Avid Outdoorsman: It Started by Climbing a Tree

Colorado Academy’s Outdoor and Experiential Education Office asked CA parent and avid outdoor adventure-seeker Dan Schlager (father of 7th grader Emma and 11th grader Sophia) about his outdoor memories, challenges and favorite places. Find out about his incredible adventures below. The purpose of CA’s Outdoor Program is to offer students experiences that can test and refine their outdoor skills, compassion, commitment, and tenacity – while having fun and appreciating the beauty of the great outdoors. Experiencing the outdoors is a hands-on way to learn about geology, biology, botany, history, geography, astronomy, and anthropology, and stewardship of the environment. Much of what you learn in the outdoors will help you succeed in the classroom, too.

 

I grew up in suburban New Jersey next to a small neighborhood park. At the edge of the park stood a tree with a first limb just out of reach. I finally figured out a way to clamber up that tree when I was about 10 years old. I remember climbing as high as I could and feeling on top of the world. Today, I can still conjure the physical memory of the branches swaying back and forth as I carved my initials in the tree with a pocketknife.

 

A few years ago, I self-support kayaked the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, stuffing gear and food for 12 days and 225 miles into the boat. Having never planned a river expedition of that length, the trip entailed many novel challenges: retrofitting boats, crafting groovers (river toilets) that meet leave-no-trace requirements yet fit in the kayak, planning navigation and potential emergency evacuation, and figuring out meals and how to keep warm in November with little canyon sun. Knowing this was a trip of a lifetime, our small band of intrepid travelers sought to explore as many of the side canyons as we could while averaging 20 or so river miles each day. We kept a close eye on the challenges of staying mentally, physically and emotionally refreshed and safe through days of long paddles and big rapids in heavy boats. The journey was an incredible way to touch the majesty of the Grand Canyon.

 

Picking a “favorite” is a toughie! Despite probably shocking my daughters by not picking a “puffy” of some sort, I would say my Marmot Windshirt. It’s my go-to layer for any sort of aerobic activity in the cold.

 

Perhaps a pack raft. I think it would be fun to piece together adventurous multisport explorations combining hiking and river running.

 

A flat hull on a kayak. The design opened up a world of new river play possibilities while running rivers.

Despite terrible whiteout and pretty much unskiable conditions, I had an amazing experience backcountry skiing the Haute Route, which is the classic “high route” through the Alps from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland. The route meanders over mountain passes and traverses glaciers from hut to crazily- perched-on-a-precipice hut, each full of happy, hungry skiers from all over the world.

 

My wife and I enjoy skinning on skis up Loveland Ski Area together. We enjoy getting some time to catch up with each other on the drive up, a good workout, beautiful mountain views, and the reward of a ski run down without any avalanche concerns. It’s great that Loveland welcomes uphill travel.

 

I started kayaking after college in my early 20s with a 5-day trip from the East Coast to Idaho’s Payette River. I was the only beginner on an intermediate trip. We started out right in the river, with the instruction to paddle around the eddy and then peel out. I’m thinking, “Who’s Eddie?” I had no idea what an eddy was. In fact, I had no river knowledge whatsoever. I swam pretty much all day every day, flipping over and over, turning blue in the cold, and getting battered by the rocks. I found myself fantasizing at night in my little tent about being called home for an emergency. Not a bad emergency, just a little one big enough to enable me to leave while saving face. I didn’t want to get back in that freezing river. As my escape fantasy continued, I’d realize I was camped in the middle of nowhere, where no one would be able to contact me anyway (in those days before cellphones), and the reason my throat was sore was because of the thick black smoke hanging in the air from the largest forest fire in the nation raging in the surrounding forest just across the river. By day, helicopters would swoop to the river to collect buckets of water. By night, each flash of red signified another tree exploding in flames (or at least that’s how my possibly magnified memory recalls it). The whole experience was so foreign and surreal. It made a big impression. I clearly wasn’t in Kansas New Jersey anymore.

 

My first mountain bike trip to Moab was an epic failure. In foolishly trying to keep up with a more experienced friend, I wound up bloodied and bruised, culminating with the sickening sound of breaking two ribs when crunching into a rock after launching over the handlebars late in the day out on a remote plateau. I had to hike/ ride the bike seven painful miles back out, finally getting back to the car near dark.

 

Visiting New Zealand.

 

I wish for everyone to go on an outdoor journey with a small group truly committed

to accomplishing a difficult goal together (at whatever level is appropriate for the group — a beginning level is great!), while at the same time knowing that for everyone in the group the goal is clearly secondary to the group’s safety and camaraderie. I wish for all on that journey feelings of wonder and connection to nature in equal measure with feelings of mutual gratitude and total commitment to each other. And, I hope they all leave the journey with some great laughs and stories to tell.