Whistler Weekend

Hey friends! Just finished an amazing week running program with an even more amazing weekend in Whistler for Morgaine's 21st birthday.

This week we had 2 different school groups, both for 2.5 day programs. First off we had Regent Christian Academy. They were an alright bunch, some of the kids suffered from a case of 'delusions of coolness' on the first day, but by the second they were all pumped up and having a great time. I was running Bouldering (for those who don't know, bouldering is much like rock climbing, except you only do it under about 10ft so you don't need any harnesses or ropes of anything.) I was lucky as the bouldering wall has a roof and it rained quite a bit. That Gore-Tex rain coat is paying for itself I can assure you!! It was really fun, alot of the kids were pretty competent climbers so they really enjoyed it.
Wednesday was changeover day as usual, with lunch being semi-hectic with one group about to leave and the other having just arrived. The second group for the week were from Lakeview. They were a pretty sweet bunch, I was doing High Ropes with them. Vertical Playpen is my element of choice (mainly because there is a ground anchor so if there happens to be a large yr 7 I don't get pulled off my feet... happens more than you might think). Plus I like to help talk the kids up to the top. There is one really hard bit they think they can't do but when they finally get it and clamber up into the top tyre they are just so stoked it's totally awesome.

Anyway the week was fun but the weekend was truly epic. We left for Whistler (only a 45 min drive north of camp) pretty much straight after Power Hour (the hour or two after the kids leave that we spend prettifying camp in prep for Monday... it's fun, we pump music through serious speakers so loud) and after we picked up supplies in Squamish. Want to know something crazy? The Government runs all liquor stores in BC. Yeah I know! Weird hey?
The car ride was good fun, Tyler and Crumbles (the other two gappers), Alex, Jen Brown and I all went up in JB's car. It was good times, we are sort of the youngest on staff so we tend to hang out a bit and it makes for awesome times.
Friday night was wig night so we decided to walk into Whistler from the condo (which was probably a 5 min stroll down a hill) with our wigs on and get some icecream from Cows. It was good times, mine looked like a giant strawberry so it was pretty hilarious.
The second night our boss came up to party with us. We went out for dinner, then to a bar and stuff. It was awesome fun hanging out with everyone from camp, they are all hilarious.

So, needless to say on Monday we were a little slow to get going but once the kids came in bubbling with excitement we all caught on and were raring to go. Here are a couple of photos, mainly on the 40km bike ride we did the weekend before Whistler to Alice Lake and back from camp. It was beautiful and so nice to swim in. The wooden pontoon you can see in one of the shots... we lay on that for a solid hour. Good times.

Crumbles and Tyler in the field (the central area of Camp). The house in the background belongs to Parky, the owner and Summer Camp Director.

Morgaine and Alex on the way to Alice Lake

Alice Lake

The living room of the condo in Whistler. It was epic, like so nice. 3 levels, a balcony complete with hot tub and mountain views. Shannie knows people.

Shortest Work Week.... Ever!

Hey everyone! It's the weekend again (YAY!) after only one 2.5 day program I am off until Monday morning once again. As last weekend was super long, we didn't get the Jamieson kids until Wednesday and they were only here until Friday afternoon so it was pretty much the shortest working week ever.

On Tuesday a few of us went in to Vancouver as we had been stuck indoors on Monday in the rain and were starting to go a little stir crazy. Plus, Sven and Billy had to get their CIN numbers so they could be paid. Speaking of that, I got my first paycheck (woohoo!) and am thinking of opening up a Canadian bank account.
So we didn't spend heaps of time in the actual city of Vancouver, which was a shame as I would have liked to visit a couple of shops... My vollys are pretty much on the way out unfortunately. However, we did hang out in Stanley Park, the massive park north of Vancouver. We went to the supermarket and bought all these ingredients for a picnic and went and ate at the tables in the park. It was a right feast. Alex and I bought some peanut butter (Camp Summit is 100% nut free so we are not allowed any nuts on site) as we were craving the stuff after about 3 weeks without any. We also managed to fall asleep in the sun. It was a pretty chill time. Walked around the 'Lost Lagoon', saw my first white swan which was pretty cool. There were also heaps of cool ducks and racoons around.
When we got back to town we still had half a jar of peanut butter, so we went on a Walmart run to grab some oreos, and then Alex, Sarah and I headed down to the beach to chow down on our forbidden feast. It was pretty sweet.

So on Wednesday we got he Jamieson kids. I was on climbing wall with Aaron so we spent hours belaying and tying knots. I am becoming a gun with knots, just quietly. The kids were awesome, they were really polite and super stoked on everything and gave everything a go. We played a few camp wide games with them like Whistle Tag and Battleship (like normal battleship but the instructors sit in bases with the boards and send kids out with co-ordinates written on paper. They have to run through enemy territory without being tagged and get their co-ordinates to the enemy base and find out if they have a hit or a miss and then report back to base. It was heaps of fun.)

Yesterday after a couple of hours cleaning the site after the kids had left, we all headed down to the beach and chilled out in the freezing water. It was heaps of fun, getting bogged up to our thighs in riversand and playing water football. I am slowly getting the hang of throwing an American Football. Tyler and I are planning on building a cricket set out of PVC pipes and stuff so we can educate these Canadians, they have no idea.

Anyway better grab some brekky before we head off to Alice lake for a bike ride and a swim, here are some photos of the trip to Van.

Me and Tristan's huge boots

Good times in the playground at Stanley Park. From left to right on the top and then the bottom: Me, Alex, Jake, Lisa and Tristan.

The lost lagoon at Stanley Park

Jake trying to push Alex onto the swan....

Sven and Jake imitating the sign

More of the lagoon

Vancouver, the city, the mountains.... it's so cool!

One Week, 300 Kids and Two Parties

Hey there everyone! I have managed to survive one of the busiest weeks in the Outdoor Ed Centre. We had three groups, two lots of year 7s and some little year 3s. It was pretty wild during the transitions, at one point we had 140 people eating lunch in the Lodge. They even took our staff lounge table, so we were all squished on the sofas in the lounge eating with our hands and drinking from bowls... all our cutlery was used and we ran out of cups. The changeover periods between the schools were pretty hectic, trying to keep everyone in the right place at the right time proved tricky but we did manage to keep it together.

So we had Gleneagles yr 7s for their grad trip at the beginning of the week. They were also the first onsite group for the 09 season so we were all pretty stoked. I was doing High and Low Ropes with them, so I would do an hour and a half of Low Ropes with a group and then take them to High Ropes. It was pretty fun watching the kids scrambling all over the vertical playpen, I think they had a good time. At the same time Gleneagles were in we also had a leadership group from King George. They were yr 10s and I wasn't on their program.
Later in the week the little yr 3s from West Point Grey came to stay for a night. They were kind of tough to keep entertained and the Lodge needed a massive clean up after every single meal. I was on Campfire Cooking, so I took the yr3s off to build a fire and cook popcorn. At first my fire-building skills failed abysmally, but eventually Crumbles and I got the hang of it and we had popcorn every time.

This weekend was Summit's 10 year anniversary party, so a whole bunch of past Summit staff flew in for a massive celebration, complete with Bocce Ball tournament, Red Bull girls and a giant rather hectic campfire. The presentations and speeches were really awesome, it was cool to see the history of Summit and how it has come to be. It also opened my eyes to the whole Camp World and how it is a massive thing that people grow up in and can spend their entire lives involved with.

I am now lucky enough to have a couple of days off and it has been raining so we are currently in the middle of a giant gossip girl marathon. Time to chill out until Wednesday morning when we get a fresh bunch. Might be heading into Van on Tuesday, we shall see how the chips fall.

Only a couple of shots this time, my camera battery died so was out of action.

The walk to the beach

The beach of the Squamish River

Swimming in the 4 degree glacier fed river

Campers

Hey guys! So just finished with my 2nd group of kids, a group of 9 boys that I was lucky enough to have all to myself...It didn't seem to make alot of sense seeing as other groups had less than 9 kids and its alot harder being a girl counsellor working with a boys group. These weren't just any boys either. They were crazy. But I suppose it allowed for some fun times (occasionally) as well as some very very stressful ones. The rest of the staff are so supportive though especially when they know you have a tough group. They just wouldnt stop hitting each other with anythin they could find, sticks, stones, watches, oranges...they're hands. I had to keep a constant eye on them. Unfortunately the weather had a turn for the worst again this week and it was snowing again. Luckily its all cleared up for the weekend and it was a toasty 18 today which I spent in Canmore and Banff where we saw Star Trek :)

We're renting a room in Canmore and the Rocky mountain ski lodge at the moment so we stayed here last night and tonight and maybe tomorrow. Unfortunately it went on my card..so I'm in the process of trying to get money off everyone. Not doing that again. It's a wicked place though, a loft so we crammed in like 11 people last night with 3 beds and a futon. Impressive.

So we have a long weekend this week and so we get monday off. It's Slush Cup and the local ski hill Sunshine so might head up there for some skiing if I decide to spare the money.

Got to go for now, will touch base with everyone as soon as I can.

Alex

First Campers

Hey folks, it's Sunday and finally my day off after a busy week with Crofton House yr 9s. On Monday we all packed our bags, which for me was a giant plastic bag full of clean laundry and pretty much nothing else, and headed off on a 3 hour road trip to the small town of Hope, BC. It is home to Camp Squeah, a Mennonite Camp where Summit hosted one of their most long standing clients, the West Vancouver private school of Crofton House.
Their yr9 trip is hosted at Squeah as it is better suited to the overnight trips that the girls go on.

As I was not one of the trip instructors, my job was running program onsite. The girls were split into 8 groups, 4 went out on trip and 4 stayed at camp for program. Program consisted of 1 hour blocks where the groups rotated through the different activities. Most of the time I was in the gym, running 'Gym Time' with Tyler. We basically thought up a bunch of games like Bump, Coconut Families, Blind Toilet Toilet Flush and Kings Court. It was super fun, most of the groups were really into it and we had a great time playing the games with them. The teachers got really into it too, which was always good to see. I also had a go at teaching Outdoor Living Skills with Alex, which was basically all about water purification, how and why we do it and the like. That was ok, not as fun as running about throwing balls at people, but good stuff to know nonetheless. I was also meant to run Campfire Cooking one time, but it was with kids who had come back from trip and they had already done it when they were out so we just played some games in the lodge instead. Ox-wrestling was always good for a laugh, as is balance tug of war. I was also introduced to a game called Mafia, which Alex assures me is a godsend in Summer as a bunch of 12 yo boys will play it for hours at a time. Must remember that for the next season.

It rained pretty much all week, so I was super stoked on my Gore-Tex jacket and rowdy rain pants (thankyou FGPN!!). I actually had a really cushy sitch compared to some of the other instructors. The trippers hiked out, camped in the rain, hiked back, sat for about 15 minutes drinking coffee and then hiken straight back out again to do the exact same thing. Others were stuck out in the rain trying to get a fire going enough to cook popcorn.

On Friday we hopped back in the vans to head back to Squamish and played an awesome game of 'Careless Driver' (Point out a careless driver, name their infraction and you score a full point. Bikes are 3/4 of a point and pedestrians half). When we were at Squeah we found this games book that was published in '75. It had a heap of hilarious games like 'Careless Driver' such as 'Fat Man's Race' (Race between men 200 lbs and over) and 'Pussy Wants a Corner' (I wasn't really sure what this one was).

Saturday was the 2nd annual volly party, which is basically a Camp-wide busy bee where Parky's (the owner) friends and family from around the valley and Squamish come to camp to help ready it for the first lot of kids of the season. I had a sweet day, helping our biking instructor Jenn Brown with the mountain bike park. We built some new apparatus like a sweet ramp drop-off, some teeter totters and a dismount log (a log where you have to jump off your bike and lift it over). With the help of the other instructors Sven and Tristan we also got a rowdy advanced circuit in place for the older kids. Once we finish off the sandpit and the dirt corner it will be totally epic. As is tradition, the volly party was finished with some good times on the bouncy castle and a canoe full of beer. Working at camp seems to be an awesome way to score free beer. It's also proving to be the most fun job ever. I'm already planning on coming back once they get the winter camps going.

So now it is Sunday and finally my day off!! Yay! I think the plan is to go see a movie this evening and maybe do some bouldering or just chill out for the most of the day. Here are some photos from Squeah. Hope you are all well, will probably write sometime next weekend, but its the 10th Yr Summit Anniversary Party so who knows when I'll get a chance.

Staff Picture after Crofton left

The mature and dependable Camp Summit staff

A Crofton girl the all reckoned looked just like me, so the entire year took photos of us together

Solo, one of the trippers, with his rowdy glasses

Rowdy times in the van coming back from Hope

Sean disgusted with Crumbles' lack of window cleaning skills

Training and kiddies

Hey guys! It's friday night, second week of camp chief hector (CCH) and I've undergone all my staff training for the spring season and have had my first group of campers come through.

Our Spring season is made up of different school groups of kids about the age of 12 coming for the week, tuesday through friday, to learn about the outdoor lifestyle in canada, and to experience tipi living! So my tipi is called Yamnuska and its in a wicked spot on the top of a hill with a near 360 degree mountain view! During training last week we all stayed together in tipis but we sadly had to part when the kids came this tuesday. Unfortunately I was also fairly unpracticed at the tipi fire so Ben (nature name-Spark) had to come and help me out but since then you'll be glad to know my fires have been roaring!

So I had a group of 9 kids all in grade 6 who were my responsibility for the week. The most difficult bit is having to have 24hour care of the kids so you cant let them go off in pairs to do anything...maybe incase they get eaten by a cougar or something...but it's still a bit of a pain and by the end of the week all the councellors are mighty sick of entertaining the kids and everyone is ready for a night/weekend out in Banff or Canmore or Calgary which is what we've done for the last few weeks and it's been great fun!!

I only get an hour of in the evenings and take that time to hang out with the other councellors so I don't have much time for the internet during the week....and on the weekends I don't bring ym camera cord but I promise at some point to upload some photos. I still have moments when I realise I'm completely surrounded by huge snowy mountains and it's so great! All the people are great as well and I feel like I've known them for years instead of just a few weeks, it's crazy.

Hope Perth is all good. I get alot of hassle from the other Aussies about being from Perth, one of the teachers of the school had never even heard of it! I was appalled. As well as being from the other side of Australia from everyone else, apparently I have a weird accent as well, so I get everyone from Canada and Australia making fun of me, but its all good...I'm just different :)

Trained

Hey people, sorry it has been a long time between posts, but I kept leaving my laptop in the cabin rather than in the staff lounge. However I have now corrected this, but still won't be posting all that often as this exercise is rather introverted and I'd rather be hanging out with the other staff.

So the other day we finished staff training. I now have my high ropes certification and have been learning about setting camp, building campfires, cooking bannock, riding mountain bikes, doing low ropes and playing team building games.

For May and June Summit is an Outdoor Education Centre, so we get school groups coming for between one and three nights. Our youngest bunch are Grade 3s, most of them are Grade 7s and we do have a few groups of Grade 12s, so they are the same age as me and a couple of the other staff.

We're going to see Wolverine in town in like 5 mins so I better dash

Here are some photos:

Maggie and I just before I left Meel and Jute's apartment.

This is my life for the next 9 months, all my clothes and stuff is right here in this shot.

My half of cabin 'Conybeare' just after I moved in. This is home for the next 6 months.

The tent and teacher cabins in half of 'West Village' which is where my cabin is. And yes, that is a mountain.

The staff cabins. The guys are on the right in Black Tusk and Opal Cone, the girls on the left in ConyBeare and Alpen.

On our way back from our first trip to town. Left to right: Dave - Gapper, Jake - Ropes (back seat), Tyler - Gapper, Tristan - General Instructor (back seat), Me.