National Outdoor Leadership School - Index

National Outdoor Leadership School - Summer2008 - Index

20
THE
Leader
BELAY OFF
Two years ago we featured a story by NOLS
grad Tobey Ritz who, 28 years after his first
NOLS course, revisited an old dream: to become
a NOLS instructor. After a recommended
Outdoor Educator course to refresh his field
experience, Tobey applied for his NOLS Instructor
Course (IC) and was accepted in the
summer of 2006. Serendipitously, as Tobey
embarked on his first course as an instructor
last summer, his 17-year-old son, Ethan, was
about to experience NOLS for the first
time as well—at the same age
Tobey was when he took his first
course so many years ago. Here
is….the rest of Tobey’s story:
Inever would have guessed I'd be teaching my first
NOLS course while my son, Ethan, was having a
first NOLS experience of his own. My brother Andy
and I drove Ethan to the airport on a Saturday morning.
He was quiet, sleeping on and off. I wondered
what he was thinking. We walked with him as far as
we could to security and gave him a quick hug goodbye.
After passing through, just before he was completely
out of sight, he turned slightly back, waved,
and disappeared from view. I had tucked a letter with
some last minute words of wisdom in his pack, but
don't know, to this day, if he read it. I hoped he would
have the same life changing experience as I had at 17,
developing a love for wilderness that won’t ever fade.
I exposed my three children to nature through hiking,
camping, and fishing vacations
in the Catskills, Maine, and Vermont,
much like my father did with me.
Coming from the crowded Northeast,
I am sure Ethan will be awed by
the wide-open spaces he will see in
Alaska and know he will be challenged.
When he was 9, we climbed
Mt. Mansfield in Vermont. It's hard
for me to believe the small boy who
stopped to look at frogs in a pond
with wonder is now a teenager rapidly
becoming his own man. Time
goes by so unbelievably fast, melting
away like those accelerated fast forward
scenes in nature documentaries
of how a flower grows and opens.
Later that week, I shifted back to
fulfilling my own dream, teaching my first NOLS
course. Excited, a little anxious, but confident in my
abilities, I expected to learn a lot. Going through my gear,
my thoughts bounced back and forth between my preparations
and wondering about Ethan. What was he feeling,
seeing, and thinking now?
Days later, I arrive in Salmon, Idaho, for my course,
the backpacking section of a combined backpacking/
Thinking of my father,
myson,andmystudents,
I realize how we are
just temporary forms
that our passions and
dreams pass through
from one generation to
the next.
rafting course. I help students
go through their gear, discussing
what to bring and leave
behind. The students, all around my
son's age, remind me of him. As a
parent, I know how much I'm
counting on my son’s instructors
to guide him safely through the
decisions he will have to make.
I'm holding myself to that same
high standard of helping my students
prepare on their first day, trying
hard to get to know each student
and make connections so I can understand
what each needs to help them grow in
ways I hope Ethan is growing.
Halfway through the course,
camped at Everson Lake in the
Lemhis, we are getting re-rationed
and have some down time. Walking
around the edge of the lake, I take
in a small waterfall cascading
from the rocky scree ledges above,
patches of snow, and a sea of
mountain bluebell flowers. The
turquoise water of
the lake and the surrounding
steep cliffs with
their narrow jagged peaks fill me
with awe and reverence for the fragile
beauty of our planet. My
thoughts turn to Ethan, halfway
through his own expedition.
On the hardest day of my
course, our route takes us twelve
miles, much of it off trail, over three
passes, with steep, rugged scree,
deadfall, and much elevation gain and
loss. It’s late afternoon, the students
in my group are beginning to tire
mentally and physically. I talk with
them about challenge and adversity,
how part of any NOLS course is
pushing through your comfort zone and strengthening
your mind by passing through that place and learning
how to stay positive, holding together even when you
feel exhausted. After a break we turn and look at our
route. It is a long way, a rugged and deep tree-lined
valley. No one really feels like pushing on the last few
miles, but we do, the students determined to make it to
the planned campsite. We take off our packs in relief
Photos below: NOLS instructor Tobey Ritz (top)
and his son Ethan (bottom) shared firsts on
NOLS courses last summer.
at the end of the day. This group of tired students
has just learned one of the most valuable lessons of
the course—that they are capable of going beyond
what they had thought was possible. It's also one of
the most transferable, one they can apply in all areas
of their lives going forward whenever the
going is tough. I've also just experienced
what had driven me to become a NOLS
instructor, to have a small part in
teaching such a lesson. As always, my
thoughts are never far from Ethan,
knowing he will have this same kind
of hard challenging day in Alaska,
maybe even harder.
The last day is a transition day for
the students to the rafting section on the
Salmon River. Wishing I could go, I wave
goodbye as the vans pull away. The sun is bright,
hot, and warms me through to my soul. Maybe
it’s a deep feeling of accomplishment mixed
in that warms me too. Thinking of my father,
my son, and my students, I realize
how we are just temporary forms that
our passions and dreams pass through
from one generation to the next. It's
sweet, sad, and beautiful all at the
same time. Beginnings and endings.
My thoughts turn to my wife and
kids—to Michelle, who supports me in
my adventuring, to Claire (Little Bear), and
to Willy. Looking at the moon that night over
Salmon, I think of Ethan in a wild Alaska looking at it
too and wish him well.
Finally, after I'd returned home we got THE
CALL, one every parent anxiously awaits when they
have not spoken to a son or daughter for thirty days.
Ethan sounded excited, tired, and happy all at the
same time. He asked if pizza always tasted so good
after weeks in the field. He told us of friends he had
made and wanted to stay one more day. Yes, he said,
it was awesome and hard and for 16 days straight they
had constant rain and cold, but still it was a great
experience. His rain pants and snow creek jacket were
the best things ever out there (I love mine too). He
had been cold and sometimes wet; he had seen beautiful
wide open country, caribou, and a grizzly bear. Reading
his evaluation later, I was happy and proud. It
started with "Ethan excelled in this course..."
Just a few days ago, looking at a picture of the
San Gabriel Mountains near Claremont, California,
where he is going to college this fall, he said, "You
know, I'm addicted to this stuff now." Everything I
had hoped for him to receive from his NOLS course,
he did. The same gifts I had received 32 years ago.