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…
Lessons from the Alpine Pass: Columbia Business School Student Goes to Chile
A Columbia Business School student shares the lessons he took home from a challenging backpacking expedition in Patagonia with NOLS.
Quiz: Bites and Envenomation
Do you know how to recognize and treat bites from fire ants, scorpions, snakes, spiders, and ticks? Test you knowledge with this quiz.
5 Ways Expedition Behavior Helps You Raise Kids
A NOLS grad, writer, and mother of two, Alyssa Walker reflects on how the expedition behavior she learned in Alaska applies to parenting.
NOLS Sponsors Women’s-Only Southern Alps Traverse
In November 2017, climber Inga Booiman and three friends set out on 25-day "Girls Southern Traverse" in the mountains of New Zealand, funded in part by a NOLS grant.
Patient Assessment: Visualizing the Head-to-Toe Exam
Review the steps of the head-to-toe exam with this NOLS Wilderness First Aid grad's hand-drawn diagram.
Whitman College Student Pushes Boundaries in the Canyons
Whitman College student Reza Darvish recently joined 10 fellow students on a week-long NOLS expedition in the Utah canyonlands, backpacking and canyoneering for the first time.
Case Study: Hiking through a Thunderstorm
Test whether you know what to do in this case study of a storm brewing and a nearby lightning strike.
No Phone Calls, No Emails, No Texts
When her 14-year-old son went on a two-week backpacking NOLS course in the Wind River Range, Robin Noble realized that in a world of constant connection, there’s value in disconnecting. Temporarily unable to call, email, or text each other, both Robin and her son learned from the experience.
Climbing for More Than the Summit
NOLS Wilderness Medicine grad Carina Ahlqvist will be the first Scandinavian woman to summit Makalu— but that's not why she joined the 2018 Climate Climb.
The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful: Why I Went Back to NOLS
Struggling with the big city life she thought she wanted, Elena Rodriguez realized that what she actually needed was a NOLS course—or two.
Quiz: Handling Burns in the Outdoors
If you're camping and someone gets burned, do you know how to help? Test your first aid skills with this wilderness medicine quiz.
Why Students Who Learn Leadership Stand Out
Learning leadership doesn't have to wait till you're an adult—given the opportunity, teens show they're capable of good decision making and problem solving.
