Kandersteg 2020 | 4th Grand Falls Scouts & Venturers

Jan 19th Kandersteg 2020

Hard to imagine planning a trip to the Kandersteg International Scout Centre in 2020, when our 2019 trip to Kandersteg is still six months away, but some opportunities are just too amazing to ignore!

A group of dedicated Scouters from across Canada have teamed up to plan an amazing 11 day adventure in the mountains of Switzerland at the permanent world jamboree, KISC. The dates are July 10-July 20, 2020.

The dates were chosen to maximize the number of youth our kids will meet as most groups book KISC from Sunday – Saturday. With our dates we will over lap the group before and after our week! It also means we will get to participate in TWO international campfires (see below).

Activities

So what’s the big deal about KISC? What is there to do? Well the answer would take hours to explain, so here are a couple great videos to give you the idea. Make sure you also visit their website at https://www.kisc.ch/ and scroll through the pages, and pages, and pages of activities that are available to us!

This trip is unlike any other trip we have ever participated in. First off, each group attending will have complete flexibility on their program. As the 4th Grand Falls, we would book our activities directly from KISC with help, advice and support from the Canadian Contingent Program Team. This means we can literally do whatever we choose to do. Only exception is that there will be a full contingent day trip to Stresa, Italy that will be included in the cost.

Accommodations

The pricing assumes we will be camping, but we do have the option of booking rooms in the chalets instead. We can even go so far as to have some of us camping, and some of us in rooms! The cost of rooms varies based on the level of comfort and privacy you are looking for, with typical Scouting dorms with bunk beds (3-6 beds per room) starting at an additional 8 CHF/night or private rooms for an additional 20 CHF/night (1 CHF = $1.33 CAD).

Regardless of whether we decide to sleep in tents or cabins, we will NOT have to cook as most of our meals are included! For our remaining meals we can either stick with the catering at KISC, or eat on our day trips exploring Switzerland.

Pricing

The Canadian Contingent fee is $ 875 CAN per person, which includes:
• Campsite fees for 10 days, 10 nights
• Train travel to and from Kandersteg from your Swiss arrival and departure airport
• Breakfast for 10 days
• Lunch for 5 days
• Dinner meal for 5 days
• One Contingent Excursion (Stresa, Italy)
• Contingent Kit (cloths, crests, necker, etc)

Based on current airline pricing, we are likely expecting around $1,400 for airfare which would bring us to $2,275/person + extra meals, spending money, and activities.

Payment Schedule

On registration: $125 (non-refundable)
June 15, 2019: $100 (refundable before March 15, 2020)
September 15, 2019: $100 (non-refundable)
November 30, 2019: $ 150 (refundable before March 15, 2020)
February 15, 2020: $??.?? Total cost of all your KISC Activities
March 1, 2020: $500 (non-refundable)
May 1, 2020: $1,300 (or whatever the balance is for our flights – non-refundable)

Co-operative Approach

Given the flexibility of this trip and the limitless options of KISC, we will be approaching this trip VERY differently from previous trips. We will not be sending Scouters to facilitate the youth adventure, instead, all youth and Scouters will be registering as participants. For youth that are attending, the Scouters will still be there for you to support your adventures and keep you safe, but the difference is that the Scouters will also have an equal say in the program. The 4th Grand Falls KISC Team will be run as a co-operative and all decisions will be made as a team.

Requirements to Attend

For Scouters, the only requirement to attend will be to be a registered member, and to pay your own way.

For youth who have Scouter parents attending, there will be no requirements to attend aside from they will be to be a registered member, and to fundraise for and/or pay your own way.

For youth members who do NOT have Scouter parents attending, the requirements will be decided by the Scouters that are attending. Seeing as Scouters are paying their own way for this adventure, we will let them decide the requirements for the youth that want to join them.

Please note that the activities at KISC are geared towards Scouts, Venturer Scouts and Rover Scouts. That said, Beaver and Cub Scouts will still be permitted to participate providing that they have a Scouter parent attending with them.

Fundraising Policy

Youth participants will be able to raise money for this adventure as per our current fundraising policy. Adult Scouters will not be permitted to raise funds for their trip though as we have a policy that all donations are used for the youth members only. That said, if we have youth attending that do not have Scouter parents, we will allow Scouters to fundraise a small portion of their trip as they will be needed to supervise and support the youth not traveling with parents.

Information Night

We’ll have an information night on Sunday, January 27th at 7:00pm. Please do your best to attend as we need to register our group ASAP to ensure we don’t miss out. National registration opens on February 1st, and only 250 spaces are available for the entire Canadian Contingent!

Team KISC Contact

For the time being, you can contact me, Scouter Jason at jason@gfwscouting.ca if you have any questions about the event. I will be taking care of registration and early planning until we can get another Scouter to take over. While I do plan to attend, I am not interested in leading the team 🙂

4th Grand Falls Scouts & Venturers2019 World Jamboree and the 2019 European Adventure!