Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program WINTER 2009 NEWSLETTER
Head of School
Mike Maher opened the school year with a number of challenges to the faculty and staff. He emphasized globalization, international school networks, place-based education, sustainability, carbon neutrality, and our mountain. A task force comprising RKMP faculty, has been created to develop a signature program that will get all students up on the mountain. Even though we already have an adventure sports program that rivals most collegiate programs, we want to be sure that everyone who comes to Berkshire benefits and learns from the eastern slopes of Mt. Everett. The task force will need to look closely at the core values of the school, identify skills that reflect these values, and organize a program that utilizes our mountain to teach these skills. Berkshire has the experience within the RKMP to manage this task and the natural resources to accommodate the student body. Berkshire also has the administrative backing to give the program validity. This “mountain workshop” will certainly elevate students’ overall Berkshire experience to another level. It promises to round out their college preparatory repertoire with an increased awareness of the environment so crucial in today’s world. Happily, this workshop is just a few steps from the heart of campus. —Frank Barros, Director of RKMP and Science Teacher
Forest Ecology Elective Offered By Science Department By Mike Dalton, Science Teacher and RKMP Instructor Several years ago I attended a presentation Tom Wessels gave to our third-formers as part of a series of yearlong form experiences that focused on environmental issues. Wessels, an ecologist and director of the Environmental Biology Program at Antioch New England Graduate School, presented a slide show and talked about how, with a bit of training, anyone can learn to “interpret” natural environments. In fact, Wessels wrote a book entitled Reading the Forested Landscape, A Natural History of New England (more on this tome later). While the slide show may not have been too stimulating for our young third-formers, I found his talk to be phenomenal. It was then that I began to imagine a science elective designed to get our students out into the woods on a regular basis. While I do spend a lot of time in the woods as an instructor for RKMP’s Backcountry Skills (a fall sport option), those participants represent but a small fraction of the Berkshire School student body. Another
reason for wanting to initiate this course is that I’ve always had an interest in forests and trees. I earned a forestry merit badge as a Boy Scout, was convinced as a teenager that I would some day be a forest ranger, and spent my first two years of college studying forestry at Paul Smiths College. Last spring I formally proposed that Berkshire School offer an elective in forest ecology for juniors and seniors who would be interested in an ecology course that was field-oriented. Forest ecology would also take advantage of a great teaching resource, Mt. Everett. After receiving approval, I looked for a professional development opportunity that would help me create a course syllabus and found Field Ecology and Natural History offered at The College of the Atlantic, located on the edge of Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine. The textbook for the course was Wessels’ Reading the Forested Landscape, so I knew that this would be a great experience. In continued on page 8
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Biking down single-track trails of the Berkshire Mountains can certainly be challenging and fun. However, biking down ancient Inca trails of the Andes Mountains in Peru is downright exhilarating. Twelve Berkshire students and two guides from the Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program spent the first few weeks of June testing their own skill and endurance biking down slopes at elevations between 12,000 and 15,000 feet above sea level. They biked down the hills above the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco, past Christ the Redeemer, the second highest statue in South America, into the city’s streets and down several of the city’s ancient staircases. They biked down the Sacred Valley from Chinchero plateau to the Moray Agricultural Center and to Las Salineras, pre-Inca salt mines. They even biked from Huayracpunku Pass for four hours, negotiating rocks, sharp drops, stairs, twisting trails, etc., all at fairly high speeds on the best downhill route in South America. – Frank Barros
Kelly Brennan in the forest above Cuzco
Mountain Biking in Peru By Kelly Brennan ’09, Saratoga Springs, New York
The first leg was the easiest, as it was mostly a downhill road. We stopped at many archeological sites to learn about the Incas and their world. Over the next three days our biking skills improved as the terrain became harder to navigate. We passed breathtaking panoramic views and visited places that I imagined people would only see on the Discovery Channel.
Above: Tenting it at the hot springs resort Left: On the Andes Trail
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Below: Far left, entrance to Machu Picchu Right: Group shot at Machu Picchu
The second leg of our journey required a 50-mile train ride to see one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu. Often referred to as “The Lost City of the Incas,” Machu Picchu is probably the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire. It was built around the year 1450, but abandoned a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
The group then visited the remains of Raqchi, the great Viracocha temple, on the high plains.
After an eight-hour bus ride to the southern-most tip of Peru, we arrived at Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, near the city of Puno, the last leg of our journey. Lake Titicaca is truly amazing. We took a boat to the floating island, where we learned about the history of the lake and the Uros people who live on 42 artificial islands made of floating reeds. They hunt and fish for food and live without electricity, using all of the resources available to them. They truly inspired us. The children attend grade school on one of the many islands, but the teenagers must row the lake everyday to the high school in Puno.
The trip ended far too soon, and I know we all loved every minute of it. I want to thank the donors of the RKMP for giving us this incredible and wonderful opportunity of a lifetime that tested our physical ability while we enjoyed breathtaking views and marveled at historical landmarks.
Above: Mr. Barros and condor at Lake Titicaca
Left: Uros people at Lake Titicaca
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Far Away From My Comfort Zone By Sadie St. Germain ’10, Ashburnham, Massachusetts
Sadie and captain George Haydock ’09 with medals
When I started looking for schools, Berkshire stood out above the rest because it offered something different from any other school I had researched: an outdoor program called the RKMP and, within that program, mountain biking, which I found intriguing. Nonetheless, when Mom asked me what spring sport I wanted to sign up for freshmen year, I chose to stay in my comfort zone with softball and didn’t join mountain biking until I was a sophomore. Coming to the first team meeting that spring, I was immediately stressed out by being the only girl on the team and with a bike that didn’t resemble anyone else’s. The five guys on the team were George Haydock ’09, Caleb Booth ’08, Ben Bowden ’08, Joe Cohen ’08 and Arthur Copstein ’11, and they were each good. I panicked after clearing some trails and saw that I would need some serious technical skills to ride the terrain. I phoned home and told my parents I was thinking of quitting, but Dad (a seasoned biker) calmed me down and offered to come up over the weekend to take a ride with me and go over some of the technical sections of the course. The
following week when the team hit the trails, I was feeling a little more confident and began challenging myself daily by doing something on the course that I had not done the previous day. I thought I did well, even though I did not ride all the technical parts. Sometimes (actually, a lot of the time) I fell, but I would just laugh at myself, get back on the bike and keep going. I won my first race and really enjoyed the overall experience. I quickly came to love mountain biking and found that I was actually having a good time with my teammates. I remember one day in particular when our team made its way out to the trick park, small trails designed to challenge different mountain biking skills. To move onto harder trails you have to do simpler skills first. One of the first things I had to do was a “drop.” George and Caleb explained how to approach it, then stood back and watched. I went off a ramp but forgot to turn the wheel when I made it to the ground and proceeded into thorn bushes, then off another drop hidden by the shrubs. Getting up, I found my helmet visor dangling off to one side
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and the guys laughing and congratulating me on a good attempt, but joking that the idea was to stay on the trial. They offered more instruction, and within the next two attempts I hit the drop correctly. Overall, the guys are good teammates who made the season extremely enjoyable. When the school year came to an end, I had won all three races I entered in the Root 66 Series. Mr. Barros encouraged me to continue racing over the summer because he felt I had a chance to win the whole series. I decided that this was something I would like to do, and mountain biking quickly became my passion. My dad and I went out for bike rides together, traversing trails that he previously couldn’t bring me on. At the end of the summer I had won eight of the eleven races I entered in the Root 66 series. In addition to this, I am now sponsored by my local bike shop, Gamache, and have moved up to the Sport Category, a more competitive level, during this my junior year. Mountain biking has affected my life more than I thought possible. Even though I am no longer a tri-varsity athlete, I do not regret my decision to join the team. I have a better mindset for and positive outlook on sports and academics, and I developed a way to keep my life less stressful. Even though I fall a lot—my team members will attest to this—I am able to take it in stride and get back on my bike. I applied this approach to other aspects in my life. Now, if I get a bad grade on something, I know I tried my best, and I shake it off, telling myself that I will eventually accomplish my goals. I am extremely grateful I signed up for mountain biking, and I’m anxious for the next season to begin! Note: Sadie eventually went on to win first place in the New England Beginner’s Women’s Racers Root 66 Mountain Biking Series.
The Call of the Wild By Jon Moodey, Admission Officer, English teacher
In June of 2008, I was fortunate to have the comfortable and protectthe opportunity to travel to Alaska for a ed lifestyle I was accustomed six-day mountaineering course run by the to. After a gear check and a Alaska Mountaineering School. While the quick overview, we loaded up course proved to be extremely beneficial the vans and drove down the to my own education as an instructor in dirt roads to the tiny airport, the RKMP’s Winter Mountaineering where a small single-proProgram, and a lot of fun, it was also the peller plane awaited us. fulfillment of a life-long dream. Airborne and skipping our My first impression of Alaska came to way over the tips of the towme at a young age and much of it was ering peaks, I looked out over shaped by the words of Jack London. My the most impressive stretch father spent the better part of the summer of wilderness I have ever reading Call of the Wild to me; I would seen: Denali National Park. hunker down in my bed each night and All around me, white snowlisten with great interest to the tale of covered peaks stood tall Buck and his transformative experience in above the massive glaciers at the Alaskan frontier. Nearly thirty years their feet. The plane dipped after my father first introduced me to between two peaks, seemingBase camp Buck, I departed to Alaska for the first ly grazing the edges of both, time, not knowing fully what I was getting into but wondering all along whether or not I too might hear the call of the wild—or, at the very least, get to spend a week exploring my primordial side. On the road to Talkeetna from Anchorage, I witnessed first hand just how wild Alaska remains today. With the exception of a few obtrusive shopping plazas scattered along the Ready to descend way, Alaska really did appear to be the frontier land that I imagined. As the road to Talkeetna progressed, and dropped down onto a soft blanket of civilization dwindled; the only marks of snow. The captain threw our gear out mankind—a hand-built cabin with, peronto the snow, said “stand back,” and took haps, a large pile of fire wood in the front off again, leaving me with my eight classyard or a weather-beaten snowmobile mates and two instructors, alone in a patiently awaiting winter—were seldom white basin of snow with imposing walls seen; instead, the landscape consisted of of rock surrounding us. vast tracts of dense, uninterrupted forest, For the next six days there was no night. with a backdrop of towering white mounIn the land of the eternal sun, I immersed tains that seemed to grow in stature with myself in an intense and challenging each new mile. mountaineering course, which brought me Upon arriving in the small village of to the top of several of the surrounding Talkeetna and finding my way to Alaska peaks, across crevasse-laden glaciers, down Mountaineering School, I learned quickly into the dark and chilling depths of those that I was in for an adventure. The crevasses, and left me huddled in my instructors’ sun-baked, wind-torn faces sleeping bag each night trying to recuperinstantly alerted me to the fact that where ate for the next day’s experience. During I would be going would be a far cry from these six grueling days, I was forced to –5–
push myself beyond my comfort level day in and day out, as I learned to practically implement a full set of mountaineering skills—skills which will serve me well as an instructor in the RKMP Winter Mountaineering Program at Berkshire School. Though the conditions were extreme and the lessons were long, intense, and physically and mentally demanding, I never once felt run down by the experience; in fact, it was quite the opposite: my energy level seemed to increase as did my motivation over the course of the week. Moreover, my mind was fresh, alert, and full of new ideas. When the plane came to pick us up, I was filled with mixed emotions. Part of me wanted to stay longer and experience more of the wild, but the other part of me was ready to return home, where I knew the living was easy—a warm and comfortable bed, a plentiful supply of food, a full bathroom with shower and toilet, a couch and television, and fresh clothes. As the plane flew out from the glacier and crested the peaks of the surrounding mountains, I looked back at the tiny dot that was our campsite on the otherwise uninterrupted tract of white, closed my eyes, and drifted into a pleasant sleep, knowing that I had answered the call of the wild.
From left: Peter Quilty, Dean of Students; Clay Splawn; Julio Morales ’11 of Piscatway, New Jersey; and Matt Ward ’10.
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Berkshire Birding Club By Clay Splawn, History Department Chair, Philosophy Teacher
The Berkshire School campus is home, at various times during the year, to over forty species of birds. They range from the everyday regulars (northern cardinals, American robins, tufted titmice, and black-capped chickadees) to the occasional visitors (belted kingfishers, white-crowned sparrows, barred owls, and pileated woodpeckers). No matter how great their frequency, however, if you’re not actively looking (or listening) for them, you almost certainly won’t see them. Enter the newly hatched Berkshire Birding Club. The RKMP this year is sponsoring the new club to encourage interested community members to explore their world and to learn more about the feathered friends that share our home. The club hopes to sponsor
a couple of on-campus strolls plus add in as many as two or three off-campus bird walks. Key to the success of the new club will be its student leader, Matt Ward ’10 of Lake Forest, Illinois. Matt’s passion for birds will be a driving engine to encourage student involvement. He has wanted to do something for a while, and I’m pleased that we’ve finally got his idea off the ground. And while bird watching is probably not at the top of most teenagers’ list of things to do, it certainly appeals, or could appeal, to the many students who have a love for the outdoors. Since I took up the sport myself about four years ago, it has enriched my walks through the woods and, indeed, my strolls to Berkshire Hall for
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that 8:00 a.m. class. As I write this, in mid-September, the black-throated green warblers, whose distinctive zayzay-zay-zoo-zee fills the woods and surrounding areas of campus during the late spring and summer months, have gone away. But other species remain, including the beautiful cedar waxwing. Unlike the black-throated green’s obvious loud song, the cedars offer a more subtle, almost insect-like, call. If you don’t know it, you probably wouldn’t even notice it. So even though dozens of cedars call Berkshire home, a very small percentage of human beings that make their home here have ever even seen one. That’s a shame, and it’s what the Berkshire Birding Club hopes, in part, to remedy.
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Berkshire School Fly Fishing Club Joins RKMP By Bill Bullock, Assistant Director of Admission, History Teacher
Like native brook trout rising to delicate mayflies floating on Berkshire County’s Green River, twenty-eight students rose to the opportunity to form the Berkshire School Fly Fishing Club. With self descriptions ranging from “fly fishing maniac” to “I’ve always wanted to try,” this group of students is excited to enter a world where sport, nature and conservation intersect. At our inaugural meeting, the group plotted out the following goals for the 2008-2009 school year: • Plan monthly outings to local rivers and streams to test out skills against the wily trout of Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut • Work with local conservation organizations like Trout Unlimited and the Berkshire Fly Fishers to identify a worthy stream enhancement project that will benefit native cold water species • Develop a fly tying program where the club will meet as a group and share techniques for developing fly patterns to use on our local outings • Practice our fly casting with casting demonstrations and instruction for novice and experienced anglers • Plan a weekend fly fishing outing in the spring of 2009 to a wilderness setting in the Northeast
Matt Steiner ’12 with brown trout he released
The second Mountain Day trip included (L to R) Eric Zahn ’11 of Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, Matt Steiner ’12, Tyler Cline ’12, Dakota Richardson ’10 of Stamford, Connecticut and Scot McMillan ’11 of Salisbury, Connecticut.
John Stout ’09 from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, and Christopher “Kit” Landry ’10 from Wilton, Connecticut, had the idea to start the program. They are both avid fly fishermen who wanted to explore the renowned trout waters of the Berkshires. The idea to form the group came on a
Eric Zahn ’11 fishing for trout in the Housatonic River
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Sunday morning outing last spring to the Housatonic River near Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut. The Berkshire School Fly Fishing Club has had two outings so far in 2008. Our first trip visited the storied waters of the Upper Farmington River near the Riverton Dam, where Sam Heller ’09 of Cooperstown, New York, and Tyler Cline ’12 of Tuxedo Park, New York, spent a beautiful Sunday in October trying to land a migrating fall brown trout. Our second trip, on our Mountain Day in early November, found a group of five determined anglers fishing the Housatonic near Cornwall Bridge. Despite high waters from recent storms, we hooked several fish and Matt Steiner ’12 from Hillsdale, New York, caught and released a beautiful brown trout. Our club is anxiously awaiting another pleasant November or December Sunday to squeeze in one last day of fly fishing before winter sets in.
Forest Ecology
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an interesting twist, the instructor is a professor at the University of Maine and was a high school classmate of Tom Wessels. At the start of school this fall there were six students enrolled in this new offering, and within a few weeks the number had grown to ten. The course began with a unit on dendrology, which essentially involved spending a few weeks learning how to identify trees by their leaves, fruit, bark, twigs, and shape. Given that there are almost fifty species found on Mt. Everett, this was not an easy task, but the students accepted the challenge enthusiastically. In addition to knowing common names, the students learned each tree’s scientific name (genus and species) as well as family names. Most class time is spent in the woods with specific sites providing the “lecture” for the day. Students have not only been learning the natural history of trees, but also of other flora and fauna unique to the New England forests. Two
of the textbooks for the course are Peterson’s Guide to New England Forests and Peterson’s Guide to Eastern Trees; another book I selected for the course is Wessels’s book. Much of our field work recently has involved “wesseling,” a term that my fellow College of the Atlantic classmates and I came up with this summer as we attempted to understand the history of the forest surrounding Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. Berkshire students have studied the old stone walls that weave their way through the woods behind the school buildings. They examined old tree stumps, deciding whether they were hardwood or softwood as well as determining how long ago they were cut. The budding (ahhh… pun intended) forest ecologists have also been learning forest surveying techniques, which include determining a tree’s height, dbh (diameter at breast height), and basal area. They have been able to determine the forest composition at various locations and compared their results with work that Mr. Barros’ students have already completed.
This information can be found on the school’s Web site by going to the Environmental Stewardship page and looking at the Watershed Study Areas page. Also included in the course are units on forest pathology, which include discussion of damaging infestations like chestnut blight, gypsy moth defoliation, the hemlock woolly adelgid, and Dutch elm disease. While the main focus of the course is the Eastern deciduous forest in which the Berkshires are located, students will take “virtual” tours of other major forest communities found in the United States and around the world. Student comments have been positive. George Torsilieri ’10 of Princeton, New Jersey, states, “I like that I get to spend time outside and being able to know the names of a lot of the trees that I see.” Rupert Norris ’10 of Alford, Massachusetts, writes, “It’s fun to be able go outside and learn in the woods instead of learning in a classroom all the time.” Nick Hazenberg ’09 of New York City says, “The class is great because we get to be outdoors and experience the mountain.”
The Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program 2008-2009 staff and offerings: Frank Barros, rock climbing, ropes course, mountain biking and coordinator of Beyond the Mountain program (domestic and international wilderness trips).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bill Bullock, kayaking, fly fishing
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Thank you to the donors who have given to the RKMP endowment on behalf of all the students who have bene fited from their generosity.
Mike Dalton, back country skills, ropes course
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kate Garbutt, rock climbing, winter mountaineering
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Giles, boat building, ropes course
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jesus Ibanez, kayaking, ropes course
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jon Moodey, winter mountaineering
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Yaverbaum, back country skills
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Visit www.berkshireschool.org to learn more about the RKMP; click program’s button on the home page or subscribe to RSS feeds in the RKMP News section.
Frank Barros taking in all of Machu Picchu