Burleigh Mountain

The end is near!!!!!

2010-05-12T13:09:00.002-04:00

Hi folks,

We are really getting close to the SophX! Recently I have been doing some medical screening and last minute adjustments to the gear. In two weeks I will give my internship presentation and hand in my portfolio which has all of my documented accomplishments at NHS. Thanks, for your support this is an amazing community with great individuals.

Taylor Huntley
Intern of Experiential Learning

Back to the future

2010-04-02T14:05:00.002-04:00

Well, it was an awesome spring break and the Junior Urban Adventure (JUA) was an experience that we all learned from. I am back in the swing of things here on the New Hampton School Campus and working on a promotional video for the JUA (keep an eye out!).
The Soph X is getting closer and I find that it is time to start putting my focus back to the future.

Be well,

Taylor Huntley
Intern of Experiential Learning
tbhuntley@plymouth.edu

Back from break & off to Boston

2010-03-19T11:49:00.003-04:00

Howdy folks,

This break has been awesome. Hans and I have been wrapping up the Soph X. staff training logistics as the JUA draws closer and closer. The gear room is always seeing action and is still looking GREAT! It has been very quite around campus this past week; I am looking forward to having the students back and with them the dinning hall.

My next blog will be on the JUA site, check it out. I am really looking forward to using my video skills from this short film to a JUA montage, so be on the look out. I have already selected the music!

As always a pleasure to serve the NHS community,

Taylor B. Huntley
Intern of Experiential Learning

Adventure Ed News & Culture

2010-03-15T19:59:00.012-04:00

I was checking out the blog for the Association for Experiential Education and saw that their blog roll was a little short. As is my wont I complained about this on Twitter and got a quick reply back from @AssnforEE, nice!

So I decided to drag the ol' Burleigh Blog kicking and screaming out of retirement (actually Taylor is doing a great job of that already) and post some links to my favorite adventure ed blogs (in no particular order).

Three Cups of Buna

Coffee, Rainwater & Chalkboards in Ethopia & Beyond

This is the blog of my old friend Adam, a Prescott College Grad, NOLSie (though I don't hold that against him) and current VSO volunteer in Ethopia. It's a

good read, even if he doesn't always stay on topic.

The Mountain World

News, Opinion & Trip Reports

This sometimes irreverent but always well written and far ranging blog covers all sorts of mountain news, culture and media. Written by a frequent contributor to well known print mags.

Create Learning

Team Building Blog

Although already collecting a nod on the AEE blog, Michael Cardus deserves another mention. His blog is chock full of team building goodness. Anyone who can do this with mouse traps deserves a click of the 'subscribe' button.

Talkeetna Air Taxi

Mt. McKinley Glacier Landings & Scenic Flights

Although I didn't use TAT when I flew into Denali in 1998 (holy crap, that was more than 10 years ago!) they win the best blog in town award for their beautiful photography, trip reports and Alaskan humor.

The NOLS Blog

Although everyone in Carhart Land disowned me back when I stopped living in my car, they are going to do it all over again now that I'm mentioning this great blog. It's a sweet dose of leadership, instructor profiles, school news and industry info.

Hiker Hell

Learn from Others' Mistakes (and Triumphs)

This blog is just like Accidents in North American Mountaineering except without all the boring charts. Rate this one 'Daily Dose of Cringe +10.'

Bill's Outdoor (and Indoor) Learning

Experiential & Organizational Learning in East Lothien

A refreshing British Perspective on our industry. Very consistent and thoughtful writing.

SophX Gear Room Whirl-wind

2010-03-01T11:19:00.002-05:00

Finally the moment you've all been waiting for. Check this out....

More snow please

2010-02-26T13:23:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone,

It was a great week here at NHS. My focus in the science and sustainability class has taken off. I spend 3 days a week helping out with labs and reviews. In preparation for my JUA montage I have written a short screen play (my first) that will be featured on this blog shortly. It will be based on gear prep for the Soph. Ex. (Hans and I did come to the impeccable realization that indeed we are gear nerds)

I had an awesome opportunity to help out with the recreational skiing this Wednesday...... sweet powder for my new love of Telemark Skiing!

Thanks to everyone at NHS for making my stay increasingly enjoyable.

Bring on more snow,

Taylor

An Organizational Whirl Wind

2010-02-17T12:03:00.016-05:00

Howdy,

Last week I spent a good amount of time in the Soph Ex Room (a small space with little light where rumor has it, a small creature/ student lives on fish heads supplied by the lunch ladies).

Anyways, here are some pics from before my organizational whirl wind. You can see that the

shelves were being held together by tape.

Now, with the help of Joseph, a new light and some elbow grease we relocated the creature/ student, have new shelves and an improved system. Check this out!

Awesome right! The internship is moving right along and soon I will be blogging for the JUA! That is going to be a fun adventure. I will make sure to attach the links to this site so nobody will miss out on the action.

Also, stay tuned for a short film of some sort relating to Soph Ex.

Until next time,

Taylor

Hi, I am the Spring 2010 Intern of Experiential Education

2010-02-05T14:20:00.003-05:00

I'm Taylor the intern working with Mr. Has Mundahl for the duration of the 2009-2010 academic year. This week has been kind of an orientation for me at NHS, so let me fill you in on a few things I will be working on this spring.

1. Assisting with completion of logistical preparations for Soph Ex, including gear room refurbishment.

2. Making a promotional video for JUA, including filming before and during the courses.

3. Reviewing and updating a mock AEE accreditation from 2005, in hopes of moving the Program/ School further in a potential course to be accredited by the Association of Experiential Education.

Also, I will be working with several faculty members in the science department in a classroom setting (a little different then I am used to coming from an Adventure Education program).

Speaking of faculty, I will be attending the 7:45 am faculty meetings every Wednesday morning, coffee anyone? I had to a thermos full this week.

All in all I am feeling great about how my time here at NHS will be spent. After a welcome from 400 students and staff at todays school meeting who wouldn't? I have a variety of projects that will keep things interesting, not to mention the food is awesome! So thanks all and I look forward to keeping you updated on the regular.

Taylor

Mapping Idea

2009-03-10T15:42:00.002-04:00

I'm curious about using collaborative mapping techniques to make an accurate map of Burleigh Mountain. Check out this draft Google Map I made of the property. These aren't real boundaries or locations yet, but as a proof of concept it looks pretty good.

View Larger Map

Moving Forward (on showshoes)

2009-02-21T09:47:00.005-05:00

This past week we've seen some pretty interesting developments regarding the future of Burleigh! For starters we met with Tom, a forester out of Rumney who will be working with us to develop a forestry management plan for the mountain. The plan will take into account:

Recreation
Selective harvesting
Education
Wildlife habitat development
Preserving peace and quiet

I'm very pleased with his point of view about engaging our students and teachers and doing some of the boundary maintenance and timber surveying. Many thanks to Kirk for his great work finding Tom.

After that we had a great brainstorming snowshoe on Burleigh that Russ and Bekka were able to attend. We started thinking about both short term and long term ideas for using Burleigh. Here is a short list of the things we came up with:

Firewood based community service project
Field study for International Baccalaureat science courses to increase 'contact hours'
Afternoon co-curricular activity for students around sustainability
Mapping project for new course proposed for 09-10, "Projects in Sustainability"
More opportunities to get students and community members to the mountain
Paul's Eagle Scout project around the fire ring, wood shed and signage

We also had a great hike in which we explored the eastern side of the Burleigh property and found some sign of rabbit, deer, moose and a mysterious animal I'm calling the Leaping Tree Hare.

Here's what happened - Russ will often keep a running dialog with others as he hikes (and also possibly with himself) about the things he is observing in nature. His 'nature nuggets' range from tracks to trees and are always interesting and entertaining. As we were hiking along he pointed out some little branches near the ground that had been stripped of bark. "Rabbit browse," he proclaimed. As we were nodding we noticed that the same nibbled bark strips went up the tree three, four, ten, twenty feet up the tree! Russ was stumped, but I wasn't, it's clearly the rare and elusive Burleigh Mountain Leaping Tree Hare, and not the first unusual species to be spotted on the mountain.

As we were wrapping up our hike we started talking about some sort of project that would capture the imagination of both students and faculty. Something that would get folks fired up about Burleigh that could be done in a relatively short period of time. We decided to work on the old lift shack that is located about half way up the mountain.

Here's the vision - we need your help still to fill in the details: Tear this old shack down, pull out the Chevy engine and rebuild it on the same footprint (same approximate size) as a retreat, hermitage, shelter and destination. An oasis as it were, hidden away on a mountain top.

We figure we can do this in about two semesters with students from community service projects and faculty help. Check out the view the place would have - I had to bushwack over a few yards to get the picture to the left, but with a small amount of clearing we can get this view for the Oasis.

So there is a lot of energy right now, pretty exciting - stay tuned for more developments both short term and long term.

In addition to the folks who went out for a hike last week there has been kind of a growing group of folks who are interested and excited in contributing. For me this has been perhaps the most exciting part of this whole thing. Many thanks to CJ, Darren, Sandy, Paul, Bob and many others who are excited to do some great work.

Social Media Case Study?

2009-02-21T08:49:00.003-05:00

The story of the Banff Mountain Film Festival spoof video I made a while back continues with an awesome post from the BMFF over on their world tour blog. I started thinking about how this whole thing played out and I think there are a few things that I've learned here for both fans like me and organizations like the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Mashups are easy to make. Organizations can't controll our own media any more and anyone with a relatively small amount of money and skill can take official media and mash it up. Witness my little spoof movie: as recently as a few years ago it would have been impossible or highly cumbersome to make. Now anybody with a Mac and an internet connection can do this.
There is no such thing as a little engagement. If organizations want to get into the social media game and post stuff on YouTube or be on Facebook we need to understand that we are inviting participation. We might not always like the outcome but we're agreeing with the participation when we engage.
Organizations have a choice. To crack try to crack down on media they didn't create, or to foster and channel it. In this case BMFF fostered it because the media was basically funny and harmless and spoke to the kind of people who go to the festival to begin with.
Make yourself findable. It's pretty easy to find me through my YouTube channel. I link from there to my blog and from the blog to my online portfolio which has contact information for me and I respond to comments. This allowed us to dialog and determine the intentions of the other relatively quickly.
Generosity pays. Every step of the way the BMFF has been incredibly generous. They have asked my permission to re-post the video (more than I did when I made it!), left comments, checked in and sent dozens of emails. I've responded by posting links to their work on the YouTube channel, blogging about it, FaceBooking about it and bringing a friend with me to the tour show.
ROI? What's that? I'm not sure how preoccupied anyone has been here with return on investment. I made the mashup for fun in my free time and never thought about what I would get back from it other than a funny video. BMFF has spent at least some time working on this, emailing me, checking in with the composer etc, that they could have been doing something else. I'm not sure what the net gain of this is for them in terms of fans, exposure and ticket sales, I guess they will have to answer that question. For me as a professional I've gained wider exposure to me and my work and that's priceless!

Many thanks to Shannon, Meagan, wanderingscout, charlamae and everyone else for this facinating experience.

Building the Future of Burleigh Mountain

2009-01-30T16:21:00.001-05:00

Greetings folks! We are starting an exciting new chapter in the future of Burleigh Mountain, New Hampton School's Wilderness Campus, and I wanted to invite you to be a part of it!

We are starting the process of developing a Forestry Management Plan for Burleigh that will include recreation, education, selective harvesting, conservation, habitat creation and local outreach. As you know Burleigh Mountain already is a place where students, faculty and staff of NHS do great work and we're looking forward to taking this facility and the work we do there to the next level.

To kick things off I'm inviting you to a brainstorming session and snowshoe hike on Tuesday February 17th at 1:30pm on Burleigh!

We'll meet on the mountain but let me know if you need a ride from the school or would like to carpool up to save gas and parking spots.
Dogs, friends, children, neighbors, relatives, significant others et al are all welcome
Bring snowshoes if you have them, sturdy boots if you don't, dress in layers and bring a water bottle (we'll have some snackies and get a fire going if we're chilly)

Leave a comment on this post if you can make it - we'd love to see you there!

This is so fricking cool

2009-01-16T19:43:00.005-05:00

There have been a couple of experiences and people in my life that have just been so profoundly cool that they have changed my world view forever.

The first time this happened was when I studied in Salzburg, Austria. There, at the foothills of the Alps, I climbed peaks I had previously only imagined. But more than that, by experiencing different cultures, points of view and traditions I came to have a very different perspective on myself and my own part of the world.

Later I would stumble more than stride into a career in adventure education. But this choice, or series of choices, would allow me entry into a comunity of passionate educators, skilled outdoors people and thoughtful stewards. Norbert at Outward Bound Germany was an early mentor as was Franz with OB in the US. There are amazing people in this field!

Lately I've been discovering that technology, once something I actively avoided, has contributed to the richness of my personal and professional life in tangible ways. This blog has built connections with educators in other countries, exploring wikis connected me to Noelle's work, ultimately leading to friendships with Wendy, Avinash, Atila, and many others around the world!

More recently this whole series of interactions with the Banff Film Festival people has been so fricking cool! How sweet is it that the creative toolbox is cheap enough that mere mortals like me can pick it up and play with it?! How cool is it that my work of homage can be shared with the people that I'm honoring and they can interact with it too?!

In many ways, I now realize, I've been focusing the last few years on passing it on. Maybe I can be a catalyst for my students? I'm not sure, but so far the ride has been pretty amazing, and I can't wait to see where it leads next.

Banff Bad Mountain Movies

2008-12-08T22:52:00.005-05:00

I really have enjoyed the Banff Mountain Film Festival. Not that I've been to Banff, but the traveling 'best of' show has come to New Hampshire and I've gone the last few years. Its an amazing collection of great mountain movies and I really recommend it.

A while back I started wondering what my favorite bad mountain movies were. These are mostly Hollywood productions that attempt to use rock climbing or mountaineering as a vehicle to spin some sort of a yarn. Usually the films fail to portray mountaineering well, and usually don't do a good job of telling the story either. And yet, I can't help but loving these movies!

In homage to these bad films and to the Banff Mountain Film Festival I put together this 'best of the worst.' I hope you enjoy.

Strangely enough the editor of the real Banff trailer found it and left some positive comments. That just totally and completely made my day.

Update 1/16: The person who edits the real Banff Trailer isn't a 'guy,' my apologies!
Update 1/30: I had a very nice email exchange with Shannon from the Banff Center who let me know that Jacques Blackstone, the composer of the theme music for the Banff trailer is okay with my unlicensed use of his music in my spoof trailer. How crazy is that? Run, don't walk, to his Web site and buy some of his music now!

Networking Opportunity

2008-11-06T08:55:00.001-05:00

Hi folks - are you interested in Experiential or Adventure Education and you are in the North East? Rick Baukel of the Olivarian School is organizing a gathering of educators and contacted me to help him spread the word.

The gathering is planned for November 11 at 6:30pm in the 'Boiler Room' of the Common Man Inn in Plymouth, NH.

The idea is to gather socially to see what kinds of collaboration might be interesting and helpful to this group of passionate and skilled educators working in one of the most beautiful parts of the east!

Want to start networking prior to next week? Comment in on this post to get the dialog started.

Hope to see you Tuesday.

Speaking of which!

2008-10-15T19:39:00.003-04:00

Funny - just one day after posting about emerging independent school adventure networks I got this email from Jess at Albuquerque Academy talking about the ISAN conference!

"55% of the 60 available slots for the 2009 Independent Schools Adventure Network Institute are already booked! Given the current economic situation, schools will need, more than ever, to define themselves and establish a meaningful competitive edge, which may be recognized through unique and value-added experiential curricula. There's never been a better or more important time to be involved with ISAN! To register please email Jess Barrie at barrie@aa.edu with your name, school, title, email, and phone number.

Previous information about the ISAN Institute can be found below and online at www.insaninfo.com

Please let me know if you have any questions and happy fall!

Jess Barrie
ISAN Steering Committee Member & Registration Coordinator"

So that's pretty cool - check it out and see what you think!

New England Adventure Networks

2008-10-14T20:19:00.003-04:00

New England is a beautiful area - we have mountains, rivers and the ocean. Combine that with the proliferation of educational institutions, summer camps and guiding outfits and you have a pretty sweet environment for folks who like to work with young people in the outdoors.

Why then aren't there more networks connecting us all together? I was asked this question recently by a colleague from the Oliverian School. I was inspired to write this post and share a few links of local or niche educator networks.

The Independent School Adventure Network is small but growing and dedicated specifically to independent schools.
The Association of Experiential Education has a north east region that is very active and hosts an annual conference. It's a good conference - I even presented at it!
There is an extremely active series of discussion forums on outdoor education.
Facebook has a huge number of related groups (must be on Facebook to view).

Still I think there is some opportunity for some kind of a network of New England professionals working in schools - I don't see a lot of movement in that area.

So stay tuned - I think we're going to arrange some kind of a social gathering to start the ball rolling on some kind of a network!

Mt. Bike Races and Nature Art

2008-09-24T14:16:00.002-04:00

The mountain has been busy so far this fall. We've had team building programs, start of school orientations and even nature art taking place on the mountain!

It's been a great start so far!

Pre-Timber Harvest Walk at Hersey Mountain Forest

2008-06-27T08:16:00.004-04:00

I got a letter yesterday from the New England Forestry Foundation letting us know about a 'pre-timer harvest' walk in Hersey Mountain Forest. Since Burleigh abuts the Hersey Mountain Forest I'm guessing we are on the mailing list.

A couple of folks have voiced some interest so I thought I'd provide more details here. Here's what the letter says:

Please join a New England Forestry Foundation forester for a tour of the Hersey Mountain Forest on Tuesday July 15 from 4-6pm. This is an opportunity for community residents and others who are interested to see how the New England Forestry Foudation cares for its forests. Participants will learn to identify a variety of tree species found on the forest and see how the removal of some trees promotes the growth of others and improves overall forest health. Hersey Mountain is unique in the New England Forestry Foundation owernership, because two thirds of it is set aside as a wilderness, and the other third is sustainably managed formultiple forest benefits including wood.

These timber harvests are part of the New England Forestry Foundation's sustainability plans, providing wildlife habitat, clean water, clean ari and recreational opportunities for community residents. If you would like to see a map of the Hersey Mountain Forest click here.

Directions: We will meet at the intersection of Blake Hill road and Brook Road. From New Hampton village take the Old Bristol Road toward Bristol. Follow it for approximately 2.4 miles to where it turns right at the intersection with Blake Hill Road. Continue straight ahead onto Blake Hill Road and follow it approximately .7 miles to the intersection with Brook Road.

For more information contact Si Balch (978) 952-6856 x106.

I'm thinking about going out on the hike - maybe I'll see you there!

Custom Designed Team Building

2008-06-20T13:55:00.004-04:00

Are you interested in a custom designed team building program? We can do a half day or full day program for your group custom designed for your goals starting as low as $20 per person.

Our programs, designed to build the effectiveness of your team or group, can include:

Low ropes activities like the Spider's Web and Walk of Life
Problem solving activities
High ropes course on our Alpine Tower challenge course

Check out the video above to see a program we designed for the Sant Bani School in Sanbornton, NH.

Call Hans Mundahl, Director of Experiential Learning (603) 677-3546 for more info.

Not Very Good With Goodbyes

2008-05-02T15:43:00.002-04:00

Well this is it, my last day as an intern at New Hampton School. I have had such a wonderful time working in this community. I have also greatly enjoyed working with Hans; I have learned a lot from him from Blogging, to Spreadsheets, to MacGyver-ing MSR Stoves, just to name a few.

However, this is not the end! In two weeks I will be joining the Sophomore's and their staff on the SophX! I can't wait... and if I still have a blog account I'll fire one off telling you all about it. This will also give me the opportunity to see how well I did at packing gear... hopefully it is Very Well.

Well, I must be on my way. Farewell.

P.S. I'm awful with goodbyes, if that wasn't already apparent.

2008-04-25T15:47:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone!

This has been an exciting week, Sophomore Ex is drawing closer and closer by the minute and everything is coming along nicely. There are just a few more items to put in the gear bins to be sent out and we're beginning to repair some gear, which is nice because I've been looking at the pile of gear that needs repair all semester in anticipation. A few tents need some small patch work done and two of the backpacks have chest clip issues, while another has a broken buckle. The broken buckle will be an easy fix, but the chest clips gave me some hard time. I was working on the thing for quite some time until one of the maintenance guys pulled out a heat gun and we made it happen. Those guys are good. We've also got some new color-coordinated signs for the gear room that feature the SophX logo. They just need to be attached now. I have almost finished the Paper Bag List of things to do that Hans gave me on Monday. To be honest, and a little nerdy, I can't wait to cross it all off.

From Ascending Pipes to Japanese Auto Grease

2008-04-18T15:56:00.003-04:00

Wow, it feels like forever since I last blogged... there is so much to tell. The past two weeks witnessed the creation of the new sleeping bag storage system, an awesome AEE Conference in Peterborough, the first stage of packing group gear for the Sophomore Expedition, and Greasing the Alpine Tower's APDs on Burleigh Mountain!

I used a hacksaw to cut through steel for the first time as I was making the new sleeping bag storage system. It is really cool; we used five pulleys to attach a steel pipe to the ceiling allowing it to vertically raise and lower so that we can hang the sleeping bags and then pull them up and out of the way. Below are pictures of the attachment points so that you can get the gist of the system, but we have since shortened the pipe, brought the attachment points closer together, and opted to use the other side of the room for the anchor.

My first AEE Conference was a blast! Everyone was so friendly and interested in the field; the Sargent Center was saturated with knowledge. I also was able to meet up with friends who graduated last year. Overall great experience, I can't wait for the next one!

As for the packing, it is very exciting to walk into the gear room and see the bins prepared and almost ready to go. Their presence is a sign that the expedition is almost here.

I felt very thankful for sunny days today as I got to go up to Burleigh Mountain and work outside. Now I had never greased APDs before, and for that matter had yet to have seen the type of APD on the Alpine Tower, but I was more than willing to get knee-deep in what I think was Japanese Auto Grease if it meant soaking up some sun!

AEE Conference (More from Day 1)

2008-04-17T08:55:00.003-04:00

As I jump back into the day to day craziness / excitement of work at NHS I'm still trying to keep hold of the learning from the conference just this past weekend.

We're ramping up big time for our Sophomore Cooperative Learning Expedition as well as community service days on Burleigh.

But today I wanted to write about an interesting program that Ryan McMahon is doing over at the Newfound Regional High School. He is building kayaks with a group of 9th and 10th grade students. They have set up blogs for their progress and after the kayaks are complete they will be taking them out on a three day trip on Newfound Lake.

Ryan came to my workshop and it was great to see how another educator just around the corner was doing experiential education and sharing the results online. You can follow along with his work at the 9th grade blog and the 10th grade blog. I'm learning quite a bit from the blog like what a sheer clamp and butt block is.

AEE Conference Report (Day 1)

2008-04-13T20:43:00.004-04:00

I'm back from the conference and I thought I would share a few thoughts and reports. Overall I learned a ton and re-connected with some former colleagues. Good fun. Here were the workshops I attended:

3 Props, 30 Activities (Chris Ortiz of High 5 Adventures)
I figured I had to go to at least one fun and games workshop! This one was interesting in that it focused only on activities you could do with tape, fleece balls and plastic circles. I'm going to try and scan the handout of all the games and share it with you here. Good fun.
For more information: Check out High Five's website including their books section.

Introduction to AEE's Accreditation Program (Jed Williamson of the AEE)
I was really excited for this workshop since we're strongly considering starting the accreditation process in 2009. Jed is the editor of the Accidents in North American Mountaineering and helped write the accreditation standards. He was an amazing resource and I came away from the workshop hopeful that we're on the right track with our accreditation bid. Furthermore I was convinced that the process is a mature one that has real tangible benefits for us. Now I just need to pick up the standards manual!
For more information: The main AEE website, info on accreditation, or buy the accreditation standards manual.

Practitioner Certification - A Progress Update from ACCT (Jim Grout of ACCT)
The practitioner certification program newly created by the Association for Challenge Course Technology is in the beginning stages. Responding to the recent legislation in Massachusetts and to industry trends the ACCT has developed a two level certification process for folks who work on ropes courses and a third level for course managers. This process seems much less mature than the accreditation process I mentioned above and is still in the development stages. Jim made a great point that training, review and outside input have always been good ideas, now all this is simply made more formalized. I also like that it is possible for experienced folks to 'challenge in' at any level. I'm not so sure about the lengthy portfolio requirement.
For more info: Check out the ACCT website, or buy their practitioner and builder standards.

Blog it - How free web tools changed our programs (by me!)
I had good turn out at my workshop which was exciting and a good dialog. Feedback was positive. Yay!

For more info: See the workshop wiki.

AEE Conference

2008-04-11T20:57:00.004-04:00

I'm excited to be heading to Sargent Center tomorrow for the AEE Regional Conference. I was pretty excited back when my conference proposal was accepted and I'd kind of been putting off thinking about it until after our Board of Trustee meeting. Well that's over and here comes the conference!

I'll be blogging the conference while I'm there as much as I'm able and I'll take the usual pictures etc.

I'm quite excited to see former colleagues both from Thompson Island as well as from the New Hampton School. I've made a wiki for the workshop where you can see my keynote as well as download the hand outs and all that good stuff.

More soon from Peterborough!

Inspirational Writing and Big-Daddy Pulleys

2008-04-06T23:14:00.002-04:00

What a week! With the AEE Conference right around the corner I have been frantically trying to put the finishing touches on my paper about Kurt Hahn and his Six Declines of Values in Youth and it has turned out to be more stressful than I had anticipated. However, luckily for me, some of Kurt Hahn's writings are available online and they can be very inspirational. My personal favorite is "The Love of Enterprise, The Love of Aloneness, The Love of Skill" which he presented to the Liverpool Cathedral the day after it was bombed by Nazi Germany. This is such an overawing piece of work when you combine its eloquence with the context that he delivered it in. Here was a German educator presenting his philosophy of education to an audience who A) thought his philosophy was heathen (because of its Platonic influence) and B) who was just bombed by Germany the night before. Nonetheless he still delivers his work with such passion and enthusiasm... it is incredible how much this man believed in his cause. Seriously, check it out.

Update 4/11: Click here to download and read Matt's paper! (HM)

Now that I am done ranting, I can fill you in on the goings-on in the gear room for the past week. We've had some things come in here and there including a couple of sleeping bags which is pretty awesome... the more the merrier. And speaking of sleeping bags, we've begun work on the sleeping bag hang system which should protect them a bit more and allow NHS to use them for a bit longer. Its pretty diesel with some big-daddy pulleys and such. I'll have more for you when we finish it, including some pictures if my camera phone is up for the task.

Things are gearing up

2008-04-02T19:53:00.002-04:00

We've had our first community service day on Burleigh in which a new stove was partially installed in the lower yurt and 10 community children came out for the Adventure Clinic!

We also have been preparing both staff and students for the Sophomore Expedition. That program has it's own blog where you can see pictures and posts from the weekend backpacking staff training. Not only did we do some great snowshoeing but we also built a cool dining room.

2008-03-30T21:52:00.002-04:00

Hello out there! I am stoked that I found my username and password finally, I have been looking for it all weekend. While I was looking for that Hans and Ilana were taking the SophX staff out into the wilderness of Burleigh Mtn for training. I am very excited to hear how it went; I hope they had a good time. I felt a great responsibility packing their only gear for two days and I am anticipating getting their feedback. And believe it or not, I am even kind of exicted to put it away so that I can get a sense of what and how things were used.

Meanwhile, in the Gear Room, we've been cleaning up a little bit because we know the traffic is about to increase. It was loads of fun investigating the history of the Gear Room and the Adventure Ed program at NHS, and I was fortunate enough to see a couple of student projects from a few years ago that were really good. Besides that, I have been racking my brain trying to design some way to hang up the sleeping bags. That is going to be a really fun project. If anyone knows anything about pulleys (where to get them, or how to attach them to the ceiling) please let me know

Ecology Blogging

2008-03-27T20:29:00.003-04:00

My friend and colleague Russ has started an ecology blog that was recently featured in the Spring Hamptonia. Check it out!

He's just getting started but he's got some nice links and pictures up already. I look forward to seeing the content he produces in the future.

2008-03-07T15:13:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone. I have good news... all of the Halo 4 Tents have been checked! There are only a few minor repairs necessary and they'll be ready to go on the Sophomore Expedition. I was really impressed with the tent's design while I was checking them. For example, you know those times you zip-up your zipper too quickly and you snag a bit of fabric and then the zipper is stuck there for three days? When that happens to the zipper on the Halo 4, the fabric easily comes out. Also there are some pretty cool vents on the side of the tent that can either be closed via Velcro or opened using a small plastic rod that has Velcro on the end of it. Check it out:

The tent itself is pretty cool too. Its big and roomy and can be broken down into multiple parts so many people can help carry it, instead of just one person. Below is a picture of the tent with its rain fly, and below that is a picture of the tent without its rainfly (notice the golden pole going around the top of it? That's the "Halo" and it keeps the rainfly away from the netting.

Obviously, I am excited about recently learning how to put pictures from my phone on the computer. But whats even more exciting is that, since last week, the Patriots signed Randy Moss and Jabar Gaffney to deals; I told you I would keep you updated.

We're thinking of you!

2008-03-05T08:41:00.003-05:00

The Holderness School, one of our neighbor institutions up the road from us also has an outdoor program that they call Outback. Chris, our Dean of Students used to run the program up there and he and I were chatting last night about the differences and similarities between the programs. As we ramp up for major preparations on our Sophomore Expedition it's great to know other schools and other students are finding the same kinds of challenges, insights and adventure!

They are out today on day three of the trip and are having some pretty tough weather this morning. Good luck folks - we're thinking about you!

Bruschi's Back!

2008-02-29T15:39:00.004-05:00

For those of you who don't know, I am a diehard New England Patriots fan and we can begin to move on from last season's disappointing finale with the free agency period beginning today. We immediately re-signed my favorite player Tedy Bruschi for a thirteenth season, so I started today off in a good mood. Which was beneficial because I spent the whole day trying to figure out the Marmot Halo 4's and, moreover, trying to find a place to set them up. They are very roomy tents so the Sophomores will have plenty of space to stretch out and sleep after a long day of hiking on the expedition. I wasn't able to finish checking out all of them today but, with any luck, they will join the camp stoves and the backpacks and be all set to go sometime next week. I may just end up firing through all of the tents in no time if the Patriots re-sign Randy Moss sometime soon!

Snow makes people nervous

2008-02-27T09:06:00.004-05:00

It's been a record year for snow here in the north east, the snowiest since 1887 in fact. Personally I love it, I love sledding, snowshoeing, all the things we have to do here in New England to avoid going crazy during this kind of weather.

But the snow also makes people nervous. Take for example my office window. Okay, I'll admit to being a bit nervous about the possibility of another cave in.
Compare this picture to an earlier one from the same point of view.

I think the largest group of folks on campus who are getting nervous about the large amounts of snow are the sophomores who are starting to think about our annual spring camping expedition. One of them asked me yesterday if I thought there would be snow on the trails at the end of May. I would guess yes at this point!

Risk Management Data

2008-02-25T14:49:00.002-05:00

We just had our winter risk management meeting. I might be a risk management nerd, but I really enjoy moving our programs forward through careful consideration of the trade offs between risk and learning. We've had a small but active committee who shares this passion over the last few years.

In a significant acknowledgment of our work it looks like we're going to take on the risk assessment of the school in general. That's pretty cool! Nothing is final yet, but I'll keep you posted.

To get the ideas flowing though I thought I would share some incident data from our last five year safety review. Enjoy!

| View | Upload your own

Archive Pictures

2008-02-25T14:46:00.004-05:00

I was going through some archives today and found this great picture of Sadie rapelling from the Alpine Tower. I love this shot, it captures the spirit of the students who really have enjoyed the tower and the different kinds of programming we've done on the structure. It's pretty exciting that we're coming up on five years of courses on the tower.

Snowshoes and Igloos

2008-02-22T16:09:00.003-05:00

Do you remember last winter when it seemed like there was hardly any snow? Neither do I. Today its been snowing all day as I finished up my second week of the internship here at NHS. It was a good day, we got the inventory finished up, we got an eight foot step ladder in the gear room, we got the fuel consolidated, and the shrimp and pasta dish at lunch was amazing. Additionally, I got to take part in another "School Meeting". At first, I was a bit hesitant about an entire school meeting, but I have really enjoyed the two that I have been to. They are informative, without being intimidating, and they set the attitudinal tone for the week. They get me all pumped up to prepare for the Sophmore Expedition, which at this rate, is going to call for some snowshoes and igloos.

Another White Mountain rescue

2008-02-19T12:03:00.003-05:00

This time a happy ending as two Virginia hikers were found in the Presidential range. I wonder who tracks incident data for the White Mountain National Forest? Surely the US Forest Service must? It would be interesting to see the user numbers and incident numbers as we do for our programs.

I was thinking of publishing some of our most recent risk management data, especially as our five year anniversary of Alpine Tower programs comes up.

I'll keep you posted!

Good rescue news!

2008-02-18T13:02:00.003-05:00

Finally, after all that glum news about rescues in the White Mountains we have a positive news story about peril in the high peaks. According to SlashFilm, Stalone will be reprising the role of Gabe Walker in Cliffhanger 2: The Dam. (Thanks to Niles for the tip).

Now that's something that's so bad - it just has to be good. If I could just find my bolt gun . . . .

Excited to be at NHS

2008-02-15T15:25:00.003-05:00

Hey Folks,

My name is Matt Mansur and I am doing my internship here at New Hampton School. Today was a great day, I got to get accustomed to the Gear Room as well as improve my sleeping bag stuffing skills. I am really happy to see how excited everyone is for all the sports events this weekend, especially the men's and women's round-robins for basketball and the hockey game with play-off implications. I look forward to what the future will bring here.

SophX in the Himalayas?

2008-02-14T14:55:00.003-05:00

Well, we're starting to get ready for the sophomore expedition. Our intern is starting tomorrow and Ilana will be working with him to get the ball rolling. When I was in Singapore I had some old SophX stuff and was spreading it around to some new friends. Avinash from Outward Bound Bharat in India was on a recon in the Himalaya and sent along some amazing pictures. In the picture above you can see a sophomore expedition shirt peaking out from behind his vest.

He and I are starting to talk about ways to get our kids over there to do an OB program in those beautiful mountains. This picture was taken in the Garhwal Himalaya region which Avinash was checking out for a camp.

Now that would be pretty sweet to spend some time with this great educator in this amazing mountain range.

High profile rescue in the White Mountains

2008-02-12T13:58:00.005-05:00

Franconia Ridge
Originally uploaded by hoverpuma

Saw this today in the Concord Monitor and later my friend Niles emailed a report to me.

Looks like two hikers were up on the Franconia Ridge without heavy winter gear or overnight kit. Twenty four rescuers and a Blackhawk helicopter from the Army National Guard were involved. One hiker, the more experienced of the two, didn't survive the incident.

Here is the Monitor article, and here is the more detailed Forest Service report.

Col. Jeffrey Gray, Chief of Law Enforcement at Fish and Game is quoted as saying,

"Winter hikers should not hesitate to turn back or postpone outings when severe weather is predicted or encountered. Even the best of clothing and equipment may be no match for the severe winter weather often encountered in New Hampshire's White Mountains!"

I've hiked by that spot at least a dozen times, it's scary to think about what it was like up there the last few nights. When I read the article I was reminded of the hundreds of calls I've made as a winter hiker, to continue or to turn back. To bring a certain piece of equipment or not. Then I was reminded of the calls I've made as a trip leader for other people. It's pretty real up there this time of year. My heart goes out to the families of the hikers.

Update 2/13: NECN has video of their coverage here.

Update 2/28: Another rescue took place in the same spot over the weekend. This one had a happier ending. I wonder if this is a usual amount of traffic for this time of year?

A four prong approach

2008-02-08T16:25:00.000-05:00

Here are a few things I've learned the hard way and had confirmed through Wikifest and recent work with colleagues here at school. You could call them the four prongs of EL social networking.

I. If it's not free, don't use it - Web tools should be free. If someone wants you to pay for something, chances are someone else is already developing a tool that does it better and costs less. You're going to have enough trouble explaining blogging to people, you don't want to explain that it also costs money.

II. Never program html - If you find yourself needing to do html programming then something is wrong. All good services these days have interfaces that let you get around this pesky business.

III. Browser based is the way to go - If you think you need to download something (other than, say a free browser that works better than something you have to pay for (see I. above)), then think again or find another service.

IV. Count your hits - A big way to justify your time is to demonstrate the ROI. An easy way to do this is to show how many people are reading what you write.

V. Know why you're doing it - The biggest pitfalls I see people fall into is when they don't know why they are using a particular tool, or they don't know what their goals are. Start out by jotting down a few goals before you decide on a particular tool. This could be as simple as: networking, promoting our program, getting kids to sign up for camp etc.

I think if I had four points to get across those would be them. Good luck fellow outdoor tech nerds! I've also got some other thoughts posted here and here and to a lesser degree here.

AEE Regional Conference Workshop!

2008-02-08T14:51:00.000-05:00

I just heard today that my workshop proposal for the AEE regional conference this April was accepted!

Here's the workshop blurb:

Blog It – How Free Web Tools Changed Our Program
For the past three years New Hampton School has used blogs to keep thousands of people engaged with our programs resulting in contributions to our annual fund and in parents hiking cookies into the field. This workshop will share best practices from NHS’s urban program, and teach participants how to start blogging. If you can use email and want better outcomes from your participants or want a low cost way to share your program with the world this workshop is for you.

I've never presented at an AEE conference so I'm pretty excited to share what we're doing with my peers. I'll keep you posted as we get closer!

If I don't post again send out the rescue dogs

2008-02-05T09:09:00.000-05:00

I think we're getting buried in! This pictures is from my office looking out the window. Pretty impressive even though this is largely from snow sliding off the roof. If it keeps on like this I'll have to shovel myself out.

I was up on the mountain a few days ago before this snow and really enjoyed getting up. I'm making some changes in my job description here at the school, mostly shedding the summer program directorship, to allow myself more time to focus on experiential learning. My major focus for 2008-9 will be Burleigh!

Our snow cave from a few weeks ago fell in when we had that warm weather and rain.

Woodpeckers have been active on this pine tree, must be termites inside.

The yurts shed their snow too, looking good, although the lower yurt will need a new stove pipe. I think I'll pull the one out of the A-frame and bring it down.

I hiked up to the summit and then sledded down - scary good! This isn't what I looked like when I crashed on the bottom! Just loafing around on the summit.

Skyping into European wiki conversation

2008-02-01T09:58:00.000-05:00

Noelle and I are going to video conference during a meeting of Outward Bound International in Europe. I'm going to try and screen capture the call - we'll be talking about using social networks as curriculum elements and also Wikifest.

Update: This didn't work that well due to slow internet connection and the conference attendees heading home. But I chatted with Noelle after and it sounds like there are some good opportunities and interest with Outward Bound Germany to work together. I'm particularly interested in this since I worked with OB Germany at the start of my career and we also have quite a lot of German students attending NHS next year.

In case anyone is reading this from there - Hi folks, sorry I missed you! I look forward to working together!

Independent School Adventure Network

2008-01-30T09:51:00.000-05:00

Becca just turned me on to a new group that might be interesting for folks in independent schools called the Independent School Adventure Network! They are a group of folks affiliated with the AEE who are looking at topics and issues specific to independent schools.

It looks like the site is still in development as some of the links seem to be broken. When it is fully functional the site looks like it will contain some interesting resources.

Their annual conference also looks like it's worth checking out.

Should we use social networking?

2008-01-30T09:15:00.001-05:00

A question that I've been asked a couple of times since Wikifest was how did Burleigh specifically and adventure ed at NHS in general get started with blogging. This led me to the question of how in general other programs should think about and decide if they are going to engage with social networking.

Burleigh Mountain is located quite close to our campus but might as well be a world away. It has a remote, quiet, isolated and wilderness feel to it. After my first few years of working there I found that people came to love the mountain once they knew it. On the other hand if they hadn't been there they had no idea what it was all about.

I wonder if other programs are having this dialog too? Here's some things to think about when making a decision about engaging with social media that came out of the Wikifest.

Understand the current reality - get to know some of the tools available, how they work and the cost of getting involved (time and money).
Understand attributes of successful networks - here are some attributes of successful networks, does your program have them? If not, social networking might not be for you. I could write a lot about each of these, but for now I'll just bullet them.

Strong existing social ties
Common story
Communications grid
Shared resources
Clarity of purpose

Understand your goals - what do you want to see come out of your engagement? How will you evaluate success, and justify the time and potentially money you are spending?
Conduct a risk assessment - is their a cost to not engaging? Are all of your competitors already engaged? Perhaps participants are already engaged on your behalf? Are active detractors giving you a bad name? Have you lost control of your message in this area?

We're trying to engage with social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn for an immediate short term goal of staffing the Sophomore Expedition with our outside instructors. We'll see how that works.

Ahh the irony

2008-01-24T19:44:00.000-05:00

The New Hampton website just ran an article about Wikifest. They point out the irony of going half way around the world to connect with people online. Kind of funny when you think about it.

Trends for EL programs to think about

2008-01-24T08:32:00.000-05:00

After Wikifest all I could do was to outline things I wanted to think about and then try to recover from jet lag and deal with getting sick from re-entry into New England weather. (Actually it turns out that about half the conference attendees have come down with something, maybe I'm the vector for the next Asian flu virus to kick the butt out of the east coast?)

Now I'm ready to actually think about things! First of all I want to echo something I first posted about when I was noticing the proliferation of adventure programs on Facebook and the like. It was a post from 2005 regarding blogging events. The article talks about how blogging is a good way for non-profits to spread the word regarding an event. The reverse is also true: if you are a blogger attending a conference and post during the event it's a great way to spread the word about your blog.

Here are some trends that EL programs need to spend some time thinking about and my thoughts and reccomendations:

Massive publishing - Web publishing is free, easy and growing rapidly. In addition 'official' sources no longer dominate the market. So our future participants can find out as much about our programs from our past participants, our fans and our detractors as from us. My thoughts: get on board, start small, pick an area you are comfortable with and see what it can do for you. If a blog is too much, join a couple of Facebook groups in your industry. Leverage the network in a small way at first and see what happens.
Effective filtering - Growing in accordance with massive publishing are effective tools for finding and filtering the information we want. How we filter our information could be as important as the quality of the information itself. My thoughts: check out rss feeds, subscribe to some feeds that you like and see how it affects what you hear about and learn about.
Free communication - Yesterday I connected (for free) with colleagues in Romania, Indonesia and Colorado. I needed pictures for an article I was writing and within 24 hours I had some from a colleague in Hong Kong. My thoughts: start a Skype or AIM account and publish your address to your staff or participants, see what happens. Also, I found that leaving my Skype turned on during the day was helpful for people to message me as long as I let go of my need to respond right away, check and respond tops 2-3 times a day.
Early adoption stage - Adventure programs are still in the early adoption stage with this good stuff. Many of us have just added websites to our tool kit, and many staff don't see the connection and benefit of technology to what we do. My thoughts: start small, leverage the network and see what the result is, if you have a success share that with others.

Wikifest Video Reflections

2008-01-21T22:04:00.000-05:00

Here are the video reflections that participants of the Wikifest 2008 at Outward Bound Singapore shot on the last day.

Part One: Meet the 'Wikis'

Part Two: What we learned, and how it will benefit our schools

Part Three: Next steps and outtakes

These videos were shot with RCA Small Wonder video cameras which were thoughtfully donated to the project. My apologies that some of the footage shot by participants does not appear above.

Although the video cameras are quite easy to use they do have some limitations. The mic is fairly limited and does not pick up audio from a moderate distance. As you can see from the videos, the audio also doesn't start recording until a half second after the video. The cameras like PC's more than Macs and save files as .avi. I used the free iSquint program to convert them to a Mac friendly format.

That being said these are a great low cost way to shoot video, they are quick and intuitive to use, shoot good quality within their optimum range and have a handy built in USB jack so you don't need to worry about bringing a cable with you.

Wikifest Pictures

2008-01-21T15:04:00.000-05:00

I've posted an album of pictures from Wikifest! They are posted over at Flickr. Enjoy!

Back Home & Outline for Reflection

2008-01-20T00:23:00.000-05:00

Back home at last! Above is a picture of Harmony and Symphony, the two OBS boats that run from Singapore mainland to the island base. Although I'm completely beat I logged into Skype and found a couple of folks online, one in Colorado and the other in Indonesia. How cool is that.

I worked on the ride home both on the video reflection, but also on my own personal reflection on take aways. So here's an outline of things I'll be posting on as I have a chance.

Web 2.0 trends that relate to experiential learning and education
Decision making around personal and institutional engagement with social networks
Understanding goals and ROI of engagement
Institutional risk assessment of engagement vs. no engagement
Social networking roles
Digital divide
Direct transfer to EL and traditional classrooms
My to do's

Here's a picture I took of one little part of the wiki that I'd like to help work on.

Great to be home - missing everyone from Singapore too!

Basically done

2008-01-18T01:41:00.001-05:00

Can't believe it - it's Friday afternoon here, we're basically done. Heading over to the OB Singapore sea base to get away from our computers for a while. I'm going to have to crank tonight to get some things done before leaving Saturday.

Real reflection, communication of learning will have to wait - if only I had a 24 hour chunk of time when I am sitting on my butt doing nothing.

Oh, wait . . . .

Yesterday?

2008-01-17T19:29:00.000-05:00

I'm having a hard time with time related posts like yesterday. That was Thursday for me, but it's still Thursday in the States. So when was it? Not sure, any way - the previous day we worked through some key wiki things.

We discussed needed resources and available resources at some length, including barriers to uploading, proprietary concerns and various 'jobs' or roles in the project.

I'm going to post a list of roles at some point when I can figure them all out again.

Here we are later in the day having a discussion about language divide and digital divide. Some functions are available in wiki such as language settings, other problems were more thorny for us. Like how to translate certain pages, and how to enable non English speaking users to engage.
Here is a picture of the ships backing into Singapore harbor - reminds me of my thoughts from the last days, backing up!

Slipping into Reporter Mode

2008-01-16T19:30:00.000-05:00

I'm slipping a bit into reporter mode this morning, I don't have mental space to reflect right now. I'm going to take another look at Tom and Noelle's presentations from yesterday to recapture some of the aha moments for me and share that back when I have some space.

For now I wanted to report on yesterday, here's the basic agenda.
We looked at overview of the project, overview of network building tools, then specific tool sessions. I learned Skype and started a LinkedIn profile. We wrapped with a vision session and a brainstorm of tangible benefits. Here's our vision of what OB will look like in 5 years with these new globally focused technologies.
We needed an energizer about 3/4 of the way through the day!

After the session we went to China Town for dinner and sight seeing.

Outward Bound Mogulus Stream

2008-01-15T19:50:00.001-05:00

During Wikifest we broadcast several sessions live on Mogulus. Now we're rebroadcasting the reflection videos and some other content on the stream.

Update: I'm taking the stream off the blog because I find it annoying when it auto starts when people are reading a more recent post. The stream is currently broadcasting videos from Wikifest, and I'll let you know if it goes live again.

Wiki Metaphors

2008-01-15T08:59:00.000-05:00

We did three great activities before climbing on Tuesday. I often feel high challenge activities are a bit of a let down after good processing from group initiatives. It was a good progression though. The whole time we were drawing connections back to the work we will do going forward during the conference.
First we did the helium hoop. We struggled with this one, our facilitator asked folks who had done it before to be less active. I'm really glad that I did because although it was hard for us it was great to see new solutions and ideas come out. Ultimately we couldn't do it although we made progress.

Here's the amazing part, after talking it through we tried it again and totally did it! I've never seen a short conversation lead to such quick action in this initiative. The essence of the conversation was quite simple - that we should let go, trust our teammates and let the hoop come to us. It doesn't make much sense to hear me write it. Take away: Ideas have power, shifting focus can lead to results.

Next we piled on a platform, our task to sail our boat to the other shore. At first it seemed impossible as we tried to look beneath our own feet to see what we had to work with. Slowly a solution emerged, or rather a half dozen small independent solutions that evolved with out direct leadership. Take away: Figure out what you have to work with, take many small steps forward, eventually you reach the shore.

Next: artificial caving. This was the only activity today that was completely new to me. We climbed through a series of transport containers with obstacles inside, all while collecting clues that would give us the pass code to unlock the door at the far side. We had one faint blinking LED type light. We rushed ahead to the end of the first container, no way to continue! What did we do wrong? Turns out we had to retrace our steps back on a higher level, then go up again and at last move forward to the next 'cave.' Take away: Going backwards isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes its the way forward.

Finally we climbed the ropes course. There were two sections, either a three part self belayed traverse of a hanging net, a burma type bridge and then an hanging platform. For me this was the least group engaged I felt all day. I think though, this was a better metaphor of how we will work together going forward, disjointed, disconnected and self directed. I belayed, went to the bathroom, climbed, chatted, climbed again. Take away: Filling different roles at different times is OK. Stepping up and stepping back are good for the whole process to move forward.

First Day

2008-01-15T05:12:00.001-05:00

We had a great first day at OB Singapore! Here's a shot of us having lunch in a big open pavilion.

The base that we are at is only one of their campuses, this one is mostly right in the city. But there is still a great view from our dormitory.

The goal for the day was to do a series of high and low challenges to bond us as a wiki-team and to draw lessons from the activities as metaphors for our future work both together. This will be even more important once we leave Singapore and continue to network from home.

We did an course element I had never seen before - a simulated caving trip inside these containers in groups of four. Very dark, very twisty and a great puzzle too that went through the whole course.

It's been in the 80's and muggy. Right after we broke for the day it started to downpour. That lasted for about an hour and now it's clear again. These are the bunk houses for the kids when they come. They sleep up above through the green door, but you can notice that underneath there is a covered space for rainy times. Great design, each group has their own rain space and classroom.

Tomorrow we will get into the web part of the training, but we're off to a great start!

Tokyo!

2008-01-14T02:29:00.000-05:00

Free wireless, outlets that take US plugs, primary coverage, did I leave the states? No wait, it's okay - free Sake and beverages of multiple exciting colors. It is Japan :)

The plan is to stay awake as long as I can, then sleep on the plane and when I get to OB Singapore, that way when I wake up I won't be jet lagged and I'll be ready to go. That's the plan anyway!

So far so good

2008-01-13T07:33:00.000-05:00

Waiting in Manchester for the flight to DC. Here we go! Not going to mention that previous problem so as not to jinx anything.

While I'm waiting I thought I would answer some questions that one of the organizers of the conference, Tom, posed in a welcome email.

What do you hope to gain from this conference?
I think my main goals are as follows.

Learn about new tools and deepen my skills with tools I already know about
Explore how new technology can be used in both management of EL programs, as well as as course elements of EL programs
Meet, share and be inspired by like minded professionals
Spread the word about New Hampton School as doing some good work in both education in general and EL/tech in particular
Become a more valuable member of the OB Wiki team so I can be more productive to the project
Identify specific things I can bring back to NHS

I realize many folks reading this blog perhaps for the first time may not be totally up on all the language I'm throwing around. Here's a little primer and some links to help.

EL as in Experiential Learning, here's how we define this at New Hampton School
NHS or New Hampton School, the independent high school where I work
Wiki a collaborative website built by many for mutual benefit, examples include Wikipedia, the Outward Bound World Resources Project or my own wiki

Here's an idea, in the same line of thinking as Beth's Open Thread, if you have questions, ideas or thoughts that might be addressed by Wikifest please leave a comment on this post and I'll see what I can do to find out!

Passport update

2008-01-12T08:08:00.000-05:00

I haven't been able to get in touch with anyone from American Passport Express, but here's a really weird coincidence. Sarah was out last night with her mom's group from NHS and one of the moms, Destiny, works for American Passport Express!

So I sheepishly called her this morning, apologizing profusely for bothering her at home with a work question. She told me it wouldn't be any problem at all to travel with the passport with this slight misprint! I'm very relieved! I'll get a free reprint when I'm back.

I'm going to bring my old passport with just in case and of course my drivers license. Here's a picture of the misprint. Notice that the last letter of Mundahl is actually an "I" not an "L." Very slight - in fact Sarah, Ilana, Russ and I all missed it the first times we looked at the it.

Seems like we're okay, I'll keep you posted!

Uhoh

2008-01-11T21:40:00.001-05:00

Just noticed a misspelling on my name in my new passport. This should make things fun.

The last 10%

2008-01-11T20:49:00.000-05:00

A former colleague of mine Miles told me once that the last 10% of any project takes 90% of the work. That seems to be the case for Wikifest. In this case, the work isn't so much the actual conference as it is taking care of everything else on this end with work before I go!

Two big projects that launched today were the summer web page at NHS and the online registration information system behind it. Then there is some board information that keeps dragging on, and the wrap up from the JUA that thankfully Ilana is taking care of. Thank you Ilana!

But I did find a small suitcase I can use for the plane and not check anything which seems wise. Note: if you are traveling overseas TSA requires that you put all your toiletries into a quart size plastic bag and you can't have anything larger than 3oz! Do these people travel? Have they ever put toothpaste, deodorant, shaving cream, gel, shampoo, soap and sun screen into a quart bag? I don't really think I need a lot of items in this department, but that's pretty hard to do!

Good news, bad news

2008-01-10T20:28:00.000-05:00

Some recent news (at least to me) that I though folks might be interested in. First of all my good friend Vonk let me know that John Edwards wears his son's Outward Bound pin on his lapel. His son died shortly after taking an OB course when he was 16. Didn't know that.

On the bad news side the Alpinist Newswire covered the death today of Sir Edmund Hillary who along with Tenzing Norgay first climbed Mt. Everest.

Finally a former student has started blogging her international travels thanks to her experience with the Junior Urban Adventure. I'm really looking forward to hearing more about her adventures.

Any other news I'm missing? Let me know!

Got the passport!

2008-01-10T15:33:00.000-05:00

Looks like I'm set to go! I was kind of stressing about this.

Just 40 million things to do for work before Sunday morning!

I've already learned something from this conference actually - check it out it's a web service that lets you broadcast live video feeds. It has a very professional feel although I've only tried it out with my webcam in the mac. We'll be broadcasting some of the sessions from the conference live.

The service is called Mogulus and the channel for the live OB broadcasts is here. I'll try to give you a heads up when we go live with it or embed the feed here on this blog.

Passport is on the way

2008-01-09T20:23:00.000-05:00

I just got the email that my new passport shipped today and I should have it tomorrow! It was kind of a weird thing to buy a plane ticket without a valid passport. I went with one of these ultra fast, we can get you your passport in a day places.

I was talking with my friend Joe about this and he scoffed (being the biggest world traveler that I know, meaning he travels a lot, though he is a big guy too) claiming these types were scam artists. "Just take your plane ticket down to Boston to the consulate and you'll have your passport that same day," he says. Exactly my point - I'm going to freaking Singapore on a week's notice sure I have time to go to Boston and wrangle with this. Well he's probably true, I could have saved myself some money, but in this case I'm happy to trade time for money.

After having a passport for years I unwisely let it lapse. I guess it didn't look like I was going to be doing much traveling for a while what with kids and work and all. Little did I know I would wanting to go to Singapore, duh!

I'm going to Wikifest!

2008-01-08T14:05:00.000-05:00

Hi folks - a couple of posts ago I mentioned that Outward Bound had started a wiki to build a global knowledge base to promote the development of that organization. I've been working with them off and on in my spare time as a way to give back to this organization that gave me a great deal when I was starting my career.

Outward Bound International is hosting a conference to discuss web 2.0, experiential learning in general and the World Resources Project in particular. I was pretty excited to be invited to participate a few weeks ago - but I'm even more excited to be able to attend!

The conference is taking place at the Outward Bound school in Singapore! That's here in case you're like me and have to look it up:

View Larger Map

So I'm heading out this Sunday - I have a ticket and I really hope I'll have my passport by then!

I'm planning on posting pictures, video and key learnings to this blog so stay tuned for more!

Educator downloads are back

2007-12-22T22:34:00.000-05:00

I've added a new section to the sidebar of downloads. I had posted about this a while back but I thought they should have their own section. Not all of them will appeal to all readers, but I hope you will find something you like.

The write ups of activities we've created over the years might be the most interesting to the most number of folks. These are activities and things that we've either created out of whole cloth or modified enough I think we can call them our own.

On the other hand, if you've ever climbed in Lyme, maybe the little topo will be helpful - it contains routes not found in other guidebooks.

BurleighMt YouTube channel top 15 today!

2007-12-19T09:12:00.001-05:00

Okay I won't lie, I'm pretty excited this morning. I just got back from the Junior Urban Adventure and this morning I check into YouTube and find out we've made the top 15 viewed channels today in the non-profit category!

I'm so excited that you all like the videos and enjoy watching them enough for this! Thank you very much!

There have been a couple of videos I've really enjoyed making so it's particularly fun when you all have enjoyed them as well. Two of my personal favorites are the Chicken Bowl 1.5 and the Bad Mountain Movie (even though that's not strictly about work, it's still pretty funny).

I'm most proud and excited about the Education is Linear? teaser for this year's JUA. It's had more than 800 views and is a succinct statement about my views on experiential learning.

So thank you very much for your views, your subscriptions and your interest! Visit our YouTube channel here - or click the big YouTube button to the right!

Outward Bound World Resources

2007-12-16T20:09:00.001-05:00

Outward Bound has started a Wiki to share resources and build a knowledge base. In their words:

"Exchange of knowledge can promote more effective dialog, sharing of ideas and ultimately facilitate the global development of Outward Bound."

It looks like there are 17 different sections and lots of interesting resources and downloads. My former colleague Noelle has been working with OB on this and it looks like it's pretty cool.

Check out the wiki and follow the link to join so you can edit and view content.

Alpinist Magazine Fire

2007-12-12T15:41:00.001-05:00

Alpinist Magazine recently had a huge fire in their warehouse that resulted in a total loss of their holiday inventory. This is a serious loss for what has become the gold standard in alpine publications. They are also incredibly generous with their online content and frequently updated full feed rss news.

I would encourage you to check out their website and consider getting a subscription. Hey, if Reinhold Mesner thinks this is a good magazine then who am I to argue.

PSU students shadow tower programs

2007-11-28T13:27:00.000-05:00

I had the great opportunity to teach a Challenge Course Fundamentals class last year at Plymouth State University. Although I didn't teach the course this fall I did stay in touch with Amy who did.

She had students shadowing ropes course programs as a part of the class. I thought this was a great idea because it filled two big goals of education. Not only did students see how programs operated in different locations, but they also met practitioners valuable for future networking.

For three of the community service Saturdays we had PSU students visiting our adventure clinic. Amy was kind enough to send along some of the reflective essays from her students and I would like to share some of their thoughts with you here.

"From the very first people were welcoming and I was introduced. From there it was down to business, the kids went right ahead and started getting the challenge course ready for it's first visitors. Even though this was only their second day of using the course . . . . they set up belays efficiently and correctly."

"The students of the high school did most of the facilitating with Hans just helping where needed. They put on this program for the local public schools and anyone that wants to can come. Things ran really smoothly and everyone knew what their job was."

"I got to see how a program actually runs. I liked how the students had to set everything up and work with the little kids first hand one on one. Working with the little kids showed me how fulfilling this job really is just by seeing the smiling faces on the little kids."

It was great to have the students visit us on the mountain and great for me to give back to a field that has given me so much - I look forward to future collaborations!

Welcome & Great Work

2007-10-23T09:21:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Brian Faenza our fall intern from Plymouth State University.

Brian has jumped right in and although he has only been here a week he has already made some great progress.

This is all the stuff that has come out of the old paint ball course.

He's also been making great headway on the ski hill. Brian tells me he plans to come back and work up the side with the saplings (in the left of this picture) as soon as I get the chainsaw back.

Here are two pictures of Brian and the stone steps he's been working on down to the high wall.

Future projects include renovations to the low ropes course including the spiders web and walk of life. Great to have you with us!

Fall Happenings

2007-10-18T16:20:00.000-04:00

Lots of things going on up on the mountain!

The Community Connections clinics have been going like mad - great kids and lots of returners. They've been climbing, learning the knots and even learning to belay. Nice job also to the NHS students teaching them, working with them and playing with them.

We have been partnering with Plymouth State University quite a lot over the years and this year is no exception. We have students from Challenge Course Fundamentals shadowing our clinics this fall to get experience on different kinds of courses and programs.

We also have a fall intern this year. In years past we've had spring interns but this year we've added a new intern in the fall as well. His name is Brian and he'll be largely working on Burleigh doing some long postponed maintenance projects and critical repairs.

What a great fall so far!

Fall Programs!

2007-09-10T11:50:00.001-04:00

I'm really excited to start our fall team building season! Any NHS group of adults or young people is welcome to schedule a program on Burleigh Mountain!

Let me know if you would like to set something up!

More Conversations

2007-09-10T09:08:00.001-04:00

I've just received the conference brochure for Conversations in a Changing World taking place this October at Sant Bani. It looks like quite an amazing line up of speakers including the key note by former US Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun.

Also a featured speaker is Ruth McDonough (NHS ' 04) who spent a year studying abroad in Jordan and Syria and who's blog we all followed during the Junior Urban Adventure.

Looks like a great gathering.

Start of year programs!

2007-09-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

Well the start of the year is officially here. First day of classes down on campus are going on right now. Last week we also saw some great team building programs with some of our neighbors. NHTI now joins both Cardigan Mountain School and the Sant Bani School in choosing Burleigh for start of the year activities with student leadership.

These are very satisfying programs because they are not only great students but it is also nice to be partnering with our neighbor schools.

Unfortunately I was unable to work the last two programs due to commitments down on campus! So I hired Dave and a new facilitator for us Steve to come up and work the programs.

Thanks guys!

Conversations in a Changing World

2007-08-27T19:30:00.000-04:00

Our neighbors over in Sanbornton at the Sant Bani School are hosting a conference this fall that looks to be pretty interesting.

I'm going to check in with Heidi in the morning and see what I can find out - I'll let you know what I discover.

Update: I spoke with Heidi yesterday. Spots are filling up and they haven't even published the list of workshops yet! If you are interested in signing up it would be best to email conference@santbani.org right away.

Educational Homestead

2007-08-22T11:26:00.000-04:00

I was sorting through old emails today getting ready for the start of school (!) and found a great message from Tracy, the mom of a student who graduated this past year.

She turned me on to D Acres, an educational farm and homestead.

Tracy writes, "They host school groups and have some interesting workshops regarding sustainable living. The setting is absolutely beautiful. Staff are informative & friendly."

Thanks for that, Tracy! I'd be curious to find out more about this interesting looking organization.

Blogs are buzzing - but do they work?

2007-08-10T08:39:00.001-04:00

I've noticed recently that outdoor organizations are hitting web 2.0 like it's going out of style.

This probably was inevitable given the number of unofficial groups, blogs, sites and videos from our alumni. At some point a communication director somewhere woke up and said, hey - we'd better get on board with this otherwise we'll loose control of our message.

What I'm wondering is does this work and if so what are the strategies to help make it work well? Or more fundamentally what metrics can we use to even begin to ask and measure that question?

Here's a short list of some official and unofficial web 2.0 sites for big outdoor organizations.
Official NOLS blog
Official (?) NOLS YouTube channel
Big unofficial Facebook NOLS group (sorry must have Facebook account to see this)
Official Thompson Island MySpace profile
Unofficial Outward Bound instructor group on Facebook
Official North Carolina Outward Bound YouTube channel
Boy Scouts of America "Cub Cast"

I know there are many more, but that's just a sample to get started with. I'm not the first person to ask this question, Li and Bernoff asked about the ROI of blogging, and Hallett has posted about best practices for blogging events.

Momentum Video Magazine

2007-08-09T21:35:00.000-04:00

If the Alpinist video archives and dozens of vids on YouTube (see links to the right) isn't enough for you then check out this collection of mostly bouldering and sport climb videos over at Momentum Video Magazine. Great production values and nice routes.

I only wish they would have some videos on longer more alpine style climbs.

Without proper equipment and training?

2007-08-09T20:55:00.000-04:00

A recent article in Alpinist makes our local climbing fall in Rumney look like small potatoes when they report this to be the deadliest summer season in the Alps in the last 10 years.

I know that there are different ethics in the Alps, especially as it relates to rescue and in particular helicopter assistance, but come on this is getting ridiculous. Especially when the chief of the Zermatt rescue service says many of the climbers entering the mountains this summer did so without proper equipment or training! The article goes on to say that many of the rescues took place because climbers either "couldn't or wouldn't climb further."

I used to make fun of my friend and former colleague Adam for spending so much money on NOLS courses. My argument went that if he spent all that money on his own trips he could stay out twice as long, wouldn't have to deal with being part of a large essentially guided group and would have learned twice as much. I admit that I was probably at least to some degree wrong - and I'm sure he learned a great deal and was able to go to some amazing locations.

My fundamental principle of mountaineering, the reason I love it so much, is that I am self sufficient. If I'm by myself or with a group, I / we have what we need with us both in terms of food and gear but also in terms of mental and emotional reserves.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and then it's amazing to have people willing to help. But when people enter the mountains with the implied understanding that they don't need to be prepared, or responsible for their choices, that's not cool.

I would disagree that lack of equipment and training was to blame in many of the Alps accidents listed above. I would value experience more as a risk management tool than either expensive clothes or courses. As a young outdoors person I can recall many bad calls I made on 3000' peaks or dirty granite quarries that only bruised my ego.

I never would have had the chance to make these mistakes on a course, but they have served me well on later trips where the stakes were higher.

Expedition Behavior

2007-08-09T13:20:00.000-04:00

So Ilana thinks she's pretty cool because she just completed a NOLS educator course. Actually, come to think of it, she is pretty cool because of that. But that's beside the point. She stopped by the office today to share with me some things she's learned.

For example tussocks are our friends. And tallus slopes are not. No actually she did have some words of wisdom that she quoted from Howard Tomb entitled, "Expedition Behavior: The Finer Points."

I'll sum up the key learnings for you here, but you should also check out the full details at Tomb's website.

Get the hell out of bed
Do not be cheerful before breakfast
Do not complain
Learn to cook at least one thing right
Either A) shampoo or B) do not remove your hat for any reason
Do not ask if anyone has seen your stuff
Never ask where you are
Always carry more than your fair share
Do not get sunburned
Do not get killed

Thank you visitors!

2007-08-08T09:26:00.000-04:00

I thought I would take a moment and thank all of our readers here at the Burleigh Blog!! I appreciate your interest, comments and feedback! The summer has been busy for me and I haven't been on Burleigh (Mountain or blog) as much as I have wanted, but that hasn't slowed you down from visiting!

Here is a map of where you are visiting from courtesy of StatCounter.

According to our stats visitors from the UK are narrowly beating out Korean guests after the US!

Thanks again for your visits!

Summer camper falls 50 feet in Rumney

2007-07-19T08:19:00.000-04:00

According to this article a 12 year old from a Rhode Island summer camp fell 40-50 feet but suffered only minor injuries.

This article is particularly interesting for me from two points of view - both as an adventure activity and because she was a participant in a summer camp.

Strangely the Fish and Game representative said the safety systems seemed to be working and they had a belayer and a back up. So if everything was working so nicely, what happened?

As Bill brought up in the previous post, this incident will get a lot of attention (as it should) but is that attention in proportion to the actual risk of rock climbing? For example according to this web site, in the 30 minutes that it took the climbers to walk back to the trail head there were 2.18 fatal car crashes in the United States. How well reported were those accidents?

Update: the story has now been picked up by the Boston Globe with some more details.

Further Update: the story has also been picked up by the Manchester Union Leader along with a picture of the litter carry. Now they are saying they suspect the climber unclipped her own rope.

British Risk Management Stats

2007-07-18T07:58:00.000-04:00

Bill Stephen over at Bill's Outdoor Learning Blog turned me on to a nice article of stats from our colleagues in the UK. Interesting comparison between adventure activities and auto accidents.

I particularly was interested by this idea:

"Once this is clear, it becomes apparent that much of our work on health and safety is misdirected. Worse, we discover that by avoiding certain activities on the grounds that they are ‘dangerous’ we are inadvertently exposing our young people to much greater risks elsewhere, albeit ones which get less attention from the media."

Risk Management

2007-07-05T11:28:00.000-04:00

I was getting ready for our Risk Management Committee and received this reply from Steve at PSU.

"There is always risk, risk in trying, risk in failing, risk in succeeding, the question lies in what risk is educationally just, and which is folly. Which risk could lead toward breakthrough, and which risk only opens up chaos to dance too close?

At the end of the day a dead child lies at our feet can we justify this risk to ourselves and to his or her parents? As the risk takers/educators I believe we are better suited for this job now more than ever and that is simply because we have kids of our own. Outside of our own ego, decision calculations must be made on a daily basis. This critical analysis of the everyday I believe sets us aside from the typical single, no strings attached, adventure person. Why would anyone want someone making critical decisions when they are not attached? Query that, Skywalker."

Great perspective and a humbling one as well.

Adventure Clinic #3

2007-05-03T09:22:00.000-04:00

Last saturday was the third Adventure Clinic on Burleigh (look, no snow!). We had a great turn out including many parents. This guy loved to climb but was mostly in it for the big swing!

I was very pleased at the work our students did to make the event run smoothly and Ms. Freeborn is learning 'the ropes' quite nicely!
My only complaint is that it is a pretty short program, only three hours or so. Next summer we're hoping to start our adventure day camp so that would give us some time to really teach some skills and explore some more difficult challenges.

The advantage for me personally as a practitioner of these short programs is that I feel I have the belay school and warm up activities down pretty well. Here we are testing the belay device. Yeah - I think it will hold one person if it can hold all these folks!

Nice job everyone! If you would like to sign up for next time here's the link to the TTCC. There is also a nice gallery of pictures from the Adventure Clinic and actually all the projects that NHS students did on this past Saturday over at the NHS website.

Dave and Russ and their crew also busted a move and are relocating the fire ring to a flat dry section of Burleigh. What a concept. Here they are moving a log to retain the gravel.

counting the days

2007-04-30T14:10:00.000-04:00

As everyone is counting the days to SophX, I am counting the days to graduate college (19 more to go!). I wish I could participate in the expedition and I wish even more so that my high school had done a sophx trip, instead of the one night overnight retreats we got to take where we discussed our feelings about religion (not that I have anything against that, it just would have been nice to have gone backpacking).

I am also finishing my days here at New Hampton. So, now I can say what I officially did with my time. I created a potential summer program for an adventure day camp that could run on Burleigh. I walked back and forth to the gear room and helped get all the gear together for the expedition. I also spent time working on a paper about experiential learning.

In the next few days I am here I will be conquering my fear of public speaking by quickly speaking at a faculty meeting and I will be finishing up everything I have started. I've had a great time, worked with some great people and definitely have a much better perspective into what I want to do in the future now with a degree in Adventure Education.

Second Community Service Saturday

2007-04-25T15:36:00.000-04:00

We couldn't climb the tower this past service due to a freak April snowstorm so we planned on playing games and going for a hike. Somewhat surprisingly we had a record turn out!

Tag in the snow is definately fun to play and it's extra fun to whipe out!

Daisy was thrilled and made friends easily.

Danny and his crew worked hard to get the fires going to keep us warm and toasty.
Finally we headed up to the ski trail for the view and a group photo!

The two Morgan(ne)'s taught knots in the yurt while waiting for the summit crew to return.

Overall a very nice service day, perhaps a little bit too much snow considering the time of year - but it's all good. Nice job everyone - we'll be on the Alpine Tower this weekend!

Google Earth

2007-04-23T08:44:00.000-04:00

I'll admit it - I'm addicted to Google Earth - it's fun, free and I get the same simple pleasure out of flying through the Grand Canyon as I do looking at the house where I grew up.

Anyway the quality of the images for our neck of the woods have improved a great deal. Here's the route I took on the hike on Saturday as near as I can figure. (Click on the picture to see it bigger).Notice that big S-curve south of Mud Pond. I didn't have to do that but I hiked down the length of the pond before finding a connector trail that brought me up to the skidoo trail. According to this it was about a four mile hike, but it could have been shorter if I had cut out that loop and if I knew better where I was going.

Morning Hike

2007-04-21T20:07:00.000-04:00

Ever since Katka and Adam hiked back over Burleigh in the days before the summit trail I've been wanting to do it too.
I'd hiked a couple of times as far as Mud Pond but never had time to go further. This morning I busted a move and made it past that point to the summit of what I think is Hershey Mountain.
I love the south side of Burleigh - it really feels different. It has much more of a northern Maine feel, lots of signs of wild life and logging and skidoo trails.

On the hike in I saw signs of moose, deer, beaver, chipmunks, grouse and fox.

Mud Pond doesn't have much of a name but I actually find it quite lovely. It's obviously been a stop over spot for loggers, campers, hunters and hooligans of all sorts.

From there it was a relatively simple matter to find a side trail that hooked up with a skidoo trail. I was making for the next high point south from Burleigh so I figured there would be some kind of trail at least part of the way.
From there it was some off trail bushwacking uphill looking for the easiest path. About halfway up the hill I saw some orange flagging tape that looked like it might be a trail.
Sure enough after loosing the trail a few times I followed it up to the summit.

Check it out - just like Katka and Adam had reported back in the day there was a little cabin up there!

Sarah was coming back into town so I beat feet back half running and half sliding back down.

Great hike to an amazing and isolated spot - amazing views to Ragged Mountain, Cardigan Mountain, Lafayette and Flume. Remarkable and just what I needed after this lousy week.

I felt tired, happy, renewed and inspired.

Video Archives

2007-04-19T11:08:00.000-04:00

I just found this awesome archive of outdoor, skiing, rock climbing and adventure sport films at Alpinist Maganzine.

Here is also an archive of sweet video on the Petzl website. Maybe not as sweet as the other one from Alpinist, but on a scale of one to sweet it's like a sweet minus.

It also has the trailer of a film about climbing on Cannon Mt. that is showing at PSU next week.

Enjoy!

Maple Sugaring Report

2007-04-17T15:53:00.000-04:00

Dave has completed the sugaring run and his report out on the feasibility of the project. Here are his cheerful, optimistic and detailed thoughts.

Project: A preliminary study to determine the viability of an annual student and staff maple sugaring operation as an educational tool for the New Hampton School by running a small scale maple operation on Burleigh Mountain.

The figures from this year:

16 taps in 9 maple trees
Over 120 gallons of syrup boiled
Syrup yield: about 3 gallons of varying quality
Help from 12 NHS and local community members

Is maple sugaring is possible with tree resources available on the New Hampton campus (Burleigh Mountain maple trees were all logged off ten years ago)

Yes! 50-60 taps on campus (excluding in front of Academic Row)
Another 100-150 taps readily available in the village
20-50 taps on Burleigh Mntn.

Quantity of sap available

~2000 gal
would make 50 gal of syrup
could sell for $3000

Amount of fire wood needed to boil sap to syrup

4 cords
Easily taken from Burleigh Forest

Feasibility of student involvement

See below

Viability of existing sap boiler system

Not viable for larger operation

Potential future financial considerations

-$3000 for initial start up
-$500 per year following
+$3000 gross
+$2500 per year

Institutional barriers and opportunities

Insurance coverage
Student involvement (see below)
Tie in to “Local Application”

Potential detrimental and unanticipated side effects of the project to school property, personnel, image and campus attractiveness

As long as the trees tapped are in good health, they can handle being tapped with no problem.
The risk is that personnel running the project will not get much sleep in March because the run is so good!
If you like the look of traditional New England maple buckets, then there is no image/attractiveness risk.
Potential risk of students tampering with sap

Student Involvement Opportunities (and barriers):

Students would be involved with a Maple sugaring project through academic classes, (the proposed) Experiential Week, and as an SLP Independent Study.
Biology/Ecology: Opportunities for curricular crossover in ecology and biology who could participate and study the biological response of maple trees to the changing seasons.
Ecology: Ecology students could also participate by tracking the dates of the run each year, quantity of sap, and which trees are producing most. This data could then be used to help track the effects of Global Warming right here in New Hampton.
Economics (Math IV): Students could participate in calculating potential profit/losses, develop a marketing plan that takes into account the schools mission, and even participate in getting the syrup onto the shelves of local merchants.
Essential Exploration Week (a project week)
At the end of spring vacation, students can participate in various aspects of the maple sugaring process, and research the larger industry and the changes it is going through
SLP:
A student could take leadership and ownership in setting up and operating a maple sugaring operation culminating in educational service to the public on NH “Sugar Shack Open House” in which neighbors can visit the operation
Barriers: The big risk with sugaring is that much of the actual run takes place over the spring vacation. This would necessitate that an SLP student be a day student so he or she could help over the break. Usually, however, the run overlaps with school after the break, which makes the eWeek idea feasible. Ecology and Bio students would certainly have trouble tracking data if the run only happened over the break.

Knot Tutorials

2007-04-17T15:08:00.000-04:00

For aspiring climbers and ropes course practitioners you can never hone your knots too much.

That's why I made a video of tying a few key knots. But if that's not quite working for you then check out this animated knot website - it has tons of knots on it, with great quality photos and slow or fast animations. Thanks to the Alpine Towers newsletter for the tip

Alpine Towers to launch blog and e-newsletter

2007-04-17T13:04:00.000-04:00

Alpine Towers International, the fantastic North Carolina based company who built our ropes course just announced in their spring paper newsletter that they are soon to be launching a blog and e-newsletter.

Exciting to see a great company embrace this new medium to tell their story. As I find out more I'll pass it along.

Sophomore Expedition Blog!

2007-04-16T08:54:00.000-04:00

Hi folks - after struggling to make room for the expedition here I've decided it's grown enough to need it's own blog! Check it out over here.

Stay tuned here for the latest from Burleigh Mountain!

Summit of Mt. Everest

2007-04-09T15:43:00.000-04:00

Amy just sent me this link to an amazing panorama of the summit of Mt. Everest - check it out!

Chicken Bowl 1.5

2007-04-05T13:03:00.000-04:00

The Chicken Bowl actually did happen - mostly. That other post was just horsing around after I saw this post on that same day that fooled a number of people.

Anyway - we actually did have an awesome day of climbing on Burleigh even though only four people came out. We only held one competition - a speed climb on the north west corner. Ted dominated this event with his controlled footwork and consistent speed. Other than that we decided there weren't enough events to merit awarding the Golden Chicken so that will have to wait for next year.

Thanks to Kuni, Dave and Ted for coming out on a Sunday. Enjoy the video!