Wilderness Training with the CMU Outdoor Program

In the week leading up to the start of the the fall semester, many college students are occupied with the familiar rituals of summer’s end: moving into new homes, making last-minute schedule changes and squeezing in a few more parties before the the last of summer slips away. The student leaders of Colorado Mesa University’s Outdoor Program had a different kind of preparation ahead, a week in the backcountry developing the technical, interpersonal, and leadership skills they would use to guide their peers on adventures throughout the coming year.

I joined the OP on their Climbing and Backpacking trainings through the Hartman Rocks Recreation Area and on a jaunt into the Raggeds Wilderness.

What followed was part technical instruction, part leadership workshop, and part reminder that being capable in the outdoors has as much to do with taking care of the people around you as it does knowing how to tie the right knot.

Learning to Lead Outside

The Outdoor Program occupies an interesting place at CMU. It is part gear shop, part classroom, part guiding operation, and, for a lot of students, part community.

Throughout the school year, the OP runs everything from afternoon outings around the Grand Valley to multi-day climbing, backpacking, paddling, skiing, and river trips farther afield. Students can rent the equipment to head out on their own, sign up for organized trips, take part in free weekly outings, or pursue more formal outdoor training and certifications.

Behind those trips is a group of student leaders who are given a remarkable amount of responsibility.

They aren't simply along to carry gear or follow an itinerary. They help plan trips, manage groups, teach skills, make decisions in changing conditions, respond when something goes wrong, and create an environment where someone who may have very little outdoor experience can comfortably try something new.

The week before school begins is where much of that preparation starts.

At Hartman Rocks, training centered around climbing. Packs were unloaded beneath the granite formations scattered across the sagebrush outside Gunnison, ropes came out, harnesses went on, and much of the day was spent working through the systems that make a day at the crag function safely.

Students practiced knots, anchor construction, climbing communication, equipment management, and the small habits that become important when you're responsible for more than yourself.

A knot can be demonstrated in a few seconds, but understanding why it works, when to use it, what can go wrong, and how to teach it clearly to somebody else takes much longer.

Throughout the training, instructors repeatedly moved beyond simply showing students what to do and asked them to understand why they were doing it.

Emotional Wellbeing in the Backcountry

Technical competence is only one part of leading people outdoors. Equally important are the emotional awareness and interpersonal skills needed to support participants who may be unfamiliar with outdoor environments. During the week, the students spent considerable time talking about emotional wellbeing, communication, group dynamics, and what it means to build an outdoor experience around the needs of the people actually participating in it.

Students were asked to think about their own needs first: what makes them feel supported, what causes stress, how they communicate when they're uncomfortable, and how those things might be entirely different for somebody else.

For many students who participate in Outdoor Program trips, these outings may be their first time climbing outside, their first night sleeping in the backcountry, their first river trip, or simply their first experience being far away from the routines of campus.

Outdoor recreation can be surprisingly intimidating from the outside. Gear is expensive. Skills can feel specialized and newcomers often are faced with a torrent of jargon around grades, features, terrain and equipment.

The Outdoor Program lowers some of those barriers and creates opportunity for students to grow in the their technical skill and, inevitably, as people.

As I've settled into living in the Grand Valley I have been immensely grateful to have found a home with the Outdoor Program. The OP is brimming with kind people, the Grand Valley is full of life and there seems to be adventure in every direction.