November 27, 2010

Each semester there are five student expedition leaders (SEL's) for the final expedition, picked by the faculty based on their performance on previous expeditions and their leadership abilities.  This year's SELs were Mary-Anne, Jamie, Talia, Pete, and CJ.  As SELs, we had a lot of responsibilities before, during, and after the expedition.  First, we split up our peers into the five expedition groups.  We also had to prepare and run prep day.  This included packing personal gear, group gear, and conducting review classes.  During the trip we determined the daily schedule, like when we woke up, when we started hiking, when we had classes, when we cooked, and when we had circle.  We also got to run circle.  After the trip we took part in the debrief with the rest of the instructor team, which basically meant telling Christopher (our debriefer for this expedition) about the trip and ways to improve it.  Overall being a SEL was a lot of work and responsibility but it was also a lot of fun and it was a great honor to be chosen. 

In addition to having SELs, we added another new acronym to the third expedition: Independent Student Travel (IST). We traveled as we would on a normal hiking day, in separate hiking groups of four or five, except without instructors there. In the morning, before the hiking day, we would write up Route and Description (RAD) plans. These plans described the macro and micro-route for the day. We were free to move at our own pace and choose our route without the input of an instructor. Another feature unique to the third expedition was Independent Student Camping (ISC), where we students camped without the instructors for the night and met up the next morning. Both IST and ISC were great opportunities for us to improve our navigational and leadership skills, while spending quality time with our peers.

Canyon travel was an entirely unique experience. It tested all of our backcountry skills when we were immersed in such a vastly different landscape, especially our navigational skills with different features to identify, different routes to take, and only upwards to look on both sides. Following the center of a canyon can seem like a reliable route, but far too often, we found ourselves at the base of a massive cliff, or pour-off. Unable to climb up the sheer face, we were turned around time after time, but soon realized how to identify those massive obstacles on a map. Finding these pour-offs presented an interesting challenge, however. Having to find a route up and around the cliffs often brought us to some spectacular sights. On the narrow routes on either side of the canyon, we spotted a bighorn-sheep going about its daily routine. We were on its turf, the uneven canyon walls. Canyon travel was quite different, and helped us gain a different repertoire of navigational skills, as well as the willpower to continue in spite of the difficulties.

After our amazing final expedition, we all immediately loaded into the bus and headed back home for Thanksgiving break. 

Today, we returned and reunited as Rocky Mountain Semester XXV.  We got back to HMI in shifts and general chaos ensued. The first group back made cookies, went cross country skiing and swarmed the mobs of arriving RMS XXV students. There was an overflow of students in the kitchen, dancing and making "bread animals" which culminated in a dragon! We had "silliness in Stuen" for our Saturday night activity and enjoyed laying around in each other's company. HMI was covered in snow when we arrived, waiting for us all to liven up the quiet hallways--which we most certainly did, laughing and hugging and goofing off in general. It was as if we'd never left, yet we were all overjoyed to once again be at our home high in the mountains with its forty-two inhabitants.

It's good to be back in our home away from home.

By: CJ Richardson, Alex Potter, Nathan Schmidt, & Lauren Cooper