Living the Dream

Safe and successful experiential education program delivery, especially of backcountry courses, relies heavily upon structure, preparation, training, and well-developed objectives. This sounds simple enough, but it's not. Often the wrong people, wrong training, wrong or conflicting intention, or improper communication- from the top down- creates confusion that can compromise, even sabotage, program safety and success.

There are any number of resources and tools and time-honored methodologies that inform and shape the general industry. The problem is that there may be too many and many are conflicting - and there are too many self-proclaimed experts on various aspects of the industry. So how does a program administrator parse through it all to determine proper program design? And how do field staff decide which of the many course delivery tools are most appropriate for their individual competencies and the program delivery philosophy of the company for which they work? Further, how are those tools and methodologies translated to the field in real-time with real students?

The general purpose of this book is to explore these issues from the program administrator perspective as well as from that of front-line field staff. This is a resource to help inform course and/or expedition design and objectives as well as staff development and course delivery expectations for everything from open-enrollment day courses to special population wilderness expeditions.