Alpine Backpacking, Ropes Course, Service, Rock Climbing, Base Camp
PRICE
$7,395
PROGRAM
Pathfinder
AGES
18-25
LENGTH
30 Days
START LOCATION
Denver, CO
END LOCATION
Leadville, CO
i
SEASON(S)
Summer
Fall
CERTIFICATIONS
Leave No Trace, Wilderness First Aid
SKILLS
TECHNICAL
Basic First Aid
Basic Paddle Strokes
Belaying a Climber
Campcraft
Food Preparation and Cooking
Knots
Leave No Trace Methods & Ethics
Map and Compass
Navigation
Self Care
Travel Techniques
INTERPERSONAL
Character
Communication
Conflict Resolution
Leadership
Problem Solving
Responsibility
Self Awareness
Self Confidence
Service
SHARE
Testimonial
"There is not a week that goes by that Max doesn't share a funny story, an uncomfortable situation or an incredible experience from Outward Bound. He is more confident in the outdoors and has a love of nature like never before. He's not afraid to try new things and meet people who are very different than he is." - Rebecca Simon
Discover your strengths and learn skills that will shape your future on this 30-day alpine backpacking expedition.
Learn about backcountry expedition techniques including teamwork, navigation and backcountry living skills. Work with your new team to attempt a peak ascent, rock climb and learn about each other and yourself. Depending on conditions and terrain, you may learn to use more advanced and specialized gear and techniques to assist in your travel. Head to the Arkansas Valley on a service expedition where you’ll explore the relationship between self and community and gain firsthand knowledge of the people and area. The course culminates with a Wilderness First Aid certification class.
Pathfinder courses focus on leadership skills such as communication, collaboration, decision-making and conflict resolution; skills you can fall back on in many situations throughout life.
NOTE: For the health and safety of students and staff in the COVID-19 pandemic, students may be required to travel to course start by private transportation. Please work directly with your Course Advisor for your course for the most up-to-date and regionally-focused travel options. All students and staff must provide a current negative COVID-19 viral test result before arrival to course and/or consent to having a COVID-19 test administered at course start. Outward Bound requires students and staff to follow COVID-19 protocols for 14 days prior to course start and while traveling including physical distancing, wearing a mask in public, and frequent and thorough handwashing.For complete “Health and Safety Practices for Outward Bound Expeditions,” click here.
This course starts within the next week. Please call us at 866-467-7651 to assess the possibility of applying for this course!
Pathfinder Courses
Sometimes you don’t know where you want to go in life until you spend a few weeks in the middle of nowhere. Pathfinder expeditions give you time and space to understand what’s important to you and the skills to get there. Over the next 30 days, you’ll rise to meet natural challenges, becoming accustomed to setting goals, making decisions, and recovering from set-backs, all of which help clarify bigger choices that await you in life beyond your course.
Build skills, form connections: Learn and practice wilderness, teamwork, adaptability and leadership skills. Participants will have the opportunity to chart a path and pursue it with their own motivation as extra fuel.
Value strengths and strengthen values: Resiliency to recover from set-backs is a treasured and useful skill that will play a part in any Pathfinder expedition. Participants will explore answers to their most pressing questions about what they value, where their strengths lie and what direction their lives will take next.
Demonstrate mastery: As students gain confidence in new skills, they will take on more leadership and decision-making responsibilities and gain a deeper understanding of who they are as individuals. The entire crew will work together and individually to achieve goals, solve problems and succeed.
What you’ll learn: After spending 30 days in the wilderness, you’ll have mastered multiple outdoor skills and you’ll know what it takes to traverse mountain passes, climb the steepest cliffs and successfully navigate the challenges of the natural world around you. You’ll discover more about your true self and what you want to achieve, how you overcome setbacks and, most importantly, how to move forward to reach important milestones.
Return home after broadening your horizons, learning how to adapt to new environments and trying untested possibilities, with an action plan for the future. With newfound leadership potential, self-awareness, and problem-solving skills, you’ll be ready for your next big step.
Photo courtesy
of Brian Litz
Photo courtesy
of Brandon Daun
Photo courtesy
of Brandon Daun
Photo courtesy
of Brandon Daun
Photo courtesy
of Brandon Daun
Photo courtesy
of Brandon Daun
Photo courtesy
of Brandon Daun
Photo courtesy
of Hannah Trim
Photo courtesy
of Ian McConnell
Backpacking
Backpackers carry everything they need - food, shelter, clothing and gear – allowing them to go deep into the wilderness where few people go. Students feel a sense of freedom from deadlines and task lists as they grow accustomed to eating when hungry, setting up camp when tired and having complete control over what they accomplish each day. The simplicity of hiking gives students the opportunity to focus internally on their own thoughts and self-reliance, as well as externally to connect deeply with others as they talk, sing, play games and spend time together without distraction.
This course will begin with lessons in basic travel and camping techniques. Along the way, students learn Leave No Trace techniques, map and compass navigation and camp craft as they get a feel for the human and natural history of the area. Students backpack along valleys and long ridges, camp in basins with views of the top of the world and stop along the way to explore microclimates and alpine ecosystems. Students spend time in an incredible area, sleep under the stars, feel the sunshine on their face and maybe watch a few sunsets over this magical landscape.
The expedition includes at least one peak attempt. Peak attempts are major enterprises and typically require early morning starts and take all day to complete. Weather or other factors including group dynamics and physical ability may preclude even an attempt to ascend a peak.
Photo courtesy
of Hannah Trim
Photo courtesy
of Brandon Daun
Rock Climbing
Rock climbing is a great opportunity to challenge oneself physically, mentally and emotionally. Learning new body mechanics, balance and energy maintenance techniques will help students climb efficiently and unlock the incredible feeling of flowing up a rock face. There are many ways to climb the same route, allowing each climber to solve the puzzle in their own individual way. Students will learn basic climbing techniques, helmet and harness use, climbing commands and belaying, placing gear, setting up top ropes and may have the opportunity to attempt multi-pitch ascents.
Photo courtesy
of Griff Jones
Photo courtesy
of Griff Jones
Service
Service to others and the environment is a core value of Outward Bound and is integrated into each course. Participants follow Leave No Trace ethics as service to the environment and do acts of service while leading and supporting fellow participants. Designated service projects are coordinated with land managers like the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service to collaborate on land restoration projects. Some projects are more social services based, in which students may visit a horse rescue or wolf sanctuary. Students develop a value of service, seeing the impact of their actions firsthand and transfer this desire to serve their communities back home. Past projects have included working on a goat farm, building trails, cleaning trash and debris from natural spaces, working with a local community garden, and removing invasive species.
Solo
In order for profound learning to take place, there must be time to reflect on the experience. Solo is that opportunity, and can range anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours or more, depending on course length and type, as well as the competency and preparedness of the student group. Weather and time permitting, the Solo experience provides an important break from the rigors of the expedition and gives students the opportunity to reflect on their Outward Bound experience. Many students use this reflection time to make decisions about their future, journal and enjoy the beauty of their surroundings unencumbered by the constant external stimulation of modern life. With all the food, skills and supplies they need, students are given a secluded spot to reflect alone and are monitored by staff throughout the. Students find that Solo provokes profound and powerful learning in a short period of time and often becomes one of the most memorable parts of an Outward Bound experience.
Outcomes
Whether an 8-day course or an 80 day course, all Outward Bound expeditions are focused on building character and leadership skills. Short courses are a great option for students looking for an introduction to the outdoors or for those who need a quick recharge. On shorter courses, students learn camping and expedition basics, as well as the skills specific to the course activity, such as climbing or rafting. Students get to know fellow crew mates surprisingly well as they share this immersive and intense experience.
On longer courses, Instructors progressively hand over more of the decision making and leadership of the expedition to the crew, allowing each person to test the new technical and interpersonal skills they have learned. Through the dynamics of an evolving group setting, students have more freedom to investigate who they are and how they want to develop personally. All along the way, students will experience a wide variety of some of the most beautiful wilderness in the US and the world.
Photo courtesy
of Brandon Daun
Photo courtesy
of Brandon Daun
Photo courtesy
of Brandon Daun
Course Area
Rocky Mountains, Colorado
The Rocky Mountains, one of the most famous mountain ranges in the world, stretch 3,000 miles from Alaska to New Mexico. These legendary peaks have had a profound influence on the development of the continental United States. The Colorado Rocky Mountains has the greatest concentration of high peaks in the lower 48 states, with hundreds of ‘Thirteeners’ (13,000 plus foot tall mountains) and 54 ‘Fourteeners.’ The state is famous for its abundant wilderness adventure possibilities, from skiing to rock climbing to mountaineering. Colorado courses may take place in The Gore, The Holy Cross, The Sawatch, The Elks, The Sangre de Cristos, the Rawah, or the San Juan mountains. Each of these Colorado ranges present unique challenges, but they are all beautiful, wild and rugged. These regions are within the ancestral lands of of the Núu-agha-tʉvʉ-pʉ̱ (Ute), Cheyenne, Arapaho, Očeti Šakówiŋ (Sioux), Eastern Shoshone, Jicarilla Apache, and Pueblos nations.
SAMPLE ITINERARY
DAY 1
Course start
DAY 2-6
Training Expedition/Backpacking; Curriculum includes: self-awareness, awareness of others, basic navigation, basic first aid, backcountry living, basic leadership, basic team decision making, Outward Bound history and philosophy
DAY 7-8
Service projects and high ropes
DAY 9-17
Main Expedition – Peak Climb and Solo; Curriculum includes: advanced navigation, advanced decision making, summit strategies, time management, peer leadership, conflict resolution, introspection and reflection
DAY 18-19
Wilderness First Aid Course
DAY 20-28
Final Expedition as a group
DAY 29
Challenge Event, course end celebration
DAY 30
Departure home
Testimonial
"There is not a week that goes by that Max doesn't share a funny story, an uncomfortable situation or an incredible experience from Outward Bound. He is more confident in the outdoors and has a love of nature like never before. He's not afraid to try new things and meet people who are very different than he is." - Rebecca Simon
If you are ready to enroll on a course click the enroll button next to the course you wish to select or you can enroll over the phone by speaking with one of our Admissions Advisors (toll-free) at 866-467-7651.
To secure your spot on a course you must submit an enrollment form and $500 deposit that is applied toward the total cost of the course and includes a $150 non-refundable enrollment processing fee.