First Aid, Survival and Adventure Climbing

As has become pretty much a tradition, we celebrate the month of March (and the soon-to-follow, end of winter) with our Wilderness First Aid Weekend... and this year, for the first time in a good while, we had no snow on the ground! Co-sponsored with our friends, The Trail House, and taught by the fantastic instructors from SOLO in Conway, NH, the class always exceeds everyone's expectations... in fact it blows them away!

Here, instructor Ken, on the left, is demonstrating an improvised splint on our friend, a summer fun instructor from Adventure Links. (Despite the similar name... They are totally unrelated to Teamlink / Shenandoah Mountain Guides. They are an urban youth recreation provider serving a large youth market in Northern VA and DC. We are happy to be able to provide them with professional training for their staff.)

We have also been really excited about helping develop some of the "survival skills" for some of the middle school students in the area schools.. both practically, and metaphorically. Learning to prioritize your needs while constantly maintaining a keen sense of situational awareness is a life lesson for all.

Building a fire, as a team, without matches and with wet materials... it requires, planning, preparation, good communication skills, leadership, followership, sacrifice, patience, self confidence and tenacity. Not bad traits for anyone to have.

Starting our Spring climbing season in the middle of late Winter has been a real treat, especially with our newly launched adventure climbing program... The opportunity to climb on BIG rocks far off the beaten track is like nothing you've ever experienced! Incredibly AWESOME.

There is NOTHING like 200 ft of air between your feet and the ground to make you feel really alive!