Thursday, March 18, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Winter Outdoor Survival
The past couple of weekends, students have been building skills to assist in the unfortunate event of being stranded in the mountains in the wintertime, a potentially deadly turn of events. However, the likelihood of disaster can be lessened dramatically if the person(s) is able to stay calm, keep clear thoughts, and do everything possible to assist in their own rescue and survival. The course is designed to teach students the basics of survival, but also to teach basic winter techniques to keep them out of the survival situation in the first place.
Students are allowed to bring with them a sleeping bag/pad, tart, rope, matches, and light source. While it is encouraged to build snow shelters when there is enough snow on the ground, most students decide to construct a shelter from wood and tarps. Typically, the next morning, most students gain a full understanding of what worked and what did not, and the first comments about their shelters are the need for more snow and insulation. There is nothing like learning from first hand experience, especially when it can be in a controlled and safe environment. Below are some images of shelters and students during the two weekends in the field.
The highlight of the class is the weekend spent at the A.L. Mickelson Field Station where students are sent out Saturday morning into the woods, where they are left stranded until Sunday morning. The students are grades on the construction of a proper, efficient and effective shelter, fire building skills (the ability to start a fire with one match) and whether they stay out all night or not. This year was one of the few where every student was able to stay outside all night long.
Students are allowed to bring with them a sleeping bag/pad, tart, rope, matches, and light source. While it is encouraged to build snow shelters when there is enough snow on the ground, most students decide to construct a shelter from wood and tarps. Typically, the next morning, most students gain a full understanding of what worked and what did not, and the first comments about their shelters are the need for more snow and insulation. There is nothing like learning from first hand experience, especially when it can be in a controlled and safe environment. Below are some images of shelters and students during the two weekends in the field.
The first group had the hardest weekend for certain. It was snowing the entire weekend, high temps were in the low to mid 20's while the low was about -4 that night. The second weekend was a bit nicer, more like being stranded in spring as the high was near 50 and the low that night was barely at the freezing mark. However, I think all of the students were able to gain a good understanding of what is needed in the event they are truly stranded. The necessity of a good fire for warmth (some students took the challenge to go without sleeping bags to make a more realistic scenario and relied heavily on a quality fire) and the need to collect as much of the supplies needed while it was still light out.
Friday, February 26, 2010
DELTA- The Building of a Whale
This past week we have been working on the construction of a new low ropes course/initiative problem for DELTA called the Whale Watch. The challenge is that the group is to get onto an 8' x 12' platform that is balanced on a log. The entire group must get onto the platform and divide themselves without the platform tilting down and touch the ground on either side. Given the success of the group, it can also be arranged that once the group is entirely on the platform, they must split half and half, then change sides. A number of variations can be used like that in order to create additional challenges.
The Whale Watch will be located at the A.L. Mickelson Field Station course, and will be transported up as soon as the snows melt, which might take a couple more months!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Ice Climbing
This past weekend, the PEAC 1600 Ice Climbing class took to Shell Canyon to try out climbing on some real ice (not the 2x10 wood on the climbing wall any longer). Sunday we spent getting aqcuainted with the equipment and movement on ice climbing on the Shroud, a low angle WI2 slab. The benefits to this style of climbing is that it give the climber the chance to really understand climbing ice using your feet.
Sunday we headed back up the canyon to the climbs above the Post Creek Trailhead. After a long uphill hike, we found our desination to be occupied by a pair from Casper (so it goes when you go climbing) so we headed to the left and found "Skinny Sister", an 80' WI3+. The climbing was great on vertical chandeliered ice, and gave the students the oppertunity to try out some harder climbing.
Below are some photos from Sunday, courtesy of David Leinen.
"Skinny Sister" WI3+
Sunday we headed back up the canyon to the climbs above the Post Creek Trailhead. After a long uphill hike, we found our desination to be occupied by a pair from Casper (so it goes when you go climbing) so we headed to the left and found "Skinny Sister", an 80' WI3+. The climbing was great on vertical chandeliered ice, and gave the students the oppertunity to try out some harder climbing.
Below are some photos from Sunday, courtesy of David Leinen.
"Skinny Sister" WI3+
"V-Thread" Lesson and Practice
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Personal/Professional Outdoor Portfolio
We are beginning to look at professional portfolios in the Outdoor Leadership class and I wanted to take a minute to express some thoughts on the creation of a portfolio and its importance to the current and future outdoor professional. It is widely known that in the realm of outdoors, experience is everything. Experience is where you gain the knowledge to make accurate and qualified decisions regarding your group and ensuring adequate and proper risk management.
While more and more organizations are offering, and employers are requiring, relevant certifications, many time in order to take a certification course or exam you must show proof of your experience in the way of hours of involvement, total number of days, length of programs, etc. A portfolio is the best way to track that information. In a lot of cases, this will be a portfolio that is for you, kept by you, and not necessarily viewed by potential employers or certification boards, but will allow you to judge for yourself whether you meet the required criteria and are eligible for the certification or position. On the other hand, many places will require you to show proof of documented experience and will want to view your portfolio. In fact, it may make the difference between whether you or someone else is hired for a position.
So with that said, what should one put into their portfolio? The simple answer, everything. It will be used as a reference when creating a resume or outdoor resume as well, so record everything you do. Trainings, conferences, presentations, classes, certifications, personal experiences (days you go out and play) and professional experiences (days you work, paid or volunteer). There is no real set standard as to how you should record the information, but there are specific things you want to include. You can also find examples from organizations such as the Association for Challenge Course Technology, www.acctinfo.org. They have a template for the challenge course professional to record all relevant information.
An example of things you would want to include for various topics in a portfolio would include the follow. Keep in mind different activities require different skill sets, risk management assessments, and more. Document anything unique to any of the experiences you have, good and bad. Show that you have learned from bad experiences, we have all had them at some point or another.
1. Rock Climbing
a. Route name
b. Location
c. Grade/Rating
d. Lead/Top-Rope
e. # of pitches
f. Traditional or sport climbing
2. Kayaking/Rafting
a. River name
b. Class of river
c. Type of craft (kayak, raft, canoe, etc.)
d. Length of river section
e. Number of days (if applicable)
3. Mountaineering
a. Route name
b. Mountain
c. Range/Location
d. Snow, Ice, Rock, Combination
e. Rating/Grade
f. Length of climb/days/etc.
g. Unique characteristics such as avalanche danger, etc.
h. Any glacier travel
4. Challenge Course
a. High or low course
b. Number of hours of program
c. Group name
d. Lead or Assistant Facilitator
e. Static or Dynamic Course
f. Setup/Takedown?
g. Indoor/Outdoor
Your professional and personal experiences can be logged in the same format. Be sure in to include the dates of everything. If they are professional experiences, also add in the number of group members/clients you worked with and if applicable any specific things you taught such as belaying, rappelling, setting anchors, rolling a kayak, self arrest, glacier travel, and on.
The biggest thing to remember is the need to document all that you do. It will be much easier if you start now rather than try to remember everything you have done in the past 5, 10, 15 years. Just like any profession, your experience speaks highly for your qualifications. The more you can show the better off you will be. It will also help you to remember anything specific from past experiences that might be relevant for a position opening, or even to help you remember what you have done in the past and use for future programming.
While more and more organizations are offering, and employers are requiring, relevant certifications, many time in order to take a certification course or exam you must show proof of your experience in the way of hours of involvement, total number of days, length of programs, etc. A portfolio is the best way to track that information. In a lot of cases, this will be a portfolio that is for you, kept by you, and not necessarily viewed by potential employers or certification boards, but will allow you to judge for yourself whether you meet the required criteria and are eligible for the certification or position. On the other hand, many places will require you to show proof of documented experience and will want to view your portfolio. In fact, it may make the difference between whether you or someone else is hired for a position.
So with that said, what should one put into their portfolio? The simple answer, everything. It will be used as a reference when creating a resume or outdoor resume as well, so record everything you do. Trainings, conferences, presentations, classes, certifications, personal experiences (days you go out and play) and professional experiences (days you work, paid or volunteer). There is no real set standard as to how you should record the information, but there are specific things you want to include. You can also find examples from organizations such as the Association for Challenge Course Technology, www.acctinfo.org. They have a template for the challenge course professional to record all relevant information.
An example of things you would want to include for various topics in a portfolio would include the follow. Keep in mind different activities require different skill sets, risk management assessments, and more. Document anything unique to any of the experiences you have, good and bad. Show that you have learned from bad experiences, we have all had them at some point or another.
1. Rock Climbing
a. Route name
b. Location
c. Grade/Rating
d. Lead/Top-Rope
e. # of pitches
f. Traditional or sport climbing
2. Kayaking/Rafting
a. River name
b. Class of river
c. Type of craft (kayak, raft, canoe, etc.)
d. Length of river section
e. Number of days (if applicable)
3. Mountaineering
a. Route name
b. Mountain
c. Range/Location
d. Snow, Ice, Rock, Combination
e. Rating/Grade
f. Length of climb/days/etc.
g. Unique characteristics such as avalanche danger, etc.
h. Any glacier travel
4. Challenge Course
a. High or low course
b. Number of hours of program
c. Group name
d. Lead or Assistant Facilitator
e. Static or Dynamic Course
f. Setup/Takedown?
g. Indoor/Outdoor
Your professional and personal experiences can be logged in the same format. Be sure in to include the dates of everything. If they are professional experiences, also add in the number of group members/clients you worked with and if applicable any specific things you taught such as belaying, rappelling, setting anchors, rolling a kayak, self arrest, glacier travel, and on.
The biggest thing to remember is the need to document all that you do. It will be much easier if you start now rather than try to remember everything you have done in the past 5, 10, 15 years. Just like any profession, your experience speaks highly for your qualifications. The more you can show the better off you will be. It will also help you to remember anything specific from past experiences that might be relevant for a position opening, or even to help you remember what you have done in the past and use for future programming.
Friday, January 22, 2010
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