Klondike

Last weekend I participated with the young men in the Klondike Derby.  This was my first Klondike, and definately the funnest one I've been to!  Along with great food and good company, there were dog-sled races, orienteering, history lessons, and a seige-engine competition.

Our Troop/Team 125 focused on the construction and use of a Floating-Arm Trebuchet for our seige engine.  With design in hand and a willing leader, the boys built this little number:  



The only preliminary requirement of the competition was to be able to throw a tennis ball.  When we arrived at the firing range, we were challenged to throw snow balls over a bank of snow speedily.  No target...no distance challenge (at least not a challenge for our machine).  While we were not built for speed, we were built for awesomeness. 

The actual competition was to fire 3 shots over one bank, reposition, fire 3 shots over the second bank, and then report.  The boys were not quite satisfied with their final shot, so after finally reporting, they went back and fired a final decent shot.  They were launching snowballs about 100 feet, which was farther than any other machine there.