On Saturday, September 28, 2013, Troop 1 visited Catamount Adventure Park. Below is a summary from our Troop historian, Elias Chaiken:
Saturday, the twenty-eighth of september, troop one katonah met at 8:15 A.M. at the katonah elementary school parking lot to prepare for a day trip to the catamount ropes course. Departing at 8:30 A.M., the troop then proceeded to drive to catamount. There were 13 people in total who went and 7 troop scouts amongst them. Among the people who went was Elias Chaiken, Jack Kristensen and his father, Chris Kristensen, Robert Bauer, Jack Kelleher, Thor Adamec and his sister Dakota along with their father Tom Adamec, and finally Marty Stuttman and his Mom Christine, Aiden Cryan and his Dad Bill, and Paul Esposito and his Mom Darlene. After an hour and a half ride with beautiful scenery of upstate New York, the group had finally arrived at Catamount.
Once their, the group went inside and before people were given equipment and training, the group quickly snacked on donuts brought by Tom Adamec. When the group was finished snacking, they proceeded to put valuables into lockers provided in the main indoor room of the building in the area. Equipment such as harnesses, two attached “one at a time lock” carabiners, a zip line pulley and finally a pair of heavy duty gloves to prevent splinters from metal cables in the course. A staff member, stephanie, the proceeded to teach the group the proper procedures used in the course and safety precautions as well. Once everybody in the group was informed and ready, the group then proceeded up a mountain to a thick tree’d area where the actual course is.
When the group had gotten to the course, they were greeted with a wonderful scenery of many people having fun and a nice atmosphere. Proceeding through trails, the group then arrived at the main area where water was provided for hydration and coat hooks so that people could leave their jackets brought due to chilly weather. A starter constructed building with two levels was present. Climbers could take wooden stairs to the first level/floor where they could either go on green or yellow courses. Green was the easiest and yellow was moderate. On the second level, arriving via climbing up a wall was open to blue and black courses. Blue being hard and black being extreme. There were two of each course. Thinking of what to do first, the group then said that everyone had to begin on either a yellow or green course. With the information at hand, the troop then branched off into little groups and proceeded on either yellow or green courses and continued their own ways. Hours of fun passed by and everyone had a wonderful time. The younger scouts proceeded to do either green yellow or blue (in brave enough) courses. The older scouts proceeded to do blue and black diamond courses. A note of achievement would be the group that conquered the double black diamond course, being the hardest one. Among these brave and skilled people were Elias Chaiken, Tom Adamec, Thor Adamec and Dakota Adamec. When people became tired, they then had the option of taking a grand zip line down to the main building. Probably over a quarter mile, a series of ziplines, some long and some incredibly long, took people through the woods, platform to platform and across a main field/hill that is used for skiing in the winter that allowed a fantastic view of the distant woods, mountains, the sunny/perfect amount of clouds sky, and the people and building below. Once the troop, at their own times, took the zipline down, they then met in the food room to eat either lunches they had brought or purchase food at an available indoor food shack. Once rested and relaxed, the troop then parted ways and said goodbye to one another and catamount itself.
By Elias Chaiken
Troop 1 Katonah Historian