Klondike Derby 2025

On the evening of February 7th a patrol of nine scouts from Troop 640 ascended into the snowy darkness of Golden Gate Canyon State Park for a weekend of good, cold fun at the annual Klondike Derby with over 500 other scouts and scouters from the Alpine, Frontier, and Valley Districts of the Greater Colorado Council.  

Saturday morning began with delicious and hearty breakfast burritos (no one went hungry this weekend!) and then off to the opening flag ceremony.  There was just enough snow overnight for the sleds to slide on the paved roads that had been dry the day before.  Next it was off to compete in the Klondike Events.

Yeti Bag Toss
Get the 10 essentials into a bag and then get that bag hung over a high rope strung between two trees, to keep them out of reach of the pesky yeti that were roaming the camp.

Yeti Search
This patrol had to find a person sitting silently in the snow, the catch was that the whole patrol was blinded either by pulled down hats or buckets on their heads.

Stretcher
Make a stretcher from a tarp and two poles, then carry one of your buddies through an obstacle course.

Avalanche Bombing
You get 16 tennis balls, and your goal is to get one of them into a bucket.  Unfortunately, the bucket is ten feet away and you have to do it with a tarp.  And you can’t get any closer to the bucket.  And there was a tennis racket, for some reason.  Anyway, it only took this patrol 18 seconds.

Sled Race
Pretty simple, pull your sled with a load (human or baggage) around a loop of campsites as fast as you can.  Somehow this patrol talked themselves into a situation where they ended up having to pull their sled with the adult volunteer running the race sitting in it.  They were fast.  So fast that they tipped the guy out on the first turn.  He gave them a chance to re-run the course with one of their own as passenger and they shaved 22 seconds off their time — but not without a couple of minor casualties.  Sled racing is a rough and tumble sport.

Obstacle Course
Three members of the patrol were blindfolded and had to be guided through a series of obstacles by shouted instructions from the rest.  This mostly involved wriggling on the ground, but that seemed to work.

There was a lunch break here, with plenty of hot dogs generously cooked up by Mr. Hanson.

Lashing Challenge
This three-part challenge required the demonstration of four different knots, tying a rope around a rather large log and dragging it out around a pole and back, and using a two-man crosscut saw to cut a “cookie” off the end of a four-inch log.  Note: the so-called cookie was NOT edible.  I checked.  This patrol completed the challenge in 1min 39s — which earned them a Third Place ribbon for the event.

Fire Starting
All the materials were provided: wood of various sizes and tinder.  Each patrol needed to provide an ignition source, and build a fire with flames that lasted at least two minutes.  This patrol strategized for a few moments, then broke out the ferro rod and had a fire started in a very respectable 27 seconds.

Orienteering
Each patrol was given a map and sent out on a course to find up to five different waypoint stations.  Each station had a custom paper punch to prove you actually found it.  This patrol went running through the snow dodging random yeti and stray AOL scouts to find all five stations.

Yeti Ski
Two long boards, four loops of rope tied on each, stick the toes of your boots in the loops and go for an easy graceful glide through the snow with three of your pals.  Okay, so it’s not exactly graceful.  And it’s more of an awkward shuffle than a glide.  And it’s really hard, especially trying to cross a slippery, snow-packed hillside.

Broom Hockey
The problem with broom hockey is the brooms.  The ball?  It can go all day.  The cones marking the goals?  Indestructible.  But the poor brooms just can’t handle hundreds of vigorous scouts.  By the time this patrol got to the event the brooms had been reduced to splinters, so they got to play Broomless Broom Hockey – which is basically soccer in the snow.  Still fun though.

At this point, the lure of the Gaga Pit was too compelling to avoid so they played that until it was time for dinner.

As the sun set the campfire was relit and cheeseburgers were griddled to perfection on the Camp Chef, followed by pineapple-upside-down cake baked in a dutch oven.

When Sunday morning dawned the scouts mostly avoided the planned cold cereal in favor of instant oatmeal, while Mr. Hanson made biscuits and gravy for the adults.  After packing up it was off to the Scouts Own Service and the awards ceremony where the patrol received their 3rd place ribbon for the Lashing Challenge.  Mr. Hileman returned (with donuts!) to help drive us all back home.

Scouts:
Alexander R.
Bjorn B.
Cooper P.
Dalton M.
Elijah W.
Luke H.
Nash W.
Patrick H.
Quentin M.

Adults:
Mr. Hanson
Mr. Prebynski
And Mr. Hileman helped get us all there and back

Photos located at https://www.bsatroop640.com/photos/

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