This month, the VOA took its regular meeting on the road with a visit to Boston's Deli and Pizza in Bremerton. The meeting was hosted by Chris Gifford and the NW Tri-District VOA. The goal of the meeting was to give crews who cannot normally attend meetings due to time or distance the opportunity to do so. It was great to see all of the new faces there!

The VOA holds meetings every 3rd Tuesday of the month. Most are held at the Chief Seattle Council Service Center in Seattle (3120 Rainier Avenue South), although occasionally it visits other areas. These meetings are open to anyone and are an opportunity to work with the VOA, meet people from other crews and ships, and get the latest scoop about upcoming events. See you next month in Seattle!

We made it through the Venturing Winter Challenge! I want to echo what Avalon said in her recap article and thank everyone who participated, staffed, or in any way helped out with the event! We couldn't have done it without you.

We had nearly a hundred people there during the weekend, even more then were at the Fall Rendezvous back in October. We had a great slate of activities, trainings, and fun events, and we're already looking for ways to expand and grow the program for next year. Rumor has it that Crew 115 and their snowmobiles might be making an appearance again, but we'll have to wait a few more months to find out for sure.

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Last July, four members of Crew 310, including VOA President Ian Bellows, accompanied a National Speleological Society expedition to study the Snow Dragon ice cave on Mt. Hood. The group, which also included Daniel Bollinger, Frances Steelquist, and Robin Thomas, helped a team of volunteers pack in 1600 pounds of food and scientific equipment to the base camp on the Sandy Glacier. The group also had a chance to rappel down into the caves themselves.

The Snow Dragon cave complex is the largest ice cave complex in the Lower 48, and one of the largest in the world. To date, over a mile of passages has been mapped, ranging from open spaces the size of an airplane hangar to claustrophobic passages only accessible with scuba gear. Scientists are trying to determine why the Northwest's climate allows for the formation of massive ice caves, such as the one that once existed at Paradise on Mt. Rainier, and how these may be affected by climate change in the coming year. Crew 310 learned about the opportunity from Rick Krause, Adviser for Crew 9510 of Madras, Oregon. Originally scheduled to climb Mt. Jefferson with Rick between trips, conditions weren’t looking good for a summit attempt, so the crew diverted to Mt. Hood instead.

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This past weekend, the VOA held the 3^rd Annual Venturing Winter Challenge at Ensign Ranch. The event was a huge success, with nearly 100 youth and adults in attendance from around our council and beyond.

The VWC featured a wide range of exciting activities, including climbing, geocache, and shooting sports. There were also a number of well-attended seminars, including the Intro to Mountaineering and Avalanche Awareness, taught by Scott Schell of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center (NWAC). Youth and adult leaders had the opportunity to attend a summit led by the VOA officers to learn about upcoming events and getting more involved with the VOA. Highlights of the evening included a dutch oven dessert competition, music, and fellowship that continued into the early hours of the morning.

The VOA would like to thank to all of the staff that made this event possible, especially those that helped out with program areas and in the kitchen. We couldn't have done it without you!

If you missed the VWC, it's not too early to start thinking about next year. The VOA will return to Ensign Ranch for the 4^th Annual VWC February 7-9, 2014. Mark your calendars now!

If it seems like there's something happening just about every weekend, you're not imagining things. It's a busy time for our VOA, and as spring gets closer things will only get better/worse. But let's slow down and take things one at a time.

These past few weeks, my officers and I have been hard at work putting together the VWC. Its been a challenge getting all of our program areas lined up, all of our printing done, and making a few last minute calls to Ensign Ranch, but I think we've made it. Today is the day where we get to see all of our hard work pay off. Somebody wise in show business once said something along the lines of "You don't go on because you're ready, you go on because it's 7 PM and the curtain's going up". When the curtain goes up tonight in Cle Elum we'll be ready, and I think you'll like what we've put together for you.

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