Klondike Derby
January 17-20, 2025
The 2025 TAC Klondike Derby will take place January 17th through 20th at the Kandersteg International Scout Center in Switzerland (Martin Luther King holiday weekend).
This year, our theme is the “Yeti Gone Wild.” The Yeti is an ape-like creature purported to inhabit the Himalayan mountain range in Asia. In Western popular culture, the creature is commonly referred to as the Abominable Snowman.
Units or patrols will have to band together, prep their gear sleds and prepare to explore the Scout Centre and Kandersteg, all while completing a variety of tasks set to test their Scout skills and knowledge. Scouts should be prepared to win gold nuggets, spot hidden Yetis, and try to win the Klondike Derby trophy for their unit!
All Troops, Crews, and Ships are invited to attend. (Sorry, Cub Scouts are not permitted to participate.) Units sleep in dormitories so no tents are needed for camping.
- 3-Night Option: $260
- 2-Night Option: $210
- Saturday Only: $70
Named after the Goldrush at the end of the 19th century, Klondike is our yearly winter council event in Switzerland. Between 1896 and 1899 almost 100,000 prospectors traveled to the Klondike region of the Yukon in north-western Canada. Local miners discovered gold on August 16, 1896 and in those days, it took a year for this news to reach the big cities like Seattle and San Francisco. Prospectors left their homes and family to prove their luck. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain and did not find any gold. The Klondike Gold Rush ended in 1899 after gold was discovered in Nome, Alaska. Prospectors left Klondike to try their luck elsewhere. To reach the gold fields most men went via the snowy routes from ports in Southeast Alaska.
Our own snowy route brings the Scouts to Kandersteg, the International Scouting Center in Switzerland. One weekend a year, in January, we invite Scouts to join us for our own wintry adventure.
KISC
The Klondike Derby is hosted at Kandersteg International Scouting Centre (KISC), the dream location of the Founder of Scouting himself, Sir Robert Baden-Powell. KISC hosts Scouts from all over the world as a “permanent mini-jamboree” and is the ideal location for our Scouts to have a camping experience in the Swiss Alps.
