Rappelling

Just testing the video feature, this is from the Outdoor Recreation Activities class, rappelling off the Math and Science Building.

Winter Outdoor Survival

This past weekend a group of 16 students headed up to the A.L. Mickelson Field Station to test their skills while being stranded in the wilderness over night. The basis of the course is to educate students on how to handle being stranded and make it through the night. The students are given information in the weeks leading up to the weekend trip, and once at the field station, are sent off into the woods to create shelters and fires to see how comfortable they can stay until the following morning.

This year we had a number of styles of shelters, from simple snowcaves to more elaborate ones and variations of caves made with traps, along with straight tarp and stick shelters. Posted are some images of the shelters constructed by everyone.

Sunday morning we also spent some time talking about avlanches. Understanding the mechanics and physics of them, as well as what to do if you were caught in a slide. We fortunately had a great location to dig a number of snow pits, and play with avalanche beacons as well.