End of Season Comments

Whew!
What a season for NOLS Southwest: Two Fall Semesters in the Southwest courses, a Caving Seminar, the first half of the Year in the Sonoran (which included a 9-day in-town WFR course), a NASA group to the Galiuros, and a partridge in a pear tree.
On top of all the tremendous accomplishments by the fantastic NOLS Southwest in-town staff, proctors, and instructors who worked this fall is the fact that all students from the Fall Semester courses graduated, and the eight gentlemen who started their Year in the Sonoran course this fall in the Southwest are all still together, loving the NOLS student life, and ready to move on to the next leg of their year-long course.
We all are proud of our students and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors.
We are also proud of the very successful fall season we had this year. I think a celebration is in order…
Eggnog anybody?

Sonoran Year Wilderness First Responder (WFR)

Knowledge is power, or so I like to say. Ok. Maybe it was Sir Francis Bacon and not me who said that, but I have to agree with the philosopher.
This past fall, the Year in the Sonoran students completed a critical course in wilderness first aid referred to simply as a WFR (pronounced: Woofer). Knowledge of wilderness first aid is hugely important when you or a party of folks want to expedition in the Wind River Range or even if you just want to go on a day hike on the Appalachian Trail.
Well, good news is that all the Sonoran Year fellas graduated from their WFR course, and now they're prepared to assess and treat anything from a broken femur to severe frostbite.
Congrats, guys, on a job well done.

WFR scenario by the Southwest Branch pool

Assessing a scenario patient

The Ducks Are in the Nest

Through rain, sleet, snow, and hail, FSW-2 will prevail.
Back at the branch after spending several frozen and snowy days in Texas at the end of their Rio Grande River section, FSW-2 now prepares for the Independent Small Group Travel section in the Galiuros Mountains where they will put all their risk management and leadership training to the test by hiking without instructors for up to a week. Right now, the Southwest Branch has three groups in the Galiuros, including a group of NASA astronauts on a NOLS Pro course.
Be sure to keep reading the blog for updates on the student groups as the fall season comes to a close.
And now, MORE PICTURES FROM THE FIELD!!!

FSW-2 students backpacking in the Gila Wilderness Range

FSW-2 Rock Ladies at Cochise Stronghold (pictured from left to right: Ashley Costantino, Nora Shaughnessy, Allison Bechtel, Althea Brown, and Diana Hall)

Virabhadrasana III

Sonoran Year in the field

When the Sonoran Year students returned to the branch for their Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course two weeks ago, I collected over 530 pictures from ONE student. Despite the carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand and permanent numbness in my "posterior", I managed to sort through all the pictures and compile the best ones into a photo album. Here are a few of my favorites:

Easy does it.

Sonoran Year De-Issues

The Sonoran Year, fresh off their rock climbing section at Cochise Stronghold, returned to the Southwest branch this past Friday to de-issue gear and begin their nine-day Wilderness First Responder (WFR) training. We, the in-town staff, are very excited about hosting the SY's WFR because it's the first time the Southwest branch has offered a WFR course as a part of a semester course.
Liam Downey and Jen Hunt from WMI will provide students with the necessary tools for making critical medical and evacuation decisions in remote settings.
For anyone looking to work in outdoor education or in guiding, the WFR is a very essential and practical certification to have. (click here to read more about the WFR course)

SY student Brendan Kelly hosin' down Casper, our friendly Ford van.

SY student Teddy Borg scrubbin' and a cleanin', splishin and a splashin' ...

Groover duty

The Stronghold Café

Students on a NOLS Semester in the Southwest are treated to some amazing backcountry climbing at Cochise Stronghold. Once the home and base of operations for the famed Chiricahua Apache Chief, Cochise, the Stronghold is now a sanctuary for climbers looking to push the limits on multi-pitch routes up sheer cliffs and domes of grainy granite.
Serving up cold dishes of exposed, slabby climbing is the Stronghold's specialty. Those who can't digest the smearing and slab can scan down the multifarious climbing menu of the Stronghold and go with the slow roasted crack climbing, baked boulders with wild cactus, or the crispy multi-pitch confit with a "chickenhead" chutney. Taking your order this season is a top-notch staff of rock instructors who are eager to cater to your every gastronomical whim.

These instructors rock! (pictured left to right: Josh Beckner, Anna Lundgren, Rachel Nelson, and Ben Venter)

Ryan 1 - Spiders 0

This past summer the Southwest branch added a brand-spanking new canoe shed to house, you guessed it, spiders. Spiders? Yes, that's right, spiders. And not just any spiders but gargantuan, female Western Black Widow spiders (Latrodectus hesperus). Upon first entering the canoe shed early this fall, I was quickly reminded of the scene near the end of the movie Arachnophobia in which Jeff Daniels' character stumbles into his barn to find the Volkswagen-sized "mother" spider nesting up in the rafters with her clutter of offspring.
Seeing as our canoe shed was designed for storing canoes and not for hosting scary huge spider slumber parties, something had to be done. The National Guard told me they had more important things to do than running around killing spiders at peoples' houses, so Ryan Hutchins, our dirt boy extraordinaire, stepped up to the challenge, "retiring" the spiders and constructing a work bench and a hanging platform for storing river gear. Way to go Ry!

Transpo. man Shay Coe brings his own style of grunts and grimaces to the job.

Ryan hookin' it up.

The Canoe Shed Spider

FSW-2 Update from the Field

With a backpacking section under their belt and just over a week left in their rock climbing section at Cochise Stronghold, FSW-2 students are cruising right along in their semester and on pace to becoming a finely tuned machine ready for any and all obstacles mounted obtrusively in their path to total southwest domination; in other words, we expect great things from this group.

FSW-2 students Andrew Dowd, Diana Hall, and Gabe Mangold demonstrate excellent river crossing technique during their Gila backpacking section.

Maybe it is rocket science.
Students share a laugh as they ruminate about vector forces and trigonometric functions involved in setting up their shelter.

Meet Jake Freed

Say hello to Jake Freed-- the Sonoran Year proctor. As proctor, Jake will be there with students during each section of their entire fall semester, from the rapids of the Rio Grande River on the Texas-Mexico border to the mountains of the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico.
Jake works as a NOLS senior field staff member as well as a Program Supervisor at the Alaska branch. Additionally, Jake has a PhD in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism which certainly makes him a valuable resource to students when they learn about park services and land management techniques throughout their semester.
We are stoked to have Jake working out of the Southwest branch, and we think he is the perfect fit for the Sonoran Year proctor.

Sonoran Year Premier

The Southwest branch was delighted to welcome the first ever Year in the Sonoran course this past week. After backpacking in New Mexico’s Gila Range and rock climbing at Cochise Stronghold, students on this 135-day course will return to the Southwest branch for nine days to work towards earning their Wilderness First Responder (WFR), and then it’s off to Arizona’s Galiuros Wilderness for another backpacking section. While backpacking in the Galiuros, students will respond to essay questions and discussion topics pertinent to the American Southwest themes of two books they will have read during their course.
After completing their fall semester here in the southwest, Sonoran Year students will go home for a holiday break and then head south of the border to spend their spring semester sailing, sea kayaking, and backpacking in Mexico.
Stay tuned for more exciting details on this historical course.

Sonoran Year students with Proctor Jake Freed (bottom, 2nd from left) and backpacking instructor Eric Wanless (bottom far right)

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