W i l d S i l e n c e
S k i i n g t h e A r c t i c n A t io n A l W i l d l i f e r e f u g e
A r ti cl e o n p A ge1 0
3
Siing Icebergs
12
The Finer Points oEpedition Behavior
20
Grad Saves Dad’s Lie
Lede
T H E
N a t i o n a l O u t d o o r L e a d e r s h i p S c h o o l
2 8 4 L i n c o l n S t r e e t
L a n d e r , W Y 8 2 5 2 0 - 2 8 4 8
w w w . n o l s . e d u • ( 8 0 0 ) 7 1 0 - N O L S
T H E L E A D E R I N W I L D E R N E S S E D U C A T I O N
N O N p R O f I T O R G .
U S P O S T A G E
P A I D
p E R m I T N O . 8 1
j A C k S O N , W Y
For Alumni of the National Outdoor Leadership School
Season Year
•
Vol. 00
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No.0
T H E
Lede
Fall 2010
•
Vol. 26
•
No.1
For Alumni of the National Outdoor Leadership School
TabLE of conTEnTs
Lede
T H E
Recognize thie erson? The rst 10 eole togure it out will receie a ree NOLS t-shirt.
Call NOLS Aluni at (800) 332-4280.
The answer to last issue’s “Who’s This?” is Terri Watson, a feld instructor since 1990 and a WMI instructor since 1999. Terri currently lives in Caliornia.
fEaTurEs
When Crisis Strikes, NOLS Is There:
Grads Lend a Humanitarian Hand
6Building Community, Building Leaders:
Building Goodness and NOLS
7 Wild Silence:
Skiing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
10
DEparTmEnTs
Alumni Profile:
I’ll Take a Davenport on Ice :
Grad Skis Antarctic Icebergs
3
Wild Side of Medicine:
Real Lie Drama:
A Series of Unfortunate Events on the Inca Trail
4
Issue Room:
Glaciers in Retreat:
The Wind River Range Over 45 Years
5
Q&A:
Pip Coe:
On Fundraising and Friendraising at NOLS
8
Alumni Profile:
Living in the Moment:
Kate Milliken Makes the Best of a Life-Changing Diagnosis
9
Field Notes:
Expedition Behavior:
The Finer Points
12
Film Review:
Arctic Cliffhangers
13
Book Review:
The Great Experiment in Conservation: Voices from the Adirondack
13
Book Review:
Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town
13
Recipe Box:
Alexander’s Beanoa Quinoa Burgers:
Packing a Protein Punch
14
Gear Room:
Be More Avy Savvy:
Buy the Right Beacon for the Job, and Practice!
14
Film & Book Review:
Restrepo
and
War
, by Sebastian Junger 15
Jabberwocky
16
Traverses:
Inspired Nomad
17
Alumni Happenings
18
Branch Notes
19
Belay Off:
My Son Was A Hero That Day:
A Life-Saving Belay on the Bastille
20
mEssagE from THE DirEcTor
A
s the calendar recently turned to September,NOLS completed its 2010 scal year and its45th year o wilderness education The year was a wonderul one and, by most measures, the most suc-cessul year in the history o the school We educateda record number o students, adding over 15,000 stu-dents to our alumni base We raised record philan-thropic support or the NOLS Annual Fund, whichhelped us award record scholarship unds this yearFor the third year in a row, NOLS was named oneo the best places to work in the country by
Outside
magazine We signicantly expanded our studentbase through our Gateway Partners, who have helpedyoung people o high potential and little opportu-nity, oten rom more diverse backgrounds, get intothe backcountry with NOLS Most importantly, ourstudent eedback rom the year shows very successulcourse outcomes and high student satisactionAter 45 years, many organizations get compla-cent But in our 45th year, NOLS has been actively looking toward and planning or our uture Lastall, we acquired the second largest land use permitin Wyoming, providing urther access to our class-room in the Wind River Range We took steps toscout and develop new course opportunities to rollout in the coming year, including an Adirondack Backpacking Adventure Course or 14- and 15-year-old students (see page 13 or more), as well as a new course or this age group in the Pacic Northwest We are also adding a sea kayaking course in Scandi-navia and a 30-day backpacking course in New Zea-land Also targeted or the all o 2011 is a return to Arica, with a Semester in Tanzania Not only are weexpanding geographically, but we have also added anew skill set—packrating—which will be oered with a backpacking course in Alaska Aside rom planning new courses, we also took many other steps toward our uture Our Wilder-ness Medicine Institute (WMI) orged an alliance with Recreational Equipment, Incorporated (REI),through which WMI courses will be oered at REI’sretail stores, making our wilderness medicine cur-riculum more accessible to more people The schoolalso became a recognized provider/contractor by theGovernment Services Administration (GSA), whichshould provide urther opportunities or governmentcontracts Finally, we increased the size o the NOLSlibrary with the release o
NOLS River Rescue
and anew spiral bound waterproo version o
NOLS Cookery
Key to our success in the past year was ollow-ing the road map o our strategic plan The year2009 was in many ways a survival year and requiredconsiderable ocus on the day-to-day aspects o NOLS The economy and any number o other ac-tors demanded constant change, adjustments, andcreative solutions But in 2010, we launched out o that “present-time” mentality, and our ocus turnedonce again to long-term strategic plan goalsTo celebrate our many successes and gear up orthe challenges ahead, this October we held a 45th Anniversary celebration in Lander, which was well-attended by graduates, aculty, sta, and riends o the school (see page 19 or more) My thanks to allo you or the work, ideas, support, and leadershipyou provided to ensure the quality course outcomesor our 15,014 students in 2010 John Gans, NOLS Executive Director Joanne Haines
Pblications Manager
Allison Jackson
Graphic Designer
Aparna Rajagopal-Durbin
Writer/Editor
Rich Brame
Almni Relations Director
John Gans
NOLS Eective Director
November 2010 • Volume 26 • Number 1
Published three times a year inMarch, July, and NovemberPostmaster: Send address changes toNational Outdoor Leadership School284 Lincoln St, Lander, WY 82520
The Leader
is a newsletter or alumni o the NationalOutdoor Leadership School (NOLS), a nonprotschool ocusing on wilderness skills, leadership, andenvironmental ethics It is mailed to approximately 50,000 NOLS alumni and an additional 10,000 pro-spective students NOLS graduates living in the USreceive a ree subscription to
The Leader
or lie
The Leader
accepts paid advertising and wel-comes article submissions and comments Pleaseaddress all correspondence totheleader@nolseduor call (307) 332-8800 Alumni can direct addresschanges toalumni@nolsedu or(800) 332-4280 Forthe most up-to-date inormation on NOLS, visit wwwnolsedu ore-mailadmissions@nolsedu
The Leader
is printed in Jackson, Wyoming, onnewsprint with a minimum 40% post-consumer- waste recycled content A paperless version is alsoavailable online at wwwnolsedu/alumni/leader
Thans to eeryone who oined us in Lander last onth
tocelebrateour45thanniversary!Therecapcanbe
ound on age 19.
wHo’s THis?
B r a d C h r i s t e n s e n
2
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T H E
aLumni profiLE
I’ll Tae a Davenport on Ice . . .
Grad Skis Antarctic Icebergs
BY kATE BARRETT, NOLS ROCkY mOUNTAIN INTERN
C
hris Davenport is a man on the move, literallyHe moves really ast, downhill, at high angles,on skis We proled Chris in the all 2007 issue o
The
Leader
, but three years later, Chris is still up tohis same shenanigans You know, bagging Four-teeners let and right, introducing remote Antarcticpeaks to skis, and skiing down icebergs Yes, that’sright, icebergs And I mean iceberg in every sense o the word—a massive chunk o ice suspended in therosty cold ocean surrounding the Antarctic Penin-sula No big deal, right? RightTo understand what motivated Chris to tackleskiing an iceberg, we’ve got to rewind back to the1980s (think “Ice Ice Baby ”) A lietime o remark-able outdoor eats began or Chris in his native New Hampshire, and crystallized when he took his rstNOLS course, Wilderness Mountaineering, in 1987The course culminated in a our-day independent stu-dent expedition during which Chris’ group chose toast They hiked 30 miles, drinking only water andeating nothing “I’m still proud o having done thatI wouldn’t be able to do it today, or at least I wouldn’t want to,” he joked “We all had hard times but we su-ered together and pushed through”This undertaking gave Chris a taste o what thehuman body and mind could endure and encouragedhim to continue looking or challenges In 1988, hetook a NOLS Rock Climbing course And the rest,as they say, is history Chris won the 1996 WorldExtreme Skiing Championships and was the rst toski all 54 o Colorado’s 14,000-oot peaks (the aore-mentioned “Fourteeners”) in a single seasonGiven his attraction to extreme pursuits, it’s no wonder Chris ound himsel in Antarctica in late2009, where he, along with skiers Andrea Binningand Stian Hagen, spent the majority o the trip ski-ing the mountain ranges on the Antarctic Peninsulaand surrounding islands, what Chris has dubbed“the last great ski location on earth”And this, o course, brings us back to the icebergNovember 2009 ound Chris hacking his way up aniceberg in Waddington Bay, Antarctica, outtted withice axes and ski boots, simply to descend the foatingmass on skis Why this particular iceberg? Chris’ crew had spent days scouting or a suitable berg on whichChris could saely land using a small infatable Zodiacboat, climb, and then ski down During the search,Chris watched as a ew o the foating mounds eitherfipped over or simply imploded and sunk beneath thesurace Luckily, this berg didn’t do either “Climbingup it was a sensation I can’t describe,” he said “Thething isn’t stationary so the ground moves beneathyou It was enough that my brain was like, ‘What is go-ing on?’ It was a little nerve-wracking,” he added witha laugh Needless to say, the outcome was good:Titanic-0, Chris Davenport-1Given Chris’ track record, there’s no doubt he will keep living the lie he ound so appealing atNOLS “Both courses were huge moments in my lie,” he said “I was completely taken by the experi-ence It really cemented the act that the mountains were my home”Chris’ adventures continue to move him romplace to place Ater running a ski camp in Portillo, Argentina, this past summer (winter in the SouthernHemisphere), he is now home in Colorado promotinghis new book,
50 Classic Ski Descents of North Ameri-ca
, available through wwwwolverinepublishingcom
For more information about Chris’ iceberg ski expedi-tion, visit www.antarcticseaodyssey.com,or read
Outside
magazine’s in-depth article at http://outsideonline.com/ outside/destinations/201004/skiing-antarctica-1.html.
Let:
Chris Daenort sorting a toothy grin on his
trudgeupaniceberg.
Top Right:
Takingabreather
beore descending a reote ea.
Bottom Right:
How
does he get down ro that assie ice shel?
C o u r t e s y o C h r i s D a v e n p o r t C o u r t e s y o C h r i s D a v e n p o r t C o u r t e s y o C h r i s D a v e n p o r t
Chris watched as a ew o the foating mounds either fipped over or simply imploded and sunk beneath the surace. Luckily, this berg didn’t do either.
3
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The Leader is published three times a year for alumni of the National Outdoor Leadership School.
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