Wow, what an incredible season! Thank you to all the staff, students and families that made this summer one to remember. After a year and a half of virtual schooling, social restrictions and physical distancing, it was refreshing to return to a sense of normalcy. We are so grateful to all of you for putting your trust in us to run a safe, healthy, happy program. Now that our team has had some time to process the summer, we can’t help but reminisce on all the wonderful programs we were able to offer our students. Here were some of my personal favorites:
SHREDDY BETTYS! This was an all-female mountain biking program that brought together girls of every ability level! Shreddy Bettys gave students the opportunity to learn in a comfortable and supportive environment with the help of their female instructors.
PLANET PROTECTORS! This was a collaborative program with local non-profit, Sheep Mountain Alliance. Based on a theme of environmental education and stewardship, this program included a trip to Telluride EcoAction to learn about recycling, a tour of the Pandora Mill, a water testing project in Ophir and a USFS-guided hike in Lizard Head to discuss forest health.
OPUS ODYSSEY! We partnered with Opus Hut and Pinhead Institute to offer a week-long immersive program that combined environmental science with backcountry education. Students learned about the plants and animals native to the San Juans, weather patterns, navigation, basic survival skills and even some yoga and meditation practices.
Outdoor Leadership Challenge: For our annual “OLC” program, we partnered with the Telluride Institute to incorporate a high level of environmental science and stewardship into expeditionary adventures. This two-week excursion included a backpacking trip to learn about backcountry basics and regional ecosystems, a trip to Montezuma Land Conservancy to gain knowledge of the importance of water and agriculture and a multi-day river trip down the San Juan River to experience and acknowledge the history of the tribes who inhabit the southwest.
If any of these sound exciting to you, just wait until you see what we have in store for 2022! As always, we are excited to build off what we’ve learned to make our programs bigger and better each year. Thanks for adventuring with us- we’ll see you in June!