Topics: Alumni, Sinks Canyon, Lander, NOLS Australia, Live the Dream, Rocky Mountain

By Nicholas Nerli, age 14

Topics: NOLS, leadership, Vermont, Lander, team, navigation, Noonmark Mountain, Expedition Prep, teens, first aid, learning, skills, cooking, summiting, Lake Champlain, summer vacation, instructors, New York, Adirondack, backcountry, Rocky Mountain, NOLS Northeast

Lander, Wyo. — This past weekend
the International Climbers’ Festival took place in beautiful City Park in
Lander Wyo. In its 20^th year, the festival is the longest-running
climbing festival in the world.

Topics: bouldering, NOLS, Sinks Canyon, Behind the Scenes, outdoor industry, Lander, Expedition Denali, National Outdoor Leadership School, International Climbers' Festival, Rocky Mountain

Last Friday the NOLS Rocky Mountain and Three Peaks Ranch interns held a volunteer work day at the Pushroot Community Garden in Lander. Despite the Fontenelle fire draping Lander in heavy smoke the past few evenings, the sky cleared for a successful event! Community members, NOLS employees, and even a family who had just rolled into town from Philadelphia tackled some of Pushroot’s biggest tasks on their to-do list. Volunteers were able to completely deer-proof the lot’s perimeter fence, put together a composter, wood-chip the base of trees, as well as finish other general maintenance tasks. Pushroot, located on 715 Amoretti, is a community run garden which rents plots to locals and provides food for community organizations such as Lights On and the food bank. For a garden that is so community-oriented, it was nice to give back. For more information about Pushroot, please visit: www.pushrootcommunitygarden.com

Topics: Behind the Scenes, Interns, Pushroot Community Garden, Rocky Mountain

In true summer fashion, NOLS Rocky Mountain is soaking up the sun for all it’s worth, which is, in fact, about 70 percent of the facility’s power usage.

Topics: Rocky Mountain Power, NOLS, Solar, Lander, renovation, Blue Skies program, Wyoming, ground source heat, power, Creative Energies, Environmental Stewardship, energy efficient, Speeds Heating and Cooling, Rocky Mountain

NOLS senior field instructor and Rocky Mountain River Base Manager Phil Henderson is making his way through Nepal this week en route to climbing Mount Everest. He is working with a team of North Face athletes and researchers, commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the first American ascent to the peak. Learn more about the expedition by on the National Geographic or the North Face blogs. The following is his first note from the field:

Topics: NOLS, National Geographic, faculty, Everest, National Outdoor Leadership School, Sherpa, anniversary, Nepal, American, River, Live the Dream, Phil Henderson, Khfu, Utah, Rocky Mountain

While the rest of Lander is in a zombie-like trance, picking up stray firework casings from their lawns, having forgotten about the red, white and blue face paint they so proudly sported on the 4th, one group of weathered students emerges from the snow-capped Absarokas. Windswept and disheveled, the twelve students on our Rocky Mountain Semester course were welcomed back by the high spirited folks at the Rocky Mountain Branch and their researcher Cara Ocobock.

Topics: NOLS, Research, Educators Notebook, Rocky Mountain, Cara Ocobock

For the past week I have been saying the same phrase over and over again: “Hi, my name is Kate, I am one of the new RM interns.” Over at the Rocky Mountain Branch, Wei-Ming, Spencer, and I started our summer internships last week, and are working on immersing ourselves in the NOLS Rocky Mountain world of the Gulch, Issue Room, and a whole variety of projects.

Topics: RM, NOLS, Behind the Scenes, Rocky Mountain

Leadership week saw NOLS working with a program called Lights On in Lander, an afterschool program to promote academic excellence and positive youth development. On Tuesday, we talked about backcountry nutrition and on Thursday we taught the group how to best get ready for a day excursion into the Wind Rivers! But don’t fret, it wasn’t all talk- we played some games in the gym and then munched on some yummy trail mix from the rations room at NOLS Rocky Mountain. They were Happy Campers to say the least!

Topics: NOLS, leadership, leadership week, Behind the Scenes, Senior Citizen's Center, Intern, Lander, lights on, #NOLSLW, students, community, volunteer, Rocky Mountain

Despite recent winter storms, the spring semester at NOLS Rocky Mountain is underway! Our Outdoor Educator Semester and Spring Semester in the Rockies courses are off to a rockin’ start. The RM is seeing a lot more action than it has in previous weeks. Our bays are filling up quickly with gear as students have been equipping themselves for their winter sections.

Topics: NOLS, leadership week, SSR, Spring Semester Courses 2011, #NOLSLW, Educators Notebook, Outdoor Educator, Rocky Mountain

Holding a trail restoration day in November in Wyoming doesn't seem like the brightest idea. Last year in Lander, snow had already been around for a month. So Aaron and I crossed our fingers when we scheduled a service project for last Saturday.

Topics: Behind the Scenes, RM Trail Project 2010, Rocky Mountain

We mixed things up a bit this morning at NOLS Rocky Mountain. We felt communication flow would be better if we worked in the same general space. Or, more precisely, the exact same space.

Topics: Behind the Scenes, Rocky Mountain

Lots of introductions have been happening at NOLS Rocky Mountain. My fellow intern, Aaron, and I have just started.

Topics: NOLS, Behind the Scenes, Intern, Rocky Mountain

Topics: Wind River Wilderness, Expedition Prep, summer, interviews, student, Rocky Mountain

Photo: NOLS Field Instructor Christian Gauderer assists students Varley Hopkinson, Maegan Fitzgerald and Zach Parelman as they monitor wilderness characteristics in the Split Rock Wilderness Study Area.

Topics: Behind the Scenes, blm, wilderness study area, Wyoming, jeffery city, Outdoor Educator, land management, Rocky Mountain