Local Student Completes Month-Long Course in the Rockies

LANDER, Wyo.(October 25, 2006) – Carolyn Ralph of Norcross, Georgia recently completed a month-long wilderness course for fourteen and fifteen year-olds in the mountains of Wyoming with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS).

From July 10th to August 8th of 2006, Carolyn’s course of nine students and three instructors explored Wyoming’s high mountains, granite cliffs and snow-melt rivers. For thirty days the students carried everything they needed in backpacks while they camped and traveled through remote wilderness as well as learning the fundamentals of backcountry living. The students learned to navigate with a GPS, fly fish, rock climb and most importantly live in the wilderness with minimal impact on the surrounding environment. The Wyoming Backpacking Adventure course grounded these young people in wilderness living and gave them the decision making experience needed to become leaders in the wilderness and in the rest of their lives

Founded in 1965 by legendary mountaineer Paul Petzoldt, the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) is the leader in wilderness education and sets the industry standard for responsible, high-quality educational expeditions. NOLS provides an awe-inspiring, transformative experience that develops active, positive leaders with lifelong environmental ethics and outdoor skills to more than 10,000 students each year. A private non-profit school, NOLS runs 10-day to school-year-length courses on four continents. NOLS students, ages 14 to over 70, explore the most remote wilderness the Rocky Mountains, Idaho, Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Alaska, Western Canada, Mexico, Patagonia (Chile), India, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and Baffin Island have to offer. College credit and scholarships are available. For more information, call NOLS at (800) 710-NOLS (6657) or visit the web site at www.nols.edu .