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I should use this opportunity to let others know that ‘outside’ people can attend this course. The next COLT session will be next fall beginning at the very end of October. You can go to their web site- www.wildernessalert.ca to find the costs, dates and information on signing up. Working up at the Lodge, with COLT students and with Margaret is a great way to get First Aid training!

We have 7 students signed up- one from France, one from Puerto Rico and the rest from across Canada. It looks like a young group but highly motivated and full of energy! Freya (Heather’s daughter) from the Lodge is also a student. Can’t wait to show a new group of students around the Lodge and get started with I hope to be an excellent season of adventure and learning.

If you’re interested in finding out more or would like to sign up please contact:

Jim Miller
(250) 286-3122,
info@colt.bc.ca

While I am loath to admit that I may be getting on in years, I do have a certain, ummm, well, ‘historical perspective’ when it comes to outdoor education and the many trends that have come and gone. No, I am not going to comment on the era when nude hiking was in vogue here on Facebook, but I have noticed a change in priorities when talking with potential COLT students. When answering the many questions that someone has before deciding if COLT is the right program for them in earlier years, often the first questions were in the realm of “What kind of activities do you do at COLT?” or “What kind of climbing/paddling/hiking do you do and where do you go?” or even simply “Is it fun to take COLT?”

Now days, what most people ask first is along the lines- “What certifications am I going to get out of COLT and what are the job prospects afterwards” All students seek value in their educational efforts, but the values have changed somewhat. It seems that the value that is first on their minds is what kind of tangible gain they will get and what the job prospects are after COLT. This is backed up by our new web site. We are able to track the ‘hits’ and even the order of pages looked at by the hits. A majority of people that look at our web site, after looking at the home page, then go to the ‘certifications’ page next, then go to the page that describes what we do. In today’s competitive world, it seems even outdoor education has to prove its value through tangible and real worth by providing certifiable and easily described outcomes. While many instructors feel that the real value of COLT is not so much career development, but rather personal growth through the many aspects of COLT that require team work, discipline, sacrifice and experiential learning- more people than not are looking for value that can be used for practical gain.

The fact that people come out better people after taking COLT, that what they learn by working as a team- always working as a team, that facing their fears when in moving water/steep snow/ loose rock/ a tidal rapid, that discipline developed by having to give 100% day after day after day is worth more than any piece of paper.

No problem with this- with the high cost of living now days, we all have to watch our bottom line. But my challenge is how to get across the real value of COLT- the real difference maker that COLT is all about. The fact that people come out better people after taking COLT, that what they learn by working as a team- always working as a team, that facing their fears when in moving water/steep snow/ loose rock/ a tidal rapid, that discipline developed by having to give 100% day after day after day is worth more than any piece of paper. Certifying that someone is qualified to work someplace is a far lesser value in my opinion compared to the real values of the COLT experience!

I find this quite hard to describe in just a few words, and thus, to a certain extent have given up. So when I have a potential student inquire about COLT and they ask “What will I get out of COLT when I am done?”- I direct them to the page on our site that lists the certifications that they will get. I guess this is the best way to sell them on COLT in this day and age of sound bites, Facebook comments and twitter tweets!

Jim Miller

Laurel Archer was born in the suburban wilds of Regina, Saskatchewan, a mythical place, with mythical beasts, and very little water.  Her first canoeing expeditions took in the wind and waves of Crooked Lake in the Qu’Appelle Valley at the tender age of seven.  The mighty Wascana kept her paddling during high school, but it was during her university years that she finally committed to the path of adventure, heading north to the big water of the Churchill River.

Since then, she has paddled waterways from the Arctic to Honduras, Costa Rica, Belize, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Myanmar, Chile, Argentina, and Hawaii.  She has paddled every kind of watercraft known to woman, including marathon racing shells, 400 lb. outrigger hulls, whitewater canoes and kayaks of all shapes and sizes, sea kayaks, dugout canoes and bamboo rafts. In June 2007 she was inducted into the International Explorers Club , the 162nd member of the Canadian Chapter, for her work in documenting and conserving historic and little known rivers in northern Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Laurel currently lives in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. She writes as much as possible when not teaching for the Canadian Outdoor Leadership Training (COLT) program at Strathcona Park Lodge, guiding for various outdoor adventure companies, including Batstar, and canoe racing competively.

Always reading, even as a child and while paddling, Laurel wrote her first book at the age of 34, her 267 page Masters thesis.  Lately she’s been writing everything from poems to plays, and has a special talent for writing about her adventures (and misadventures) in the wilds.