Winter Camp Report Part #2

Part 2 - Sorry for the delay, the author did not attend much of monday, and needed to conduct in depth interviews, review tape, and in general procrastinate.

Ahhh, the gift exchange. A Waterloo tradition which usually means finding the best crap in your house and re-gifting like a champ. Depending on the person, who either receive quality, thoughtful gifts, or equally quality, thoughtful, environmentally sustainable but un-economically stimulating super-presents. A bit of an epic this time around, as Justin and Kelly had some serious wedding-present re-gifting to do. Highlights were Surabhi generously donating a laundry hamper, received by Team Faulkner, Nellie gifting some solid food as well as cupboard leftovers, and Mike Neilly receiving a well-loved, piece-of-Barn history frying pan. After everyone had revelled in their new toys, and Colin and Derek had continued to wrestle with the hot tub which was determined to stay dry, the team wrapped it up and headed to bed.
Monday welcomed in the third variety of weather for the weekend. With high winds and plenty of rain, as well as near double digit temperatures, the trail conditions had deteriorated to a disgusting mess. However, Waterloo being the keeners they are, it didn’t prevent the Activity of the Day. A skating race with the style of an inverse pursuit was on the schedule, and the athletes grudgingly headed to Larry’s Glacier for the race. Most spent the way up questioning just what the heck they were doing, mainly due to the conditions being absolute trash. The trails were soft and littered with branches. As well, there was a nice surprise on the trails as it was necessary to ski across a monstrous lake (at least 20 ft deep) which had formed on the trails. Finally arriving at Larry’s Glacier, the collective combined brainpower decided that the conditions were less than ideal for a race and it was cancelled, resulting in thunderous applause from the gathered team. The time trial was replaced with skiing one lap of the course and heading back to the Woolner house. This signalled the end of the camp for a number of athletes as those with the larger brains headed on back to Waterloo.
However, in the continuing trend of the camp, the weather had other plans. Instead of staying warm, the temperature dipped rapidly to below freezing. This resulted in the top layer of the snow becoming very icy. With continued high winds, the conditions were perfect for some tarp skiing on the crust. Despite the fantastic idea, there was no tarp available, making the past two sentences entirely redundant. Instead, some nice crust skiing was accomplished, with biblically fast conditions.
Back at the house, the hot tub was finally filled up and operational. Unfortunately it takes longer to heat up than it takes an Arts student to do basic math, so it would be at least another day before all of the hard work getting it to operational would finally pay off, and the team could successfully have a hot tub.


Thanks to D-Rok, who proved an invaluable asset to this entry. You win a living spot in the Barn for the Winter 2009! Congratulations!
All others, apply within for your chance to win.