The Anatomy of Buzz

The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited, a new book from Emanuel Rosen, is all about word-of-mouth marketing, and NOLS has made an appearance into the first chapter.

Rosen’s book opens on the first page to an October morning in Salem, Oregon. Amy Rathke, a student at Willamette University then, and an instructor and employee for NOLS now, is talking up NOLS to her classmates. She creates so much “buzz” in fact, that when our vegetable oil powered bus stops by the school, everyone that visits the bus that day mentions Amy’s name when asked how they heard about NOLS. The book then explains the impact the bus had on everyone who saw the bus as it rolled throughout the U.S.

An Excerpt from The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited:
“A man named Randy whom I met on the bus one day in upstate New York told me that back in 1984 he took some time off from college to do a spring semester in the Rockies with NOLS. He had fond memories of the school. Now, twenty-three years later, he brought his daughter along to meet the NOLS folks. She’s looking into taking a course too. Remarkably, Randy had been researching the possibility of getting a veggie-powered vehicle for a year, and when he heard that NOLS had one, he felt yet another connection to the school and its goals.”

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NOLS Instructors to Attempt East Face of El-Lonko

The Mugs Stump Award, announced this year at the Ouray Ice Festival, granted funds to three NOLS Instructors for a climb attempt in Patagonia.

Josh Beckner, Dave Anderson, and Jared Spaulding will attempt the unclimbed east face of El Lonko, or the North Arete of nearby Mariposa, located in the remote Pirate Valley of the Argentine Patagonia. The qualifications for the award include the strength of the team, an objective that pushes the limits of modern Alpanism, and emphasizes light and fast, Leave No Trace climbing. Congratulations to our Instructors and we hope to update you with their progress.

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Happy birthday, NOLS Rocky Mountain solar array!

The NOLS RM solar array marked its first birthday earlier this winter.  However, in the “data digital world” it turns one today!  One year ago, we officially began collecting data on-line.  Click here to check out the live solar stats-- scroll to the bottom of the page.

Looking back at 2008, what did we learn?  The solar array doesn’t need much of our attention.  Other than checking the rack system a couple of times, resetting one inverter error, and shoveling snow off the panels in the winter, the maintenance was minimal.

For all you visual learners and data crunchers out there, below is a basic snapshot graph that charts our net electricity usage for 2007 and 2008.  (In 2008, we accounted for both the energy produced by our solar array, and the energy returned to the electricity grid.) 

On the graph, the numbers on the “Y” axis represent kilowatt hours (kWh), and the “X” axis represents calendar months.  As you will notice, our energy consumption and solar energy production varies throughout the year.  In the peak of summer 2008, we used 50% less electricity from the electrical grid as compared to 2007 at the same time.  Interestingly, our kWh usage during the 2008 winter months was similar to that of 2007.   If you average the kWh’s in both years, we consumed 35-40% less energy from the electricity grid in 2008 than 2007.

What does this all mean?  We believe it means that our habits are changing, our building improvements are making a difference, we are reducing our energy usage overall, and mostly, our solar array is producing energy!

(We’ll continue to collect historical data, and report periodically on our findings.)

Special thanks to Steve and Terry!

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'04 NOLS Grad Sponsors Kosher Expedition

Jon Kimchi, a climbing instructor for the Cornell Outdoor Education Program, is sponsoring a NOLS backpacking course for Orthodox Jewish males ages 14–18 scheduled to run June 29–July 22, 2009. Jon graduated from a 2004 Teva Adventure course run by  NOLS Professional Training.

"My NOLS expedition is the most significant life-changing experience I have ever had,” he says. “It has guided my direction in life by providing me the skills to succeed professionally at Cornell and facilitating my spiritual connection to the outdoors."

Jon is currently working to enroll the 2009 Kosher Leadership Expedition, which is scheduled to run this summer:  June 29–July 22.

Jon's custom NOLS expedition is open to all Jewish males interested in having a transformational NOLS experience while living in accordance with the Jewish calendar and observance of Jewish laws. To enroll, contact Jon:

Jon Kimchi
jewishnolsprogram@gmail.com
347-831-2894

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Medical Wilderness Adventure Race

A Medical Wilderness Adventure Race (MedWar) combines wilderness medical challenges with adventure racing and was developed to give medical students, residents, health care professionals, and wilderness enthusiasts a practical, interactive, and enjoyable curriculum for learning wilderness medicine.

This race, “Mountain Assault,” in Park City Utah, was  sponsored by the University of Utah Division of Emergency Medicine, the Wilderness Medical Society and the Wilderness Medicine Institute.   Matt Hamonko MD, the wilderness fellow at U of U, put the event together.

The WMI Team was Dave Weber, myself, and Mike Ditolla. 

We carried what we would honestly take on a winter mountain day trip - honestly.  We left the Lifepack 12 and Gamow bag in the truck. Water, food, extra layers, navigation and survival items filled our packs.   You’re allowed to carry a reference book.  We considered Auerbach’s Wilderness Medicine 5th edition, but it weighs in at 10.6 lbs, and was an awkward fit in the pack, so we relied on our brains, which served us well.

I’ve been racing biathlons recently, and the title of mountain assault made me consider bringing my rifle, but this is a non-violent medical event focused on saving, not shooting, so I left it at home.

We skied and snow shoed around 8 miles, navigating at times by GPS and stopping at 7 medical stations.  We evaluated frostbite, managed a diabetic skier, reduced a dislocated shoulder,  set up a pulley system to simulate a crevasse extraction, used a transceiver to find a buried skier, treated patients with altitude illness and hypothermia and dragged a patient a half kilometer across the snow.

It took us a few stations to realize that the other teams were focusing on the obvious problem while we were diligently performing a full patient assessment, as we train our students to do.   This cost us a bit of time, as did a faulty ski binding.  There are no rest or water stations on the route, and if equipment breaks, you have to deal with it as you would in the wilderness.

These races are held throughout the U.S. and Canada at many different times of the year.  You can find more information at www.medwar.org.

Tod Schimelpfenig

February 09

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LNT Affiliate course to run for Saudi Arabia's Government

NOLS is excited to run a Leave No Trace Affiliate Master Educator course for the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD) this coming week.

The NCWCD approached NOLS Professional Training to set up the course with the purpose of "conserving the biological diversity and beauty of the Kingdom's natural heritage."

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Wyoming Range: Calling Pennsylvania

One final hurdle stands before enactment of the Wyoming Range Legacy Act: the U.S. House of Representatives. The act has been packaged with a host of public lands bills into the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009. This omnibus bill made it through the Senate, intact, with no amendments. To make it through the House, a majority of legislators must do two things: first they must vote “yes” to consider the act under a rule, and then they must vote “no” on a motion to recommit. Passing a motion to recommit at this juncture, which would open the bill to new amendments, could do significant harm. Procedurally, an amended bill would have to return to the Senate for consideration, and it would be very difficult to get this whole package back through the Senate a second time.
 
This week, two Democratic Congressman from the state of Pennsylvania who are considering offering an amendment need to hear from their constituents who support the Omnibus Public Lands Act. If you live in Pennsylvania, or have family or friends who do, a phone call or e-mail to two Pennsylvanian congressmen will be very influential. Please consider taking five minutes out of your day (or your family’s and friends’) to place a call or send an e-mail to these two U.S. Congressmen. The message these lawmakers need to receive is that they should support S.22 and vote no on any motion to recommit. Here is their contact information:

Rep. Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania Congressional District 4
In DC: (202) 225-2565; in PA: (724) 378-0928
E-mail: https://forms.house.gov/altmire/webforms/issue_subscribe.htm

Rep. Christopher Carney- Pennsylvania Congressional District 10
In DC (202) 225-3721; in PA: (570) 644-1682.
E-mail: http://carney.house.gov/contact.shtml

Also consider contacting your own Congressperson in the U.S. House of Representatives. To find the contact information for your U.S. Representative, click here:
https://writerep.house.gov/

photo courtesy of Duane Mortenson
 

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Cleaning Conception Bay campaign

NOLS Mexico is concerned about the global deterioration of the environment just as you are.  One of the most important things we form in our students throughout a course is an awareness of the impact that their actions have not only on other people but also on the natural world. NOLS Mexico in-town staff has taken a step forward and stared a project to clean the beaches in the vicinities of our base in Coyote Bay, Baja California Sur Mexico.

 One of our favorite ways of teaching is by example.  With the creation of this project, NOLS Mexico is forming in the local culture in Baja an environmental friendly vision of doing things.  This vision is rapidly spreading out in the local community and future generations will enjoy the benefits of this initiative taken by our staff. NOLS Mexico feels a strong commitment to the improvement of the global environment and this is something we enjoy transmitting to our students.

México limpio y querido!

Al igual que tú, NOLS México esta preocupado por el deterioro del medio ambiente. Una de las cosas más importantes que formamos en nuestros estudiantes es una conciencia del impacto que tienen nuestras acciones no sólo en otras personas sino también en la naturaleza. El personal de NOLS México ha tomado la iniciativa de crear una campaña de limpieza de las playas alrededor de nuestra base en Bahía Coyote, Baja California Sur México.   

Uno de los métodos de enseñanza favoritos de NOLS es a través del ejemplo. Con la creación de esta campaña,  NOLS México esta formando en la cultura local de Baja una visión ambientalmente amigable de cómo hacer las cosas.  Esta visión se esta esparciendo por la comunidad entera de forma muy rápida y las generaciones futuras verán los beneficios de esta iniciativa tomada por nuestro staff.  NOLS México siente un compromiso muy fuerte con el mejoramiento del ambiente y esto es algo que disfrutamos transmitir a nuestros estudiantes.

Text by Oscar González

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NOLS Grad Scores Lacrosse Captain Position

Congratulations to Andy Tormey, who was selected to be the new captain of the United States Naval Academy lacrosse team. This past summer, Andy participated in a NOLS Professional Training course specially designed to develop the leadership skills of Naval Academy midshipmen. The full story of Andy and his new position as lacrosse caption was posted in a recent article in Laxpower.

Andy had this to say about NOLS: "The NOLS experience was a tremendous opportunity for me personally and there are certainly different aspects of the program I'll be able to pass on to my teammates."

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Wyoming Business Report highlights NOLS Pro

Wyoming Business Report recently highlighted NOLS Professional Training's successful leadership training with the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services. NOLS custom designed the two-day course for the Wyoming state agency organization.

Christopher Chai, organizational development director with Wyoming Workforce Services, said the course provided his team with “a strong foundation of team building skills. I would highly recommend this tailored course to other organizations looking to develop their leaders.”

Read the story here!

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