For this week’s Take me back Tuesday, we are remembering the Pit of Despair. Much like the Mancake, and Thrasher Night, the Pit of Despair is a camp legend. It occurs only a few times during the summer, and if you are lucky if you get to witness it, or even participate in it.

The Pit of Despair isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds. We like to make it sound frightening, but really, there’s isn’t any despair involved at all. In fact, it’s an accomplishment to say that you have been stuck in the Pit of Despair and escaped successfully. Why? Well, every once in a while on nice, summer days, the diggers will take a volunteer who wants to be buried just past their knees into the snow. The camper above looks super stuck, but we promise it’s just because he has a huge sweatshirt on.

Once the volunteer is buried, he or she must unearth themselves using their hands and gloves (if it is difficult, the diggers provide a shovel). If they can get out successfully quickly, they win a prize, often a week’s supply of digger dogs (which is a pretty awesome prize), a new jacket, or even a new board!

 

(Don’t worry, we make sure to stay with the volunteer the whole time they are in the Pit of Despair and make sure they are safe, and if they get bored of digging their feet out of the pit, we dig them out.)

Windells - BMX. Skiing. Skateboarding. Snowboarding.