"my friend who was maybe the #1 Boy Scout leader in Ca at the time"
Interesting comment Jim, who decided he was the # 1 leader????

I was also involved in Scouting at a District Level & had a fair amount of disagreemnet with a number of Scout Leaders who (in my humble opinion) weren't adequately emphasizing training or things like LNT, etc., and in fact many weren't emphasizing the training for what we had designated as "High Adventure" activities. We had a separate District Group that provided the High Adventure Training to any and all Troops that wanted to participate. Unfortunately, it wasn't BSA policy that you HAD to attend or be certified by our HAT (High Adventure Team) in order to take your scouts out, but the District did promote/suggest/recommend that all active Troops have adult leaders become certified.