4 Reasons We Never Stop Training

This spring I spent 10 days on a NOLS rock climbing seminar for instructors. This was my first seminar with NOLS and I didn’t know what to expect from the other instructors who would be my coursemates. Mainly, I worried that I wouldn't know as much as everyone else, and that I’d always be working to catch up.

Photo by Kate Collins.

However, when I got to NOLS Southwest and started meeting my coursemates, I soon realized that wasn’t the case. It’s true that we all represented different skill levels, but every one of us shared the desire to learn and grow. Folks were just as eager to learn about my goal of leading my first multi-pitch route as they were about those who were looking to move into more senior roles in the climbing program.

We left NOLS Southwest and spent the next ten days in Arizona’s legendary Cochise Stronghold nerding out about things like

• Debriefing strategies
• Tying climbing knots with one hand
• Risk management
• Important stuff like hula hooping and how to make delicious rice and beans

I’ll admit that it can be hard to find time to commit to ongoing training. But what I saw during this seminar is that ongoing training is actually a rich way to grow, even for folks who had been climbing for years.

Here are a few of the lessons I walked away with:

Go back to the basics

I learned this lesson one of the days we practiced rescue skills. All I needed to do was tie an overhand knot in a piece of cord to finish securing my “patient” (a full water jug hanging off the ground). This knot is pretty basic, much simpler than the preceding sequence of knots I had already tied on the same cord (some of you might recognize the Munter-Mule-Overhand sequence).

But when I started tying the overhand, my mind went blank. I tried to tie the knot three or four times. It wasn’t until I completely stopped for a moment and tied the knot separate from the cord I was working on that I finally finished it.

Afterward, I realized it wasn’t the knot itself that had challenged me, but rather the new scenario itself—orienting the material differently, using the knot in a different application, etc. They were such simple changes, but revealed a blind spot I didn’t know I had.

That lesson gave me a little healthy dose of humility and also showed me that even basic skills can get rusty if we don’t practice, or if we have to use them in a new way.

Distinct goals (can) make better teammates

Most of us have experienced the challenges that come up when you realize that no one in your group has the same goal. But on this course, having individuals with different goals was inevitable and, in my opinion, made our team stronger.

Our instructors were challenged to think creatively of ways for everyone to work on their goals, whether they included our first lead climbs or complicated terrain management. For us participants, we had more opportunities to engage with our peers’ goals. We were curious about what everyone was working on, trying to see how our goals were complementary, and excited for each milestone passed no matter how basic.

New relationships and old relationships grow together

This course mixed folks who I’d met on my instructor course almost a year previously with a whole new group of people. The mix of old and new friendships helped me interact with old friends in new ways as we talked about how our goals had changed over the last year, and what secret hopes we had for the next year. With the new relationships formed I connected with an even bigger group of people who are passionate about getting others outside and keeping their own teaching and outdoor skills sharp.

Learning is never. ever. done.

One night, we looked at a leadership model that describes competence, one of our seven leadership skills that rock climbing models really well.

The thing to remember about competence, we learned, is that it’s an ongoing journey. You gain skills and judgement over time and always have something to add to what you know. Even experts aren’t done learning—our instructors talked over new teaching strategies and approaches to climbing as much as we did.

For myself, I have rarely been with a group of people who were so consistently delighted to learn. My coursemates were the type of folks who expect never to be too comfortable in what they know, which seems pretty perfect for people who like to teach in environments that are wild and dynamic.

Learn more about teaching in the outdoors and rock climbing on our Rocky Mountain Outdoor Educator course.