Jun

17

Staff Training

Filed Under Events, Travel 

Staff Training

See the new pictures in the gallery.

Staff training began with 9 inches of snow on the ground. The melting snow made the ground soggy and hindered travel – even across the grounds. It’s very pretty, especially on Gypsum (the mountain visible from the lodge), but it forced some changes of plan.

Training includes things like camp policies and procedures, camp history, orientation with various activities, and preparation for counseling. The camp history is very interesting. I’m not sure that much of it is published anywhere. There is a lot of information, but it would be nice to see it all written down sometime. Policies and procedures are rarely interesting, but the unique location of the camp requires some different twists on typical camp practices.

Orientation included acclimatization. The camp is at 8600 feet above sea level. The cliffs for which it is named are just less than 9000 feet. Most of the staff has needed a week and a half to get used to the thin air. We played lots of outside games that helped get us used to less oxygen. When you’re not used to the air, even a walk from the pavilion (at the bottom of the hill) to the lodge (at the top of the hill – about 70 feet of change in elevation) can be a struggle.

We were scheduled to hike to the cliffs on the first day. The snow made the trail treacherous, so we played ultimate Frisbee in the meadow. We finally made the hike later during training. On Saturday (June 8th) we drove to the Green River Lakes near the headwaters of the Green River. The lakes are nestled between several mountains. The scenery is spectacular. On the second Friday of training, we hiked Little Sheep, a “hill” near the camp. The elevation at the top is about 10,000 feet. It was a brutal hike for anyone, especially those of us who were a little out of shape and not fully acclimated to the altitude. At the top there were beautiful views in every direction. The Teton Range was easily visible (about 50 miles away) and we could see nearly to Pinedale (30 miles away). It was quite windy at the top. Some of the grass and trees were growing sideways because of the constant gale. On the north slope there are snow banks. A popular activity for staff is to sled down the snow on plastic bags. Melanie did it once and sort of hurt herself. I didn’t do it at all. I didn’t want to wet and didn’t want to hike back up. A few people didn’t mind; they slid down several times.

The cliffs at Red Cliff provide more than a nice vista. During camp, we use them for rappelling. There is a 40-foot cliff and a 150-foot cliff. Melanie and I are both on the rappelling team, since Daniel York, the program team leader, wants to run as many lines as possible. Melanie will suit up rappellers with harnesses and I will supervise and man the fireman belay at the bottom of the cliff. The climbers are double-belayed, which means that there are two ropes on them for safety. My crew at the bottom can stop someone from falling simply by pulling on our rope.

One of the other events during training was the first God-Focused Whetstone conference at Red Cliff. The Whetstone conference is a two-day series of sessions and workshops for pastors and laymen. It attempts to provide them with useful ministry tools and needed spiritual refreshment. Many pastors in the inter-mountain west have small works in difficult areas. Mormonism is widespread and there are few people to begin with. The keynote speaker for the conference was Dr. Frank Hammrick, president of Positive Action for Christ ministries. Pastor Aaron Young of Elko, Nevada, and Pastor Jason Ehmann of Rexburg, Idaho, also spoke for some of the session. The guys on staff attended the evening sessions. Todd Wood, a pastor in Idaho Falls, organized and spearheaded the conference.

It looks like Melanie and I will be taking the SALT counselors to a church in Lander, WY sometime fairly soon. The church there has no pastor at the moment. Its former pastor and his family have moved to Greenville to take care of his in-laws. Mr. Dean says that we’ll probably have the whole service, so I’ll be preaching – possibly twice.

Next week is Junior Camp I. Pray that it goes well. I think the counselors are well-prepared, but I’m not sure that they think so.

Comments

3 Responses to “Staff Training”

  1. Dad G on June 17th, 2007 1:24 pm

    Sounds like a great week! Let us know if we need to do anything for you on this end.

  2. Mom B on June 18th, 2007 8:32 am

    Enjoy reading the updates and the pictures are great, beautiful country. Wish I was there. I would like to see more pictures of you, Melanie, and Matt. Also a picture of the camp director and his family would be great.

  3. Andrew on June 24th, 2007 5:15 pm

    We’ll see what we can do.

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