Aerie and Nature-Link WFR Course Press

A helping hand in wilderness

US-based instructor trains trekking guides on how to help clients in distress in remote areas

Tribune News Service

www.garhwalpost.com Sun. June 27th pg.10

www.tribuneindia.com Mon. June 28th pg. 4

Dehradun, June 27

Having completed 72 hours of classroom and practical training, seven trekking guides from the Mountain Shepherds Initiative (MSI) were certified as Wilderness First Responders (WFRs) by a US-based instructor Ted Morrison at Joshimath in Chamoli district. This is the first course of its kind to be completed in the Garhwal region and represents a unique opportunity for both course participants and the local communities. Morrison works with the Aerie Back Country Medicine company at Montana in the US.

The course was held from June 15 to 25 in the usually quiet hills surrounding Auli and the meadows of Gaurson. It was designed to provide a more realistic learning experience and its effectiveness in teaching medical skills is unparalleled.

Nandu Martolia, senior guide and shareholder of the MSI, described the WFR course as “a great course that taught him to provide medical care for his clients in remote areas”. Martolia also said: “The most important thing I learnt was taking good care for all clients by asking good and relevant questions, administering first aid with proper medications and how to make proper splints from improvised materials such as sticks, trekking poles and sleeping pads”.

The course is the best-possible medical training and is the standard for mountain guides and instructors in the US and around the world. It consists of hands-on experience on how to attend to those affected with a variety of serious injuries and trauma, as well as medical conditions like diabetes and acute mountain sickness. The course focuses on a long-term care for back country patients because often in back country settings, such as those encountered while trekking, a hospital might be days away. The MSI guides spent their days in class learning the skills of a caregiver and their nights studying their course books.

The US company is a leader in providing all types of back country medical training worldwide and prides itself on their work with local guides in Africa, Latin America, and now in India. The guides from the MSI, with its offices based in Dehradun and Lata village, is a community-owned tourism cooperative that has been operating since 2006. Its mission is to simultaneously provide a sustainable livelihood for the local youth and their communities and give tourists a safe and high quality trekking and family mountain adventure experience. The course highlights the budding relationship between the two companies.

After completing their 72 hours of classroom and practical training, each participant passed the formal examination. Only then the seven participants were certified as Wilderness First Responders. The MSI guides are now prepared not only to treat a myriad of medical problems but also manage risk in order to keep their clients healthy. This course was the first step in the MSI plan to open an Adventure Sports and Sustainable Livelihood Institute in Uttarakhand. In the future, the MSI and Aerie hope to train some guides to hold the WFR course and also adapt to the training to a larger disaster management plan that would have WFRs acting as first responders in the case of earthquakes or landslides in mountainous areas.

Morrison said: “I am excited to have worked with such an outstanding group of guides from such an amazing area of the world!

Aerie provides precisely the training that mountain shepherds need to launch them as a competitive international trekking service. I look forward to working with these talented guides in the future, as the success of the programme has ensured the establishment of a long-term international relationship between Aerie and the MSI”.

Morrison is a lead instructor for Aerie Back Country Medicine. He is a licensed Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (WEMT) and a Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) instructor. He is also certified in avalanche safety and awareness. He has been specialising in teaching wilderness and emergency medicine since 2006. Morrison also works as a rock climbing and mountaineering lead instructor and course director for the Outward Bound School in Colorado, US. He combines all of these experiences and certifications to teach back country medicine and risk management to outdoor professionals. He greatly enjoys watching his students become confident.

In all, the first Aerie/MSI WFR course was a great success. The guides from the MSI are now certified in wilderness medicine and can give excellent care to their clients and if needed in an emergency, can help their villages.

The idea for having the MSI guides get the WFR certification came from the Nature-Link Institute (NLI), an NGO based in Montana, US, that conducts trekking and cultural tours for students of the University of Montana. The NLI and the MSI have a longstanding relationship based on mutual goals. Eric Legvold, Director of the NLI, noticed the need to have the MSI guides trained in back country medicine and proceeded to develop the linkages between Aerie and the MSI. Aerie waived a portion of the course costs and the MSI used their own profits to pay for organising the WFR course in the Indian Himalayas.

Outdoors Briefs

·         http://www.missoulian.com/lifestyles/recreation/article_c9654332-125c-5556-a00e-b2193d1ac7a3.html

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Gear for Garhwal drive starts Saturday

On Saturday, the Nature-Link Institute will begin the Gear for the Garhwal drive to accumulate used and donated mountain/outdoor gear that will be given to the Mountain Shepherds organization in the high Himalayas of northern India.

Gear needed includes cold-weather tents and sleeping bags; backpacks; technical shells (jackets and pants); trekking or hiking boots and socks; climbing gear; performance layers such as down jackets, fleece pullovers and thermal underwear; warm gloves and hats; headlamps; first-aid packages; stuff sacks; and sleeping pads.

Drop-off points will be at the University of Montana Outdoor Program, Pipestone Mountaineering, The Trailhead and Bob Ward and Sons. The drive will run through April 19.

The Nature-Link Institute is a nonprofit international study abroad program accredited through the College of Forestry and Conservation at UM.

For more information, call 370-2294 or visit www.nature-link.org.

Student holding gear drive for climbing guides in India

·         http://www.missoulian.com/news/local/article_d857cb5c-6f68-5dbe-b94f-adc8b8aa13ed.html

By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian | Posted: Monday, March 23, 2009 12:00 am |

Eric Legvold has seen firsthand the conditions under which mountain guides labor in the Indian Himalaya.

Legvold, a recreation management student at the University of Montana, encountered the guides during a study-abroad class set up by the Nature-Link Institute and UM.

Now, as he finishes an internship and closes in on graduation, he wants to give back to those he met in India. To do that, he's running an outdoor gear drive that would better outfit those guides for their harsh mountain environment.

"The people have all the training in the world, but they don't have the capital to buy gear," said Legvold. "What I'm trying to do is to get them that gear so that they can do their work more safely and more comfortably."

The gear, which Legvold hopes Missoulians will donate at four drop-off locations, will benefit the Mountain Shepherds, a community-owned guide service that promotes eco-tourism in the Garwhal region of India.

Mountain Shepherds was organized to develop a sustainable, environmentally healthy form of economic growth for people in the region, which surrounds Nanda Devi, one of the world's highest peaks.

The people of the Niti Valley live a subsistence lifestyle, Legvold said, and eco-tourism and a biodiversity initiative at work in the region are extremely important to them.

"I want the people who've started this program to be able to stay in the area and not have to move away to find another way to make a leaving," said Legvold. "We'll be helping them do that be helping them with equipment. I want to be invested in that."

The guides need all manner of mountain gear, from sleeping bags and tents to ice axes and trekking boots. They could use any climbing gear - from carabiners to ropes to harnesses - and also need weatherproof clothes.

"I've seen guys walking at 15,000 in bare feet because their dress shoes hurt their feet," said Legvold.

Missoulians have until April 19 to drop off gear, and can do so at the Trailhead, Pipestone Mountaineering, Bob Ward's and the UM Outdoor Recreation Program office. Those places will have a "Gear for Garwhal" box with additional information about Legvold's program.

"We need quality things, but really, if you've got outdoor gear you're thinking about selling at your next garage sale, these people could really use it," Legvold said.

Find out more about the www.nature-link.org

Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at mmoore@missoulian.com.

Posted in Local on Monday, March 23, 2009 12:00 am Updated: 9:02 pm. 

Mountain High by Jonas Ehudin

                   http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/mountain-high/Content?oid=1148198

       

      by Jonas Ehudin

As we stand here on the edge of yard sale season—in our hopes and dreams, at least—you’ve probably got a stack of old outdoor gear taking up room in your garage, closet or back seat.

Before you start slapping price stickers on that treasure trove of tents, sleeping bags, jackets and backpacks, allow me to appeal to your philanthropic side: On Sat., March 14, the month-long Gear for the Garhwal Gear Drive begins, with drop-off locations at Bob Wards, the Trailhead, Pipestone Mountaineering and UM’s Outdoor Program.

The drive is organized by the Nature-Link Institute, a nonprofit study abroad program accredited by the UM College of Forestry and Conservation, which has taken students to study in India’s Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve Park since 2004. In that time, the program developed a relationship with Mountain Shepherds, a community-owned eco-tourism outfit that aims to empower local youth to manage their traditional lands in sustainable ways.

And that’s where your old shells, climbing gear, headlamps and sleeping pads come into play. Once April 19 rolls around, Nature-Link’s next batch of travelers will hand-deliver the amassed stockpile to their Himalayan counterparts. The project’s slogan—“A mountain to mountain community service”—sums it up well, and in this age of ever-increasing connectivity, extend a hand of outdoor friendship that reaches around the globe. Contact the Nature-Link Institute at 370-2294, or visit nature-link.org. 

Mountain High by Chad Harder

·         http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/mountain-high/Content?oid=1148067

by Chad Harder

AAHHHhh! Ski poles on fire! Now that I’ve got your attention, remember that Sun., April 19, marks the final collection day for the Gear for the Garhwal gear drive (nature-link.org, 370-2294). Drop off used, but useful, clean and safe outdoor equipment at Bob Ward’s, the Trailhead, Pipestone Mountaineering and everywhere else you’d expect. Just quit dumping it in my back yard. Sheesh.

Reserve area pits protection against people

·     http://www.montanakaimin.com/index.php/outdoors/outdoors_article/reserve_area_pits_protection_against_people/

Story by Amanda Eggert | February 11, 2009
Montana Kaimin

Now the Nanda Devi peak, considered to be a manifestation of Parbati, the bliss-giving goddess of the Himalayas, is absolutely off-limits to humans.

The restriction is part of an effort to preserve the integrity of the area’s ecosystem, which has been strained by decades of commercial exploitation, unsustainable agriculture practices and burgeoning tourism.

“Nanda Devi was the number- two climbing mountain behind Everest in the 1970s,” said Eric Legvold, a recreation and resource management major at UM who accompanied Bosak to India last summer as part of a Nature-Link study abroad program focusing on conservation, sustainability and development.

In the 1980s, the Indian government, and later the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), stepped in to protect what is now referred to as one of the Himalayas’ last great wilderness areas. The reserve was divided into two major zones: a 620-square kilometer core zone where people – native or not – are prohibited from entering and a much larger buffer zone in which some tourism and grazing are permitted, but heavily restricted.

Legvold said that there are about 14 villages located within the buffer zone.

The government’s restrictions passed economic hardship onto the Bhotiya people, Nanda Devi’s indigenous mountain-dwelling villagers. Grazing for the villagers’ goats and collection of medicinal plants was heavily restricted.

The relative economic prosperity that the Bhotiya enjoyed working as porters for mountaineering expeditions quickly dissipated under the government’s strict limits.

To remedy the situation, the Nanda Devi Campaign was formed “to develop a driving factor socially and economically for the communities to invest back into their environment,” Legvold said.

Through his work with the Bhotiya people, Bosak said he has found them to be “a typical mountain culture: very friendly, very helpful and open. Most of them don’t speak much English, but it’s still never been much of an issue. It’s hand gestures and laughing and smiling.”

Legvold said that the study abroad program in India is “one hundred percent cultural immersion” and an opportunity “to see what life is like outside of our pampered borders.”

Throughout the course, students learn about the region through readings, meetings with governmental officials, village elders and members of Mountain Shepherds, a community-owned eco-tourism company that was developed following the Nanda Devi Campaign.

“[The campaign is] a way for them to get economic benefit and still work within the confines of the policies of the reserve,” Bosak said.

Bosak said that he has been working with Mountain Shepherds since 2002 and that it has progressed to a world-class ecotourism institution. For its inauguration event in 2006, the company held a free women’s trek that 15 to 20 women from around the world participated in.

Mountain Shepherds is owned and operated by 44 high-altitude guides trained at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Legvold said.

The business’s growth has also created a need for high quality gear to support it.

“They have all of these skills and they are highly professional guides, but they can’t really afford - nor can they really get - the kind of high quality gear that they need,” Bosak said. “If it’s a choice between a Marmot fleece and a wool blanket, most people would pick the Marmot fleece.”

To that end, Legvold is heading up a gear drive called “Gear for Garhwal” that takes off this spring.  The list of needed gear is long: tents, sleeping bags, climbing gear, warm clothing, backpacks and others. Legvold has solicited local and international businesses as well as private individuals to donate what they can for the cause.

Several gear drop-off boxes will be available around Missoula at locations like Pipestone Mountaineering, the UM Outdoor Program, Bob Wards and the Trailhead beginning mid-March. Both new and used gear will be accepted.

Part of the reason that the company is in such dire need of gear is that domestic business has increased. Bosak estimates that about half of Mountain Shepherds’ clients are Indian. This is due, in part, to the rapid growth of India’s middle class. Many Indians come from hot plains areas and are ill-equipped for high altitude trekking.

Legvold said that he sees what Mountain Shepherds are doing as a chance to bridge the gap between the metropolitan and high-altitude areas of India.

Students go abroad to study in Himalayas

·         http://www.montanakaimin.com/index.php/news/news_article/students_go_abroad_to_study_in_himalayas/

Story by Collin Behan | October 7, 2009
Montana Kaimin

The Indian Himalaya study abroad program is gearing up to accept applications for its summer 2010 course.

Last summer was the first time the University offered the program, but faculty leader Keith Bosak, assistant professor of Nature Based Tourism and Recreation, has lead similar trips at other universities since 2005. The majority of the trip takes place in the Nanda Devi Biosphere, a strictly controlled national park in the mountainous Garhwal region of the north Indian state of Uttarakhand. The park is made up of two core zones off limits to people and is surrounded by a 3,100 square-mile buffer zone in which there are villages.

 “The Nanda Devi Biosphere is 1.5 million acres, roughly, and it’s one of the last great wilderness areas in the Himalayas,” Bosak said.

The biosphere region was formed by the Indian government in 1982 along strictly controlled guidelines. Only a few scientific expeditions have entered the core areas in the last few years. Even in the populated buffer zones traditional livelihoods became more difficult when most traditional livestock grazing and plant gathering was banned, Bosak said.

“What you have here is a group of people who, because of the conservation measures and polices in the Nanda Devi biosphere reserve, had their sort of traditional livelihoods taken away,” Bosak said.

The locals in the region agreed to focus their economic efforts on sustainable tourism, Bosak said. The core classes of the trip will equally emphasize the environment with the development of sustainable tourism and economies in the region, he said.

“The main goal is to introduce students to environment and development in the Himalaya,” Bosak said.

Students are assigned daily readings followed by field instruction on those readings and a writing assignment on combined readings and instruction, he said. The core packet is roughly 600 pages, Bosak said.

Participants will receive six upper-division credits for the program in two separate classes cross listed by the College of Forestry and the recreation management and geography programs. Both the credits count for either graduate or undergraduate study. Last year, 12 students went on the trip, 10 from UM and two others from Maryland and North Carolina State.

“You probably can’t brace yourself for the culture shock when you land in New Delhi,” said UM natural resources senior Logan Miller, who took the trip last year. “But by the time you get to the mountains, you’ll forget all about it.”

The trip this year runs from May 18 through June 10. At $3395, the fee covers all tuition and program costs, but not airfare to India.

In addition to sending students to study in the Nandi Devi Biosphere Reserve, the organizers run an outdoor gear donation program called Gear for Garhwal. Eric Legvold, executive director of the Nature-Link Institute, which leads the trip, organized the donation drive. Last spring, the program allowed people in Missoula to drop off used gear at various locations around town. It was then brought to the guides of Mountain Shepherds eco-tourism company.

Making around $5 a day, the porters and guides don’t have the budget to buy the alpine mountaineering equipment necessary to run the organization, Legvold said. By bringing donated clothing and equipment to the guide service, the study abroad program gives something back to the community, he said. Legvold said the donation drive, which will run again this spring beginning in March, raised around $20,000 worth of gear.

“It’s great to see your favorite porter wearing $1500 worth of Patagonia gear,” Legvold said.

Environmental geography senior Dan Lowrie, who went on the trip last year, said the most valuable part of the trip was learning directly from locals about what they needed from the environment and how to get it in a sustainable way.

“It was very positive both in a cultural mindset and educational,” he said. “It would be worth a good six months in education in three weeks.”