking.

But they did a wonderful job.

Without wishing to sound big-headed they in fact were better than most of the boys.

They certainly were better at reading the charts and planning around the tides than any of the males.

I was a little worried about them and having to use cat-holes.

I now however have a addition to add to my all time favorite things that Scouts have said list.

" I like the view when I have to go!"

Yes Barry I love this Scouting stuff!!

Ea.

[John-in-KC]

I did my first 50 miler when I was 12. Qualifications in my Troop:

 

- First Class Scout

- Make all the training hikes

 

Holding back young people who have the physical capability is just plain silly, and risks losing the Scout from the program! BAD IDEA IMO.

 

The gateway ages at Philmont, from my observation, are designed to keep a limited kinda sorta backcountry area manageable in human population. They don't seem to be about strength and ability.

 

In other words, I'm in violent agreement with LongHaul.(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[SR540Beaver]

Let me throw another wrinkle into the question. Aside from age, rank and possibly physical size/ability, does anyone exclude participation based on things like smart mouths, hyperactivity, bad attitudes or low attendance? Is the trip announced and available to everyone who meets the age, size, rank criteria or does the trip leader have subjective veto power over individual "problem" scouts?

 

I guess a second wrinkle would be if anyone does high adventure by invitation only?

[GernBlansten]

We have never had a scout we didn't think should go on a HA due to behavioral problems that could not be managed on the trail. But, IMHO, most of our scouts are pretty good kids. I think the only reason to make attendance a factor is if there are limited slots in the HA. Give them to the scouts who are more active. But if there are ample slots, why restrict it? An HA might spark the scout to be more active.

 

Not sure I like this carrot/stick method. An HA should not be a reward for good behavior. Poor behavior should be addressed independently. In many cases, I can see a going on a HA as a method to correct behavioral issues.

 

We have rejected a HA request from a scout who already had attended it (Philmont) and gave the slot to a scout who hadn't. That scout understood it.

[OldGreyEagle]

To go on a High Adventure "trek" is a privilege and to earn that privilege the unit should have a list of prerequisites, these items are going to center around the required equipment and training trips. If its Philmont, what is your training regimen and what attedance requirement are you putting on it? In the Troop of my youth when we went to High Adventure places you had to "earn" the hiking merit badge, whether you had it or not. You had to take the hikes as preparation and attend scheduled outings. There were of course scouts who due to one reason or another who did not make all the schedules activities, but upfront there was a requirement that if you missed a hike or outing you were to contact the trip leader to arrange a "make-up" event.

 

If you have your behavior parameters in place up front, then scouts with bad behavior, bad attitude, etc. wont meet the requirements for the trip

[GernBlansten]

Good point on making it a requirement to meet all the prepratory hikes and physical training. We are going to Philmont this summer and have already completed two hikes last fall with 4 more planned this spring. Scouts are required to complete 75% of the training hikes. It also makes sense to require a Canoing MB before going to NTiers or Swimming before going to SeaBase. We didn't require Canoeing before NT this year and some of the scouts didn't have it. We had a training day at a local pond for those scouts. It really showed when they had to learn on the water how to J stroke and unswamp a canoe. Not a show stopper and they were a quick study. Next time, perhaps we will require it.

 

My issue is tying some other requirement like attendance to troop meetings or general attitude as a qualifer for a HA. HA should not be a reward. It should be just another part of your program.

[LongHaul]

Only once did we have a situation where there were more qualified boys than we had slots available. My Troop Committee suggested several methods to arrive at the lucky 8 and it almost caused the demise of the troop. As Scoutmaster I saw the trip as program and as such it was the decision of the youth leader(s) for the trip and me. Several families chose to leave the troop because of that but the boys who went and I feel we made the right choice. Some boys are just not team players no matter how much we try to teach them. They are just slow enough to pick up the slack that someone else always beats them to it. They seem never to be around when something needs to be done, and always need extra help when they do get a task to perform. As I said this only happened once and I pray it never happens again because it was not an easy decision to make.

As for pre requisite training, I decide that with, as it were the advice and consent of, my troop committee. It is after all their job to see that I am following all the prescribed rules and protocols. All aquatics activities require Swimming merit badge. Not only must you be able to swim you must be comfortable in the water. Climbing, I required Physical Fitness which several boys could not complete in time and after seeing the videos accepted that they would have held everyone back because of having more mass than arm and leg strength. Philmont required a two year commitment because we trained for and attended a 5 day backpacking trip locally the summer before as well as preparing going into the Philmont trip. Most boys can carry a pack 20% of their weight but picking that pack up on the third and fourth day is another matter. I do see HA as a part of the general program and not a reward or rank has its privileges type thing.

LongHaul

 

[CA_Scouter]

For our High Adventure trips, such as backpacking a week in Yosemite last summer:

1) First Class Rank

a) if not First Class, a parent must participate

2) Demonstrated ability in the chosen activity

3) Participation in training hikes

 

We put in requirement 1 so if the scout had a problem, we would have sufficient adult coverage should he have to leave mid-hike. It also gives them motivation to learn the NECESSARY skills for High Adventure activities.

 

We are also fortunate to have well behaved Scouts, so that's not been an issue. If it was, we'd have addressed it with the parent and dealt with it on an individual basis, setting some standards of conduct prior to the activity. If the standards were not met, then no go. Behavior in the backcountry is a safety issue, and I won't compromise his or another scouts safety for any reason.

 

 

 

 

[Trevorum]

Last year we stipulated that scouts participating in our Philmont trek must attend COPE. That was a smart move. The COPE weekend is an intensive team building experience and we believe it allowed our fellows to be that much stronger as a crew.

 

I highly recommend that preparations for any high adventure activity include COPE.