Day 11 - Coming home

We were up at 8am and after breakfast, all the Scouts completed ther packing. The idea is to close down parts of the chalet piece by piece. The washrooms were closed off last night, next the bedrooms. Once they were packed we cleaned up all the dust and rubbish and moved bags down a floor. Next step was the dining room, and so it carried on through the building, taking the bags and Scouts up to a gazebo while we finished up. We had an inspection at noon, luckily including Tom from KISC as a German speaker. We had had a mirror break last night, but he was able to explain that the fitting was wrong. We got charged Sfr20 for 3 missing spoons and a cut in a mattress. Our coach was there for 12.30pm and we headed back to Basel - some traffic delays but we were there in plenty of time. We got our bags checked in and then went through security, although Max seemed to have metallic ankles which delayed us a little. We were then sat around the airport playing cards and perspiring gently - my, it was warm there. Our flight was delayed 35 minutes, then we boarded the plane and were delayed a little more. On the flight, we ate some spare rolls and snack bars, and I interviewed everyone about their favourite moments. Back in the UK, and we had a long queue for passport checks. Reclaimed our baggage and met everyone in arrivals. It is always a relief to know we have delivered everyone back safely.

Day 10 - Team Building, Backwoods and Rodelbahn

It was an earlier start today, up at 7.30am and after breakfast the 10-12 year olds went to do backwoods workshop while the 13 & 14 year olds were doing team building. The backwoods workshop consisted of learning how to filter water, build a shelter and light fires (no matches) then cook dampers on them. The team building involved an arctic expedition, where they had to work together to escape a sinking boat, build a polar bear-proof shelter, signal for help then cross the ice to rescue (you had to use your imagination a bit!). After lunch, we walked back to town then on the gondola up to Oeschinensee for the rodelbahn (toboggan run). It was very busy but everyone managed to get a decent go, and had a great time. We came back to the chalet about 6pm and had dinner then cards and some preliminary packing.

Day 9 - Ice Climbing Workshop and Glacier Hike

The over 14 group were up in Frundenhutte overnight; they didn't sleep that well though because there were a load of Americans there who kept them awake until the early hours. They were out on the ice in the morning, walking across the glacier behind the Hutte to get to an ice face where they had to wait awhile while the pinkies rigged up the anchor points. Most of them had a good attempt at climbing, and then started using just one axe and the crampons. I just asked Hannah for some insight into ice climbing to which she responded "we climbed on ice". Helpful. They hiked down after lunch and went to the lake (Oeschinensee) for a swim. They were then booked in to Wet & Wild at the swimming pool so they had a double swim session! The remainder of the group were up at 4.45am and out of the chalet at 5.15 to walk down to the train station. We had to change at Frutigen, Spiez and Brig then onto the mountain train to Betterntal telstation then get the cabin lift up to Bettmeralp for 8.30am where we met our guides Peter & Bernhard (who are 66 and 73!). We headed up out of Bettmeralp to the crest of the hill then down through the Aletsch forest, which is part of the UNESCO world heritage site. Some of the Swiss pines are 700 years old and it was lovely and cool walking through there. We had half our lunch then got our crampons on and walked on the ice about 11.30am. It was really hard work as it is mainly up hill. The glacier is getting lower by about 3m a year, so I was about 21m lower down than I was when was there in 2009; no wonder it seemed harder! We walked on the ice for about 90 minutes then crampons off and we walked up about 50m out of the valley. The temperature difference between the ice and the rest of the valley was really marked, so we were relieved to remove jumpers etc. We then had a really hard walk up about 500m out of the valley with only a couple of very short stops. After that we had to drop down to Bettmeralp where we met up with Hugh, Roger & Roger (who had a very pleasant day in Bettmeralp and up at Bettmerhorn). The cabin lift wasn't working when we got there so we had to wait awhile. We ended up back in Kandersteg just after 7pm then a dinner of pizza, sauté potatoes and pasta. Early night all round.

Day 8 - Frundenhutte, Jacob's Ladder and Zip Wire

It's an earlier post today for good reason we wil get to in a minute! We allowed them another 8.30am lie in and actually allowed breakfast up to 9.30am (we're so kind). Once everyone was up it was a relaxed morning with more confectionary and gift purchases and many games of cards. At 12.30pm the over 14s met their pinkies and caught the bus into town then the gondola up to Oeschinensee before beginning their hike up to Frundenhutte, which is around 1,000m of vertical ascent. They arrived around 5.30pm. At 2pm, the 12 & 13 year olds were doing Jacob's Ladder, which is 8 horizontal spars increasingly far apart. In pairs they climb up it, being around 10m up at the top. They all did really well. The 10 & 11 year olds did the 70m zip wire and that was lots of fun too - they had 3 goes each. We had an early dinner then thorough kit check for everyone as we need to be up at 4.45am tomorrow for our hike on the Aletsch Glacier.

Day 7 - Swiss National Day

Good morning everyone. Apologies for our lack of posting last night, but it was a busy evening. Today is Swiss National Day, which is a pretty big thing here. It is 725 years since Switzerland was established as a country, and 109 years since Scouting was established with the first camp on Brownsea Island. This year, it is also 93 years since KISC was established. We allowed a lie in until around 8.30am, as the Scouts all need more sleep in order to do physical activities. After breakfast we went up to the sports field on the campsite for the aerobics, which was really the pinkies leading the Macarena, YMCA etc. The activities started at 10.30am, and were mainly up here at KISC rather than down in the town, a reversal of when we were here in 2013. There were some activities we have planned anyway, like backwoods workshop and the zip wire, but also loads of other things - cow football, slacklining, the dunking stools, crate stacking, sumo, solar cooking, low ropes and many, many more things besides. We had the Scouts back at 1pm for lunch, then at 2pm the Carnival started. This was back on the sports field, and involved loads of things from different countries - mainly foods to try. Some of the activities were still running too. At 5pm we had everyone back here then at 5.15pm was the international barbecue. This is an impressive logistical exercise in feeding a huge number of people in a very short space of time. We had a couple of hours of downtime then into uniform and we all congregated back on the sports field. There were Scouts from 33 different countries, and each was represented by a torch. It was an impressive array of coloured uniforms and badges, and many had flags too. We had a very short speech from Felipe (the director, who is responsible for the whole centre at age 27!) then formed up into a long column and paraded down the road into the town. The route was lined with locals who were waving, and the parade was making loads of noise (intentionally). It was dark by the time we got into town, and there was a bonfire outside the station in the square where we congregated, and alphorns playing (although they were hard to hear above the hubbub). Another couple of (very short) speeches and then we had a firework display, with lots of oohs and ahhs. We headed back up to our centre about 10am and had a quick hot chocolate then bed time.

Day 6 - Swimming and Thunderstorms

Our impromptu plan for today actually worked out very well! We had a lie in until 8.30am and had breakfast. At 10am we gathered up and wandered into the north end of town to go to the swimming pool (especially since we have had to reschedule the glacier day over Wet & Wild). We were expecting the Scouts to swim for 30 minutes as the forecast was terrible, but we played it by ear and they were in for nearly 2 hours. The pool is really good here, with a slide, diving boards and lots of floats etc thrown in by the lifeguard (badmeister here). We walked back up to our chalet for lunch, then allowed them to take money out of camp bank and walked back into town, letting them off the leash for 90 minutes while we had a coffee. The thunderstorms started with avengance then, though, and the Scouts that ignored our entreaty to take waterproofs regretted it! We walked back up to our chalet again (I've done 15,000 steps and it's an easy day!) and had dinner then showers and cards.

Day 5 - Gasternal Valley

Today was always designed to be an easy one to give everyone a bit of a break. We were up at 8.30am and had breakfast then left here about 10.15am. We walked south down the valley a little way then east up the Gasternal Valley. This involved climbing from around 1,200m here up to around 1,400m, following the path of the Kander river. The views on the way up are pretty spectacular and the Kander flows down over the waterfalls all the way down. We had a gentle mooch in the morning and foraged for wild strawberries (very small, but very sweet) and blueberries, which were really popular. The Scouts had a paddle in the river and built some dams. We met Roger, Roger and Hugh for lunch then they headed up to Selden while we walked over to a waterfall for a (very cold) shower. It then got colder and looked like rain, so we headed back down, arriving back at 5pm. We got an ice cream, which was welcome. Back to the chalet for dinner and games were played - football and table tennis are very popular, as are cards. Tomorrow is going to be different to what we had planned, as heavy thunderstorms are forecast and that means the glacier day has been postponed until Wednesday.

Day 4 - Three Valleys, Climbing and Abseiling

We'd love to be posting a few pictures as the scenery was fabulous, but that doesn't seem to be working from the tech we have with us! We'll try that later. The over 14s were out at 8.30am, heading up on the Three Valleys. Now that is a tough hike! They go from Ueschinenhutte at around 1,800m past "Kit Kat Mountain" (it has 4 fingers) and peaking at 2,659m. The effort was worth it for the views, especially from the ridge where you can see through the full 360 degrees; a valley in every direction, although the photos probably won't do it justice. It's hard work, but at least they had a Coke at Schwarenbach and get the Sunnbuel cable car back. The 12 & 13 year olds did the Climbing workshop that the older group had done the day before. That meant the bouldering, to learn how to manoeuvre on rocks. They then climbed Morning Rock to learn the rope work before heading back to the Hutte for lunch. They collected their belongings and headed back down to Milk Rock, climbing that before heading back down to our chalet the way they came up. The under 12s headed down the same path as the 12 & 13 year olds, but much earlier. Once we got back to the chalet we had lunch then out for abseiling, which was great fun. After a little down time, we had dinner and at 8pm we went up to the campsite to join in with the International Campfire - a 2 hour show with groups from UK, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, USA, Canada, India, Portugal, Italy, Egypt, Ireland and probably several other places besides. That ran for 2 hours, and ended up with the Pinkies' traditional "If I Were Not In Kandersteg". Very amusing.

Day 3 - Ueschinenhutte

Today was a complex one for the organisers! The over 14s (with Helen) had an early start, meeting their Pinkie at 8.30am and hiking up to Ueschinenhutte for lunch. This is a pretty tough hike, as they follow a steep path up through the woods initially before it flattens a little above the tree line. The total ascent is around 600m. After lunch, they did the Climbing Workshop, which involves bouldering then climbing on both Morning Rock and the bigger Milk Rock. They then headed back up to Ueschinenhutte. Both the younger groups had a free morning, so we walked them down into town where they could spend a few Swiss Francs; Rivella is particularly popular (a milk-based fizzy drink). After lunch, the 12 & 13 year olds (plus Mike & Alison) followed the same route up as the Over 14s had earlier in the day, arriving at Ueschinenhutte late in the afternoon. Meanwhile the 10 & 11 year olds (with Dave, Anj and Roger W) got the Allmenalp cable car and laughed at Dave's fear of grounds (it's grounds, not heights) but still walked up the last part, again arriving late afternoon. The clouds descended on us in the evening; we had our meal and chatted around a fire until bed time (10pm).

Day 2 - White water rafting

Evening all! We all had a load of fun today. Early start (up at 6am!) to leave here at 7.30 and get the train at 8.13. We headed to Spiez and from there down to Boltigen where we met our guides for our white water rafting. We were split into 4 boats, with 7 of us in each, plus a guide, going down the Simme river. We were very lucky with the weather, in that it rained yesterday so the river flowed rather faster and generated loads of rapids - that, in turn, created loads of whoops and laughter among all the Scouts. We had loads of battles between the boats, with lots of water being splashed between them. Around an hour of fun later and we had arrived at Darstetten, the end of our journey. We got changed out of our wetsuits and walked up to the station. We had lunch and an ice cream, then got the train back - arrived about 3pm. We've had free time since then, playing football and table tennis while avoiding the very heavy rainfall and dramatic thunder storm. Tomorrow we are all off up to Ueschinenhutte so there will be no entry then!

Day 1 - Getting there

Evening all! Sorry there are no photos, but posting hasn't been that straightforward. The KanderChallenge was good fun. They had to mix up with Scouts from other countries (USA, Portugal, Ireland and the Netherlands at least) and navigate around 7 different bases across the site, doing tasks as they went. There was lots of laughter as they had to fill a drain pipe with multiple holes in, get 10 of them on a tiny groundsheet, build a bridge to retrieve a message from a stream and more besides. This culminated in a task to make a waterproof receptical held above their heads, which was then filled with water - and you can probaby imagine the results. We sent them all off to bed at 9.30 local time, and they were very tired so were quiet very quickly. Tomorrow we are getting up at 6am in order to head to Boltigen for white water rafting - with the rain we have had, hopefully it should flow pretty fast!

Day 1 - we've arrived!

Hi all,I did try to post earlier but the app failed. As you might know we landed ok and Basel was hot and sunny. We found our coach and some had a snooze. We're now settled into our chalet but it's drizzling, hope it clears! We have a couple of hours to have dinner then KanderActive at 7pm. Dave

Test

Hello all, this is Helen testing the blog.
We will be there in 48 hours - how exciting😃

T-Minus 5 days, 10 hours

Afternoon all. Our preparations are nearly over, the trip is about to begin! I have 3 huge boxes of t-shirts, polo shirts and hoodies here to give out tonight; I do hope everyone has all their equipment packed and ready to go. The forecast (here) is currently looking decidedly iffy, so those waterproofs will get a good testing. Dave

Kandersteg 2016 - T minus 22 days, 7 hours!

Hi all, we hope everyone is getting as excited as we are? This is just a test post to check I can send things from my phone!

Dave

Day 7 - Snow & Ice Day 2

Another early start with breakfast at 7am. I have to admit waking scouts up when fast asleep is fun!!

Breakfast was a challenging affair if cold porridge (!) and dry bread. But we all force fed ourselves.

We then wrapped up once again and went back onto the ice for ice climbing.

The sun gradually rose behind the mountains and more beautiful 360 panoramic views. 

We each did 3 climbs - two ice axes, one ice axe, no ice axe. Joe, Matt & Theo achieved all three successfully.

Lewis, Becca & I only achieved the first two.

We then went back for lunch and hiked back down to Oeaschinensee. Where we left the rest of our group and we took the Gondola back down. After watching a helicopter land beside the lake.

We stopped off at the shop for more chocolate then back to the chalet. Fortunately the rest of the troop were still on the high ropes so we could shower & chill in peace. 

I have to confess it was a very tough two days but the views made up for it.

Day 6 - Snow & Ice

Matt & I took the 4 over 14's on the snow & ice trip. This involved yet another early meet time of 7.30am. We packed out overnight bags the night before.

We took the bus then Gondola up to the Oeschinensee (very large lake), where our hike commenced. It was a beautiful sunny day and we trekked for 4 hours up a steep mountain path gaining about 1,000m. The views were spectacular and the lake got smaller & smaller as we ascended.

 We arrived at the Frundenhutte at lunchtime and sat on sun loungers to eat our lunch overlooking a glacier.

After lunch we wrapped up warm and put on crampons, took our ice axes and got roped up to walk along the above glacier. It was surprisingly cold consider the heat earlier. We then all did crevass rescue which involved each of us being lowered down a crevass whilst another rescued us. Very strange experience!

We then learnt to walk up & down an ice hill which was very difficult - sending Lewis tumbling, but the fresh glacier ice prevented any major bruising.

We then went back to the hutte where we each demolished a bar if chocolate and 3 plates of pasta each! A tough energy sapping day!

We played Tonga during the evening (Joe & I won for the record!). Then I went to enjoy a peaceful sunset alone.....until joined by the scouts! It was still lovely.

We then went to bed & silence from 10pm, which was no problem as all shattered!

Day 10 - Rodelbahn

Today we had a nice and relaxed morning; we didn't wake the kids up till 9am. We let them have an easy morning then this afternoon we got the gondola up to Oeschinensee to ride the Rodelbahn (toboggan run). I get quite some momentum up but it still takes a good 70 seconds or so to do a complete run. Really good fun though. We were planning on going down to the lake to have a swim, or at least a paddle, but the weather closed in and we had to head down to the town early. The kids mooched around spending all their last few Swiss Francs. Back up to the chalet for a little tidying and dinner then off to bed at 10pm. Tomorrow will be a hectic day.

Day 9 - Glacier Hike

Hello, from sunny Kandersteg. Firstly, apologies for the break in service, but we've had wifi issues and Josh has added some bits but had to go to hospital yesterday with an abscess. He's OK, and we're hoping to have him back later today. Yesterday we were up at 4.45am and got trains to Frutigen then Spiez then Brig. From there we walked to Brig Bahnhofplatz (across the road) and got the mountain railway to Betten Talstation then cable car to Bettmeralp where we met Bernhard & Peter Stucky, our guides for our day. The daay involved walking on the Grosse Aletschglacier, which (at 23km) is the longest in the Alps. Apparently it weighs about 27bn tons! Unfortunately I wasn't actually on this walk; me, Roger and Mick accompanied Jack (who was injured) to a gondola then up to Bettmerhorn, where we were able to watch our group on the ice and enjoy a bowl of chips. We were back an hour earlier than planned and had dinner then went to the International Campfire. Bedtime routine was very good - they were all so exhausted! Some spectacular photos later...!

Group Photo

Alas Dave was taking the photo. Hopefully one to follow that includes him as well.

Day 8 - High Ropes - Swimming

Day 8 - High Ropes - Swimming

We started of the day with the swimming pool, after getting changed we all plunged into a pool that we were promised was 28 Centigrade; it turned out to be more like 28 Fahrenheit. The scouts had lots of fun with splashing and inflatables.
The under 14's went to the High Ropes course on wednesday. There was lots of fun to be had for all, even those who weren't keen on heights (such as the leaders). There were 6 levels and most got to level 3 with only the bravest getting to level 5. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to try level 6. High points of the day include