Kent took his vehicle and the trailer out for the last trip. It looks like we'll have the same load this trip. I'm presuming that this will mean that Maurren Roy will likely need to take her vehicle and the trailer out this time, too.

Kent, can we rent the trailer again for this?

Since Maureen still seems to be offline from her computer, I'll contact her and relay this requirement to her.

Alex: What's the word on the equipment the kids should be bringing with them this time? Last time they were told to bring rock skis and leave the rest at home. There were also told to leave the on-hill race suits, slalom guards, etc at home, too. What's the expectations for this camp?

Our next camp will be a full on training camp. We will be skiing at Norquay, training both SL and GS. Please bring your DH suit, stealth, shin guards, SL poles, GS poles, helmet, and anything else you might need for gate training.

As for transportation, everyone, including Maureen and her daugher, will be driving with the team in the van heading west to Canmore. We are still trying to figure out transportation for the trip back. Don't worry, something will be figured out before we leave on the 7th. We will be meeting at the Travelodge at 8:45am, in time to leave by 9am.  Remember, no peanuts or other nuts and legumes in the van at anytime.

Would anyone happen to have an old tarp they could donate to the team for this winter?

Also, would anyone happen to have a tuning bench and vises to bring on the next camp?

We bought a new tarp for Martin to take with on the trips to put on the floor while tuning his skis. Not a problem to keep that with the team for the rest of the season. He also has a bench and a vise that he can take with.

Eurika

AWESOME resolution!! I just need a copy right release from all so I can fwrd this past week to my track and field parents that I have volunteered  coached for the past 6 years.

Eden understands strongly the privledge of the internet effort. Eden has her own vices. Thank you Coaches, Parents and Terry.

Brian & Jennifer

HEy I need spell check on this crazy thing, where is it. I use Vista home and it says its not loaded, now you are testing my abilities

Alex,

Sean has a tuning toolchest which has a vise in it. He also has one of those metal, folding leg, portable sawhorses that he can take on trips. This sawhorse folds up to take the space of about a four foot long two by four. It's functional in a pinch, however it wouldn't be as sturdy as a solid wood bench. He can bring that with him on the next camp if you're wanting him to.

As long as it does not take up too much room, we will need it on the camp!

Also, I need another favor. Who knows trailers and hitches? We need to figure out if the trailer that Kent has fits on the Sask Van. Could someone help me out on this one? If it doesn't fit, we will be in trouble...

Hi Alex

I believe Kent is away. We need to know if the van has 2" receiver or a 1". Probably a 2", the square opening in or on the bumper area Black.

Then we need to  find out if the Ball on the trailor is a 2" or 2 5/16. Either way I have both if Kent isn"t home in time. The big question does the van have a trailor hitch and do the lights work. Please phone if you want 306-781-4054 or 306-537-7183 Brian

Hi Alex,

Brent is also away and will not be returning from Sunshine until Sunday evening - otherwise he could help out with this. He looks after our trailer and hitch requirements at our house. Sorry....

Judy

Okay everyone, here's the plan that's shaping up for this trip. There's been a lot of phone calls and emails flying around to pull this together, so hopefully no one has big issues with the following or it could all fall apart!

Marlene and I will drive up Saturday morning to Saskatoon to get there early afternoon. We'll make sure the trailer and SaskAlpine van are compatible and fully hooked up and ready to go for Sunday morning. We'll try and hook up with Alex to fill her in on the situation. Does anyone know where the van and trailer are, and where any keys might be - and how do we get them? We're going to leave Sean and Eden at Kent's for overnight to go out on Sunday morning. I bought the wired router tonight, and plan to give this to the group to take to Canmore.

Maureen Roy is chaperoning. She's planning on driving herself up to Saskatoon (a five hour ride) on Saturday evening. She'll overnight at Kent's with Mariah and her other daughter, and head out Sunday with Alex and all the kids to arrive in Canmore. She'll be leaving her car in Saskatoon so that she can share driving with Alex in the van.

Alex will be joining Gavin in Canmore. Gavin will have the three FIS kids plus Morgan Waldo. The whole group (count 'em - there's fifteen) will be going to Norquay daily for training until Friday.

On Friday morning they'll be leaving Canmore to return to Saskatoon. Gavin had originally planned to train Friday morning at Norquay and leave to get back late Friday night. But this plan has changed because leaving right away Friday will let them get back soon enough to give Maureen the time to return home (remember the five hour trip) while not getting home crazy late. Also, Gavin and Alex will need to turn around on Saturday to go out to Table Mountain for the planned Nancy Greene/Snowstars seminar.

There's a plan to relieve the strain of having the van overloaded on the trip back to Saskatoon (remember, fifteen people) with the van stuffed full with people, equipment, and baggage, and also to put a safety margin into the drive from Calgary to Saskatoon in winter conditions. The plan is to jettison two or three of the kids at Calgary airport on Friday morning to have them fly back on their own to Regina. These logistics are still being hashed out.

There has been suggestions that a van could be rented in Regina and have the three kids be driven by Maureen. It's not as an attractive an option for a few reasons. First, that means that Maureen and Alex will have to drive by themselves all the way out - and both have said they are strongly against doing that. And Maureen would be returning by driving by herself all that way back, too, which just compounds that issue. Second, there's going to have to be a reconciliation of the travelling logistics, the costs, and the budget for the programs (Developmental and Provincial). It seems at this point that there's doubt that the budget was designed to sustain additional costs of renting vehicles and other costs. So adding the vehicle rental expense into this equation is going to make things worse. Third factor is the team dynamics. It's been mentioned by the kids that they like the idea of travelling together as a team to help build the team bonding and good times. Splitting the team up for travelling would work against that (a minor point I think, but relevant).

We are going to need to work out logistics better for upcoming trips with transport, Developmental, and Provincial programs all coordinated. For now, we can patch this trip together and live with the best of evils this time.

Let me know if there's serious, major flaws in the above plans.

Thanks - time to go to bed (it's 1:30 a.m.)!!!

The van and keys are here with me. The trailer is at Kent's place.

I am supposed to work on Saturday from 12-6, but we can probably arrange something.

Give me a call tonight so we can make some plans.

Everyone: Here's an update from yesterday.

I drove Morgan, Eden, and Sean up Saturday and left them at the Code's for overnight. I took the SaskAlpine van to the Code's, attached the Blackstrap trailer, added a (very) temporary wiring adapter between the 7 pole trailer connector and 4 pole van connector, and took it back to Alex's for her to start with on Sunday morning.

That temporary adapter should be replaced with a more permanent connection. I've already posted a proposal to the board to approve this upgrade to the van to make it easier and more trustworthy for the remainder of the season.

Here's another tidbit that we would have found useful on the last trip. The accommodations that they're at are called the Canadian Rockies Chalets and the web site is http://www.canadianrockieschalets.com/. The address and phone number is 1206 Bow Valley Trail, Canmore, Alberta, T1W 1N6 and Toll Free: 1.800.386-7248.