Today our guest is James "KG" Kagambi, Senior NOLS Instructor and the owner of KG Mountain Expeditions. He joined NOLS  as a field instructor in 1987. KG has worked many curses types over the years but regularly works in NOLS mountaineering programs in Patagonia, Alaska, East Africa, and India. KG is not only a senior NOLS instructor; he is the most senior, having more weeks in the field than any other instructor in the history of the school! He has over 870 weeks in the field working for NOLS, that is more than 6000 nights!! He has also completed four of the Seven Summits and in 1992 represented Africa in the U.N Peace Climb for the world on the Eiger. In addition, KG has summited the Eiger three times, became the first black African to summit Denali in 1989 and was the first black African to summit Aconcagua in 1994. KG has guided on Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro since the 1990s and Today trains search and rescue teams on Mount Kenya, Kilimanjaro, and Rwenzori. KG's long-lasting commitments to the field of rock climbing and mountaineering in Kenya have prompted acknowledgment and respect in his country. While he is away from the field, he enjoys spending time with his family and children. In May, at 62 KG became the first Kenyan to submit Mt. Everest. Today he shares his story. https://www.fullcircleeverest.com/

Rachel James was born and raised in Palmer, Alaska. She started working at the NOLS Alaska branch at the age of 15, cleaning toilets and landscaping; this was also when she started ice climbing. Rachel took a NOLS Alaska Mountaineering course at 16 and started working as a mountaineering instructor after taking the first-ever NOLS Alaska Instructors Course in 2000 at 19. During her time at NOLS from 2000 to 2013, she mainly worked mountaineering expeditions while leading a few horse packing and hiking courses in Alaska, Patagonia, Yukon, and Wyoming. Rachel has also worked as a program supervisor at NOLS Alaska. Currently, she lives in the Chugach Mountains just outside of Anchorage and is working hard to defend salmon habitat in Alaska.

Jeff Rose has worked as an outdoor educator for over two decades, including 19 seasons with Outward Bound. Besides Outward Bound, Jeff has worked for numerous colleges and universities, including the University of Utah, Davidson College, San Diego State University, UC San Diego, and Indiana University. He also worked for Adventures Cross Country and various summer camps. As an instructor, Jeff taught climbing, glacier mountaineering, backpacking, sea kayaking, and a few rafting and canyoneering courses. Most of his field time has been in Washington's North Cascades and Puget Sound, as well as Alaska's Chugach Mountains, Prince William Sound, and Kenai Fjords. Jeff also goes by Dr. Jeff Rose and is currently a faculty member in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism at the University of Utah, where he teaches courses in Outdoor Recreation Studies, with an emphasis on social and environmental justice. His research uses qualitative and spatial methods to examine systemic inequities expressed through class, race, political economy, and relationships to nature.

Steve Smith has worked in the outdoor industry for over thirty years, in the field, in the office, in the board room, and in national leadership roles, specializing in program leadership, risk management, and staff training. As a teen, he took a NOLS semester course in 1991 and for Outward Bound from 1998 through to today. Since 2008 he has run a risk management consulting company, Experiential Consulting, that uniquely serves outdoor education and experiential learning programs.   Steve is a regular speaker at national conferences such as WRMC, AEE, and Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education, among others. In addition, he served two terms as a board member for the Northwest Outward Bound School, where he continues to serve on the school's Board of Directors Safety Committee. He also has a varied background as a classroom teacher (English) and an HR administrator in outdoor and corporate settings. He supports wildlife conservation in his free time, of which he has none.   Experiential Consulting - https://www.outdoorrisk.com/

Travis Holmes was born in grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He lived most of his life in Alberta, B.C. and the Yukon; however, for the past 15 years, he has been living in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, with his wife, ten and 8-year-old kids. Travis worked in outdoor education for much of the 1990s and 2000s. His work lifeguarding in swimming pools led me to the University of Alberta Paddling Society, where he really got into white water kayaking and began teaching kayaking and river rescue. Travis later became the canoe and river paddling coordinator for the University of Alberta Campus Outdoor Centre and director of education for the Alberta Whitewater Association before becoming a full-time NOLS instructor. Over the next ten years, he instructed hiking, canoeing, white water kayaking, rafting, sea kayaking, rock climbing and sailing courses for NOLS. Travel led courses throughout Western Canada, Alaska & and the central west USA, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia for NOLS. While working in Western Australia, he met his wife and later settled in Tasmania, where his wife had some roots. He continued working in Tasmania as a commercial bushwalking and river guide for a while before returning to University to finish his Honours degree in geology. Travis is still expeditioning for a living, but now he is doing it as an exploration geologist. Before COVID, he had been exploring remote parts of Tasmania, Western Australia and British Columbia, looking for much-needed battery metals such as Cobalt, Nickel and Tin. However, COVID has pinned him down to Tasmania for the past few years. Now that travel is open, he is planning a big family expedition sailing in the Arctic waters around Ellesmere Island and North-western Greenland this coming summer.

As a young adult, Mike lived in New York City from 1981 to 1991, working as a freelance illustrator. During that time, he spent one winter season as a ski bum in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in 1986 and couldn’t get it out of his system. So Mike moved west permanently in 1991, eventually settling in Driggs, Idaho, where he spent a quarter of a century. He worked for NOLS in the Rockies, The Pacific Northwest, Canada and Alaska for 17 years. Mike taught backpacking, mountaineering, backcountry skiing, and rock climbing courses for NOLS. He also spearheaded the lightweight courses at NOLS. In those years, he divided his time between outdoor work and illustration. Mike is now living on Puget Sound near Seattle, focusing on his writing.Mike has illustrated or written at least nine books. All of Mike’s Book https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/570863.Mike_Clelland Mike’s current website  https://mikeclelland.com/

Steve grew up in Maine & New Hampshire and was an outdoor recreation major at Plymouth State College. He completed a NOLS student semester in 1993, and the rest is history. He has been an outdoor educator professionally since 1994 for many organizations, including Plymouth State College, Barnstead Elementary School, Tioga County Community Wilderness Project, Adventures Cross Country, NOLS, Alpine Ascents, Rendezvous River Sports, USFS Forest Technician, US Park Service, and he says he is probably missing a few more.    Steve worked for NOLS from 1997 to 2016 and has instructed rock climbing camps, backcountry rock, mountaineering, kayak/canoe/rafting, caving, hiking, canyon, Winter, Avalanche, sea kayaking, alumni, Outdoor Educator, Instructor, and many custom NOLS Professional courses over this time. He’s pretty much done it all. He has also worked in administrative roles with NOLS as a program supervisor (3-4 years) and assistant branch director at NOLS Southwest (2 years).   Currently, Steve has a small handyman business in Teton Valley and works as a Pro Ski Patrol at JHMR. Occasionally he guides paddleboarding and kayaking on the Snake River in Jackson and will most likely work a course for NOLS in 2023.   He says, “It's in my blood, and I will always be an outdoor educator.”

Steve grew up in Maine & New Hampshire and was an outdoor recreation major at Plymouth State College. He completed a NOLS student semester in 1993, and the rest is history. He has been an outdoor educator professionally since 1994 for many organizations, including Plymouth State College, Barnstead Elementary School, Tioga County Community Wilderness Project, Adventures Cross Country, NOLS, Alpine Ascents, Rendezvous River Sports, USFS Forest Technician, US Park Service, and he says he is probably missing a few more.    Steve worked for NOLS from 1997 to 2016 and has instructed rock climbing camps, backcountry rock, mountaineering, kayak/canoe/rafting, caving, hiking, canyon, Winter, Avalanche, sea kayaking, alumni, Outdoor Educator, Instructor, and many custom NOLS Professional courses over this time. He’s pretty much done it all. He has also worked in administrative roles with NOLS as a program supervisor (3-4 years) and assistant branch director at NOLS Southwest (2 years).   Currently, Steve has a small handyman business in Teton Valley and works as a Pro Ski Patrol at JHMR. Occasionally he guides paddleboarding and kayaking on the Snake River in Jackson and will most likely work a course for NOLS in 2023.   He says, “It's in my blood, and I will always be an outdoor educator.”

Andrew Cusack was born and raised in Sudbury, ON, and studied Outdoor Recreation and Natural Science at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, ON. He spent more than ten years working in outdoor education for organizations across Asia and North America, including NOLS Project DEAR, Asia Pacific Adventure, Hong Kong International School, Hong Kong University and Kingfisher Outdoor Education Centre. Upon leaving outdoor education, he worked the following ten years with the United Nations Refugee Agency, responding to humanitarian crises in multiple countries. In 2020 he left the agency and relocated to Victoria, BC, where he now works as a city planner for housing policy. In this episode, David Perry joins us, a former student on the course Andrew and I worked together in the Yukon's Ogilvie Mountains. As you will hear, David was a part of a significant medical evacuation on this course, and I thought it would be nice to bring him on and hear the story from a student's perspective. Currently, David has a unique business making 3D-printed violins, which we touched on in the conversation.  OPENFAB PDWhttps://openfabpdx.com/fiddle/ Full Circle Everst  https://www.fullcircleeverest.com/

Megan is currently living in Fairbanks, Alaska, on the lands of the Upper Tanana people, finishing up a Post Doctorate contract with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Megan has had an extensive career working in outdoor education. In 1992 she began the first of her eight years working for the North Carolina Outward Bound and later the Pacific Crest Outward Bound School. She also instructed for a few years with NOLS and held various coordinator positions with the North Cascades Institute.  She instructed backpacking, rock climbing, canoeing, mountaineering, and educator courses in North Carolina, the Everglades, Costa Rica, Oregon, Washington, and Chile. In 2016 Megan earned her Ph.D. in, Education, focusing on Learning Sciences and Human Development. She will soon be leaving Alaska to pursue other opportunities in Washington State, where she can also be much closer to family.

Brady Robinson Brady began working in outdoor education in the mid-'90s at a boy's camp in the Poconos of Pennsylvania. He went on to work with Outward Bound for over a decade, spent some time guiding, and instructed with NOLS for a few years. After leaving fieldwork, he has primarily worked in conservation as the Executive Director of the Access Fund for ten years and has positions with Tompkins Conservation and the Conservation Alliance. Brady is a gifted climber. Before having a family, he spent many years chasing bold rock and alpine first ascents in Patagonia,  Pakistan and other far-flung mountain ranges. Many of his partners were some of the most elite professional climbers, including Conrad Anker, Steph Davis, and Oscar-winning filmmaker Jimmy Chin. These days Brady is taking a few months off to focus on being a dad, working through life transitions, reading, taking online courses, and reflecting on what he wants to give to his kids, himself, and the world in the next chapter of his career.Ed RobersonEd currently serves as Conservation Director at Palmer Land Conservancy, regional land and water conservation organization in Colorado. He is also the founder of Mountain & Prairie, a podcast/blog that has been recognized by groups including the Aspen Institute, High Country News, Montana Governor's Office, and more.  Ed was a student with NOLS during a 1999 Semester in the Pacific Northwest, in which Brady was one of his instructors for the backpacking and mountaineering section. He has stayed in touch with Brady over the years. Ed currently lives in Colorado Springs with his wife and two daughters.

Brendan Madden is from Dublin, Ireland and has lived in Canada since I was 12. He is currently the head of Programs and Interim Director of a new Training Academy for Outdoor Professionals at Outward Bound Canada. He has been active in the expedition-based adventure education field for over 25 years, mainly as a program director and senior instructor at Outward Bound Canada and NOLS. Brendan has also been a risk management trainer and consultant at NOLS. Over the years, he has led expedition courses in white water canoe, backpacking, backcountry skiing, mountaineering, dog sledding, and international high altitude trekking. Brandan has also been an active presenter at the Wilderness Risk Management Conference for many years, working to increase the outdoor sector's capacity to manage work-related psychological trauma and stress injuries amongst our staff. He currently lives in Canmore, Alberta, in the Canadian Rockies.

Henry Wood grew up in Atlanta but has lived in Boulder, CO, since 2005. He studied Philosophy and English literature at Georgia State University before embarking on a  10-year career in outdoor education, most notable with Outward Bound and the NOLS. While working in outdoor education, Henry led backpacking, mountaineering, canyoneering, and climbing courses while working in outdoor education. In 2008, Henry joined Matt Cutter and Dany Page to start Upslope Brewing Company as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Over the past 12 years, Henry has built and developed his sales team in order to successfully operate in 9 Western States. Henry is also a veteran of the United States Army and a volunteer for Trout Unlimited. You can often find Henry on his rare time off skiing, climbing or Backpacking with his wife and three children.

In this short "in-between" episode, Shawn shares a few stories from former Outward Bound and NOLS Instructor and, most recently, stroke survivor Geoff Kooy, who had emailed to the show.

Paul's career in outdoor leadership began in 1995 when he began working with adjudicated youth in the desert of southern  Utah.  He started working with Outward Bound in 1998 and moved up to work with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in 2000.  With  NOLS, he ultimately worked 265 field weeks as a mountaineering, rock climbing and sailing Course Leader in India, Mexico, Patagonia, and the  Pacific Northwest - with expeditions to the Northern Icefield of  Patagonia and the Waddington Range in British Columbia, among other locations.  Paul also served NOLS as mountaineering Program Supervisor in the Pacific Northwest and Patagonia and was an editor for the 3rd Edition of the textbook "NOLS Wilderness Mountaineering.”   In  2007 he started working as a professional mountain guide and leading high altitude climbs in South America, Alaska, and Tanzania, hut-to-hut ski tours, Matterhorn climbs in the Alps and climbs in the Sierra Nevada (including El Capitan and Mt. Whitney). Originally from Maine, Paul is based in Wawona, California, a small village in Yosemite National Park.   Paul became a certified guide by the prestigious IFMGA in 2017 and is currently an examiner. In addition, he serves as an elected member of the Board of Directors of the American Mountain Guide's Association.   After college, he was a Fulbright Scholar in (Germany from 1996 - to 1997) and speaks German and Spanish.

Tim Felt grew up in the suburban wilds of Northern California. His career in outdoor education started with him working in boarding schools 1991-94 running outdoor programs and teaching biology in New Hampshire and Arizona. He took a NOLS Instructors Course in 1993 and started work in the field immediately. For the next decade, Tim went on lead backpacking, rock climbing, and mountaineering course types in Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Alaska, and Chile for NOLS.  During his transition away from the school, he spent two summers as the mountaineering program coordinator at the NOLS Alaska branch. At the time, Tim was also attending veterinary school in madison WI where I still reside with my wife Pam Foster Felt ( also ex NOLS instructor) and their two teenage daughters. Ultimately he decided veterinary medicine wasn’t for him, and he transitioned into a career as a residential remodelling contractor.

Rachel James Rachel James was born and raised in Palmer, Alaska. She started working at the NOLS Alaska branch at the age of 15, cleaning toilets and landscaping; this was also when she started ice climbing. Rachel took a NOLS Alaska Mountaineering course at 16 and started working as a mountaineering instructor after taking the first-ever NOLS Alaska Instructors Course in 2000 at 19. During her time at NOLS from 2000 to 2013, she mainly worked mountaineering expeditions while leading a few horse packing and hiking courses in Alaska, Patagonia, Yukon, and Wyoming. Rachel has also worked as a program supervisor at NOLS Alaska. Currently, she lives in the Chugach Mountains just outside of Anchorage and is working hard to defend salmon habitat in Alaska.

For the second podcast in a row, we have Curtis Tronolone on the show to share some more wild stories from the field. Before we review Curtis's bio we wanted to share a recent podcast review.  Podcast Review Makes me homesick for my recent expedition life! Just an incredible chance to get into the field from afar. I’m loving this podcast- it made me so excited for my drive every morning this past week as I took my NOLS Wilderness First Responder training. Certified now, and so inspired by the many voices on this pod who show me what is possible as I look forward, to beginning to build my own life in outdoor leadership. Hope to join many of you wonderful people out in the wild some day! Thank you for this absolute joy of a podcast. -Tabita ------ Our guest today, Curtis Tronolone, grew up in rural upstate New York, along the Erie canal, nestled between the small towns of Churchville, Spencerport and Brockport. He began his love of outdoor pursuits started as a kid, boating and hiking with his family, and spending his summers riding horses at New York summer camps before undertaking a NOLS mountaineering course as a student in the Wind River Mountain of Wyoming.  He started working in outdoor ed at a summer camp outside Attica New York in 2003/2004. Over the years he has gone on to work for several organizations, including Camp Wyomoco, Wilderness Ventures, Adventure Bus, NOLS, Bear Basin Adventures. When Curtis, completed his NOLS Instructor Course he become the first openly gay male NOLS Instructor. He specializes in leading horse packing, backpacking, and wilderness rock climbing courses. He currently lives in Lander, WY where he mixes time instructing with NOLS and renovating old homes.

Curtis Tronolone, grew up in rural upstate New York, along the Erie canal, nestled between the small towns of Churchville, Spencerport, and Brockport. He began his love of outdoor pursuits as a kid, boating and hiking with his family, and spending his summers riding horses at New York summer camps before undertaking a NOLS mountaineering course as a student in the Wind River Mountain of Wyoming.  He started working in outdoor ed at a summer camp outside Attica, New York, in 2003/2004. Over the years, he has gone on to work for several organizations, including Camp Wyomoco, Wilderness Ventures, Adventure Bus, NOLS, Bear Basin Adventures. When Curtis completed his NOLS Instructor Course, he became the first openly gay male NOLS Instructor. He specializes in leading horse packing, backpacking, and wilderness rock climbing courses. He currently lives in Lander, WY, where he mixes time instructing with NOLS and renovating old homes. Curtis can be contacted at: curtis.tronolone@gmail.com

David Yacubian has been working in Outdoor Education for more than 20 years and has over 15 years of risk management and emergency preparedness experience. He has worked with NOLS as an instructor and advisor on four different continents around the globe. Dave has also run over 100 NOLS Wilderness Medicine courses in the San Francisco Bay Area through his company, Ready SF. Ready SF also offers risk management consulting and emergency preparedness training to schools and businesses in the Bay Area. David is a member of The Crossroads School's, Environmental Traveling Companions risk committee and Outward-Bound California's safety committee. Dave enjoys spending time with his two lovely girls, when he is not teaching. He is often found on or in water, as well as participating in other sports on his bike, foot, or skis. In this episode: (02:23) David shares the purest moment of joy he has ever experienced in his life, with the exception of the birth of his daughters. He tells the story of a young female student on his first summer working in Alaska, and how the concern of the little girl’s disappearance was more alarming than her eating disorder. Yacubian explains the details of Amy’s missing – and what leads them to find her in the end. (14:27) Yacubian talks about an executive leadership Ilama packing, NASA course in the mid of August, five or six years ago while working along with Lynn Petzold, Rick Rochelle, and many others. He tells us one of the funniest stories about a bear sighting when one of the students ran after the black bear to get his food bag – it is even hilarious in his narration. (20:13) Going along he tells us how they were missing a llama when they woke up the next day, after the bear chasing incident. David talks about the disappearance of the largest llama they had namely Summit, and since there was no trail or signs to track it down – they were left dejected for the rest of the trip. (28:44) David terrifies us with a near-death incident in spring 2015 while running the wilderness medicine course. He tells us a story about a panicking experience that took place in their 10 days CPR course, when a young woman had a cardiac arrest in front of the whole group – without proper treatment and a hospital nearby.  (42:00) Moving forward, he gives us great advice on how it's important to learn survival skills. He tells how you never know when you might find yourself in a real-life survival situation – Survival courses aren’t for everyone, that’s for sure, but you’d be surprised at just how much you can achieve by simply giving it a go. (48:03) In the end, we play a rapid-fire question with David that intrigues us to the core – telling us the importance of adventure in his life, and how the excitement and happiness we experience during the adventure take us away from a normal hectic life to a new happy life within a matter of seconds. Please consider making a donation to help keep the lights on here at the Hot Drinks Podcast. Any amount is greatly appreciated but for all donations of $50 or more, I will send you the audio edition of my book Teams On The Edge. Donations can be made just by clicking the donate button on our website www.hotdrinks.com. There you can set up a monthly or one-time donation.