Fall Semester In The Rockies
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Overview
Highlights
- This is an outdoor leadership course designed for 23 years and older
- Visit world-class rock climbing spots
- Grow and develop as a leader
- Navigate through winding slot canyons
What's this trip about?
Details
Travel Themes
Destinations
Attractions
Activities
Itinerary
You’ll live in the Wind River Range for this section, a world-class climbing destination, ...
Depending on the weather and time of year, your climbing camp may be hel...
Your river expedition takes place in Utah on either the Green, Yampa, or San Juan Rivers. These water...
T...
On this section, you may have the chance to do an optional “solo,” where you spend up to 36 hours alone. There is no hiking during the solo. The canyons can be a deeply spiritual place, and many students find this experience a rare and powerful opportunity for introsp...
At the beginning of the course your instructors will travel with you to teach travel skills including navigation, leadership, risk assessment, and decision-making. As you develop competence, instructors will gradually give you more responsibilities. Once you gain prof...
After successful practice with independent student group travel and if your instructors think your group is ready, your course may culminate in a multi-day student-led expedition. Usually, for the Student Expeditions you will travel in a group of four to six students ...
Your winter section will take place in one of several Wyoming mountain ranges, including t...
This 80-hour course, the industry standard for outdoor professionals, is taught by staff from NOLS Wilderness Medicine. You’ll learn to make critical medical...
Your semester includes a two-day Wilderness First Aid course (WFA) in Lander. This 16-hour course, the industry standard for outdoor recreationists, is taught...
Want a tailor-made trip instead?
Your trip, your way, planned by an expert:
- You choose budget, destinations, activities, transport & lodging type
- Expert designs the itinerary for you, and once approved, takes care of logistics
Dates & Availability
Check Current Availability, prices, specials with National Outdoor Leadership School.
The total tour cost includes the tour price (regular or promotional) and the compulsory local payment. The promotional price is subject to change. Check directly with the operator for the latest price offer. The tour operator requires you to pay only the tour price to purchase your travel. The compulsory local payment will be paid when you join the trip. All prices are based on double, twin or triple share occupancy. Solo passengers will be accommodated in a double, twin or triple room according to availability with a passenger(s) of the same gender. Single supplement only needs to be paid if the passenger does not want to share and requests their own room. Discounts can only be applied at the time of booking and cannot be added at a later date, regardless of any changes made to the original booking.
Prices may vary due to local taxes and trip seasonality. Click "Request Info" to inquire directly with the tour operator for the final trip price.
National Outdoor Leadership School Reviews & Ratings
Other National Outdoor Leadership School Reviews
Great Wilderness courses!
Great Wilderness courses!
Phenomenal
Wind River 1995 was phenomenal with Jason Buchovecky
properly engage the class
I recently took the NOLS Wilderness First Aid course and was very please with not only the content, but the instructors as well. They were very knowledgeable and kne...
Tour Operator
Our school began in a small cabin in Sinks Canyon, Wyoming in 1965 as the National Outdoor Leadership School. At that time, we were primarily a wilderness skills school, doing our work in various mountain ranges and focusing on what teaching leadership in the outdoors meant. Today, we are NOLS, a multifaceted, wilderness school that supports thousands of students each year all over the world.
For us, it’s always been about how well we can serve our students. In the beginning, our founder Paul Petzoldt dreamt of nurturing leaders who knew how to live responsibly in the wilderness and teach others to do the same. One way we’ve evolved to better accomplish that has been by offering more diverse courses and trainings. Today, we focus on teaching leadership in many contexts, from leading during a medical emergency to a wilderness expedition, to training company executives, to helping our industry as a whole better manage the risks we face in the wilderness.
Our story since 1965 is one of resilience and determination, passion and pushing the limits of our expertise. We are thriving today because of the grit we developed by necessity in our early years. We invented outdoor gear when it didn’t exist, recovered from financial struggles that could have sunk the school, handled the loss and celebrated the return of our provocative founder, and reflected and learned when one of our community experienced loss or injury in the wilderness.
We’re also thriving because of the way our school has diversified and grown over the years. The wild forms the core of every aspect of the school, and the interrelationship of our various parts makes us stronger. NOLS Wilderness Medicine, founded as the Wilderness Medicine Institute, was instrumental in promoting and elevating the quality of wilderness medicine in the field's early days. It has enabled our wilderness medicine curriculum to be constantly tested and improved in the outdoors and led us to improved practices. Our years of managing risk for our own programs has become part of the expertise we share through risk management consulting and a yearly conference that promotes dialogue about risk in the industry. Being able to offer customized courses, in turn, has enabled us to reach larger audiences and test ways to keep our leadership curriculum relevant in many environments.
Today, our students are learning on oceans and in classrooms, in rivers and in conference rooms. Our curriculum resonates as much with a student just beginning high school as it does with an astronaut, entrepreneur, or outdoor program director; and each of these students shows us new ways to view and teach leadership.
As we strive to support growth in our students and continue to grow as leaders ourselves, we work together to leverage the strengths of each part of the school so we can continue to step forward boldly into the wild, no matter what that wild looks like, and help the world’s future leaders do the same.
NOLS is a non-profit school that seeks to help you step forward boldly as a leader.
We believe that anyone can be a leader; it’s our role to provide the environment and training to help you discover your full potential. We do that in classrooms close to home and in remote wilderness areas around the world.
We’re an organization with heart, expertise, and wildness, and these qualities help us support powerful, authentic experiences.
Our Mission And Values
Our mission is to be the leading source and teacher of wilderness skills and leadership that serve people and the environment. Our community—staff, students, trustees, and alumni—shares a commitment to wilderness, education, leadership, safety, community, and excellence
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Logistics
Average age: 20
Weather and Other Challenges
Weather
Weather in the mountains is unpredictable. You’ll learn to live comfortably outside in blizzards, rainstorms, and high winds. Cold and snowy conditions can occur any month of the year, and late season courses may spend some of their time camping on snow.
Terrain
You may be bushwhacking off-trail through thick vegetation, scrambling over refrigerator-sized boulders, or battling sleet. Rivers are icy from snowmelt and can be difficult or impossible to cross. You may have to traverse slopes of loose rock and carry a heavy backpack up steep passes.
River
Identifying and managing the hazards of a river environment will be a constant theme in your instruction. Expect to be confronted by large, crashing waves, high volume or shallow water, conditions that can promote both hypothermia and sun exposure, and re-circulating hydraulics. Objective river hazards such as fallen trees that can trap swimmers underwater or strong currents that can pin paddlers against rocks will be addressed. As you will be days away from medical care, you are expected to demonstrate the highest regard for risk management in the field.
Climbing
To learn rock climbing, you’ll climb and rappel on or above sheer cliffs where loose rock and steep terrain require precise movement. You must master rope and protection systems to minimize the possibility of falling. Unforeseen changes in weather can be especially hazardous if you are in the middle of a climb where the possibility of retreat is limited.
Wildlife
Your course will travel through grizzly and black bear habitat. NOLS, in collaboration with bear biologists, has developed specific practices to minimize the risk of a bear encounter, including carrying pepper spray, hanging food or protecting it in an electrified fence, and maintaining a meticulously clean campsite. Your instructors will teach these practices to you, and you’ll follow them every day. These precautions may decrease opportunities for solitude and privacy on your course.
Remoteness
Identifying and managing hazards—such as falling rock, stormy weather, animals, moving water, and steep terrain—will be a constant theme on your course. You’re often miles from the amenities of civilization, including medical care; telephones may be several days away. You are expected to demonstrate the highest regard for risk management in the field.
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