Ryan, given the economic times this is a great gesture. I don’t have a super fantastic idea on how you could give this away, but here are some of my thoughts about what has been presented:

If you give it to the best MYOG guy, then the best gear list guy will miss out,
or the best Food Girl(s),
or the lightest pack person,
or the guy who sells the most gear,
or the guy who gives (free) the most gear away
or the guy who buys the most on the gear swap,
or the guy who post the most to chaff,
or the person who has been on the forum the longest,
or the guy who spends the most time on the forums,
or……

good luck on singling out someone from the above- they all deserve it.. and many others that I haven’t mentioned.

BTW, I would be happy to drive the 10 hours from Seattle to attend, but I don’t fit into any of the categories above .
Edited 7/21 Maybe I fit- the guy who reads the most posts without commenting

Edited by bestbuilder on 07/21/2009 18:28:00 MDT.

> or the guy who post the most to chaff...

Whatever you do, don't do that! :)

Whoever it goes to, it would be good to see if they could actually benefit from it. If it's the intro course, I'm sure lots of people around here are already at/past/way past that level. Might be good to give it to someone who could really benefit - where it would be more of a quantum leap in technique.

Just make it a random contest giveaway. One entry per person who is interested and wants to go.

WOW!! Here goes my first post to anything ,ever, and I am 50 years old. I am a backpacker from way back and basically quit 2 decades ago partly because everything was too heavy.A year my friend asked me to take him camping. I told him we had to go light. Last August we went to Heart lake in Yellowstone with 35-40 pound packs. This April I planned a trip to Paria canyon/ Buckskin gulch with packs about 27 pounds. After that I discovered BPL and got hooked. Now it's a personal challenge to reduce weight. We recently went to the Adirondack High peaks where I carried 22 pounds and was quite happy. Now the good (BAD)part. We have been planning a trip to Denali for about six months and are scheduled to leave on August 13th. I told my friend that I wanted to take one of your seven day courses, but our Alaska trip conflicts with your August and September trip. Then 2 days ago while on a full gear practice hike for Alaska I slipped and fell down an embankment and landed on my back in the middle of a creek. Yes, I broke my back(really good pain pills allow me to write this)L1 compression fracture. Er doctor says I have nice square cubes, that this is a stable clean break and should heal well. I am truly happy that I can walk and talk. But I'm bummed about Alaska cause I have ruined it for both of us. So I nominate my friend for the class because I messed up his trip. But he is a high school teacher and could not go. Besides I really need the benifit of your knowledge now. I think that I really will NEED to govery light now. So if it's OK I nominate me. I believe I reallly have a lot to learn from you guys and expect to be around here a long time. Thanks Jim

Random. Parallel nature. Simple

Random +1.

Why not disqualify all BPL people and donate it to some needy inner city youth?

Random Plus yet another

Whew!

All the ideas are good, and I am exited to be a part of this process.

I feel like we (at BPL) need to get a tidy plan in place. Someone is going to need to make travel plans and organize their time away from home.

So - keep the ideas coming, and review this page (and download the PDF)
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/wilderness_skills_i.html

Keep an eye on this site, we'll announce a plan that feels fare and fun.

It'll happen soon!

cheers from the rockies,
Mike C!

Seems like this would be a good chance to introduce lightweight backpacking to those who haven't yet tried it.

My suggestion is to post the information on some other backpacking websites, like backpacker.com, whiteblaze, etc. Make it an essay contest, with the applicants describing why they NEED the course. Make a word limit.

While it would be neat for someone from this group to win it, I think this is too good an opportunity to get a little awareness out to keep it totally in-house.

If we have the capacity of setting up a poll (even an outside one that could be accessed from this site via link), the staff could choose the top 10 and then let forum members vote on the winner.

Taking the original intent down the trail a bit...what about starting a general scholarship program. It could be as simple as a paypal account whereby people either donate or sell gear on the swap with proceeds going to the chosen beneficiaries?

I like the idea of a scholarship program. But it strikes me as goofy for people to pay for scholarship spots for a for-profit outfitter.

There's that idea of "preachin' to the choir," which makes me wonder about giving the slot to someone active in our community.

I think that the most potential for good to come from an open/free slot would be to get an adult Scouter in there. We all know how heavy Scouts tend to pack. If you could find someone who has a reputation for being actively involved with Scout backpacking trips in your area, transportation costs could even be pretty minimal. And then that Scout leader could come back to the troop, the kids, the adults... teaching them about lightening up.

Yup, that's it... Find an active Scout leader, maybe one whose troop is gearing up for a Philmont trip next year or something.

Cheers-

>I like the idea of a scholarship program. But it strikes me as goofy
>for people to pay for scholarship spots for a for-profit outfitter.

One can still be "for profit" and "for a cause." A good book on the subject is Yvon Chouinard's book: Let My People Go Surfing. Additionally, just because you are "for profit" doesn't mean you make a profit. As goofy as it may seem, many people are happy to support business-sponsored programs which share values and go above and beyond to do so and it is no conflict of interest to have a fund set up for that cause. I understand your concern, thus let's suppose a scholarship here could work better with matching volunteer services or other provisions (such as gear) from BPL. Obviously, by the very nature of this thread, they are willing to do so.

(I speak to this as a fellow, "for a cause" business owner.)

Edited by biointegra on 07/23/2009 16:02:52 MDT.

And donating money to Patagonia so they could give jackets away would be goofy.

Just curious if the slot was given away, and who was selected?

Pam

I'm too old and decrepit to keep up with you folks. Besides, I insist on my TP! And that weekend I'll be backpacking (slowly) with folks from another forum. I can think of some worthy teenagers but they'll be back in school. I presume that the winner will have to pay his/her way to Montana. That leaves me out of ideas this late at night....:-)

If there's a way to give this slot to someone who could not otherwise afford it, I hope you'll do so!

Edited by hikinggranny on 08/25/2009 00:25:59 MDT.

Well, I'm not too proud to say it. I spent all last year planning on taking the 7 day course. Then the economy went into the crapper. Not sure I'll have a teaching job to go back to in the fall because 4,500 teachers lost their jobs. I'd love to take it!

Edited by socalpacker on 08/28/2009 00:39:39 MDT.

Give it to a soldier's kid in the area who's into backpacking and whose mom or dad is currently deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan. You could work through a local MWR office on a nearby installation to make it happen. Or your local Guard/Reserve unit (Guard and Reserve kids would be a great choice, as many of those families don't have the kind of support families around an installation do, but their moms and dads are deployed in harm's way as well.) But you'd better hurry, time is running out!

As a veteran, however, I have to acknowledge that Douglas has a great idea.

Edited by socalpacker on 08/28/2009 00:48:01 MDT.