NOLS Blog
Case Study: Chest Injury with Fall
The Setting You are on a climbing trip in Red Rocks, Nevada. You’ve spent the last week dialing in your climbing, swapping beta with new friends at the crag and soaking up the desert sun. Today, you decide to take a break from long routes and focus on bouldering. You’re chalking up, eyeing a new…
Backpacking the Vilcabamba Valley to Machu Picchu Alumni Trip: Inaugural Trip Reflection
An Interview with Kellsie Forbes, NOLS Alumni Trips Manager Where did the idea to create an alumni trip ...
Alumni Spotlight: How my NOLS Course Impacted My Career
Almost exactly 10 years after coming to Alaska for the first time to take a NOLS course, Asa ...
The Wilderness Risk Management Conference: a Conference and a Community
An interview with Elyse Rylander, Wilderness Risk Management Steering Committee Chair The 33rd annual Wilderness Risk Management Conference (WRMC) will be held this fall, October 20 – 22nd, in Portland, Oregon. If you haven’t attended yet, the WRMC was developed from the work of multiple outdoor programs who wanted to create a space to foster…
Case Study: Bear Spray in the Face
The Setting You are almost done with a 3-day backpacking trip in the Wind River Mountain Range of Wyoming with two of your friends. You only have a couple miles left to get back to the car, and you’re already dreaming of the cheeseburger and milkshake you’re going to have once back in town. Prior…
Case Study: Fishhooks
The Setting You’re on the first day of a twelve-day whitewater canoeing expedition down the Green River. Your group consists of fifteen students and four instructors. Everyone is paddling close together down a stretch of flat water practicing strokes, building skills, and getting to know one another. Spirits are high. People are laughing, chatting, and…
When Everything Came Into Focus — Hiking Patagonia’s Torres del Paine O Circuit Alumni Trip
I first learned about the O Circuit in 2025, a year before I actually did it. My wife and I were in Patagonia on a Road Scholar trip. It started with a cruise through the Strait of Magellan and the Darwin Passage, followed by a few days in Torres del Paine National Park doing short…
Case Study: Heat Illness on an Early-Season Wildland Fire Assignment
The Setting You are working on a Type 2 initial attack handcrew in the Deschutes National Forest during the early part of fire season. It’s one of the first assignments of the year, and while conditions aren’t extreme yet, temperatures have climbed into the mid-80s°F with full sun exposure on a south-facing slope. The crew…
Rothberg-Birdwhistel Expedition Fund: Panchachuli III Peak Climb
In May 2025, Bharat Bhushan, Prerna Dangi, and I took on a challenge to climb Panchachuli III (6,349m), believed by local residents to remain unclimbed. We aimed to approach it via the northeast route through the Meola Glacier. Despite occasional visits by military and paramilitary personnel, there was no recorded mountaineering information or documented route…
Summer Sunday: The Wyoming Winds
I wanted to go Lander, home of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), and to the Wind River Range, where the fishing was supposedly epic.
The Lander Valley Leadership Expedition Attracts Eight Inspiring Students
The Lander Valley Leadership Expedition has become a tradition for upcoming seniors at Lander Valley High School who elect to serve as 'Senior Mentors'.
So You Want To Be An Astronaut?
One of the toughest aspects of the training is NOLS Expeditionary Training. This involves the whole class roughing it out in the wilderness for 10 days.
Program Connects At-Risk Kids With Nature
The idea behind City Kids is to get kids out of these neighborhoods and into wilderness adventures that help them learn, grow and build skills.
Murie Center Honors Spirit of Conservation
Actor Harrison Ford received the 2016 Murie Spirit of Conservation Award, adding a wow factor to the event. NOLS Director John Gans also attended.
Taking a ‘Whole Person’ Approach to Helping At-Risk Students
Summer Search Boston, a nonprofit enrichment program has students take NOLS courses during the summer as part of their participation in the program.
Nadia Carrie’s Summer Semester in Alaska
The 19-year-old recently finished a 75-day expedition in Alaska, kayaking, hiking and mountaineering hundreds of miles. This was part of a summer semester with NOLS.
A Rejected ‘Bachelorette’ Contestant Finds Love
After the Bachelorette, as an escape, he signed up for a three-week National Outdoor Leadership School sailing expedition in Mexico in October 2012.
Journey 4 Renewal: Canoeing from Minnesota to the Hudson Bay
They paddled 1,239 miles over 66 days from Wilderness Canoe Base to Hudson Bay–raising over $40,000 for Wilderness Canoe Base in the process.
First-Aid 101: Tips From Hartley Nature Center
This list was compiled byTiffany Smith, who has been a certified Wilderness Responder for eight years through NOLS Wilderness Medicine.
Sheyna Gifford Completes Year-Long Simulation of Mars Mission
UC Berkeley and NOLS alumna Sheyna Gifford emerged from a year-long simulation of a Mars mission with a new perspective on the universe.
Gans: Wyoming’s Recreational Waters Must Remain Pristine
Stream miles to be impacted are on public lands which are important to Wyoming residents who recreate outdoors and to NOLS for teaching outdoor skills.
