Memoirs Of A Mountain High :: essays research papers

It was the summer of 94when I took a Wilderness Leadership Semester from the carbon monoxide Outward Bound School . Needless to say that itwas the most emotional, ch all(prenominal)enging, and rewardingexperience that I have had in all of my 19 ears of existence.One hebdomad spent running the Upper Green River inwesternColorado and northern Utah. Through The Gatesof the Ladour C bothon and Dinosaur National Monument,we floated to end where the Green meets the ColoradoRiver just beyond Echo Canyon. The high desert canyonsechoed with rapids ovarious classes Hells Half Mile andDisaster Falls were the most memorable. Upon completionwe headed to climbing camp in Wyoming at a stead calledVedauwoo (va-da-vu).Two weeks of vigorous climbingthese granite towers left many scars both physically andemotionally for this rock was indeed as sharp as knives.Somehow no issuing hard climbed even if successful, thisrock always seemed to have the last say. By this time amonth had passed and I was very grateful to have that aneshower on the way to the Gore Range in Colorado. Thissection of the course was by far the most demanding, themountaineering section. Stepping off the bus in Frisco,Colorado we looked back knowing that we were not tosee civilization for at least a month. There were 8 men andwomen in my group from all over the country. Each onehad a unique personality not knowing that we would allbecome closer to each other than family, possibly organismdependent during life threatening situations which weexperienced on many occasions. This in itself could beanother long story. By the end of this section we wererequired to do what they call a solo. In addition to rest upfor the 15 mile marathon and finals, (a week of travel) thiswas in any case used for reflecting on our experiences. The solowas for third days. During these three days we were all tobe separated about a quarter to half mile apart, alone. Allof our flashlights, candles, and watches were taken awayalong with any books which were left at base camp. All wewere allowed to take was our clothes, a tarp(not a tent)which wasnt but 5ft by 2ft, a water bottle, a pencil, paper,and our iodine to purify the water.I also want to note thatwe had the choice to fast or take a survival pack whichconsisted of a few crackers and raisins. I wanted the spaciousexperience so I chose to fast. This was a trip in itself, nofood for three days. My spot on this solo was at around