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Scouts looking for adventurers

By Andrew Mitchell The international Boy Scouts motto is "Be Prepared", but the Whistler Scouts were anything but at the beginning of the season.

By Andrew Mitchell

The international Boy Scouts motto is "Be Prepared", but the Whistler Scouts were anything but at the beginning of the season.

After some turnover in Scout leaders, the group got off to its recruiting drive late this year, missing the Strut Your Stuff community registration fair.

Now the group, which typically has around 15 boys a year, may have to fold if they can’t increase numbers. They currently have around five scouts.

"We haven’t had a regular leader for a while, but I’m here now," said Ewen Addison, a ten-year scout master who recently moved to Whistler from Sydney, Australia. He will be running the programs along with Mike Dean, who has volunteered for several years.

The group plays games like basketball and dodgeball, and does some "traditional scouting stuff". They also spend a lot of time outside learning outdoor skills, and have their own cabin 15 minutes south of Whistler.

This winter, the participating scouts will get an introduction to scuba diving, and a snowmobiling tour. There will also be ski days, and the group hopes to build and stay in a snow cave.

"It would be a shame if there weren’t any scouts this year," said Addison. "We could go camping this weekend if we had more people, and we have some great activities planned for the winter."

To bump up the numbers, Addison is extending an invitation to parents of boy’s aged 11 to 14 to come to a Monday night session at the Myrtle Philip gymnasium, between 7 and 9 p.m. and see if they might be Boy Scout material.

The younger Beavers and Cub Scout groups have strong turnouts this year, but would also welcome a few new faces.

For more information, contact Ewen Addison at 604-907-0961 or Mike Dean at 604-932-8977.