NOLS Southwest at Summit Hut Outdoor Expo

NOLS Southwest staff recently spent a sunny Tucson weekend at the Summit Hut spring sale and Outdoor Expo.  Summit Hut is a NOLS Preffered Retailer with friendly, skilled staff who love to help folks get outdoors.

NOLS Southwest has long had a fun and interactive relationship with Summit Hut, often attending the annual used gear swap meet and now the outdoor expo.  Southwest Director Janeen Hutchins, Assistant Director Scott Christy, and Special Projects Manager Ryan Hutchins-Cabibi spent two days sharing information with a broad group of outdoor recreationists and networking with other local non-profits.

"Summit Hut began its entry into the outdoor retail industry modestly in 1967 when two fifteen year-old friends, Jeff Conn and Summit Hut, Ltd. President, David Baker, collaborated to offer a special order service for Tucsonans who desired backpacking and mountaineering equipment. The boys conducted business from their bedrooms and stored the inventory under their beds. In 1968 David, a senior in high school, bought out Jeff's interest in the company and rented a 150 square foot room attached to a small bicycle shop across the street from their high school.

As an independent Tucson, Arizona based business, the Summit Hut actively supports local, state and regional outdoor recreation related causes and events to the best of our ability. We feel it is our obligation, as an outdoor retailer, to do our part in maintaining the very land that allows our business to exist."

We were excited to watch Dave Baker, Summit Hut President present an excellent clinic on lightweight backpacking techniques, and to get upclose and personal with some raptors from the local animal rescue program.

With deals on gear, onsite coffee and tri-tip BBQ, afun and diverse group of local non-profits and of course your friendly Neighborhood NOLS Staff, this event was great fun!

A huge Thanks to all the Summit Hut employees for running a great Expo and inviting us to attend, We look forward to being a part of this great Tucson event in the future!

The cleaners

The cleaners
Originally uploaded by RyanHC

Looking straight out of the old west NOLS Southwest Sonoran Year students strike a pose in front of the official adopt-a-roadway sign for the NOLS section of North Soldier Trail near the NOLS Southwest base in Tucson, Arizona.

Thumbs Up

Thumbs Up Originally uploaded by RyanHC Students and NOLS Southwest staff teamed up to apply their Leave No Trace (LNT) Ethics to the front country by participating in a bi-annual clean up of N. Soldier Tr. in Tucson AZ.

NOLS Adopt-a-roadway

 

NOLS Southwest along with students from the Sonoran Year program took some time this morning to pick up roadside trash along North Soldier Trail in Tucson.  The NOLS Southwest base is located on North Soldier Trail and NOLS Southwest has been adopting this stretch of roadfor many years.  Donning Orange safety vests and gloves, staff and students set out to pick up any trash we could find along the road.  When we were done, we had a vote on the craziest most bizarre item found.

Items nominated for most bizarre item were:

NOLS Adopt-a-roadway
Originally uploaded by RyanHC

Guitar
Toaster oven
Batmobile
Donald Duck head
Fuzzy Duck Sticker
Can on a Stick
Air Filter
Emergency contraceptive & Pregnancy test
Just married sticker
2 Dirty movies
Metal pole with spoon attached
$1 in Monopoly money

Once the votes were tallied, it was clear that Drew Seitz, proctor extrodinaire had found the most bizzare and random item...

The Batmobile!

We congratulate Drew on his thorough collection of roadside debris and his keen eye for the bizarre.

Cold Rain & Hot Burrito Wraps

The NOLS Southwest Sonoran Year students are about half way through the Wilderness First Responder (WFR) portion of their year program here at NOLS Southwest.  This 80 hour course is focused on wilderness emergency care.  This mornings lesson was on Hypothermia, and two lucky(?) students were able to jump in a cold shower and then get treated for hypothermia by the rest of the course.  WMI of NOLS instructor Brian Barrett upped the ante by simulating a southwestern monsoon with  nearby garden hose!  Despite the deluge, the rescuers were able to get the patients securely wrapped in hypo-wrap "burritos" to aid in the rewarming process. 

Students are in town for about another week as they wrap up the WFR course then they head back into the field for the literature section of the course.

Fall in the Southwest

The fall season at NOLS Southwest is well underway.  Our students have all begun their semesters with various skills section including Hiking in the Gila Mountains, Caving throughout the Southwest and climbing at Cochise Stronghold in South Eastern Arizona.  Students this fall are motivated and enthusiastic and have been raving about their experience thus far.  All three fall semesters have proctors who will be traveling with students throughout the semester, offering consistent mentorship and supervision for whole semester.

Meanwhile, back at the NOLS Southwest base, there has been a flurry of exciting projects being done between student transitions at the base.  The entire staff pitched in to build platforms for and erect three new 16' yurts for in-town staff housing.

We had the "upstairs" building, which houses our administrative offices and staff commons painted this fall, as well as updating the staff kitchen with a fresh new color.  We have had the pleasure of working with local contractors who have installed some much needed new electrical systems to our boat house, transportation and facilities areas, expanding our ability to work in those areas after dark and to provide for multiple uses including increased course prep areas. 

We can't believe that the fall is going by so fast and we are excited to see our students and staff everytime they come back to the base for a transition.

A New Perspective in 88 Days

" It is the most life-affirming and confidence-building thing I have ever done."

John Balke of Libertyville, Illinois completed a Spring Semester in the Southwest and gained not only technical and leadership skills, but a whole new perspective. "I loved it," he recently told his local paper. "Besides the actual activities and things we did, NOLS gave me a different perspective on my life."

While backpacking, rock climbing, caving, and canoeing through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, John became a firm believer in the benefits of NOLS, telling people he knows to "do it" because of the payoffs he experienced. Excited by his experiences and the support his coursemates provided for him, John is now striving to become a NOLS instructor and plans to take a NOLS Alumni trip.

To check out the whole story click here: A New Perspective

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