NOLS - Wind River Wilderness

  United States

• Other Cities in United States: 
Wyoming

Term: Summer 
Dates: Courses start in May, June and July

Description: This is the original NOLS course, and today it is still the most popular expedition we offer. For 30 days, you'll explore the Wind River Mountains--a wilderness range renowned for its crystal clear lakes and rugged mountain beauty.

You'll be amazed at the sense of accomplishment you'll feel at the end of a challenging hiking day. After carrying a pack efficiently loaded with everything you need to the top of your first 11,000-foot pass, you'll descend into a glacial valley and help lead your hiking group to camp. You and your peers will take turns baking pizzas over a camp stove and catching cutthroat trout for dinner. At night you'll sleep under a sky afire with stars. In addition to hiking as many as 120 miles on and off-trail, you'll rock climb, fly fish, learn how to use a GPS and summit towering granite mountains. The leadership skills you master here will serve you well in the wilderness and beyond. An optional version of this course has an added emphasis on fly fishing for students who want to focus on the art of catching a fish on a fly.

Highlights: Located in west central Wyoming, the Wind River Range is one of the most spectacular wilderness classrooms in the world. NOLS students have been traveling into this remote mountain range for more than 35 years to learn leadership, mountaineering, horsepacking, and rock climbing skills. It is a land filled with high granite peaks, mountain lakes ideal for fly fishing, and sub-alpine forests. The abundant high-altitude granite and permanent snow here make it a perfect setting for learning the basics of rock climbing and mountaineering. Gannett Peak, at over 13,800 feet, is the highest peak in the middle and northern Rocky Mountains and lies in this range. No matter what course in the Wind River Range you chose, you'll travel and learn in the region's abundant diversity, sharing the land with moose, deer, elk, bighorn sheep, fox, and an occasional black bear.

College Credit:
(Optional)         

6 Semester Credit Hours
2 Hours Environmental Ethics
2 Hours Leadership Techniques
2 Hours Skills Practicum

Degree Level: Bachelors Degree (Undergraduate)

Cost in US$: USD 3,005 - USD 3,920

Experience Required: no

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants.

Participants Travel to United States Independently

Scholarships are Available. Each year NOLS offers over USD 800,000 dollars in scholarship assistance. Scholarship aid is available to applicants who show great potential to excel as NOLS students and who would be unable to attend without financial aid. These scholarship dollars are made available through the generosity of alumni and friends to the NOLS Fund. Our graduates realize the great impact a NOLS education has and volunteer both time and money to further the school's mission.

Application Process Involves:

• Phone Interview
• Physical Exam/Health Records
• Written Application

Post-Program Services Include:

• Alumni Network
• Exit Debriefing Abroad
• Job and Internship Network

NOLS The National Outdoor Leadership School's Mission Statement: The mission of the National Outdoor Leadership School is to be the leading source and teacher of wilderness skills and leadership that serve people and the environment.

Year Founded: 1965