Keith here.

I wholly agree with Mike's comment on the hard work of the leadership team and nobody did more then Mike himself - superb job Mike.

Whilst being targeted by some KLM cabin crew, armed with a mirror to look under the kilts, the three members from our flight ALL said the same about the behaviour of the Scouts (oh, and the leaders of course) so I would like to add my thanks to everyone for being excellent ambassadors of Scouting.

One of the fascinating things about being a leader is seeing the youngsters grow up, and in most (but not all) cases mature into young men and women and it is often even noticable during a week at camp. This was again seen during this trip, which gave the young people a huge opportunity to have the freedom, under sufficient supervision, to undertake challenges that they may never get the opportunity to do again. These challenges are both mental and physical. The chance was also there to mix with people from around 25 nationalities and I applaud those that did integarate with others and this will have added to the enjoyment and benefit of this style of trip - well done.

To the Scouts, apologies if the leaders were a bit stressed yesterday. It is very nerve racking looking after other people's children and we take that very seriously. Keeping 38 people together in the right place at the right time is difficult enough without some of the obstacles that were put in our way.

To the parents and youngsters who thanked us at the end - I thank you for the courtesy. It makes the whole thing worthwhile. To those that didn't - well .., I'm sure you meant to....

As one of the older leaders, in terms of Scouting experience - not age you understand - I was proud of the way the leaders went about the whole camp from start to finish. No wonder Scouting has such a proud and fantastic heritage when there are people like you out there willing to give up so much of your time to help young people have such an opportunity - thank you all

Keith.

For those of you still reading this we finally got back to Aberdeen just before 11pm after a long, tiring and very stressful traveling day not helped by a final delay in departing Amsterdam when a mechanical problem occurred literally as we were waiting to begin our take off run from the start of the runway.

A pat-on-the-back for all the youngsters came from a passenger (involved in teaching) who was on the final flight leg from Amsterdam to Aberdeen and who (in the baggage collection hall) complimented Terry on the good behaviour of our group which - considering they had been traveling virtually without a break since midday - was very well deserved so well done and thank you to you all for that.

Although everyone (we think) had a great week, we were all looking forward more or less to getting home. Physically the camp was very demanding. We had neither the benefits of indoor hotel/hostel accommodation, nor the "comforts" we can normally bring to our own camps such as cooking gear, camp tables & chairs and various gadgets etc. We travelled light (though our tents are not!) which meant leaving a lot of things behind. Consequently we spent more time than normal in the full outdoors and on our feet.

The Scouts and Explorers however coped with all this remarkably well and it was the penultimate day before we had even our first case of homesickness and even that was very minor indeed and quickly resolved. Speaking for the Scouts I think they should be very pleased with what they achieved and I'm sure Mike would agree for the Explorers.

We all scattered quite quickly last night, anxious no doubt to jump in the bath and to relieve those aches and pains with one - or several - glasses of well-deserved "executive reward" but if I may close this Swiss Blog with a sincere thanks to the leadership team for the incredible amount of hard work they put in to running this camp (all taking time off out of their own holiday allowances I hasten to add) and for delivering this experience for our youngsters.

Terry's group got back to camp safely, although very tired. They had met Mike's group on their way down. Terry had told everyone that the mountain hut was warm - the second group didn't agree. Terry asked who had helped weigh down his rucsac - nobody admited guilt. Someone had put a rock (Chris had 2 rocks) in the rucsac and these two poor chaps had to struggle up hte hill with the extra weight - not happy! Never mind, they made light of the matter (pardon the pun) by making their very own cairn. After a long slog up to 1930 metres in the wet, they were all soaked, in fact drenched. The got shown round the hut - which was VERY basic to say the least. The smelt the toilet before they saw it! And believe me it wasn't the cow dung. Everyone dried off and tried to get warmed up and this was helped by the girls doing the cooking (sexist eh). It has to be said that the catering at the centre isn't great and it is ironic that the food here was the best of the camp so far - well done the girls. There was a Belgian group there and there was a little interaction between them and we received some Belgian sausage. Unfortunately we coudn't recipricate as we had already eaten our mince. We retired to bed, which was a slab of foam rubber, and two army blankets. Terry's idea of warmth is obviously different form ours as we were awake frequently during the night, looking for more blankets (or stealing from those who were asleep)! Up at 7, basic breakfast and making lunch - ham and cheese sandwiches for a change! - yummy, yummy. Then it was on to the slopes and on with the gear. It started off with fairly simple bouldering to get warmed up then it was followed by 5 progressively more difficult climbs in different locations. The weather was fantastic for climbing and we managed 7 hours in total, before then setting off back down to Kantersteg. We could now see how far and steep we were climbing on the first day, where we couldn't on the way up because of the mist and low cloud. Maybe just as well mind you or we maybe wouldn't have gone up in the first place! Mike and Nick finally hobbled in and brought up the tail end, getting back at about 5pm only to be dismayed at the sight of the scouts going off to play football - oh to be young again!

The Older Group (Explorers) set off on Thursday morning at 0730 for their snow and ice climbing. They were told it was a 20 minute walk to the cable car and then a short walk to the mountain hut - humph`! The first bit was right but after the cable car it was a 4.5 hour hike over 10km up over 1000 metres. Most coped really well and we arrived up to the luxurious hut (sorry younger scouts to rub it in). After lunch, it was on with the crampons and ice axes and out onto the glacier. After roping together in groups of 7, we were shown how to climb through this type of terrain. we then tried falling down the mountain, and thankfully we all managed to stop, using the ice axe techniques we had been shown. More playing in the snow and ice and then Keith was thrown down a cravass. I don't know what he had done but I'm sure he didn't deserve it - well maybe he did! The rest of the Explorers then had to set up a rescue system to pull him out. It was very cold and wet down there. The weather was now very bad and it was time to get back to the hut to dry off and get a rest. Unlike the primitive conditions the Scouts had, the Explorers were in luxury. A warm building; no cows next door or anywhere near; good toilets; a well stocked shop; food cooked for them and two lovely waitresses - oh and cold beer! Sorry should¨'t have mentioned that. After three bowls of soup each and three plates of spag bol, it was rest time. One explorer went to bed at 7:30pm and the rest followed at 9:15pm. Wow! A reasonably long lie and the weather was grim.So instead of going onto the ice climbing it was time to throw people off a cliff and leave them there until the could rescue themselves. Thankfully everyone had been trained in how to