What the…

So I open up the April issue of National Geo Adventure last night and find a feature entitled, “The Adventures, How to Fill All Your Days”. I was psyched as I started to read the following description:

“Their Patagonia program, which run between November and March, will earn you academic credit for mountaineering and sea-kayaking before you’ve spent a single day in a college classroom. Students must be 18 to enroll, and many of those on the course are college-age, giving recent high school graduates an opportunity to interact with their soon-to-be peers. Instead of chemistry and calculus you’ll study glacier travel, route finding, snow and ice climbing, minimum impact travel, and crevasse rescue. You’ll climb Cerro Tronador (11,450 feet or 3,490 meters), the tallest mountain in the region, and work closely with locals to build houses, dig potatoes, and provide multicultural experiences for area high schools. The final exam: a student-led expedition that tests you on all the skills you have learned.”

What a great description of the NOLS Patagonia semester! Unfortunately, what I discovered was that we had been “knocked-off”. The article was about another organization’s Patagonia semester.

Here are few of the things that differentiate the NOLS Semester in Patagonia. As a NOLS student you know you will get the same high quality experience no matter where you do your NOLS course- all of our staffing, staff training, admissions, curriculum development and risk management are managed from Lander, Wyoming. Alaska or Patagonia. The Rockies or New Zealand. NOLS delivers a consistent, high quality experience.

We are also committed to the areas where we operate. NOLS has more than 15 years experience operating in Patagonia. We have facilities in Patagonia and more than 1/2 of our staff working in Patagonia are South American. Many land managers and educators throughout Patagonia are NOLS educated. We understand the area and have the infrastructure to give you a great Patagonia experience.

Centrally administered and locally operated. Just one of the features that makes NOLS the Leader in Wilderness Education. For more…

Bruce Palmer, NOLS marketing director