Three thousand nights camped in the woods and on mountains with family, friends, and students have taught us invaluable lessons about different cultures and great places on this planet. But travelling to exotic and remote environments has become commonplace. In Nepal, there are over 300,000 trekkers annually, for example. And over 1,000 people attempt to climb Mt. Everest. So among the visitors, who are the takers and who are the givers? What does “sustainable” mean in terms of effects on villages, their inhabitants, mountain forests and streams, the pathways, and even mountains themselves? We’ll bring experiences gained from expeditions to, among other places, British Columbia, Russia, Bhutan, Tibet, Mongolia, and China; our work with five Outward Bound schools; and serving on the boards of NOLS, Central Asia Institute, and the American Alpine Club. We’ll go beyond mission, goals, and curricula to examine the educational and spiritual value of adventure and exploration. We hope participants will share their experiences so we may focus on collective reflection, learning, and challenge as we pose some essential questions.

This course will combine lecture with class discussions.