Description: Outward Bound West programs emphasize personal growth through experience and challenge in the wilderness, boardrooms and classrooms in the United States. Students develop self-reliance, responsibility, teamwork, confidence, compassion, environmental and community stewardship in all of the Outward Bound program models and course settings. Today, celebrating over 40 years of experiential education and greater than 200,000 alumni, Outward Bound West is the nation’s leading adventure education organization. As the leading adventure-based education program in the world, Outward Bound has a wide variety of activities around which courses revolve. Courses include one or more of these adventure activities: backpacking, mountaineering, rock climbing, rafting, sea kayaking, canoeing, river kayaking, desert backpacking, snowboarding and canyoneering. Wilderness, an American Value In the wilderness, there is freedom. From the early pioneers, to artists and writers such as Bierdstadt, Thoreau, and Muir, to the progressive thinkers of the modern environmental movement, wilderness has shaped American thoughts and values. It is in the wilderness that you begin to understand who you really are. We take you to wild places, to quiet that urban noise in our heads, to feel humbled by the stunning remoteness, to quell the distractions of contemporary life, to draw inspiration from breathtaking natural beauty, and to fulfill the innate obligation we have to know who we truly are. Wilderness Courses Outward Bound's wilderness courses will challenge you, but not beyond your means. We begin most courses assuming you have no previous wilderness experience. But from there, we move through a series of progressively difficult challenges at an appropriate pace for everyone in the group. Gradually, instructors step back to allow your awakening insights and knowledge to blossom like stars in the night sky. You try, you learn, you grow. Lead a mountain-peak ascent, captain a boat through zigzagging rapids, and navigate over rough terrain. As you stand chin to chin with every challenge you face, you begin to see them not as fearsome tasks, but as ripe opportunities to embrace the success and wisdom of your decisions, and understand the education in your mistakes. Success! Completing an Outward Bound course rests on your ability to work effectively as a team member and as an individual. You will learn to communicate, to lead, and to be self-reliant within specialized group activities. And you partake in solo. Solo, as its name implies, is time alone. It’s a chance to feel your intimate place in nature, to reflect on the teachings before you, and to face, understand and embrace the newfound respect for what may have been your life’s biggest obstacle all along - you. At course end, you will return home a little tired, but having gained the knowledge that you are capable of more than you ever thought possible, an experience you will not soon forget, and a new perspective on your life. |
