From April 19 to 27, four students from Algonquin College in the Ottawa Valley’s Outdoor Adventure Leadership Program will be in the mountains of Western Newfoundland completing their Final Expedition. The group will spend 7 days and 6 nights of winter wilderness backpacking on the Indian Lookout and Devil’s Bite Trails between Portland Creek and Parsons Pond on the Great Northern Peninsula.
Students Piers Evans, Jessica Ryan, Kevin Johnston and Rene Gendron are completing their final term of the two-year program. They’ve been planning the IATNL expedition since last fall, including selecting an expedition route, gathering GIS data, preparing a supply list, training for winter camping, and raising travel funds.
Their 7-day winter camping trek – sponsored in part by the IATNL – will begin with a 650 meter climb up the north side of Portland Creek’s Southwest Feeder Gulch. From there the group will cross snow-covered barren mountaintops to Indian Lookout, then head south to East Brook Gulch, before completing their 60km+ loop by descending the Flat Hills to Five Mile Road.
The Algonquin College in the Ottawa Valley’s Outdoor Adventure Program is a two-year skills-intensive and certification-based diploma program that offers students a broad education in the outdoor adventure travel and tourism industries. Students study at the school’s Pembroke Campus three days a week learning fundamental industry, business and management skills.
Two days a week of practical training takes place at the school’s Wilderness Tours’ Beachburg or Mt. Pakenham facility. It is during these two days that students learn the practical aspects of the outdoor adventure industry and work towards certification as guides or instructors in their chosen fields. Practical training activities include whitewater kayaking and rafting, rock and ice climbing, cross country cycling, and skiing and snowboarding.
To learn more about the intrepid students’ IATNL winter trek, go to their expedition’s website at offsetminds.wordpress.com.
Good luck Piers, Jessica, Kevin, and Rene! We’ll be following your progress with interest. And be careful not to get eaten by any stray polar bears on THEIR expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador!! (Just kidding.)
