"By the end of my mountaineering course, we actually operated on our own. In the beginning, the instructor guided us. I realized that there were no instructors cooking, we set up the tarps, we went to bed on time. Something in me became resourceful and independent and I felt really strong. The Outward Bound course is the greatest experience I ever had - where I was able to find myself and appreciate where I am and what I can offer the world."
- Alfred Lin
This 14-day mountaineering and rock climbing course takes you into the highest, most beautiful and most demanding terrain the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range has to offer.
As mountaineering is one of the most rugged ways to travel, you’ll use technical skills and specialized gear to summit mountains and traverse some of the country’s most prized wilderness. This course will test limits and reward your crew with panoramic views from remote peaks.
As the course progresses and the group’s skill and experience increase, Instructors will turn more responsibility over to the crew. This is the group’s opportunity to make the course their own unique experience – determining each day’s challenges and working together as they complete the course.
NOTE: For the health and safety of students and staff in the COVID-19 pandemic, students may be required to travel to course start by private transportation. Please work directly with your Course Advisor for your course for the most up-to-date and regionally-focused travel options. All students and staff must provide a current negative COVID-19 viral test result before arrival to course and/or consent to having a COVID-19 test administered at course start. Outward Bound requires students and staff to follow COVID-19 protocols for 14 days prior to course start and while traveling including physical distancing, wearing a mask in public, and frequent and thorough handwashing.For complete “Health and Safety Practices for Outward Bound Expeditions,” click here.
This course starts within the next week. Please call us at 866-467-7651 to assess the possibility of applying for this course!
Classic Courses
Are you ready to take a journey that will change your life? You won’t look at day-to-day drama the same way after you’ve conquered a high mountain ridge, heard the echoes at the edge of a vast canyon, or slept under the stars watching bats swoop overhead. Joining an Outward Bound expedition changes you. Your crew, your Instructor, your route and your adventures will have a profound and lasting impact on you as you rise to meet exhilarating natural challenges in some of the country’s wildest places.
Build skills, form connections: Learn and practice wilderness, teamwork and leadership skills. Find connections with your crewmates based on support and respect (and fun too!), and in the thick of challenges, discover there is more in you than you know.
Value strengths and strengthen values: Uncover your unique character strengths, develop your leadership abilities and learn how to let compassion into everyday life by pushing your own limits and working alongside your peers.
Demonstrate mastery: As you gain confidence in new skills, take on more decision-making responsibilities. Work together to achieve team goals, solve problems and succeed both as individuals and as a group.
What you’ll learn: For High School students, the opportunities to carry more weight (literally and figuratively) and make impactful decisions with accompanying consequences fills the expedition as you go through numerous trials and triumphs. It’s all about independence.
After you come home, many of the character, leadership and service traits you uncovered on your expedition stay with you, helping you navigate your daily life with more resilience and success.
Photo courtesy
of Zak Klein
Rock Climbing
This course begins with 1-2 days of rock climbing. Participants will learn the basics of climbing technique, belaying and knots, while building trust with team members and confidence in themselves. This will provide participants the opportunity to learn movement on rock and comfort in exposed terrain, as well as rope systems that will be used on technical mountain travel later in the course.
Photo courtesy
of Rikki Dunn
Photo courtesy
of Rikki Dunn
Photo courtesy
of Rikki Dunn
Mountaineering
Mountaineering is distinct from backpacking in that the peak attempts climb steep, exposed routes and require the technical protection of ropes.The multi-day mountaineering expedition will take participants into the heart of the Sierra Nevada and cover skills like navigation, knots and hitches and travel on rock and snow, depending on seasonal weather patterns.
In addition to technical skills, Instructors will teach and facilitate the interpersonal skills needed for participants to function effectively as a team, accomplish goals, and tackle new challenges every day. Challenges on course are designed to encourage participants to take risks, draw upon inner resources and develop trust in one another, all of which they’ll call upon during peak attempts. With lighter packs, participants will start before the sun rises to summit a mountain. The reward is a 360 degree view and an unforgettable sense of accomplishment.
With the demanding aspect of a mountaineering course, participants will need to have backpacking experience or be very fit to join a mountaineering course.
Service
Service to others and to the environment are core values of Outward Bound and they are integrated into each course. Participants follow Leave No Trace ethics as part of their service to the environment. Students develop an ingrained appreciation of service, seeing the impact of their actions, firsthand, by multiple small acts of service with and for their crewmates while leading and supporting each other throughout the journey.
Photo courtesy
of Rikki Dunn
Solo
Outward Bound believes in order for profound learning to take place, there must be time to reflect on the experience. Within course, the solo is that opportunity. It is a chance to experience solitude in the wilderness without distraction while also taking a break from the physical rigors of course. Students are separated from their group for a period of time which depends on course length and Instructor assessment of group capability. Solo sites are chosen to provide solitude. Participants have all necessary equipment, food and water. Solos range in length from 12 hours to 72 hours.
Outcomes
Outward Bound courses vary in length from four (4) to 85 days. On shorter courses, participants will receive an introduction to leadership skills, strength of character and a desire to serve while activities fill most of the time and the pace is quick. With longer courses, the same outcomes and benefits are achieved with the opportunity to reach a more profound level of mastery as there are more chances to develop technical skills, receive and implement feedback and further personal development. However many days the expedition lasts, the strength and impact of the experience lasts a lifetime.
Mountaineering, rock climbing and wilderness navigation techniques are great practice for the essential skills and habits that help prepare for new challenges at school, work, home and in the community. Outward Bound expeditions encourage students:
to remain engaged and present, giving every challenge the best effort, even when the goal seems beyond reach.
to form a team and focus on the team effort.
to share responsibilities, communicate and lead. Leadership roles are shared within the group, and responsibilities rotate each day.
to find reserves of tenacity and compassion. Outward Bound courses are designed to expand and stretch your limits so that every expedition is a true accomplishment and a memorable journey.
Course Area
The Sierra Nevada range is California’s backyard and wonderland of wilderness, waterfalls, lakes and peaks. It’s an enormous range — spanning more than 400 miles from north to south, and 70 miles east to west. Courses take place in the southern and western parts of the Sierra: Ansel Adams Wilderness, Yosemite National Park and Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park.
Summer in the Sierra is mostly sunny with occasional rain and cold evenings. Snowfall is unlikely, though June courses may traverse atop lingering winter and spring snow. Summer temperature tends towards the 70s to 80s during the day, dipping into the 30s to 50s in the evening and night. These regions are the ancestral lands of the Northern Paiute, Western Mono/Monache, Me-Wuk (Central Sierra Miwok), Eastern Mono/Monache, and Tübatulabal nations.
SAMPLE ITINERARY
DAY 1
Course start: Meet and greet group and instructors, gear review and selection
DAY 2
Intro to climbing, belaying and rappelling
DAY 3-5
Training expedition (Intro lessons: backpacking, camp craft, navigation and rock climbing)
DAY 6
Backcountry re-supply and service
DAY 7-10
Main expedition (building on lessons, backpacking and peak attempt), solo
DAY 11-12
Final expedition (demonstrating skills, backpacking and peak attempt)
DAY 13
Personal challenge event, clean and de-issue gear, graduation
DAY 14
Course end and transportation to airport
Student Story
"By the end of my mountaineering course, we actually operated on our own. In the beginning, the instructor guided us. I realized that there were no instructors cooking, we set up the tarps, we went to bed on time. Something in me became resourceful and independent and I felt really strong. The Outward Bound course is the greatest experience I ever had - where I was able to find myself and appreciate where I am and what I can offer the world."
If you are ready to enroll on a course click the enroll button next to the course you wish to select or you can enroll over the phone by speaking with one of our Admissions Advisors (toll-free) at 866-467-7651.
To secure your spot on a course you must submit an enrollment form and $500 deposit that is applied toward the total cost of the course and includes a $150 non-refundable enrollment processing fee.