A team from Yucaipa based Venturing Crew 800 was recognized as best overall team by taking first place in 4 of 6 competitive events at the 3rd Annual Big Bear Venturing Challenge held on July 8 and 9th, 2005.

 

Hosted by Venturing Crew 87 of Big Bear, this annual challenge allows Venturers to prove their skills in high adventure outdoor activities in the beautiful but rugged, Big Bear area of the San Bernardino National Forest. 

 

The youth organizers of the event started the competition with a Dutch oven cook off on Friday night.  This allowed the participants the opportunity to socialize, receive briefings on the event and most importantly become acclimated to the altitude of the area.  Crew 800 won the cook off with their Southwestern sausage rice casserole recipe.

 

Saturday morning revealed that this year's challenge required participants to mountain bike a 10.3 mile route across the Holcomb Valley including a number of rugged stream crossings and steep ascents.  Crew 800 finished with the best time in this event.

 

The team then faced a strenuous climb up a vertical rock face, a 80' rappel decent and a horizontal traverse utilizing a rope system.  This was one of the most challenging events and a number of participants from other crews did not complete this challenge.  All Crew 800 members completed and the crew took first place.

 

An orienteering trek tested the Venturers land navigation skills by requiring the team to navigate from point to point in the forest utilizing map and compass.  Due to topography and vegetation, direct travel was very difficult and GPS signal reception was intermittent.  The participants took compass bearings and utilized their maps to navigate and negotiate the terrain in order to arrive at each checkpoint where they received subsequent directions.  Course length varied depending on the individual team's plotting of the course to avoid rough terrain and obstacles but averaged around 5 miles of mountain hiking.  Crew 800 had the best overall time on this event.

 

The final event had the Venturers paddle canoes from the West boat launching area across Big Bear Lake to the final check point on the South Shore about 2 miles away.  Strong afternoon winds created choppy conditions on the lake adding to the difficulty.  Crew 800 lost this event to a Crew from Barstow by only 4 minutes.

 

Yucaipa was represented by team members: Jon A. (Captain), Carla K., David L, Cameron K., and Jennifer L.  Mr. Dan Meier accompanied the team by participating in all events as the team advisor. 

 

Crew 800 staff supporting the overall event with radio communications and checkpoint staffing, was Venturer Mary S., Mr. Dan Fegot, and Ms. Sandi Taylor.  It was noted by the event organizers that due to the topography that impeded line of sight communications (no cellular phone coverage) without the ham radio communications provided by Crew 800 and other radio amateurs the event would have been difficult to manage.

 

Venturing is a co-ed scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America for youth 14-20 years of age emphasizing leadership, character development, and making ethical choices while participating in challenging high adventure and other specialized activities.

 

Venturing Crew 800 is chartered to the Yucaipa Valley Amateur Radio Club Inc. by the California Inland Empire Council of the Boy Scouts of America.