September 2004-February 2006 Adventure Experiences Inc.
This position is a two part job. From June to November each year I was the operations manager at Adventure Experiences Base Camp of the Rockies. This Christian high adventure wilderness camp is located in central Colorado and runs backpacking, mountaineering, rafting, rock climbing, and challenge course programs in the Rocky Mountains. From November to June I was an instructor for company's challenge course certification programs and also conducted challenge course inspections and new course construction.
Summer through Fall: Operations manager at Adventure Experiences Base Camp of the Rockies
During this time of the year, I was the operations manager of a high adventure wilderness camp located at 10,000 feet above sea level in central Colorado. This Christian camp conducted weekly wilderness programming for youth and adult groups from all over the country and some school groups as well. Programs included backpacking, mountaineering, rock climbing, white water rafting, and, of course, challenge course programs. This camp utilizes roughly 20 seasonal college students to be the guides and program leaders.
My responsibility was the operations and facility management of the camp, consisting of about 200 acres, 20 buildings, 10 vehicles, tractors, 9 4-wheelers, and a sawmill. Any camp projects from day to day upkeep and maintenance to building projects and timber management were my responsibility. Basically everything from running the sawmill to straightening out miles of dirt roads and keeping the pipes from freezing were on my list. Whatever summer staffers that were not involved with programming on a specific day were assigned to me to use for operations work and I would manage anywhere from 1 to 20 workers on any given day. A highlight of this time was during my second summer, we had an ongoing project that began in the spring and finished in the fall to construct a timber-framed chapel on our property. I oversaw the project and was heavily involved although we paid 1 professional timber-framer to come and lay out all the cuts and show us how to build it. I personally milled all the beams from timber that I harvested off of our property. To see a photo of the chapel click here. Additionally, late in the fall of each year, the camp is converted into an elk hunting guide service and I also served as an elk hunting guide and routinely on a horse pack-out team.
Winter through Spring: Challenge course certification instructor, challenge course safety inspector, challenge course repair, challenge course construction.
During this time of the year, I was on the road constantly. The year-round challenge course company is based in Trinity, (Eastern) Texas and many people work full-time from there and do not participate in the camp ministry in Colorado. Winter through Spring, I joined them in full-time challenge course work. Primarily, I was a "Trainer" and would travel to different facilities all over the country putting on a 4 day course booked by the company to certify challenge course facilitators and also 1 day annual recertification courses for those maintaining their previous certification. While I was on location, I was usually scheduled to conduct the annual safety inspection of the challenge course, and also to do any repair work that was needed to keep the course within the ACCT standards. I had to climb the courses and "put my wrench on every nut and bolt" to make sure it met the safety standards and if there were any problems, I would fail the course. The certification course covered all aspects of a challenge course and catered to anyone, whether experienced or not. From tying the knots to conducting a high-angle rescue of an unconscious victim, the course prepared the students to be challenge course facilitators- if they passed the written and skills test, that is.
At the time there were about 4 other "Trainers" that were simultaneously traveling the country and doing the same thing as me, but there was also a construction crew. This crew's job was to build new challenge courses or conduct major repair work as needed and that is all they did. Sometimes if there were no scheduled training on the calendar, I would go with the construction crew and build any range of low to high challenge courses as well as climbing towers and ziplines. I learned how to operate a pole truck to set telephone poles, set up belay cables, swage ferrules in the air, and every aspect of building the course to meet the ACCT standards.
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