A Little Note:

My three month internship at the NOLS Rocky Mountain is coming to a close and I am amazed with my experience.   You know when occasionally you cross paths with someone who is simply happy and excited about life, for me this quick interaction can make my day.   With my experience as an alumnus from a semester in Baja and my time working here I am in awe to the high concentration of happy, excited, friendly, well educated, accepting and simply wonderful people.  It’s been a privilege to be surrounded by these folks and to become a part of the working NOLS community.  Thanks to all and to a phenomenal organization.

Share |

NOLS Scandinavia

The Scandinavia Sea Kayaking and Backpacking Course was a huge success.  Lara returned last week with plenty of wonderful stories about the backpacking section along with these beautiful photos.  The group shot is from the sea kayaking section along the Salten Coast and the other is a photo of a Sami Lavu taken by Instructor Lena Conlan .  The final picture is a glimpse of the backpacking section in arctic Norway.  The highlights of the course were Sami cultural interactions, fishing along the coast, and seeing reindeer.  They also had 24 hours of sunlight throughout the entire course!  NOLS Scandinavia was a huge success and we look forward to growing in this region with more courses to come.

Share |

New Video: Backpack Fitting With NOLS

Check out the latest video from our Video Production Interns Casey Kanode and Nathan van der Most:

Backpack Fitting with NOLS from NOLS on Vimeo.

Share |

The NOLS Bus Comes to Town

      Spirits are high as the students for the Outdoor Educator Wilderness (OEW) and North Cascades Wilderness (NCW) courses arrive at the NOLS Pacific Northwest (PNW) and notice a very large bus with beautiful scenes of nature and large variety fruit on it. You may ask, “What does fruit have to do with nature?” Well, Stonyfield Farm, the makers of organic yogurt sponsor the NOLS Bus. In addition to the bus being here to welcome the students they also have a chance to be in the NOLS video. Brad Christensen, NOLS Webmaster, and his film crew will be making a “Welcome to NOLS PNW” video so future students and families can see what it is like to go through the branch before embarking on their expedition.
    Students will be shown making their rations, getting equipment issued, as well as the wonderful meals made during their stay. Not only the student will be leaving today but the NOLS Bus must be at their next stop soon. As all the PNW staff wave good-bye to the students and the bus crew we will be smiling as we see a big cow on the back on the bus and wonder... why is that really there?

Photo by Dave Nathanson

Share |

Hiking with the Sunrise School

    Hello it’s Sara, one of the interns at the Rocky Mountain.  Today I took a group of students from the Sunrise School on a hike in Sinks Canyon.  The Sunrise School is a summer school program in Lander for students with special needs.  As one of my projects I wanted to do something to get NOLS involved with the local community.  I thought working with this school would be the best way to do that. 
    The students, staff and I went up to Sinks Canyon on a nice nature hike through the sagebrush and fir trees.  I made a hand out for them showing pictures of the wildflowers they would encounter and we had a great time doing some flower identification.  I feel that a lot of people do not get the chance to explore what is in their own backyard and take in it’s beauty.  I hope these students now see a side of their home that they will want to venture into more. 

Share |

15th Annual International Climber's Festival

Beginning Wednesday July 9, 2008, the NOLS sponsored International Climber's Festival will begin in Lander with a free slide show, "The Spirit of Climbing," given by NOLS' one and only Dave Anderson.  This is the beginning to many other films, clinics, competitions, gatherings, and giveaways.  We are looking forward to a good turnout from the local community and many others from the outdoor recreation and climbing world.  One of the most exciting guests will be Dave Macleod, a climbing legend, coming all the way from the Scottish mountains.  Visit the International Climber’s Festival Website for additional information and ticket sales locations. 

Share |

We love our SUPERvisors

Ann Kelly, Rachel and Belle McNary are part of the Rocky Mountain Supervisor Team.
AK is one of our Program Supervisors and has been incredibly busy this summer briefing, debriefing, and building teams of Instructors to help prepare them for their courses.  AK’s enthusiastic personality really motivates the Instructor Teams throughout the planning process.
Rachel is the Evacuation Supervisor that takes care of logistics when students need to be removed from the field.  This is just a glimpse of two of our outstanding staff members here at NOLS Rocky Mountain.
While AK and Rachel both work in the office they are also active Field Instructors.  Belle is the latest and by far the cutest addition to the Rocky Mountain Team.

Share |

Spring Run Off

The river was deafening. Lander had received nearly three times the average rainfall last month and the Popo-Agie was brown-hued and angry. And there were people in it.

It was difficult for the Wilderness EMT students to wait. They shuffled gear around while the advance team surveyed the scene. Word came back: the scene was safe, the MOI (mechanism of injury) seemed to be a rafting accident in a high-velocity river, all the patients (6 people involved) had possible spine injuries. The care teams proceeded down to the scene with equipment bags to start their initial assessments of each patient.

Molly was soaking wet, obviously distressed, but seemed alert and oriented. She ran toward the rescue team, tripped and fell. Her care team initiated contact, gained consent and assessed her airway, breathing and circulation. They immobilized her spine and exposed the injury that was causing her pain. A small bit of white bone extruded out of a bloody wound. She had broken her tibia in her witnessed fall. It was a good reminder never to run on an accident scene.

The incident commander asked for a report. Chief complaints ranged from possible hypothermia, open pneumothorax, a mid-shaft femur fracture, a head injury and a patient that was only painfully responsive. Four people needed to be removed from the river.

The incident commander called for a carry team and the students responded as they had been trained. Despite the din of the river, cervical collars were fitted and the students began to lift people out of the water.

Katie, who was found on the riverbank was alert and speaking, but having trouble breathing. Her care team investigated and found a quarter-sized round wound on her right flank. The wound was bleeding and bubbling. The team covered the hole with a three-sided occlusive dressing. Her breathing became easier with the dressing and the oxygen that the students learned to administer on day 2 of the course.

Martin was furthest up stream. He was distressed, constantly asking about his friend Dallas. His face was bloody and he was starting to show bruises under his eyes. When asked, he said “I don’t know how long I’ve been in the water”. His disoriented state and facial injuries indicated a possible closed head injury. A full patient exam was conducted on the riverbank. His caregivers determined that his only apparent injuries were a possible broken nose and stress-induced nausea and vomiting. Martin was able to stand with support and walk to safety.

Dallas, his friend, had already been moved to the staging area. The head to toe exam performed on him revealed a patch of sticky blood on the back of his head. He may have had other injuries, but those are unknown because he never gained consciousness. He was immobilized to a backboard and transported to the hospital.

The patients: Martin, Dallas, Katie, Christy, Milenka, and Emil were all just play-acting. This was a scenario in the second week of the four-week Wilderness EMT course.

But it seemed so real.

 

Share |

Issues, cleaning, and stocking OH MY!

Today I am here talking with our International Equipment Connoisseurs. The dream team came from all over the world to issue and help our students for their expeditions. In the issuing crew there is Tamara Prins coming from Melbourne, Australia, Gaurav Gongola flying from Ranikhet, India, and the issue room manager, Peter Gatundu, going on his tenth year at NOLS all the way from Narumoru, Kenya.

These three not only issue, de-issue, clean, stock, and repair, but they brighten up the issue room with their unique personalities as well. I went in the issue room today to ask what was their first experience with the National Outdoor Leadership School that got them where they are today?

“I was the intern at NOLS Mexico, working in the issue room, and I started in the Fall of 2006,” Tamara tells me. Gaurav was part of a NOLS route finding team in 2005 in India which helped set the routes today for our trips through India, and Peter was a student in NOLS Kenya Semester, through the NOLS East Africa branch, and he did that in 1995 and right after his trip was over he started to work in the issue room and has been doing it since. Good job Peter!

Photo taken by Dave Nathanson

Share |

Introductions

Hi, my name is Dave Nathanson and not only am I the new intern of the NOLS PNW branch but I am also the person who will be writing most of the blogs for this summer. I am from Connecticut and got into NOLS by doing a Semester in India in the Fall of 2007 and got offered to return as a NOLS intern for this summer.

Being part of the NOLS family this summer has been amazing and with this blog I will get to share my experiences and life at NOLS Pacific Northwest with everyone who reads them. Since I’ve been here I have seen students come through this branch every week, issuing and de-issuing gear, board members visiting for the weekend, and have made friends along the way. One thing I find fascinating is when NOLS Alumni visit the branch and talk about how NOLS had an impact on their lives whether it is a year ago to decades ago and that they still talk about their trip to this day with their friends.

Photo taken by Tamara Prins

Share |