Most current weather forecasters are predicting the Pulaski area will receive 5″-8″ of snow on Saturday, another 1″ Saturday night, and sleet/freezing rain Sunday morning. During a conference call this morning with Chief Nimmo, Steve Adkins, Tim Ramsay, Eric Blevins, Chris Dempsey, and Ken Lyons, it was decided that several potential problems would occur if that forecast came to pass:
1) Not much service can be done in that weather (neither candidates nor service teams).
2) Many will likely choose to not attend on their own because of the forecast.
3) Getting 60-90 vehicles out of Claytor without damage or injury could be a problem.
4) Those people then getting safely off of the mountain is a concern.
5) Even without snow, candidates sleeping/working in wet freezing conditions is not ideal.
With all of those factors considered we decided the prudent thing to do is postpone the event. We intend to offer candidates the opportunity to complete their ordeal before Conclave and to have “Service Saturdays” between now and the next function so no service opportunites are in danger of being lost (more details will follow).
Boy Scouts ARE tough and trained to deal with the weather if they encounter it. Boy Scouts are also smart and don’t intentionally place themsleves in precarious situations unnecessarily. The perishable food already purchased for this event will be able to be used for the upcoming rowing event at Claytor.
If it doesn’t snow/rain Saturday we may have egg on our face. But that weighed against the negative PR of intentionally putting ourselves in a situation that results in damage / injury isn’t worth the risk.
Details on future opportunities at the reservation will be forthcoming.
