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Author: Jennifer Boudreau

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Peak Ascents & Laughter in the Rain: A 10-Day Youth Adventure

From July 17th to the 26th, Summit Adventure instructors Daniel Hiebert and Kristen Narum took out five young adults backpacking on a 10-day adventure leadership course through the Sierra National Forest and Ansel Adams Wilderness. Upon their return to Summit’s Base at the end of their trip, I had the privilege to interview three of the participants–Jack, Alex, and Chloe–about the adventures and learning experiences of their longest bout in the backcountry.

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A Bridge Worth Crossing

We started our trek crossing the most rickety, terrifying, worn-out wooden bridge you could imagine…And it was the only way to get to the other side. We had to go one at a time, the bridge swung so much. The planks of wood were broken off in places, rusty loose nails warning us to tread carefully. Before I could think to stop him, my son Brady–being nine years old and full of zeal–began crossing. Heart pounding, I watched him. He finally reached the end of the bridge–but because my beloved kid was now on other side, I had to cross to be with him. No turning back.

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10 Days in Patagonia with Summit Adventure

Words cannot begin to express the joy, gratitude, and refreshment experienced during this journey to Argentina. After 26 hours of travel we arrived to a generous welcome in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina (“Bariloche” for short). A team of eleven students and staff from Biola University partnered with a group of seven from Summit Adventure to support the ministry of one of Summit’s former employees. Our first few days in Bariloche were packed with an orientation of the ministry, Argentinian culture, and spectacular scenery.

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Rock Climbing: What’s the Point?

“What’s the point?” I know that question may smack of an apathetically slouched youth, or perhaps the plagued-by-existential-dread 20-something. But forget the snark and cynical connotations for a moment, and you’re still left with an important question: what, in fact, is the point?

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Yosemite Backpacking Discoveries with Hananiah and Dekota

For Summit Adventure’s most recent course, we teamed up with eight Bridgemont high school students, led by their principal, Evan Anderson. Bridgemont, a private Christian school in San Francisco, features a Field Studies program as a part of their curriculum in order to implement a well-rounded education that extends beyond the classroom. Students choose one of four outdoor adventure options to participate in for a grade.

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Surviving Winter Camping With Jocelyn, Biola Student

A third-year student at Biola University and resident of the San Jose Bay Area, Jocelyn Horsager’s winter outdoor experience was limited to shredding slopes and kicking back in a cabin. But despite her anxieties regarding the winter camping course, she found herself pleasantly surprised by each day’s experiences. And when we weren’t calling her back from leaning over the edge of a cliff to snap some killer GoPro fisheye panoramas, she was being followed by a Yosemite-native coyote with a peculiar taste for her foam sleeping pad. 

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Jennifer on Snowshoeing the Yosemite Panorama

We arrived at Badger Pass after dark, a team of 12–seven members of the Biola University community with five representatives of Summit Adventure. Two days previous, I had just barely moved in to base as the fledgling intern–and now I was stepping out of a van full of backpacks crammed with bear cans and sleeping bags, into a freezing night sky speckled with winter constellations. Though camping and backpacking wasn’t uncharted territory for me, I had never experienced either in the snow–at least, not purposefully (let’s just say I’ve dealt with a few freak snowstorms in my life).