Tag: Outward Bound

“On Belay?”

On this day in 1908, legendary mountaineer and wilderness outdoor education pioneer Paul Petzoldt was born in Creston, Iowa. He developed several specialized climbing practices that are now considered standard. Examples include the ‘call and reply’ voice commands that are practiced all over the world (note the title of this article). And the ‘Sliding Middleman’ is a climbing practice that allows larger expedition teams to more safely traverse snow and ice fields.

Petzoldt, late 1920s

In 1930, he formed Exum Mountain Guides (later known as Exum School of American Mountaineering), and in 1934, Paul led the first single-day double traverse of the Matterhorn (on the Swiss/Italian border). He was also a member of the First American Karakoram Expedition (also known as K2) in 1938.

 

10th Mountain Division

By World War 2, most of the major combatants had specialized mountaineer units. The Americans were lagging behind in mountain warfare expertise, so in 1943, the US Army developed the elite 10th Mountain Division. Paul entered the unit as a sergeant (at age 36) bringing years of hard-earned mountaineering and survival skills. He was then deployed with the unit on the Italian Front in 1944.

 

He was Colorado Outward Bound’s first Chief Climbing Instructor in 1963. In 1965, Petzoldt founded NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School). His work in adventure education raised the training bar to new heights (yes, that was intentional). In the mid 1970s he (along with Dr. Frank Lupton, Robert Christie and Charles Gregory) formed the Wilderness Education Association.

I am very fortunate to have met Paul on 2 different occasions. He spoke as a guest lecturer in several of my classes in the Recreation and Park Administration department at Western Illinois University. The anecdotes were filled with wisdom and wit that will stay with me forever. I also got to buy him breakfast at my residence hall cafeteria in 1988. As a 1987 graduate of the Environmental Conservation and Outdoor Education Expedition (ECOEE), I was certified as an Outdoor Leader in Paul’s curriculum. I have read and re-read his New Wilderness Handbook and Teton Trails many times over.

In 1994, several prominent mountaineers organized a Grand Teton climb in honor of the 70th anniversary of Paul’s first ascent. Just short of the summit, inclement weather began to roll in. Paul then announced that being 86 years old, and nearly blind, he ought to exercise some of that judgment he’d been teaching all these years, and turn around now. As they say, “There are old mountaineers, and there are bold mountaineers. But there are no old, bold mountaineers.”

The INSIIDE cover of my copy of Teton Trails

Paul died on October 16, 1999 at the age of 91, leaving a legacy that continues to shape the experiences of climbers, adventurers, and experiential educators alike.

“On belay?” “Belay on, Paul!”

-Toph

Summertime, and the Living is Easy

Summertime is significant to me. Admittedly, being out of school for 3 months is important for almost every kid’s development, but in my case, it became something more. In 1983, I spent my first summer “away from home” when I started working at a local YMCA camp. I had been camping a couple times with my parents, and spent a week at choir camp. But working as a camp counselor profoundly changed my life. For the next 6 summer breaks, through high school and college, I worked as a lifeguard, canoeing and climbing instructor, high ropes course facilitator and program director.

At the time, I believed that the most important part of those experiences was learning recreation skills. After all, I was 15.  I didn’t go into this journey knowing how to canoe, rock climb or backpack. Since age 5, I was a competitive swimmer, and being a lifeguard and swimming instructor was the first step. Little did I know that it was also a metaphorical backstage pass to what would become my entire career.

That joy of experiencing “the great outdoors” was an unexpected means to an end. Yes, I was learning to find appropriate places to set up tents while avoiding hazards, or how to tie belay lines on a cliff face. But much more importantly, I was developing “soft skills,” too. I was teaching these activities to kids, learning how to inspire interests, and guiding groups of people toward common goals.

I was fortunate to participate in the ECOEE field study program in college. The acronym stands for Environmental Conservation / Outdoor Education Expedition.

Fall of 1987, Wind River Mountains, Wyoming.
(I’m in the back row, 2nd from the right.)
Who knew you could surf while backpacking?

It was a spring planning class that culminated with a semester-long road trip. It took us on a behind-the-scenes visit of various innovative educational facilities, National Parks, and adaptive recreation programs. 

We spent several weeks backpacking in the Grand Tetons and Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. 

Our timing was also fortunate – we were at Yellowstone while the historic decision to reintroduce wolves to the park was being considered – 8 years before the plan was implemented.  It’s cool to see what happened after:

http://How Wolves Change Rivers

In January of my senior year of college, I began a 4-month internship with Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, leading wilderness canoe trips for adjudicated teenagers. The program was one of the most successful of its kind – one of the original “hoods in the woods” rehabilitative programs. And it boasted a HUGELY successful track record: 66% of the kids who completed the course did not become re-offenders.

 

HIOBS; paddling from the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia, down the Swanee River through Florida, to the Gulf of Mexico.

The end result of this life foundation was a 32-year career that spanned camp directing, program development, therapeutic recreation, child and adult inpatient psych counseling, outpatient mental health treatment, probation court services, and law enforcement. I also took my own kids camping and recreating, both with youth groups, and as a family. I still look forward to every opportunity to go camping, to road trip across country, or to explore a State or National Park. It has become one of the biggest passions of my life.

And it all started while getting a suntan at a swimming pool in Iowa, earning $25 a week.

 

-Toph

 

What seemingly minor decisions you made had huge ramifications later?  Shoot me an email and let me know!