Did you know that all of the girls at camp can climb our Alpine Tower, even the youngest Juniors? You might think a 1st grader would be too little, but if she wants to sign up and give it a try, she can. When campers first take Climbing for one of their activity periods, they meet at the gym steps so a counselor an escort them through the woods to the tower (like all climbing trips, there’s some hiking to start off.). Next, they receive an orientation to the basic safety equipment: the harness, helmet, and rope. After the staff members in charge demonstrate the belay commands and a few climbing tips, it’s time to get climbing! The Alpine Tower, if you didn’t see it, is a 50-foot tall pyramid shaped tower constructed of wide telephone poles, bolts, aircraft cables, and ropes. The company that built ours still builds them all over the world. What’s neat is that there are over 90 different ways to climb the Alpine Tower, different obstacles (“Elements”) and maneuvers to get you to the top… ropes, ladders, walls and poles with holds bolted on. Also we can have up to 6 girls climbing at the same time, each belayed separately and climbing up a different way. Some routes up are easy and great for the littlest girls, and others are more difficult and challenging for the experienced climbers. The Alpine Tower is super fun, and as you might guess, very popular as well.
At dinner tonight the Hi-Ups inspired everyone to dress up for “Pop Star Appreciation” night. We got to see some crazy, and creative costumes. I think I saw Hannah Montana, Taylor Swift, 3 or 4 Lady Gaga girls, and several more generic Pop Stars. All through the meal, the tables took turns signing pop songs too. It was amazing how well the girls new the lyrics to so many songs! The food tonight was amazing also. Rick and crew served homemade pizza. I saw him mixing the dough in the afternoon (a giant batch of flour, yeast, butter and water) and touching up the marinara sauce. We had bowls of fresh blueberries and blackberries, and our regular salad bar offerings as well. For dessert, Liz made us chocolate tart bars which were a huge hit. There might have been one crumb left in the dining hall at the end!
That’s all for now. Of course, lots more is going on than what I highlight in these blog posts, so be sure to scan through the photo gallery as well. We’re posting photos everyday.
That looks fun