Journal Entry 1
1. Describe your personal feelings related to the best and worst experiences you experienced in the class?
I’ll start with low hanging fruit and choose to describe on of the best experiences that I have had in the adventure-based class. It was up on bucks on the last day of the Telelmark class when we had the opportunity to run laps in the brand-new powder, under blue skies until we were simply too tired to skin back up to the top of the run. It honestly wasn’t “school” and was exactly how I would have wanted to spend that day if it was in my time off. Being a “self proclaimed” climber, it was one of the first days in a long time that I questioned how dedicated I was to one sport and whether skiing could actually join the same priority level as climbing for me in my day to day life. It was a rockin’ day that I won’t seen forget. To be honest I haven’t had many bad experiences, but that won’t make for a quality journal entry so I will get picky. Honestly it was probably on our first day out cross-country skiing on Buck’s Summit Road that I personally had the hardest day out with adventure based, but honestly I go out and have that exact same day over because it still was fun. I hadn’t had much experience on skis, and I was probably subconsciously worried that I would torch my knee falling over at some point. These feelings made me jump more into the mind set of type two fun, so looking back on it with hindsight I am having a bit of trouble trying to make it out as a “bad” day.
2. What would you do to improve your performance, behavior, and attitude?
First off performance. Simple one, get more sleep! It’s a balance with work, adventure based, and life and I find it easy to cut into sleep to account for all of this. Yet, I know from experience that I do not perform at my best when lacking in sleep. In terms of behavior, I think that it is often easy for myself to fall into a “instructor” “instructee” mindset and allow decisions to be defaulted to instructors and the group. Yet, the entire purpose of being in this program is to be an instructor of sorts, and I believe that it is valuable to take on a behavior that reflects the requirements of the training I am receiving. As for attitude, I know I can make some sarcastic comments and always mean them in gest, but often times in the backcountry others may not be in the same mindset that I am in, so comments that would normally be seen as fun and lighthearted in when in the comfort of are daily lives may take a different light when cold, wet, and tired in the backcountry.
3. What equipment modifications would you make?
- I always carry a repair/parts for my stove. Yet, on the winter trip I found that my pump was broken beyond repair. (Saylor offered me his extra pump, and it hit me how critical and easy it would be to simply carry another pump in my repair kit when the repair it it’s self doesn’t cut it.)
- Snow glasses. The regular polarized glasses that I use in day to day life let too much light in the sides, and in more extreme brightness don’t allow for easy/quality sun protection.
- Multiple lighters. (Keep them dry!)
- Velcro straps to back up skins instead of tape so that they can be used more easily and multiple
times.
- Limitless other things that I don’t have to waist your time with here…
4. Describe at least one instance in the class where you felt frustrated. Include a statement on how you dealt with the frustration and or anything that you would do differently?
At first, I was having a hard time coming up with an answer to this question, and I got frustrated with myself, which brought to light something that isn’t adventure based specific but is definitely relevant to this question. There are times that I feel that “I don’t want to ski another lap”, “do an extra set of circuits training” or anything of the like and I find myself beating myself up over not having the stoke that usually is easy to find within myself. With the ability of hindsight to give me more clarity, I do not view this as a fault but something that is natural, and something that I will clearly have to learn to balance in the years to come. I believe that I often just have to take a breath and realize either “today is not the day” or “I do not have to be stoked to do something awesome” and still do it. Both are acceptable outcomes and seeing that in the moment is something that I can continue to work on.
5. Describe the two best adventures you had in the snow, outside of the adventure-based class? Are you comfortable with how much you are recreating on your own time?
I am going to answer these questions in the timeline of the adventure-based class, and not passes experience. Hope that is an okay assumption to make. First one “semi” counts is when class was cancelled but a handful of us went skiing at bucks anyway. It was bluebird and we had first tracks in Utah fluffy powder. Honestly the day that made me dive into research on ski objectives, equipment, learning available, ect. While class may have introduced me, that day is definitely what hooked me! Secondly, was a few weeks back when we had a storm break in the afternoon on a day off and I decided to drive up to bucks and run a quick lap before sunset. I went for the skiing but was met with one of the most epic alpine glow sunsets that I have ever witnessed, and had the opportunity to set the skin track up the ridge without and signs of passed tracks. Epic day! I am happy with what I can achieve in my own time, only wish that the rock would dry out at lower elevations for some climbing.
Journal Entry 2
- What specific skills from the expedition do you feel best or most excited about? How will you improve those skills in the future, and how will you apply them?
I believe that I am most inclined toward multi-day excursions and expeditions in many forms. I don’t believe that the exact recreational activity has the most to play with my decision into what I am most excited about, but rather the grandness of the plan behind the activity. Taking the skills that I have acquired in climbing and bringing them to a larger canvas, combining my backpacking and mountain biking skills into a bike-packing multi-day trip, or things of the like are what most excite me. To continue these goals and future objectives I think it is vital to continue growing my organizational, professional, and attentive skills rather than that of any one specific activity. To take what I have learned in a single day setting, and growing it to a multi-day setting, I believe comes down more to prep, detail, and drive rather than the activities physical skills.
- Looking back on the entire semester, discuss two situations that you wish you could relive—one to change something you did or said, and one that was so perfect that you want to experience it again. How will these two experiences inform your future personal and professional decisions? Explain.
Let’s start with the one moment that I would change. It’s the start of day two on the river expedition, and I am completely stoked to be rowing my way down the Eel River. I pop my head up out of my sleeping bag and notice that I have a headache and feel a bit of uncharacteristic grogginess. “No worries” I think and swish down an advil with my morning coffee. Day 3 has now come and I definitely feel exhausted, but my over-stoker brain quickly rationalizes it with the fact that we have been on the river the last few days. Night 3… “holly crap… this is not good… I am sick… sick sick”. Three more days of misery on the water and a week of recovery and now place some critical thinking into how I could have changed this outcome. I do not wish to have “not been sick”, I view this as a somewhat hopeless thought, but rather I wish I had given myself more time to critically look into how I was feeling and what I could have done to combat what I was feeling. The moment that continues to stick in my brain from the entire semester is that of skiing perfect powder on top of Buck’s Summit. If there was an activity that I could relive again and again from the semester, I’d take the time teleporting gondola to the top of Buck’s over and over.
- Wild nature is essential for nearly every activity we pursued in this course. What is your responsibility toward wild nature? As a future recreation professional, how will you meet this responsibility?
I personally believe that it is key to view myself as not simply a recreationalist, but rather an environmentalist, activist, and voice in the outdoor community and beyond. To simply take from the outdoors without putting anything into it, I personally believe equates to recreational negligence.
I personally believe that we have the responsibility to protect and help restore our natural places to as original state as we can. By supporting groups that protect these places and doing our own part in keeping wilderness the wilderness.
Journal Entry 3
Your personal progress toward each of the three course Student Learning Outcomes listed below:
Demonstrate an ability to travel in the backcountry in a safe and efficient manner. This may include a variety of outdoor skills such as (but not limited to) backcountry skiing and winter camping; whitewater rafting and kayaking; rock climbing; backpacking; mountaineering.
- Coming into the semester I had dedicated most of my time to learning and teaching both rock climbing and backpacking, making it both my job and passion. Once I joined the program I had the chance to broaden the scope of my recreational activities and found myself quickly becoming addicted to backcountry skiing at the beginning of the course. Prior to the semester starting my person skiing experience was incredible low and limited to a random few days on the lifts of the last few years. Starting off, I definitely found skiing to be a challenge, but what I wasn’t expecting was the joy I felt in being a complete beginner again. This new found joy for now expectations when it came to skiing I believe allowed me to not get frustrated with my progression. This allowed me to work on skills over and over without feeling that I had to be skiing the next hardest line, and with that came what I believe to be a solid base for future years of skiing. While there are individual skills and talents that I have a long ways to go in becoming well versed in, I know that this semester has given me a foundation is skiing that gives me confidence and baseline that I will be able to fall back on for years to come.
- I had spent quite a few nights in the winter backcountry prior to arriving at FRC, but with picking up skiing I was able to implement a level of efficient (and therefor safe) winter backcountry travel that I had not been able to perform prior. The ability to quickly and safely travel long distances in snow on skis is something that I will continue to build upon and grow as a winter backcountry enthusiast.
- If there is one area where I have the most to improve, I would point my finger towards whitewater sports and kayaking specifically. After taking the intro to whitewater course, I found myself much more proficient in a hardshell kayak but also with many questions and skills to be learned. At current I can roll about 50% of the time in flat water and haven’t yet been able to complete a combat roll. While rolling has a large area to improve into, I also believe that I have a lot of work to do to have kayaking/boating come more natural to me. Despite not feeling panicked in a kayak, I also do not feel the state of calm or correctness that I can often reach in other extreme sports. I look forward to spending time working on both my head and physical skills when it comes to safely whitewater kayaking and boating in the year to come.
Create and implement lessons for topics related to teaching and leading in the backcountry.
- Having started my journey through FRC’s program only this last spring, I do not believe this is a topic that I feel as well versed in or instructed upon within the program. That being said the experience I have had this last semester is not to go without mentioning.
- When it came to implementing lessons this semester, I often felt that there were more on the fly for me teaching how to tie a bowline knot quickly or describing the the characteristics of a rapid on a fly to someone who hadn’t run this section of river yet. This style of impromptu instruction is what I have felt most comfortable in prior to joining the program, and believe that more than anything I am simply grateful that the program was able to continue to give me the stage to keep practicing these skills this last semester.
- When it comes to writing up a lesson plan I look forward to my upcoming semester at FRC, and what they will be able to provide me in both the classroom and backcountry settings.
Use theoretical foundations and practical experiences to reflect on their personal leadership techniques as well as their place as a member of an outdoor group.
- At current I believe that most of my outdoor experience and teaching skills come from practical experience. Over my life I have been lucky enough to to travel all over the American west and bike, climb, run, backpack, paddle, and so much more along the way. Some practices I believe have taken years to sink and are gradual learning experiences whereas other experiences have been quick and sudden learning moments.
- I believe that after years of climbing I take up a personal belief that there is value in both efficiency and redundancy when participating in leading outdoor recreation. In climbing one must constantly make sure that there are multiple safeguards in case of many failure, and when I view my outdoor leading style see this same thought process often reflected in my leadership. I always see value in having a backup to the backup, yet I also take from climbing the ability to know when something's good and not change it. If you have a secure anchor, there is a point when additional redundancy becomes more cumbersome than beneficial and I believe that is is true in trip leadership as well. To always focus on the backup never allows you to perfect or properly implement the current plan. A backup is just that a backup, and I find that if I plan more to plan b than the primary itinerary there is a higher likelyhood of having to fall back on those plans.
- When it comes to philosophy’s and theoretical backcountry ethics and skills I find that I too have discover most of these practices through practical experience. I didn’t know that “Leave no Trace” was a predescribed ethic until college, and only had thought previously that it was just simply the best way to implement backcountry travel and recreation.
Your personal progress toward the six program Student Learning Outcomes listed below:
Assess a group & situation to determine what is needed to reach goals while maintaining emotional & physical safety.
- Beginning my senior year of high school I had the opportunity to plan an execute a multi week, state, activity, and skill group of 25 individuals throughout Utah’s parks. On this trip is where I know that I personally got my foundation in maintaining group safety both in mental and a physical capacity. After 18 days of travel, I discovered the psychological effects of “day 4”, the need of oversight even with trusted individuals, and many more life lessons. While I do rely on these experiences to help me when leading backpacking trips, instructing climbing, or guiding, I do acknowledge the fact there is a long way for me to progress in these fields when it comes from learning in a classroom. I often find myself feeling well versed in a topic with no ability to reference it to a classroom, but rather an instance where I learned by trial rather than learning from a hypothetical stand point. I see benefit in both aspects of learning and look forward to being able to extend my knowledge in both the real life and hypothetical examples.
Communication: Demonstrate competence in speaking, writing, and use of computers that will lead to successful employment in an entry-level position.
- Computers: Growing up the son of a photographer computers and editing where something that I became well versed in at a young age and I have continued to progress in the years to come. Beginning with photography I have branched into videography, website design, and basic programming. With these hard skills I have been able to also pick up on a style of navigation that often allows me to troubleshoot through issues rather than having to contact someone with the needed knowledge. I believe where I can increase my computer literacy is in my ability to teach it and demonstrate it to others in a clear and concise manner. Lastly, I wish to be able to teach the skill of problem solving and troubleshooting on tech. devices rather than simply teaching people the ability to exicute one single task.
- In the past I have run clubs, played sports, and performed in theater all of which have given me a foundation in being able to speak in front of crowds. When it comes to personal/professional speech I have been running my own photography busy for the last four years which has allowed me to witness first hand methods of interaction that both help and hurt professional and business relationships. Where I look forward to progressing in my speech skills is in planning speeches and lectures. The ability to have a script but stay candid in the moment is a skill that I wish to practice more and become more proficient in.
- Lastly, I have had the opportunity to take courses/workshops in nonviolent and clean communication in the last few years and have seen a great increase in my ability to connect with people both in writing and in person. Having tools to break down wants and desires into key needs has been one of the most effective forms of learned communication that I have personally had the opportunity to be trained in yet.