As I suspect you all know by now, most of the northeast section of the U.S. got hit by a severe wind storm on June 29th. The Summit was no exception, so I’ll interrupt my normal blog topics to give you an update on our situation here at the Summit.

As I write this on July 3rd, there are still many sections of our area without power, so needless to say, our focus at the moment is on recovery operations. While we are still assessing damage on the Summit, the majority of the storm’s impact was centered on downed trees. We’ll be assessing/clearing trails for a few days, no doubt, but overall, the site looks to be in good shape.

We had already begun positioning troop equipment for Shakedown on the site when the storm hit, but it appears that all equipment survived the storm. Our canopy and challenge courses are intact. The zip line we have up was hit by a falling tree, but we believe we can get it restored to operational condition by the Shakedown.

Bottom line: We’ll be doing a lot of trail work for the next week and a half to ensure our mountain bike trails are cleared and safe to use, but we expect to be up and running for Shakedown. We have received clearance from the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security to proceed with Shakedown, so for those of you scheduled to attend Shakedown, y’all come!

Good Scouting,

Dan