Outdoor Studies
Spring Creek Farm Journal Week 1
The trail wound its way up into the hills, around small, weed-edged ponds, and across a shallow stream. It was lined with spruce trees and berries, and the smell of leaves beginning to decay filled the crisp air. It was perfect country for grouse and moose and bears. – John Elvis Smelcer, author of Alaskan…
Academics, affordability add to APU’s ranking on Outside magazine’s Top 25
Alaska Pacific University is among Outside magazine’s top 25 colleges for students seeking affordable wilderness outings as well as academic courses that require outdoor fieldwork. In rankings released Aug. 14, APU placed 16th on a list that includes powerhouses like Stanford, Bowdoin and University of California campuses at Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa…
Mountain Rescue, Outdoor Studies
Mountain Rescue students deploy at Kooteney Highline with a Norwegian Reeve, used for slot canyon and water rescues. These students are in the third week of four weeks of training. The course begins with improvised rescue systems during week one, pick offs during week two, highlines during week three, and deflection and guiding lines during…
Snow shoe pretzels
Snow science 2 students are working vigorously on analyzing their field data from this winter. One of the projects focuses on snow anchors. Snow anchors are commonly used in plethora of mountaineering situations to make alpine and snow climbing more protected or rescue possible. On his field days OS sophomore Sal Candela buried objects of varying…
Expedition Mountaineering
APU Outdoor Studies department Expedition Mountaineering course spent three weeks on Ruth Glacier during the May Block of 2011. This upper level expedition experienced 14 straight days of sunshine and no real storms at all, unbelievable conditions for the Alaska Range! Ten students kept busy learning about glacier travel, steep snow climbing, ice climbing, alpine…
