A Summer with NOLS: Lessons Learned in Outdoor School
Anacapa student, Alex Carlson, spent three months this past summer learning how to be a mountain man with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). During one month backpacking, one month mountaineering and one month sea kayaking in the wild frontiers of Alaska, Alex practiced specific wilderness skills, such as camp cooking, ice climbing and glacier safety. He also had time to take classes in land management, first aid and local ecology. Overall, Alex found the experience rewarding and exciting, but enjoyed the mountaineering the most because of the personal challenges he overcame.