Burleigh Mountain

Mapping Idea

2009-03-10T15:42:00.002-04:00

I'm curious about using collaborative mapping techniques to make an accurate map of Burleigh Mountain. Check out this draft Google Map I made of the property. These aren't real boundaries or locations yet, but as a proof of concept it looks pretty good.

View Larger Map

Moving Forward (on showshoes)

2009-02-21T09:47:00.005-05:00

This past week we've seen some pretty interesting developments regarding the future of Burleigh! For starters we met with Tom, a forester out of Rumney who will be working with us to develop a forestry management plan for the mountain. The plan will take into account:

Recreation
Selective harvesting
Education
Wildlife habitat development
Preserving peace and quiet

I'm very pleased with his point of view about engaging our students and teachers and doing some of the boundary maintenance and timber surveying. Many thanks to Kirk for his great work finding Tom.

After that we had a great brainstorming snowshoe on Burleigh that Russ and Bekka were able to attend. We started thinking about both short term and long term ideas for using Burleigh. Here is a short list of the things we came up with:

Firewood based community service project
Field study for International Baccalaureat science courses to increase 'contact hours'
Afternoon co-curricular activity for students around sustainability
Mapping project for new course proposed for 09-10, "Projects in Sustainability"
More opportunities to get students and community members to the mountain
Paul's Eagle Scout project around the fire ring, wood shed and signage

We also had a great hike in which we explored the eastern side of the Burleigh property and found some sign of rabbit, deer, moose and a mysterious animal I'm calling the Leaping Tree Hare.

Here's what happened - Russ will often keep a running dialog with others as he hikes (and also possibly with himself) about the things he is observing in nature. His 'nature nuggets' range from tracks to trees and are always interesting and entertaining. As we were hiking along he pointed out some little branches near the ground that had been stripped of bark. "Rabbit browse," he proclaimed. As we were nodding we noticed that the same nibbled bark strips went up the tree three, four, ten, twenty feet up the tree! Russ was stumped, but I wasn't, it's clearly the rare and elusive Burleigh Mountain Leaping Tree Hare, and not the first unusual species to be spotted on the mountain.

As we were wrapping up our hike we started talking about some sort of project that would capture the imagination of both students and faculty. Something that would get folks fired up about Burleigh that could be done in a relatively short period of time. We decided to work on the old lift shack that is located about half way up the mountain.

Here's the vision - we need your help still to fill in the details: Tear this old shack down, pull out the Chevy engine and rebuild it on the same footprint (same approximate size) as a retreat, hermitage, shelter and destination. An oasis as it were, hidden away on a mountain top.

We figure we can do this in about two semesters with students from community service projects and faculty help. Check out the view the place would have - I had to bushwack over a few yards to get the picture to the left, but with a small amount of clearing we can get this view for the Oasis.

So there is a lot of energy right now, pretty exciting - stay tuned for more developments both short term and long term.

In addition to the folks who went out for a hike last week there has been kind of a growing group of folks who are interested and excited in contributing. For me this has been perhaps the most exciting part of this whole thing. Many thanks to CJ, Darren, Sandy, Paul, Bob and many others who are excited to do some great work.

Social Media Case Study?

2009-02-21T08:49:00.003-05:00

The story of the Banff Mountain Film Festival spoof video I made a while back continues with an awesome post from the BMFF over on their world tour blog. I started thinking about how this whole thing played out and I think there are a few things that I've learned here for both fans like me and organizations like the Banff Mountain Film Festival.

Mashups are easy to make. Organizations can't controll our own media any more and anyone with a relatively small amount of money and skill can take official media and mash it up. Witness my little spoof movie: as recently as a few years ago it would have been impossible or highly cumbersome to make. Now anybody with a Mac and an internet connection can do this.
There is no such thing as a little engagement. If organizations want to get into the social media game and post stuff on YouTube or be on Facebook we need to understand that we are inviting participation. We might not always like the outcome but we're agreeing with the participation when we engage.
Organizations have a choice. To crack try to crack down on media they didn't create, or to foster and channel it. In this case BMFF fostered it because the media was basically funny and harmless and spoke to the kind of people who go to the festival to begin with.
Make yourself findable. It's pretty easy to find me through my YouTube channel. I link from there to my blog and from the blog to my online portfolio which has contact information for me and I respond to comments. This allowed us to dialog and determine the intentions of the other relatively quickly.
Generosity pays. Every step of the way the BMFF has been incredibly generous. They have asked my permission to re-post the video (more than I did when I made it!), left comments, checked in and sent dozens of emails. I've responded by posting links to their work on the YouTube channel, blogging about it, FaceBooking about it and bringing a friend with me to the tour show.
ROI? What's that? I'm not sure how preoccupied anyone has been here with return on investment. I made the mashup for fun in my free time and never thought about what I would get back from it other than a funny video. BMFF has spent at least some time working on this, emailing me, checking in with the composer etc, that they could have been doing something else. I'm not sure what the net gain of this is for them in terms of fans, exposure and ticket sales, I guess they will have to answer that question. For me as a professional I've gained wider exposure to me and my work and that's priceless!

Many thanks to Shannon, Meagan, wanderingscout, charlamae and everyone else for this facinating experience.

Building the Future of Burleigh Mountain

2009-01-30T16:21:00.001-05:00

Greetings folks! We are starting an exciting new chapter in the future of Burleigh Mountain, New Hampton School's Wilderness Campus, and I wanted to invite you to be a part of it!

We are starting the process of developing a Forestry Management Plan for Burleigh that will include recreation, education, selective harvesting, conservation, habitat creation and local outreach. As you know Burleigh Mountain already is a place where students, faculty and staff of NHS do great work and we're looking forward to taking this facility and the work we do there to the next level.

To kick things off I'm inviting you to a brainstorming session and snowshoe hike on Tuesday February 17th at 1:30pm on Burleigh!

We'll meet on the mountain but let me know if you need a ride from the school or would like to carpool up to save gas and parking spots.
Dogs, friends, children, neighbors, relatives, significant others et al are all welcome
Bring snowshoes if you have them, sturdy boots if you don't, dress in layers and bring a water bottle (we'll have some snackies and get a fire going if we're chilly)

Leave a comment on this post if you can make it - we'd love to see you there!

This is so fricking cool

2009-01-16T19:43:00.005-05:00

There have been a couple of experiences and people in my life that have just been so profoundly cool that they have changed my world view forever.

The first time this happened was when I studied in Salzburg, Austria. There, at the foothills of the Alps, I climbed peaks I had previously only imagined. But more than that, by experiencing different cultures, points of view and traditions I came to have a very different perspective on myself and my own part of the world.

Later I would stumble more than stride into a career in adventure education. But this choice, or series of choices, would allow me entry into a comunity of passionate educators, skilled outdoors people and thoughtful stewards. Norbert at Outward Bound Germany was an early mentor as was Franz with OB in the US. There are amazing people in this field!

Lately I've been discovering that technology, once something I actively avoided, has contributed to the richness of my personal and professional life in tangible ways. This blog has built connections with educators in other countries, exploring wikis connected me to Noelle's work, ultimately leading to friendships with Wendy, Avinash, Atila, and many others around the world!

More recently this whole series of interactions with the Banff Film Festival people has been so fricking cool! How sweet is it that the creative toolbox is cheap enough that mere mortals like me can pick it up and play with it?! How cool is it that my work of homage can be shared with the people that I'm honoring and they can interact with it too?!

In many ways, I now realize, I've been focusing the last few years on passing it on. Maybe I can be a catalyst for my students? I'm not sure, but so far the ride has been pretty amazing, and I can't wait to see where it leads next.

Banff Bad Mountain Movies

2008-12-08T22:52:00.005-05:00

I really have enjoyed the Banff Mountain Film Festival. Not that I've been to Banff, but the traveling 'best of' show has come to New Hampshire and I've gone the last few years. Its an amazing collection of great mountain movies and I really recommend it.

A while back I started wondering what my favorite bad mountain movies were. These are mostly Hollywood productions that attempt to use rock climbing or mountaineering as a vehicle to spin some sort of a yarn. Usually the films fail to portray mountaineering well, and usually don't do a good job of telling the story either. And yet, I can't help but loving these movies!

In homage to these bad films and to the Banff Mountain Film Festival I put together this 'best of the worst.' I hope you enjoy.

Strangely enough the editor of the real Banff trailer found it and left some positive comments. That just totally and completely made my day.

Update 1/16: The person who edits the real Banff Trailer isn't a 'guy,' my apologies!
Update 1/30: I had a very nice email exchange with Shannon from the Banff Center who let me know that Jacques Blackstone, the composer of the theme music for the Banff trailer is okay with my unlicensed use of his music in my spoof trailer. How crazy is that? Run, don't walk, to his Web site and buy some of his music now!

Networking Opportunity

2008-11-06T08:55:00.001-05:00

Hi folks - are you interested in Experiential or Adventure Education and you are in the North East? Rick Baukel of the Olivarian School is organizing a gathering of educators and contacted me to help him spread the word.

The gathering is planned for November 11 at 6:30pm in the 'Boiler Room' of the Common Man Inn in Plymouth, NH.

The idea is to gather socially to see what kinds of collaboration might be interesting and helpful to this group of passionate and skilled educators working in one of the most beautiful parts of the east!

Want to start networking prior to next week? Comment in on this post to get the dialog started.

Hope to see you Tuesday.

Speaking of which!

2008-10-15T19:39:00.003-04:00

Funny - just one day after posting about emerging independent school adventure networks I got this email from Jess at Albuquerque Academy talking about the ISAN conference!

"55% of the 60 available slots for the 2009 Independent Schools Adventure Network Institute are already booked! Given the current economic situation, schools will need, more than ever, to define themselves and establish a meaningful competitive edge, which may be recognized through unique and value-added experiential curricula. There's never been a better or more important time to be involved with ISAN! To register please email Jess Barrie at barrie@aa.edu with your name, school, title, email, and phone number.

Previous information about the ISAN Institute can be found below and online at www.insaninfo.com

Please let me know if you have any questions and happy fall!

Jess Barrie
ISAN Steering Committee Member & Registration Coordinator"

So that's pretty cool - check it out and see what you think!

New England Adventure Networks

2008-10-14T20:19:00.003-04:00

New England is a beautiful area - we have mountains, rivers and the ocean. Combine that with the proliferation of educational institutions, summer camps and guiding outfits and you have a pretty sweet environment for folks who like to work with young people in the outdoors.

Why then aren't there more networks connecting us all together? I was asked this question recently by a colleague from the Oliverian School. I was inspired to write this post and share a few links of local or niche educator networks.

The Independent School Adventure Network is small but growing and dedicated specifically to independent schools.
The Association of Experiential Education has a north east region that is very active and hosts an annual conference. It's a good conference - I even presented at it!
There is an extremely active series of discussion forums on outdoor education.
Facebook has a huge number of related groups (must be on Facebook to view).

Still I think there is some opportunity for some kind of a network of New England professionals working in schools - I don't see a lot of movement in that area.

So stay tuned - I think we're going to arrange some kind of a social gathering to start the ball rolling on some kind of a network!

Mt. Bike Races and Nature Art

2008-09-24T14:16:00.002-04:00

The mountain has been busy so far this fall. We've had team building programs, start of school orientations and even nature art taking place on the mountain!

It's been a great start so far!

Pre-Timber Harvest Walk at Hersey Mountain Forest

2008-06-27T08:16:00.004-04:00

I got a letter yesterday from the New England Forestry Foundation letting us know about a 'pre-timer harvest' walk in Hersey Mountain Forest. Since Burleigh abuts the Hersey Mountain Forest I'm guessing we are on the mailing list.

A couple of folks have voiced some interest so I thought I'd provide more details here. Here's what the letter says:

Please join a New England Forestry Foundation forester for a tour of the Hersey Mountain Forest on Tuesday July 15 from 4-6pm. This is an opportunity for community residents and others who are interested to see how the New England Forestry Foudation cares for its forests. Participants will learn to identify a variety of tree species found on the forest and see how the removal of some trees promotes the growth of others and improves overall forest health. Hersey Mountain is unique in the New England Forestry Foundation owernership, because two thirds of it is set aside as a wilderness, and the other third is sustainably managed formultiple forest benefits including wood.

These timber harvests are part of the New England Forestry Foundation's sustainability plans, providing wildlife habitat, clean water, clean ari and recreational opportunities for community residents. If you would like to see a map of the Hersey Mountain Forest click here.

Directions: We will meet at the intersection of Blake Hill road and Brook Road. From New Hampton village take the Old Bristol Road toward Bristol. Follow it for approximately 2.4 miles to where it turns right at the intersection with Blake Hill Road. Continue straight ahead onto Blake Hill Road and follow it approximately .7 miles to the intersection with Brook Road.

For more information contact Si Balch (978) 952-6856 x106.

I'm thinking about going out on the hike - maybe I'll see you there!

Custom Designed Team Building

2008-06-20T13:55:00.004-04:00

Are you interested in a custom designed team building program? We can do a half day or full day program for your group custom designed for your goals starting as low as $20 per person.

Our programs, designed to build the effectiveness of your team or group, can include:

Low ropes activities like the Spider's Web and Walk of Life
Problem solving activities
High ropes course on our Alpine Tower challenge course

Check out the video above to see a program we designed for the Sant Bani School in Sanbornton, NH.

Call Hans Mundahl, Director of Experiential Learning (603) 677-3546 for more info.

Not Very Good With Goodbyes

2008-05-02T15:43:00.002-04:00

Well this is it, my last day as an intern at New Hampton School. I have had such a wonderful time working in this community. I have also greatly enjoyed working with Hans; I have learned a lot from him from Blogging, to Spreadsheets, to MacGyver-ing MSR Stoves, just to name a few.

However, this is not the end! In two weeks I will be joining the Sophomore's and their staff on the SophX! I can't wait... and if I still have a blog account I'll fire one off telling you all about it. This will also give me the opportunity to see how well I did at packing gear... hopefully it is Very Well.

Well, I must be on my way. Farewell.

P.S. I'm awful with goodbyes, if that wasn't already apparent.

2008-04-25T15:47:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone!

This has been an exciting week, Sophomore Ex is drawing closer and closer by the minute and everything is coming along nicely. There are just a few more items to put in the gear bins to be sent out and we're beginning to repair some gear, which is nice because I've been looking at the pile of gear that needs repair all semester in anticipation. A few tents need some small patch work done and two of the backpacks have chest clip issues, while another has a broken buckle. The broken buckle will be an easy fix, but the chest clips gave me some hard time. I was working on the thing for quite some time until one of the maintenance guys pulled out a heat gun and we made it happen. Those guys are good. We've also got some new color-coordinated signs for the gear room that feature the SophX logo. They just need to be attached now. I have almost finished the Paper Bag List of things to do that Hans gave me on Monday. To be honest, and a little nerdy, I can't wait to cross it all off.

From Ascending Pipes to Japanese Auto Grease

2008-04-18T15:56:00.003-04:00

Wow, it feels like forever since I last blogged... there is so much to tell. The past two weeks witnessed the creation of the new sleeping bag storage system, an awesome AEE Conference in Peterborough, the first stage of packing group gear for the Sophomore Expedition, and Greasing the Alpine Tower's APDs on Burleigh Mountain!

I used a hacksaw to cut through steel for the first time as I was making the new sleeping bag storage system. It is really cool; we used five pulleys to attach a steel pipe to the ceiling allowing it to vertically raise and lower so that we can hang the sleeping bags and then pull them up and out of the way. Below are pictures of the attachment points so that you can get the gist of the system, but we have since shortened the pipe, brought the attachment points closer together, and opted to use the other side of the room for the anchor.

My first AEE Conference was a blast! Everyone was so friendly and interested in the field; the Sargent Center was saturated with knowledge. I also was able to meet up with friends who graduated last year. Overall great experience, I can't wait for the next one!

As for the packing, it is very exciting to walk into the gear room and see the bins prepared and almost ready to go. Their presence is a sign that the expedition is almost here.

I felt very thankful for sunny days today as I got to go up to Burleigh Mountain and work outside. Now I had never greased APDs before, and for that matter had yet to have seen the type of APD on the Alpine Tower, but I was more than willing to get knee-deep in what I think was Japanese Auto Grease if it meant soaking up some sun!

AEE Conference (More from Day 1)

2008-04-17T08:55:00.003-04:00

As I jump back into the day to day craziness / excitement of work at NHS I'm still trying to keep hold of the learning from the conference just this past weekend.

We're ramping up big time for our Sophomore Cooperative Learning Expedition as well as community service days on Burleigh.

But today I wanted to write about an interesting program that Ryan McMahon is doing over at the Newfound Regional High School. He is building kayaks with a group of 9th and 10th grade students. They have set up blogs for their progress and after the kayaks are complete they will be taking them out on a three day trip on Newfound Lake.

Ryan came to my workshop and it was great to see how another educator just around the corner was doing experiential education and sharing the results online. You can follow along with his work at the 9th grade blog and the 10th grade blog. I'm learning quite a bit from the blog like what a sheer clamp and butt block is.

AEE Conference Report (Day 1)

2008-04-13T20:43:00.004-04:00

I'm back from the conference and I thought I would share a few thoughts and reports. Overall I learned a ton and re-connected with some former colleagues. Good fun. Here were the workshops I attended:

3 Props, 30 Activities (Chris Ortiz of High 5 Adventures)
I figured I had to go to at least one fun and games workshop! This one was interesting in that it focused only on activities you could do with tape, fleece balls and plastic circles. I'm going to try and scan the handout of all the games and share it with you here. Good fun.
For more information: Check out High Five's website including their books section.

Introduction to AEE's Accreditation Program (Jed Williamson of the AEE)
I was really excited for this workshop since we're strongly considering starting the accreditation process in 2009. Jed is the editor of the Accidents in North American Mountaineering and helped write the accreditation standards. He was an amazing resource and I came away from the workshop hopeful that we're on the right track with our accreditation bid. Furthermore I was convinced that the process is a mature one that has real tangible benefits for us. Now I just need to pick up the standards manual!
For more information: The main AEE website, info on accreditation, or buy the accreditation standards manual.

Practitioner Certification - A Progress Update from ACCT (Jim Grout of ACCT)
The practitioner certification program newly created by the Association for Challenge Course Technology is in the beginning stages. Responding to the recent legislation in Massachusetts and to industry trends the ACCT has developed a two level certification process for folks who work on ropes courses and a third level for course managers. This process seems much less mature than the accreditation process I mentioned above and is still in the development stages. Jim made a great point that training, review and outside input have always been good ideas, now all this is simply made more formalized. I also like that it is possible for experienced folks to 'challenge in' at any level. I'm not so sure about the lengthy portfolio requirement.
For more info: Check out the ACCT website, or buy their practitioner and builder standards.

Blog it - How free web tools changed our programs (by me!)
I had good turn out at my workshop which was exciting and a good dialog. Feedback was positive. Yay!

For more info: See the workshop wiki.

AEE Conference

2008-04-11T20:57:00.004-04:00

I'm excited to be heading to Sargent Center tomorrow for the AEE Regional Conference. I was pretty excited back when my conference proposal was accepted and I'd kind of been putting off thinking about it until after our Board of Trustee meeting. Well that's over and here comes the conference!

I'll be blogging the conference while I'm there as much as I'm able and I'll take the usual pictures etc.

I'm quite excited to see former colleagues both from Thompson Island as well as from the New Hampton School. I've made a wiki for the workshop where you can see my keynote as well as download the hand outs and all that good stuff.

More soon from Peterborough!

Inspirational Writing and Big-Daddy Pulleys

2008-04-06T23:14:00.002-04:00

What a week! With the AEE Conference right around the corner I have been frantically trying to put the finishing touches on my paper about Kurt Hahn and his Six Declines of Values in Youth and it has turned out to be more stressful than I had anticipated. However, luckily for me, some of Kurt Hahn's writings are available online and they can be very inspirational. My personal favorite is "The Love of Enterprise, The Love of Aloneness, The Love of Skill" which he presented to the Liverpool Cathedral the day after it was bombed by Nazi Germany. This is such an overawing piece of work when you combine its eloquence with the context that he delivered it in. Here was a German educator presenting his philosophy of education to an audience who A) thought his philosophy was heathen (because of its Platonic influence) and B) who was just bombed by Germany the night before. Nonetheless he still delivers his work with such passion and enthusiasm... it is incredible how much this man believed in his cause. Seriously, check it out.

Update 4/11: Click here to download and read Matt's paper! (HM)

Now that I am done ranting, I can fill you in on the goings-on in the gear room for the past week. We've had some things come in here and there including a couple of sleeping bags which is pretty awesome... the more the merrier. And speaking of sleeping bags, we've begun work on the sleeping bag hang system which should protect them a bit more and allow NHS to use them for a bit longer. Its pretty diesel with some big-daddy pulleys and such. I'll have more for you when we finish it, including some pictures if my camera phone is up for the task.

Things are gearing up

2008-04-02T19:53:00.002-04:00

We've had our first community service day on Burleigh in which a new stove was partially installed in the lower yurt and 10 community children came out for the Adventure Clinic!

We also have been preparing both staff and students for the Sophomore Expedition. That program has it's own blog where you can see pictures and posts from the weekend backpacking staff training. Not only did we do some great snowshoeing but we also built a cool dining room.

2008-03-30T21:52:00.002-04:00

Hello out there! I am stoked that I found my username and password finally, I have been looking for it all weekend. While I was looking for that Hans and Ilana were taking the SophX staff out into the wilderness of Burleigh Mtn for training. I am very excited to hear how it went; I hope they had a good time. I felt a great responsibility packing their only gear for two days and I am anticipating getting their feedback. And believe it or not, I am even kind of exicted to put it away so that I can get a sense of what and how things were used.

Meanwhile, in the Gear Room, we've been cleaning up a little bit because we know the traffic is about to increase. It was loads of fun investigating the history of the Gear Room and the Adventure Ed program at NHS, and I was fortunate enough to see a couple of student projects from a few years ago that were really good. Besides that, I have been racking my brain trying to design some way to hang up the sleeping bags. That is going to be a really fun project. If anyone knows anything about pulleys (where to get them, or how to attach them to the ceiling) please let me know

Ecology Blogging

2008-03-27T20:29:00.003-04:00

My friend and colleague Russ has started an ecology blog that was recently featured in the Spring Hamptonia. Check it out!

He's just getting started but he's got some nice links and pictures up already. I look forward to seeing the content he produces in the future.

2008-03-07T15:13:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone. I have good news... all of the Halo 4 Tents have been checked! There are only a few minor repairs necessary and they'll be ready to go on the Sophomore Expedition. I was really impressed with the tent's design while I was checking them. For example, you know those times you zip-up your zipper too quickly and you snag a bit of fabric and then the zipper is stuck there for three days? When that happens to the zipper on the Halo 4, the fabric easily comes out. Also there are some pretty cool vents on the side of the tent that can either be closed via Velcro or opened using a small plastic rod that has Velcro on the end of it. Check it out:

The tent itself is pretty cool too. Its big and roomy and can be broken down into multiple parts so many people can help carry it, instead of just one person. Below is a picture of the tent with its rain fly, and below that is a picture of the tent without its rainfly (notice the golden pole going around the top of it? That's the "Halo" and it keeps the rainfly away from the netting.

Obviously, I am excited about recently learning how to put pictures from my phone on the computer. But whats even more exciting is that, since last week, the Patriots signed Randy Moss and Jabar Gaffney to deals; I told you I would keep you updated.

We're thinking of you!

2008-03-05T08:41:00.003-05:00

The Holderness School, one of our neighbor institutions up the road from us also has an outdoor program that they call Outback. Chris, our Dean of Students used to run the program up there and he and I were chatting last night about the differences and similarities between the programs. As we ramp up for major preparations on our Sophomore Expedition it's great to know other schools and other students are finding the same kinds of challenges, insights and adventure!

They are out today on day three of the trip and are having some pretty tough weather this morning. Good luck folks - we're thinking about you!

Bruschi's Back!

2008-02-29T15:39:00.004-05:00

For those of you who don't know, I am a diehard New England Patriots fan and we can begin to move on from last season's disappointing finale with the free agency period beginning today. We immediately re-signed my favorite player Tedy Bruschi for a thirteenth season, so I started today off in a good mood. Which was beneficial because I spent the whole day trying to figure out the Marmot Halo 4's and, moreover, trying to find a place to set them up. They are very roomy tents so the Sophomores will have plenty of space to stretch out and sleep after a long day of hiking on the expedition. I wasn't able to finish checking out all of them today but, with any luck, they will join the camp stoves and the backpacks and be all set to go sometime next week. I may just end up firing through all of the tents in no time if the Patriots re-sign Randy Moss sometime soon!