First Term: June 13 – July 8, 2011

Second Term: July 11 – August 5, 2011

Applications will be mailed in late August to all families on our mailing list, including all waiting list, cancellations, and prospective camp families who have inquired in the last 18 months. To be added to our mailing list please call 256.634.4404 or email office@alpinecamp.com.

New this year: Online registration with credit/debit card payment (for returning earlybird campers as well)

Second Term Opening Day from Alpine Camp on Vimeo.

The Rev. Bill Boyd on Camping from Alpine Camp on Vimeo.

A word from the Directors about Opening Day from Alpine Camp on Vimeo.

In addition to our other closing day information, we’d like to make certain that you are aware of our Medications Retrieval Policy.  If you brought any medication to Camp for your son, you must stop by the left porch of the Offices to collect your son’s medications from our Nursing Staff.  Please note that this is a change from last year. We made this change to ensure that medications are secure and your son’s privacy is protected while leaving camp. Thank you for your help with this.

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Regards,
Glenn Breazeale
Director

Junior Camp Closing Day Information 2010 from Alpine Camp on Vimeo.

The Rev. Bill Boyd on Camping from Alpine Camp on Vimeo.

Untitled from Alpine Camp on Vimeo.

Untitled from Alpine Camp on Vimeo.

All the warmth and color at Alpine is getting us pretty excited about the Summer, and ready for all our friends to be back on the mountain. That’s why our Father Son retreat this past weekend couldn’t have come at a better time. The weather was perfect, and we took advantage of the sunshine.

We kicked off Friday night with s’mores cooked over an open campfire. Camp was buzzing with boys telling their dads about each activity, and catching up with their buddies from the summer. On Saturday the fathers and sons got chance to enjoy the classic Alpine experience. Meals in the dining hall, activities all over camp, and even the traditional Slaughter-ball game lead by the legendary Bill “Tree” Jameson after dinner. Some of the older campers and their dads even got to go on rappelling and climbing trips a couple miles from camp property. On Sunday, we wrapped up with a couple more activities, and a worship service in the gym. Ben Shaw, the campus minister from Reformed University Fellowship at Southern Miss University, delivered our morning message.

The weekend passed in a flash, and got everyone fired up for opening day this summer. I’m already itching to get back outside in this beautiful weather and enjoy camp life, and I get the impression a few of the campers this weekend have had just about enough schoolwork for this year.

Check out our Facebook page for more pictures of the weekend, but be forewarned: you’re going to want to go play outside instead of doing your homework. I guarantee it.

Personal Update
I got married about 10 years ago to Marcela Sandoval from Texas whom I met while working in Washington DC. We have 3 children: Zoey who is 7, and 5 year old twins Carter and Emma.

I’m working as a Diplomat for the United Nations and currently serving as the Representative to Nepal for the UN World Food Program. Oddly enough for a boy from the Mississippi Delta, I’ve become a high altitude climber and big mountain snowboarder so Nepal, which is home to 8 of the 14 highest mountains on earth, is Nirvana! Over the years, we’ve lived in China, Zambia, North Korea, Nepal, and the Philippines.

The Alpine crew headed out to the team sports field on Monday morning to build giant Alpine-style snowmen. A few snowball fights erupted in the process (mostly between Glenn and Carter). Still, we managed to make some pretty amazing snowmen.

We took lots of pictures, so be sure to check out our Facebook page (you can just click the link at the top of this post).

After we built the snowmen, a few brave souls sledded down the hill by the pool. Bully even got on a snowboard that belongs to Jason Owen, one of the maintenance guys, and managed to make it down the hill without falling in the pool. It was pretty amazing, and you can check out a video of that on Glenn’s previous blog post.

Untitled from Alpine Camp on Vimeo.

12 Days of Alpine Christmas from Alpine Camp on Vimeo.

Our friend Niles is featured on a CNN news special that is supposed to air today. We knew Niles was scrappy on the team sports field, but now America gets a chance to see him on the football field. Good job Niles!

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/12/05/callebs.home.school.saints.cnn?iref=24hours

Of course, I’m not making any trips to Mississippi without some solid time in Oxford. Peter and I got to grab dinner at The Pizza Den with about 20 guys from Ole Miss, and then made our way over to the RUF wednesday night service, where Alpine alum Les Newsom preached. It was a wonderful time, and it gave us a chance to catch up with a few more friends. We didn’t interview in Oxford this time, but we’ll be back the week after Thanksgiving to interview.

The following week we went to Auburn, where we had a nice dinner at the Mellow Mushroom with former staff members George Hamm, Austin Terrell, Drew Allison, Connor Cheshire and Matt McDonald. Unfortunately, Glenn missed the Mellow Mushroom, his favorite restaurant ever on this entire planet. We interviewed some really cool guys at Auburn in the lobby of the Auburn Hotel and Conference center, which was easily the most swanky interview setting I’ve ever experienced.

After the Auburn interviews wrapped up, we headed to Athens, Georgia. Andrew Terrell, Harrison Rogers, Kelsey Cox, Doug Chapin, Jonathan Franklin, and Nathan Bosshardt, met us for dinner (Mark Ellis came for dessert). We had an excellent dinner, and laughed pretty much the whole time. We went to their RUF, which included a short film that got me pumped up about Christmas, and then a great worship service. After a day of interviews in Walker’s coffee shop, Peter and I headed back to Mentone for some much needed rest.

Somehow, Peter and I found the strength to enjoy Knoxville, despite the sickening sea of orange that surrounded us (sorry, it’s just hard for us Alabama fans to take). Actually it was very fun. We spent the day interviewing guys in the student union, then got a chance to take some old friends out to dinner at Litton’s in Knoxville. Weston Duke, Carter McCall, Steven Thompson, Evan Warner, Garrett Smith, Taylor Stewart, Thomas Hendrix and Philip Gilman all came by to see us at dinner. Steven strongly recommended the pimento cheese “Thunder Burger” to me, but it was only after the monstrous hulk of a sandwich came out that he mentioned he had never tried it. Thank you, Steven.

After, Litton’s we headed over to RUF, where we got to hear a riveting sermon and meet up with even more old friends. Evan, Steven and Carter agreed to pose for a picture with me, which Carter seemed pretty excited about:

From Knoxville we journeyed over to Nashville, to meet some guys from Vanderbilt. What a gorgeous drive. The only thing more beautiful than the changing leaves was this beauty standing proudly by the highway:

Next time I’m voting for that instead of the Hampton Inn.

Nashville was awesome. We ran into Carver Morgan at lunch, then started up with a few interviews that afternoon. We got to see Carver again that night, along with Stephen Maroda and Margaret Pless (my sister). The three of them joined Peter, Glenn and me for dinner at Panera Bread before we went to Vandy’s RUF service.

Traveling around and seeing friends is certainly my favorite part of this job, and the people we got to see in Knoxville and Nashville made the trips worthwhile. Our next stop is Starkville, MS on Tuesday, where we’re meeting up with our Bulldog friends for some Barbecue at The Little Dooey. Wednesday we’ll drive over to Oxford and meet our friends there for a hot meal at the Pizza Den. Any former staff members in the area are welcome to join us. We’d love to see you!

Although I’ve posted a few times on the blog, I feel I haven’t formally introduced myself. My name is Weldon Pless, and I recently began working here at Alpine full-time. I was a camper for 9 summers, worked in the kitchen for 2, and then worked on staff for 4. Needless to say, I’ve spent some quality time here at Alpine, but not as a full-time employee.

Peter Hurt also recently began a full-time job here, and he too is no stranger to camp. Peter grew up just down the road (his parents run Camp Desoto), and he’s spent his fair share of summers camping and counseling at Alpine. We like to tell people we’ve spent a combined 30+ summers on the mountain, just to make it sound a little more impressive.

At first, I think Peter and I both found the off-season work to be very different from camp during the summer. The obvious difference is the lack of people. A quick Google search will show that the population of Mentone is 478, a number that easily doubles when the camps are in session. It was so quiet in those first weeks after camp that I almost felt like I should whisper, like I might disturb Mentone if I spoke too loudly.

As the weeks passed, however, I realized something interesting: Camp never closes, it only disperses. Camp really is about the people, and when we open up the gates on closing day we’re not ending Alpine for the summer– we’re releasing it.

Part of our job with Alpine is to travel from town to town, getting the word out about camp. Through this, Peter and I have the unique opportunity of seeing Alpine all over the southeast. We see it when we visit the Tyner’s in Oxford, or the Gilbert’s in Nashville. We see it when we put on a slide show for a group of boys at Jackson Academy. We see it (begrudgingly) on LSU’s campus as our friend Tim Lindsey gives us his informative tour of Baton Rouge. The Alpine family is everywhere.

Peter and I are excited about the chance to be part of something so much bigger than ourselves, and we’re thankful for the Alpine family that welcomes us in each and every town. If Peter and I have 30+ summers, I think it’s safe to say that with the friends we make at camp, and the Alpine friends we’re meeting every day on the road we’ve got about 10,000+ summers. Thanks for making our job fun. It’s nice to meet you.

Weldon

Registration info will be mailed out after the new year.  Space is always limited so get that application right back to us.

We’re fired up because it’s time to start staff recruiting!  November is almost here and that means it’s time to strike out on the highways and byways of the South to some of the coolest places around – college towns.  Weldon, Peter, and I head out next Tuesday to Knoxville and the University of Tennessee.  We’re looking forward to getting dinner with our Tennessee staff and then doing interviews with some new prospects.  Evan Warner is setting those up so talk with him if you know a great prospect.

Wednesday will find us on the move to Nashville for a little time hanging out at Vanderbilt.  We had a great group of Vanderbilt guys last summer including Stephen Maroda, Nelson Graham, Andrew Dudas, Patterson Fenelon, Peyton Davis, and Carver Morgan.  We’ll have a reunion with these guys and are counting on interviewing a number of their friends (Stephen Maroda is setting those up).

The next week will find us at Mississippi State and Ole Miss.  New RUF pastor Brian Sorgenfrei and his wife Liza are friends of ours (and he is a former staff member), so we’re looking forward to seeing them and having dinner with all the Bulldog faithful (hopefully at Little Dooey’s, some of the best BBQ in the state of Mississippi in my opinion).  Talk to Brian or Price Davis, who’s setting our schedule, about interviews at State.

Then on to Ole Miss where Carter and the girls will join us and hopefully the O’s too.  We always have a great time staying at the Inn at Ole Miss and interviewing guys while looking out over the lovely Grove (Talk to Sumner Abraham about setting up an interview there).  3 year staff member Hammond McEver is the new RUF intern there after graduating from Washinton and Lee last May so it’ll be great to catch up with him.  And Les Newsom, longtime RUF minister there is an Alpine alum and good friend.  The highlight of the week will be staying for the weekend in Oxford to see if the Rebels can hold their own against the solid looking Tennessee Volunteers.  We’ll be setting up an Alpine tent in the Grove so please come by and see us if you’re there that weekend (more on the location later).

Tentative plans for the week before Thanksgiving call for trips to Auburn and Georgia.  More on those soon.  We also hope to travel to Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Washington and Lee the week after Thanksgiving.

Veteran staff, we hope to see you out on the road.  Thanks for continuing to spread the word to your friends about Alpine.

For rapids that flow,

Glenn