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Guest Blog — My NOLS Course

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By Louie Dawson

On the 17th of June I arrived in Lander, Wyoming with my parents. That evening I met my instructors and the other students. We spent that night in the Noble, an old hotel that NOLS owns and operates as lodging for students before and after courses. We spent most of the next day getting all of our gear situated. After we got all of our gear and food, we took a bus to the trailhead at Union Pass, on the northern tip of the Winds, and camped there that night… Read the rest of the article here..

NOLS course, Gannett Peak, Wyoming.
Me and some of my course mates on top of Gannett Peak, I’m second from right in the back, in the white helmet.

Posted by Lou on November 6, 2007 | Filed Under Trip Reports 

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Comments

5 Responses to “Guest Blog — My NOLS Course”

  1. Kydan November 6th, 2007 12:37 pm

    Louie,

    Great article! I am the same age as you and this is exactly what I need! I would love to truly get into mountaineering, but I just dont know the people around here yet to do it. It helps to have a father like yours to introduce it to you, which is something I dont have yet. I will have to look into this when I get back from Montreal in two years.

    What school did you decide on btw?

    Regards,
    Kydan

  2. Louie November 6th, 2007 1:01 pm

    Kydan,
    You should totally do a NOLS couse, it is super fun and you learn a bunch of great skills. Also, NOLS can help you find other grads in your area so you could have some climbing parteners.

    I am really thinking about Western Washington University right now, mostly because they have industrial design and they are close to some good skiing. I am applying to some others also though, like Montana State

    Louie

  3. Andrew November 7th, 2007 9:32 am

    Hi Louie,

    That looked like a fun NOLS outing! My brother lives in Bellingham, went to Western and loves that area.

  4. Ron Rash November 7th, 2007 10:09 am

    Hi Louie,

    I’m glad you had a great NOLS course.

    Did everyone finish the course and did you have any major conflicts in the group?

    Because you’re a mountain kid did you have to carry more and help other students, kind of like an extra instructor?

    You went in at Union Pass where was your pick up?

    The Winds are truly a phenonmenal mountain range with incredible rock climbing, glacier climbs, summer ice climbs, and superb fishing. I agree there are a lot of great places to ski except for the long approaches. I’ve seen so many chutes that are anywhere from 40-50 degrees with pretty safe runouts in the Northern Winds.

    I loved reading your account it brought back many memories. Thank you.

    Ron Rash

  5. Mark Worley November 7th, 2007 10:33 am

    Great stuff Louie. It’s cool you did the course. The Wind Rivers are quite a classroom. Thanks for inspiring me. I’ might try to take a course like that sometime, but I might be to busy–and I’d probably be the oldest guy in the class.

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Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information and opinion website. Lou's passion for the past forty years has been alpinism, climbing, mountaineering and skiing -- along with all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about backcountry skiing and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the Fourteeners! Books and free back country information here, and tons of Randonnee rando telemark info.

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