What does it mean to be a professional Adventure Educator?
Reflection by Lisa Busch
John Graham defines leadership as “the capacity to move others towards goals shared with you, with a focus and competency they would not achieve on their own.â€Â There are so many qualities that a good and capable leader must have. In fact, there are too many to name and the best way to find them all is to observe a quality leader at work. Our class has just done that for the past week. We witnessed smart choices, little sacrifices, and mini-outdoor lessons. Most importantly, we found that a professional adventure educator can still have a good, safe, time.
What I found is that a leader doesn’t have to be obvious. There were plenty of times during our recent wilderness excursion where it was us, the students, who were leading the pack, cooking the food, setting up the shelter, and hanging the bear bag. But, our leaders were always there if we needed help, even if they were just in the background. It is important to remember that while a leader needs to take control, they also need to take a step back and see the future leaders that they are creating.Â
Graham talks about how many people who enjoy the outdoors focus on the technical skills, rather than the leadership skills. I have observed that our leaders, Jamie and Christian, taught us how to hang a bear bag, how to light a stove, and even how to poop in the woods. They took care of the technical stuff. However, they also had us focus our attention on their internal thought process. Christian and Jamie would think out loud when planning a route for the day or they would show us how to present options to the group. During the last two days of the trip, they left some of the decision-making up to us. As a strong adventure educator, it is important to instill soft skills in your clients such as confidence, courage, and control, so that you can encourage leadership skills within them.
People make sacrifices daily, large and small. Professional wilderness leaders do as well when they are out in the field. I witnessed a great example of this early on at the beginning of our trip. Our leaders had planned on starting at one end of the loop we were going to be hiking that would put us on the ridge on Thursday. After doing some weather planning before the trip, they found that Thursday was supposed to be rainy and stormy, very un-ideal conditions for ridge climbing. So, they had the group start at the other end of the loop instead. As an adventure educator, it is important to be flexible and have multiple plans besides plan A. The chances that plan A is going to be the final plan executed anyway are very slim. It is very rare that a wilderness adventure is going to go smoothly. Our leaders encountered many problems, that even with all of their planning, they hadn’t expected. The ridge climbing took longer than we thought, it rained for two nights, and a planned campsite didn’t turn out to so nice. Christian and Jamie took all of these changes in stride and even while on the trail, they were able to come up with solutions that kept everyone in high spirits.
I have just spent about a page and a half reflecting on what I’ve observed about leadership while in the field. But, what exactly makes me want to be a leader when I can simply go on a bunch of personal trips of my own with people that I know I will have a good time with? Why have I chosen to become a professional adventure educator where I will get to take out multiple wilderness expeditions full of inexperienced strangers? I’ve taken some personal trips, such as day hikes, camping trips, whitewater river trips, etc. If you asked me what I gained from them, I would tell you that they were fun and I had a good time. Now ask me about my nine-day wilderness expedition that I took with 12 strangers in the Catskill Mountains where although I was technically a “client,†I got to be leader, cook, clean-up crew, and motivator. I gained multiple leadership skills and technical skills. It was one of the best experiences of my life.
I decided on a whim to go camping with friends for a night last year so we drove down to the Kangamangus, found a campsite, got some food from the local grocery store (we ended up not getting enough), went bush-whacking to find some firewood (We didn’t have the proper equipment. I was wearing Crocs.), and did some rock-hopping and river-crossing (probably not the safest of choices). Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time. But would I have done the same trip if I’d had ten clients with me? I shouldn’t even have to answer that.
Our leaders had to start planning for our four-day excursion in August (permit applications). They had to make sure that each cook group would have enough food. Every member needed to have proper equipment and if they didn’t, they needed some time to acquire it. Christian and Jamie had to be prepared for any possible situation that could have happened. Mind you, we are not your typical clients but they still had to be prepared for the worst. On our own, we tend to be a little more reckless, especially as budding adventure educators. We think we have the skills to survive anything (we don’t) and when we go out with our friends into the wilderness, we want to show off, usually unsafely. Jamie and Christian could have done that on this past trip, knowing that most of us have the skills to have a little bit of reckless fun in the woods. However, the trip was as professional as they come and to top it off, I learned a whole lot more about my own leadership and technical skills. Oh, and I almost forgot, I still had a great time.
It takes a lot of work to be a professional adventure educator. I’ve learned and observed that on this past wilderness expedition. But I’m willing to hone in on the leadership skills I already have and to work on the ones I don’t so that I can lead a trip as well and as safely as Jamie and Christian led us this past week.
Work Cited
Graham, J., Outdoor Leadership. Seattle, WA: The Mountaineers, 1997.
