Unit Lottery

[Jamie Barnes]

I know this really isn't a Philmont forum specifically but it's about the only place on the internet I can find a forum for Philmont so forgive the non backpacking question. If there is a Philmont forum I'd like to know about it. We are planning on applying for a unit lottery for a 2017 trek. I have a question on number of participants for the lottery. I think we might have enough scouts to have two crews. I know we have enough adults willing/able to make two. Per PSR rules we could have two crews with five scouts and four adults in each crew. Does anyone know the best way to be able to get two crew slots starting on the same day without over committing the number of participants? I've read the reservation worksheet, etc. I guess what the real question is if we only have 9 scouts make a commitment by the unit lottery application deadline and I put in 12 for the number of slots can we go back and increase the number of people attending to say 18 and be able to split into two crews traveling on the same date but taking different itineraries? I'm not sure about the flexibility of adding a crew at a later date providing we get a unit lottery slot for one crew. Sorry for the newbie question. I've never done a unit lottery and neither has anyone in our troop. We would prefer to do a unit trek for several reasons. Will consider a council contingent if we don't get a unit lottery slot. Thanks! Jamie.

[Aubrey W. Bogard]

Hi Jamie. Our Troop won lottery slots for two 2016 treks at the beginning of this year. We paid the $100/participant deposit for nearly two full crews, assuming that we would have that many participants based upon past years. Unfortunately, we have been unable to get that many to commit prior to the 01 Oct date when the first half of the expedition fee is due. As Lead Adviser, I called and spoke with the lady who urged me to send payment only for the quantity of committed crewmembers. She explained that we could have paid deposits for the minimum (7/crew), and that we can add participants up until the day before the trek begins. Had I known what I know now, that is what we would have done, because now we are unlikely to fill as many slots as we paid deposits for. YIS, Aubrey

[Daniel Budd]

Hi Jamie, I think you should speak with reservations at Philmont, they should be able to answer your questions pretty clearly. There are a lot of "sister" crews at Philmont. They can definitely help you. Hi Aubrey, Don't worry too much about the extra deposits down. We made videos of our training trips and shared them on our troop web site. The crew would also tell the other boys about training and how much fun they were having. Pretty soon we had too many who wanted to go. Give it time, boys can jump in and those deposits will be used. We also had talked to neighboring troops who had boys at a last chance age to go to Philmont, they were ready to join our troop to get on the Philmont trip if a spot was open. Unfortunately for them we did not. Maybe have a parents meeting and show some Philmont promo videos. Let them know how this is the chance of a lifetime, and that fundraising can help a lot with the expense. I hope you fill up! Best! Dan

[Jay L]

As has been said, you should pay for the bare minimum (7 people) per crew and add people right up until you arrive at base camp. I do not know however, if you can add another crew should you have more than 12. As an aside, I highly recommend the Baltimore Area Council's Philmont Advisors Guide (http://www.bacphilmont.org/pag.html). 100+ pages of lessons learned. Best $10 I spent for my first time out there.

[ed dzierzak]

Jamie, Yes, the minimum is 7 – at least 2 adults (no more than 3) and the rest scouts. If you think that the minimum you'll have is 14, then you could go with two crews with the distribution above. Philmont will be glad to take a check for more participants when you arrive. At this point, pay the minimum. When progress payments come due, stick with the number you started with, not more. You can reconcile the overage on arrival. If you end up with more than 24, an additional crew slot may not be available. It's unlikely there'll be a vacant slot on the start date you'll have. +1 on the Philmont Advisors Guide… I've done this a few times… ;)

[Jamie Barnes]

Thanks for the info as always guys. Bottom line I guess is if we want to make sure we have two crew slots we need to make sure we have enough to at least make two crews of 7 at lottery application time. Got a good feel for numbers last night at our troop meeting. One of our Eagle Scouts worked on Philmont staff this summer. Make a great presentation for the scouts/parents and I had an informational meeting for the parents. Had a sign up sheet with one of two columns to check – I'm ready to put down my deposit and I'm not sure. We had six scouts ready to put down a deposit and four maybe. I'm pretty sure we have at least two scouts, if not three, in the deposit category that weren't there last night. We will see if we have 10 scouts ready to put down a deposit by the lottery application deadline. I have already ordered the BAC Philmont Advisors Guide and have read most, if not all, of it. Great resource. Well worth the money and major kudos to those involved with producing it. Jamie.

[ed dzierzak]

Jamie said – "We will see if we have 10 scouts ready to put down a deposit by the lottery application deadline." If you have some undecided you can still request 2 crews at the Lottery time. You can return one crew before it's deposit time if you're sure you don't need it. 'Tis good to be sure, but better to be prepared. ed

[Jamie Barnes]

Good idea Ed. Thanks! Nothing officially committed until you send in deposits. Jamie.

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