Waitlisted again- 6 years strait

[Bob Shuff]

Our troop just received results of our submission for 2018 treks.  We’ve been waitlisted for the 6th straight year.  We have over a hundred registered scouts in the troop, many who have been waiting for the guaranteed slot after being denied 5 years in a row.

What gives? Are we not gaming the system right?

Granted our committee leader has been requesting 7 day treks each year, and we realize those are more popular.  That’s essentially why we’ve waited so long to get those coveted slots.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Bob Shuff]

So disappointed I can’t spell straight!

[Aubrey W. Bogard]

Your Council should have contingency treks available.

[Bruce Tolley]

+1 on Council contingency treks

Our troop switched back to entering for the longer treks and got a slot.

There are councils in California and Montana (I think Ryan Jordan used to run one) and elsewhere that run HAT programs that are probably just as good as Philmont just without the allure and “brand.”

[Jake J]

Sorry to hear that your troop got wait listed, again. Which council are you in? I know that GLAAC sends a provisional group to Philmont every year. You may want to also check with other troops in your district and see if any of them are going and if so do they have any extra spots that arent being used?

[Bruce Tolley]

To the topic of gamesmanship I cannot speak. You might post the same question on the BSA volunteer forum on LinkedIn.  I know that our Troop enters the lottery almost every year and sometimes there is enough interest to apply for two slots. Since about 2005, on average I think we have gotten one slot about every second year which is better luck that your Troop has seen.  When I see posted trip reports on other sites on the web about Scout and Troops who have been to Philmont multiple times in succession, and then hear your story, one has to wonder.  One year we applied for two slots via the lottery and we sent two crews by winning one lottery slot and obtaining the contingency slot from the council.

[Bob Shuff]

First feedback from Philmont is that they changed the way they prioritize submissions in 2014, and 7 day trek requests are no longer part of that system.  Seems backwards, because I hear you can get 12-day treks regularly, but not 7 day treks.  Why would the priority system only apply to the ones hardest to get?

There are certainly other troops in our council that will have open spots, but it’s not really the same as a troop trek.  We thought we would have up to 4 crews able to commit for 2018, and maybe that was naive to expect the priority would apply to more than one request, but we didn’t expect to get zero slots.

I think we need to revisit this 7-day request strategy immediately.

[Bruce Tolley]

Good luck with your planning.

To your point, I agree the crew experience as a team is important. I would take a crew somewhere else rather than trying to fill up 2 or 3 empty slots in someone else’s crew.  But there have been years in our council where a Troop has been able to take the whole crew using the Council’s slot.

Bechtel? Northern TIer?

[ed dzierzak]

It doesn’t help with planning now, but for at least the past two years, Philmont has had open treks well after the lottery notifications. http://philmontscoutranch.org/~/link.aspx?_id=DA2125B7939848499B01770577D50C69&_z=z will show open trek dates for 2017 and 2018. This is the earliest I’ve seen them post open dates after the lottery. I’m willing to bet there will be more 2018 dates open once payments are due. IIRC, 2018 deposits are due in March, 2017.

[Gary Lewis]

Bob,

We just got a slot for 2017.  They have lots of treks available if you want to go next year.

http://philmontscoutranch.org/~/link.aspx?_id=DA2125B7939848499B01770577D50C69&_z=z

This was a link in an email from Philmont, They even had availability for a trek not listed on the website.

Good Luck,

Gary

[Bob Shuff]

Quick update.  We had 5 scouts join another troop from the area in July.  We also reserved (2) 12 day crew slots for late July next year.

Now I’m recruiting, and starting to plan by catching up on the latest posts here.

Thanks all for the great info in this subforum.

Bob

T777  Encinitas

 

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