page_title: The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve
section_title: Features
hierarchical_section_title: The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve / Features
caption_attribution_description: English: CONSOL Energy Bridge in West Virginia, a swaying bridge crossing a ravine at the Boy Scouts of America's 2013 National Jamboree
context_page_description: The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, often shortened as Summit Bechtel Reserve, located in Fayette and Raleigh counties, near Beckley, West Virginia, is one of four facilities managed by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The others are Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, Northern Tier National High Adventure Bases in Minnesota, as well as Manitoba and Ontario in Canada, and Florida National High Adventure Sea Base in the Keys. The Summit Bechtel Reserve is the current home of the National Scout Jamboree, the Paul R. Christen National High Adventure Base, the James C. Justice National Scout Camp, and the John D. Tickle National Training and Leadership Center. The reserve comprises properties totaling over 14,000 acres. The facility's opening event was the 2013 National Scout Jamboree.
context_section_description: The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve has three main components of activity: the Paul R. Christen National High Adventure Base, the James C. Justice National Scout Camp, and the John D. Tickle Training and Leadership Center, each of which has unique program opportunities. There are six subcamps named based on the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, which have the capacity to house up to 40,000 campers, a large outdoor arena with a capacity of approximately 80,000, and ten district adventure areas covering mountain biking, BMX, skate boarding, archery, rifle & shotgun shooting, zip lines, canopy tours, challenge courses, climbing & rappelling. Operating principles of The Summit Bechtel Reserve are centered on four core values:  Leadership, Adventure, Service, and Sustainability.
  The SBR property was once the site of extensive coal mining, an industry for which the state of West Virginia is known. The remnants of long abandoned surface mines within the property have created wide flat areas that tier the terrain into a series of benches, effectively pre-grading and excavating the property, and allowing for many of the roads and infrastructure on the property to begin construction with manageable earth moving.
  Sections of the property contain large flat areas engineered to accommodate regional camp headquarters and sub-camps. The sub-camp farthest from The Summit's core area is 1.3 miles (2.1 km), with an elevation gain of no more than 300 feet (91 m). Pedestrian pathways reduce walking times from base camps to the core activity center to 12–15 minutes.
  A permanent arena on the far side of the valley seats 6000 to 8000 people, built as a natural extension to the property's lower bowl amphitheatre section, for a total arena area large enough for 80,000 people during national Scout jamborees.
  A lake at the center of the main site separates base camps from the arena, action areas, transportation centers, and other traditional core areas. A valley on the Summit property is crossed by a triple-walkway pedestrian suspension bridge sponsored by CONSOL Energy. The bridge is just shy of 800 feet (240 m) in length, and was made possible by the $15 million donation of CONSOL. The bridge connects the western and eastern portions of the core areas of the property.
  High Adventure Areas constructed on the property include: The Park (skateboarding), The Trax (BMX), The Pools (scuba and swimming), The Cloud (popular science & robotics), The Bows (archery sports), The Barrels (shooting sports), The Ropes (challenge courses in the trees), The Rocks (climbing, bouldering and rappelling), The Zip (zipline), Low & High Gear (mountain bike headquarters locations connecting over 36 miles of downhill and cross country mountain bike trails), The Canopy (canopy tours), and 'sampler' activities available within The Scott Summit Center.
  ArcGIS Online supports the SBR's geospatial initiatives, including deployment of mobile and web applications. A Geographic Information System is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographical data. Example applications that utilize the ArcGIS Platform supported at SBR include a 'story map', the SBR web map utilized for navigation during the 2013 National Jamboree, and a 'swipe map' comparing 2011 to 2013 development.
  The SBR property also contains the Thomas S. Monson Leadership Excellence Complex, which house several training and leadership components on the main site as construction progresses.
caption: Consol Energy Wing Tip Footbridge at The Summit, viewed from one of three observation points; two on opposite sides and one underneath the bridge.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX L22", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "QuickTime 7.7.1", "Image DateTime": "2013:07:25 22:26:48", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.7.5", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "268", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "58232", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3249", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "11/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:07:19 12:32:20", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:07:19 12:32:20", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "33/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "168/25", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3000", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "37", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}