Date: 21st of January 2008

Hi All,

Last day off for the camp today so everyone had a sleep in although not as late as usual as it was the annual AWSC paintball battle. Everyone headed down for breakfast at 8.00am and the anticipation among the group while everyone was enjoying Emma’s final cooked breakfast of eggs and bacon was high.

The weather was again clear and sunny but very cold, minus 15 degrees cold – perfect for paintballing….not! The vans with the first group of eager paintballers left just before 9.00am. Before we departed we advised everyone numerous times to take a change or clothes or at least shoes, a pair of gloves, a hat and jackets as it was minus 15 and they’d be running around outside in the snow. As usual most opted not to listen to anything remotely sounding like good sound advice. So we took off on the 30 minutes drive to Bushwacker Paintball down in Vernon and arrived just after 9.30am but not before I made a quick detour to Tim Hortons for 200  ‘Tim Bits’ (mini doughnut) for the crew.

We arrived at the venue to find pretty much nothing but snow and trees, yep we were in the boondocks and it could have even been a scene out of a horror movie. Everyone donned their protective overalls, received their paintaball gun and made their way over to the marshalling area to receive the pre game briefing. After a quick safety demonstration and run-down on the do’s and don’ts the groups split into two teams for the first game. The whistle blew and it was on, paintballs flying everywhere with a flurry of yelling and screaming (the occasional one in pain as people were hit). The first game didn’t last too long as everyone had either used all their paint balls too quickly or were just taken out. When they came out of the game area to reload they looked like a pretty sorry (or should I say freezing) bunch. The flimsy tennis shoes, not hats and no gloves action didn’t perform running around in shin deep snow for most of the group. A quick reload with paintballs plus some hot chocolate and donuts and it was back out there. The next few games were much better and they were done and back in the vans heading for home at around 11.30am and back at midday.

Lunch of pumpkin soups and cheesy nachos was just what the first group needed to warm after a chilly morning. A quick re charge of the hot chocolate thermoses, and the second group was in the vans (this time the older group) and it was back down to Vernon and Bushwacker Paintball. Group two did not miss out on the Tim Horton’s as I also made a another stop to grab another200 mini doughnuts. When we arrived they went through the same safety demo as the earlier group but this time coach Chris suggested to the company owner that they play “King of the Castle’ . This basically involves a small group (coaches) trying to protect their castle while the invaders (kids) trying to take the castle. The whistle blew and it was game on except none of the invaders moved, too scared that the coaches were going to nail them (that’s the name of the game guys). After a bit of prompting from the referee there was movement but still the game was a bit of a dud. Reload, warm by the fire, hot chocolate and it was back out for a regular game with two teams basically just trying to shoot each other. Much more fun and a better game and everyone was finally into it and willing to get out and give it a go. They had a few more games after that and headed for home around 3.30pm. Great day, all be it cold of paintballing!

Dinner was a tasty spaghetti bolognaise with garlic bread and salad plus chocolate ice.

Pinky could have gone to numerous people today with the paintball session attracting many candidates but Pinky has decided his award should go to Katherine (Kate) Scott who when reading the paintball list yesterday to see which van she was in asked "who's Katherine?"

Tonight’s activity was pretty relaxed after a big day of paintballing. Ski and Snowboard DVD here at the lodge was the call for the night. The skiers were treated to the new ‘ Yeah Dude’ movie while the boarders watched ‘Optimistic’ and ‘DC Mtn Lab’.

We’re heading into the last 3 days of training with full days scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with Friday scheduled as a freeskiing / freeriding day.

That’s about it for today, just a short one due to the day off.

Until Tomorrow

Stowie