Pam McPhee (Pam Kerr) wins award

Pam McPhee at the University of New Hampshire has won an award. We knew her as Pam Kerr, long-time FV'er and member of a significant FV family. Brother Doug, who has been mentioned in this blog several times, also came of age at Frost Valley--and for a time lived (with Leslie Black and their son Jake Kerr) in the valley as a full-time maintenance department staff. Pam doubtless learned a great deal about outdoor education--"experiential education" as it is called in her field--from her FV years and we're thrilled that she is being acknowledged.

Mark Gottdenker writes: "She was my advisor briefly while I attended UNH. Our shared Frost Valley connection was always a great source of pride. She is a great example of someone taking many of the honorable traits we preach and work to instill in youth at camp and putting them into practice everyday in the world."

17 years of former EE staff helping out

Last weekend was the 17th Annual Frost Valley Alumni Winter Volunteering Reunion Weekend. As always, we had a terrific time. We had 9 adults, 5 teens, and 4 little ones push tubes, lead hikes, amuse guests, re-live fond memories, and celebrate the spirit.
For me, the best part was that 7 Frost Valley instructors were able to attend the Winter Educator's Conference at the nearby Ashokan Campus for some training, networking, professional development, and fun. (Well, maybe the best part was the food, beauty, skiing, comraderie, broomball, and late-night visiting.) Perhaps you'll be able to join in the fray in 2012. Stay in touch! - Kenis Sweet

the origin of Mount Hayden

Stan Treadway tells of the origin of Mount Hayden:

- - -

Maybe I can fill in a few of the 'blanks' concerning the origins of Mt. Hayden:

In the Fall of 1976 Don Freed and Chuck White put together the permanent anchor cable on the chimney and positioned the belay rock that later became Mt. Hayden. (I helped just a little bit!) Don's background in adventure education was influenced by stints at the Lorado Taft Field Campus/NIU, Oregon, Illinois, and the Clear Lake facility affiliated with the Battle Creek Public School system. By the time he and I ran into one another at Frost Valley we both realized how ripe the environmental program was to evolve into 'challenge' activities. With Jim Marion's blessings, and a solid plan grounded in Project Adventure models, Mt. Hayden became, as I recall, the first permanent element in a trust-building/group dynamics emphasis that school groups could take advantage of while in residence.

We enjoyed Don's influence for only one environmental season and then he embarked on a journey that would eventually lead to his doctorate in education and a tenured position in Traverse City, Michigan. Don's influence on my life was three fold: I attended a week-long Project Adventure summit and became certified in all things relating to 'group dynamics'; I too attended Northern Illinois University's Taft Campus and completed a master's in outdoor teacher education, and finally thanks to Don's urging, I graduated from a three+week Outdoor Educator's Course through the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Lander Wyoming. Little does Don realize how many people have benefited from his vision in 1976 and the tracks he has left behind, especially in my life. I plan to share this Mt. Hayden update with him. He left Frost Valley a long time ago, and knowing Don, he never looked back, only forward to HIS next horizon. He is now a family man living smack dab in the middle of orchards for as far as the eye can see, and a front yard complete with a putting green. He and I have paddled in several down-river canoe races in central Wisconsin, but the last I saw of him was Spring 2001 while traveling with my mother on the return leg of a Canadian vacation. I am soooo grateful Frost Valley brought our two wandering lives together, however briefly.

The photo above and at right shows Dave Nalven and Stevie Bell moments after Stevie successfully climbed Mount Hayden in 1984.

late 1970s program instructor remembers

Doug Redosh is back in touch with us. He was here at FV in the late 70s. Here's what he writes:

I started working at FV in the spring of 1977. I had finished a BS at SUNY Albany (now the University at Albany) the June prior, with an emphasis on Environmental Biology. I had wanted to use my training to educate others about the wonders of the natural world, and wanted to live in a less urban setting than my native Queens. Initially I found work at Lake Minnewaska Hotel as a cross country ski instructor, but also had to wait tables to make ends meet. This was the mid 70s recession. The FV Environmental Ed Director, a great guy named Jim Marion, hired me and I was terribly excited. I spent a great spring teaching Environmental Ed programs. There was little developed then, so I believed I help set up programs in Ornithology, Pond and Stream Study, Astronomy and Forest Ecology. Favorites were hikes up Doubletop, Graham and Slide Mtns. I helped set up the climbing wall on the chimney of one of the buildings. I worked with a great bunch of fellow instructors: Vilis Ozolins, Louie Comeau, Lin Denham, Stan Treadway, Chuck White, Jim Marion and his wife Cheryl. Vilis and I shared the old farmhouse behind Chuck White's house [then called "Old John's House"].

That summer I traveled across the US and Canada, but returned to work Environmental Ed for the fall and winter. Hunting season brought hunters and fewer kids, but winter brought the best cross country skiing. I helped Joe Trela set up the ski shop and we taught tons of lessons. That was a great winter for snowfall and the skiing was absolutely tremendous. I shared the Ricciardi Cabin cabin with Louie and Joe. March saw me leaving the US for a 5 month gig as a program director at the YMCA camp at Fairthorne Manor, near Southampton, England. That was a great cultural experience and Frost Valley helped prepare me for that. Upon my return, after 2 months travel in Europe, I landed a job as Director of the Wilderness Program for the New Milford, CT Youth Agency. My FV experience helped me land that job as well. That lasted 2.5 years, after which I became a Physician Assistant, then ultimately attended medical school. I now practice Neurology in the Denver, CO area, but frequently ski, rock-climb, hike, backpack, bike etc. - all the outdoor sports.

Not only did the FV experience help me land those positions, it also taught me how to live with a small number of people in a relatively isolated location, not always an easy feat. It also renewed a sense of optimism about the human condition and the fate of the human race.

Stan Treadway on the total commitment required

Stan Treadway (from Missouri) worked as a VC and trip leader several summers, and then stayed on as a full-year environmental education staff member. We've been exchanging emails lately and here's a portion of a recent note:

You know Al, I was only at the Valley for two solid years, but the caliber of exceptional individuals that I met while there boggles the mind! That place brings out the best in all of us. I swore when I left, that I would never work as hard, ever again, (and of course I lied to myself). I remember the Spring of '78: went five weeks without a day off. 6:00am-12:00 midnight every day. A wake-up call in the middle of the night once or twice per week to run a guest into the hospital for one thing or another, and never get back to sleep, was typical. Thank goodness for Jim Marion's even-tempered demeanor! He always gave me enough rope to hang myself with as environmental program coordinator. He rounded up the business, implemented the program, and I orchestrated the on-site activities with a very capable and hard-working staff. We made an awesome team.

up, up & away in Glenn Horton's balloon

This photo of Glenn Horton's balloon was taken this weekend at the Adirondack Balloon Festival in Glens Falls. Lots of Frost Valley folks, past and current, attend this event. Glenn shared the weekend with Kenis and Vicki Sweet, Elaine Winslow, Deb Cunningham, Sharon Zimmerman among others. That group has been meeting up there for years and always have some good fun.

cable bridge -> courage

Sometimes it's the little things. Like our cable bridges. An article appeared a few days ago in the Middletown NY newspaper about a girl who went to Frost Valley with her school, part of our Environmental Education programs, intepidly crossed the cable bridge and seems to recall that event as pivotal for her - courage, independence.

EE/Conference alums help for a weekend

Kenis Sweet, Chris Dundorf, Glenn Horton and others among Environmental Education/Conference staff alumni volunteer for a winter weekend each year to relieve the current staff who like to go off to a conference away from camp. (What a perfect way for alumni to help!) The gang has been doing this for years. Recently they were back again for their 2008 volunteer stint.

It's been cold and snowy at FV of late. Follow this link and then play a 22-second video clip of a snowy just-at-sundown 360-degree swing around - a little video taken, I think, by Kenis Sweet.

And here are photos of the gang.

Jack recovers from leukemia

Jack McCue (now Jack McMurphy) and Marcia Murphy (now Marcia McMurphy--you're getting the name thing by now): another couple, now happily married for years, who met at camp. They both started in summer camp and then worked together for several years as members of the Environmental Education staff.

A few years back we were all worried about Jack's health, after his diagnosis of leukemia.

Now Marcia reports that life is good for them! Jack has fully recovered from leukemia with a bone marrow transplant 3 years ago. They are back to their adventures . . .300 miles of biking in Michigan, 4 days of kayaking and a 25 miles of in-line skating in 12 days. Last summer Jack climbed another 14,000 foot peak in Colorado, hiked and did some awesome mountain biking. He is celebrating his 23 year of teaching carpentry to juniors at a vocational school and enjoys it a lot. Their son Travis, 22 returned from the University of Hawaii at Hilo after 21/2 years and is now attending Edinboro University in PA. Their second son Brandon is 16 and plays football, basketball, baseball and keeps them very busy with activities.

Johnny Forest moves up

Lenape 1981. The staff in the back row here are, from left, Johnny Bostick (VC), Martin Graf, Jon Mittelman, Gordon Fair ("Flash Gordon"), Donald Wright (?), and Craig Berman. Among the campers I can see Adam Gold***, the second boy in from the left in the third row up from the bottom.

Bostick was "Johnny Forest" for several years when he was VC of that village, but he moved up to Lenape. Johnny was sweet-hearted, soft-spoken, almost meditative in his style (not, at least in those years, your typical VC personality type!) and--to my annoyance and sometimes my amusement--invariably late to flagraising. Johnny came to us through his friendship with John Giannotti in south Jersey, another fine person in the Giannotti orbit.

Martin Graf was from Switzerland - an athletic swimmer and a big-time cyclist (and bike repair guy). Martin worked a wild season at FV for EE/conference.

Mittelman was brilliant and deliberately rough at the edges. A Long Island guy who perhaps laid the accent on thicker just to disarm you. But he was one the most creative camper problem-solvers among counselors I ever supervised, and never missed a trick.

I believe the camper with the white straw hat was "B. J." - was it "B. J. Moody"?

*** For more on the Golds, see an earlier entry.

From left to right: Jon Mittelman, Martin Graf, Johnny Bostick.

borderman Pat "Patman" Brasington

I believe there's a pistol in that holster.

Pat "Patman" Brasington worked summers and as a full-year program staff member in the years around 1986-88 - so Chris Dundorf, who circulated around then too, reminds me. Chris sent me a link to a Slate article about Pat, who is now a ranger for the Bureau of Land Management, and he patrols the Sonoran Desert National Monument, 496,000 acres of heartbreakingly beautiful and lonely desert an hour southwest of Phoenix and 70 miles, as the crow flies, from the border. Carrying a gun in this arid place is a long way from working environmental ed in the green round Catskills. And yet of course Pat's FV experience has served him well. The Slate article is about the U.S.-Mexico border wars. Here's part of the article:

Brasington and I are walking out of a wash in a remote section of the monument, and I'm there when his posture changes from relaxed, with his rifle slung on his back, to slightly bent at the chest, rifle forward, finger on the trigger guard. It's the classic infantryman's patrol position. We hit the top, and he relaxes. I point out his change in posture, and he just looks at me.

"You know," he says, "I didn't even know I did that. It's just instinct I guess, from working out here."

We walk in silence for a minute, and Brasington starts talking.

"When I came here, I used to complain about the cows. They left pies everywhere, they cut trails through what should have been a wilderness area. Now I've got foot traffic and smugglers and someone potentially laying under any tree on the monument, and I have to wonder how they'll react when they see me, because they're not supposed to be in this country."

Brasington's a pretty positive, cheerful guy. But his voice gets an edge to it on this topic.

Here's a link to the Slate piece.