2017 Winter Camporee - Arctic Blast - February 10-12, 2017 - Photos

Event Details

What a Wonderful Weekend!

On recent February weekend that seemed more like early spring over 150 Scouts and Scouters from Lake Minnetonka District, as well as guests from other districts, converged on the brand new Tonkawa Lodge at Camp Stearns for our annual Winter Camporee.  Along with beautiful weather and enjoying the great facilities (it still has that new lodge smell!), our Scouts experienced games, worked on merit badges, and witnessed some really exciting rocket launches.   The weekend was capped off with an entertaining campfire that even the damp conditions couldn't diminish. All troops that participated in the campfire received Chinese paper lanterns that they will release at a future Troop event to remember the fun and fellowship from the Arctic Blast!

While many Scouts enjoyed making survivor bracelets, playing broomball, earning the Space Exploration Merit Badge, and viewing a UAV - Unmanned Arial Vehicle (aka Drones) demo, the highlight of the weekend was certainly the rocket launching.  Up to 11 rockets at a time were launched in almost perfect conditions.   While most rockets were ultimately recovered, quite a few had picture perfect launches, but they flew too high and too far for us to see where they ultimately landed.  (Perhaps some of them are still up there in orbit?) We even got to see the launch of a flying birdhouse!

As in every other camporee, we had a series of challenges and competitions.  The first was Snow Sculpture.  While the snow conditions weren't ideal, a few hardy Troops were able to come up with very creative entries.  While it was very close, the snow sculpture from Troop 569 won the prize.   Next were the trophies for Highest Rocket Launch, Best Rocket Design, and Best Launch.   Troop 570 took a clean sweep of all three of these awards!  For the final camporee award, Troop 409 won top honors in the Space Cook-off for their Zero-Gravity Pudding entry.

Finally, no winter camporee would be complete without the KLONDIKE DERBY!  We had many different Troops trying a variety of sleds and techniques with varying degrees of success.  Troops were challenged to haul their Scoutmaster on a Klondike sled as they competed in a series of tests to challenge their Scouting skills.   While the competition was fierce, the defending champions relied on experience, talent, and muscle to retain the coveted Klondike Trophy.  Congratulations to Troop 570 for another impressive victory!

A huge thank you to our host units, Troops 481 and 570, for their dedication and hard work that allowed us to offer an outstanding camporee to all the Scouts, Webelos, and Venturers who attended.  The Lake Minnetonka District staff also pulled together to deliver yet another fantastic experience.  Certainly everyone who attended enjoyed the fantastic program and the great facilities at Camp Stearns.  Congratulations as well to all the attendees, parents, and everyone else who made this a great event.

We look forward to seeing you again at our next big event, the spring "Fish 'N Fry" Camporee on May 5-7, 2017.

Thank you

Daron Meyer
Activities Chairman
[email protected]

Share Your Photos With Us 
If any Scout, Scouter, or Parent has photographs of this event to share with the District please email your pictures to the [email protected] .

Download or Order Paper Prints
From this page you may share and send pictures by email,view a larger picture, download photographs, or order a paper photograph by clicking the photograph. Download