Prepare

Preparing your Team

There are several things that you can do as a team to prepare for this grand event.  Those teams that come prepared tend to have the greatest success and the most fun.  Here are some of the ways that teams can prepare ahead of time:

• Team Leader Training – This will allow your Team Captain and other team leaders to be ready to take the full responsibility of leadership during the rendezvous. This is key to your team’s success.
• Study the Mountain Man – This can be done by inviting a mountain man to your team meetings to show and discuss their “stuff”. Or perhaps you may want to visit a clan, do some reading, use the Frontiersman pamphlet or by any other means begin to understand what the mountain man was, how they dressed, and what they used in their day to day life. Each Jan/Feb there is a rendezvous at the Winter National Muzzleloader competition at the Ben Avery shooting range. Attend if possible and check out traders row.
• Make Regalia – Work as a team to make shirts, pants, moccasins, canteens, possible bags, medicine pouches, powder horns, knives, sheaths, scabbards, hawks, beads, stools or other mountain man gear. This will give an opportunity to appreciate your mountain man uniforms and to look real sharp as a team at the rendezvous. Although it is not necessary that patterns and colors of the regalia match, for the purpose of using the regalia as a uniform, it is necessary that all boys in a unit have the same items – shirts, pants, capotes, and hats. Additional items could add some extra points. Regalia is the uniform for this activity and adds points to those given for participation in the other activities. (See Resource Document for more information about specific items and for patterns).
• Make Trading Items – Work as a team or in small groups to make mountain man items for the trading blanket. This will allow your team members to trade for other items that you may not have had time to make. Find what you are good at making and make several of them of good quality to trade. The more you put into making an item the more it is worth on the trading blanket.
• Build Teamwork – Work together to build teamwork within your team. Your success in the Colter Run and many other rendezvous activities rely heavily on teamwork. Use C.O.P.E. exercises in your team program to accomplish this.
• Build a Service Attitude – We will once again be looking for teams that demonstrate “Live the Oath, Obey the Law” (LTO-OTL) in service, spirit and deed. Instilling a general attitude of service and excellence in your team will help them to succeed. Look for opportunities at the rendezvous to go above and beyond what is expected.

Vehicle Preparation

Transportation for scout outings is very important. The BSA is very much aware of the special needs for travel. Being safe is of utmost importance.  Please make sure there is adequate space for all passengers in the vehicles you will use for transportation to and from the rendezvous.  Don't count a place for a rider unless an operational seat belt is available.  Remember! Count the vehicles you need by the number of seat belts available in the vehicle. Having vehicles that drop you off and return to pick you up may be a significant advantage.

Since the location of the Rendezvous does not have adequate facilities for so many vehicles, to ensure the safety of both vehicles and participants on the activity site, only one vehicle from each team will be allowed into camp to unload unit equipment and then it will return promptly to the parking area. All other vehicles will park and remain in the designated parking area.

Vehicle safety is also important.  Please take time to review the Motor Vehicle Checklist for each of the vehicles transporting youth.  The Motor Vehicle Checklist can be found here..

Uniforms

As usual, emphasis on uniforms is a key part of the success of any Team and we encourage all Varsity Scouts and their Leaders to have a "class B uniform" consisting of the following minimum Mountain Man regalia: shirt, pants, hat, capote.  All scouts and leaders should arrive in uniform (regalia) and plan on wearing them for appropriate activities including all general assemblies (i.e. campfire, retreat, flag raising. etc.).   Rendezvous "class B uniforms" include any number of "early American" costumes.  Mountain Man capotes, drop sleeve shirts, frontier shirts, etc. help to add to the experience and provide activities for the months prior to the rendezvous.  Patterns are available in the "Frontiersman" Varsity activity book and in the “resources” rendezvous booklet.

There will be a uniform (regalia) inspection station setup in the Hiverano (headquarters) area and team regalia photos will be taken there and throughout the activities of the Rendezvous.  Each team is encouraged to present themselves at headquarters during the rendezvous activity time and have their uniforms or regalia scored.  This activity will replace the uniform inspection process previously done by the team captains at flag ceremony. A portion of the points awarded for the Mountain Man activities will come from the regalia inspection.


Resources

You can find a great deal of information on clothing, tools, campsites, and more from this period on the internet.  Here are two of our favorites:

Silver Creek Mountain Man Rendezvous Resource Manual

Varsity Rendezvous.