Thursday, November 1, 2012

Maryland, Wyoming, Red Rocks,  Salt Lake City, back to Maine.

Been a busy month for us at Acadia Mountain Guides. PCIA courses and exams in Maryland, Wyoming and next week in Salt Lake City. The upcoming training in Salt Lake is part of the national AORE (Association for Outdoor Education and Recreation) Conference. We will be offering both a Single Pitch Course and an Instructor Provider course for those wishing to teach the PCIA climbing instructor courses.

This week we have been climbing and guiding in Red Rock outside of Las Vegas. Nice to get on the warm and friendly sandstone again. After some long climbs earlier in the week and a couple days of working on guide training skills we joined the masses and went sport climbing yesterday. Expected to see some costumes out there being Halloween and all. Saw some "varied" and "unusual"  techniques and outfits but no costumes.  Today we are heading out to climb either Tunnel Vision or Group Therapy - or maybe both. Great routes on Angel Food wall.  Had a great trip out here.

It was great to reconnect with Kevin Slater (and his partner Polly) a couple weeks back. I did a WFA and WFR Recert course at their newly built Mahoosuc Mountain Lodge in Grafton Notch. Kevin and I go back to the beginnings of Maine Bound in the early eighties. They run Mahoosuc Guide Service offering traditional dogsled trips, winter skills, canoe tripping and traditional bush skills courses. Check them out.  A great spot for wilderness med courses with superb hospitality so were looking to do more in the future.

Next week at the AORE conference I will be presenting three workshops - one on spinal injury in the backcountry, a second on Learning Process, and a third entitled "Are We Safe? 
Particularly interested to hear people' opinions on the nuances of the question of "are we safe" with respect to outdoor instructional programs. Feel free to comment, send an email or call.

Gotta get out to the rock. Later.  Jon T.