Winter Outdoor Education - fun in the snow, rain and ice!

Explorer West Middle School recently completed their multi-week day trips for the Winter Outdoor Education Program. All students attend each trip that departs the school early on Friday mornings and heads to Snoqualmie Pass and returns later that day. The itinerary and destination depend on the grade level and the individual groups.

This year the itinerary called for lots of snowshoeing and cross country skiing for everyone. But additionally, each group had its own agenda that involved learning more about the winter outdoor environment, especially how fun yet challenging and sometimes dangerous the alpine environment of our northwest forests can be. Instructional topics included snow shelter building, safe route selection, avalanche safety awareness, and the importance of a good waterproof jacket. Most importantly, the emphasis for all was learning how to recreate in a safe and responsible way so that a sense of independence and confidence can be instilled for years of safe playing in the outdoors for years to come.

The first two weeks of trips involved getting accustomed to the winter environment and their equipment, either snowshoes or cross country skis. For both weeks Mother Nature had decided to throw at us the most iconic of northwest winter weather patterns: overcast, 34 degrees and heavy rain. Despite the sogginess the student’s attitudes remained crisp and eager. After a long day in the rain, some groups were rewarded with a lesson in glissading, a mountaineer trick for a controlled body slide down a snowy slope. This brought some clear squeals of satisfaction.

The third week brought even more rain, unseasonably warm conditions, and a deterioration of the snow pack, leading to an outright canceling of the curriculum as it was planned. But when presented with challenges such as these, the creative juices of the EW faculty came up with a different plan: incorporate their recent musical challenges with their Winter Concert into a half day of touring the Experience Music Project/ Science Fiction Museum in downtown Seattle followed by an afternoon of indoor ice skating in the Lynnwood neighborhood. While not exactly providing them the rigorous challenges of the alpine outdoors, it still provided a fun, experiential day of both intellectual and physical stimulation. Both alternative activities received a resounding round of approval from both students and teachers and will likely remain a “backup” plan for future winter trips as necessary.