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…
An Alaska Adventure, and Learning Experience, For Teens
This was the challenge Heather Boucher of Stonington faced a few weeks ago when taking a course run by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).
What Items Belong in My Backpacking First Aid Kit?
Gareth Tate has been a NOLS Wilderness Medicine instructor for more than a decade, I called him up to find out how to pack a proper first-aid kit.
Educator Expedition: Assistant Overnight Guide Course – Learning the Ways of the Ocean
Educator Expedition: Assistant Overnight Guide Course - Learning the Ways of the Ocean
11 Essentials to Complete Your Backcountry Kitchen
11 Essentials to Complete Your Backcountry Kitchen
Educator Expedition: Paddling at the South Pacific Sea Kayak Symposium
Educator Expedition: Paddling at the South Pacific Sea Kayak Symposium
7 Materials That Can Be Used To Improvise a Splint
An important part of managing emergencies in the backcountry is coming up with first aid solutions using the supplies you have on hand, and this includes improvising splints
WY Not: Students of the Wilderness – Problem
Where the wilderness becomes a classroom and students become leaders. Relying heavily on experiential education, NOLS works with over 24,000 students a year.
Educator Expedition: A Day in the Waddington Range
Educator Expedition: A Day in the Waddington Range
