Working Together

By Tom Holland April 3, 2017
Tom and his kids dive in with our partner organization, Jack’s Diving Locker, to get a sense of exactly the instruction that WA students receive each summer!

We couldn’t do this alone.

To the readers of this blog, it is no secret that my trip leaders left an indelible impact on my life. Still, there were others along the adventure that also left me a better person for the lessons they shared. One was Jack, an Exum mountain guide, who led our Wilderness Adventures four-day climb of Wyoming’s most iconic peak on our Grand Teton trip.

Jack was Santa Claus in climbing gear. Jolly and with a wink of the eye, he brought the adventure of climbing to life for me. He talked about the peaks as not just rocks, but as nature that could bring out the best in us. He encouraged us to continue to challenge ourselves not just on this hike but throughout life. Not only that, he made me rethink how great a meal could be in the backcountry. I also remember him pointing out the crystal-clear constellations in the Wyoming night sky and tell some truly hilarious jokes at just the right time.

I bring Jack up because at Wilderness Adventures we know we cannot do it alone. Consequently, we seek out partners like Exum Mountain Guides and countless other educators and businesses that can help our groups realize the goals of every participant. We work diligently to find these local experts that serve as technical experts during certain portions of our adventures.

Some of our most important work as an organization is finding partners who can assist us on trips to realize our goals. We work to find organizations with the very best technical expertise that share similar values. Around the world, we seek to partner with organizations that are enthusiastic about educating tomorrow’s leaders while also protecting our amazing natural environment. Every year, we seek to further develop these relationships. We work with all of our longstanding partner organizations like RMI Expeditions (who we partner with for our Rainier and Great Northwest trips and who we have worked with for over 40 years), and Jack’s Diving Locker on the Big Island (for our Hawaii Explorer and Hawaiian Islands trips) to constantly evolve our offerings to adapt to the current needs of our students. For those organizations whose partnerships are just a few years old, we work with them to share our values and our goals as an experiential educational organization.

These technical experts and our relationships with them, is one element that make an adventure with us fantastic. We look forward to continuing to partner with great organizations this summer who will help us to deliver a truly wonderful experience for our students.