SSRA Courses

Beginning Skiing

1 credit

Learn how to downhill ski in this six week course. Spend the first six Fridays of the winter/spring semester traveling to Bluewood Ski Area one hour away in the Blue Mountains where you’ll take a one hour lesson from a professional instructor, then you’ll have an hour and a half to practice your skills skiing or snowboarding on your own. This is a great opportunity to learn what could become a lifelong skill of skiing or snowboarding, while getting off campus into the winter wonderland of the blue Mountains! Includes an activity fee that covers transportation, instruction, cold weather clothing and accessories, lift ticket, and rentals.

Beginning Snowboarding

1 credit

Learn how to snowboard in this six week course. Spend the first six Fridays of the winter/spring semester traveling to Bluewood Ski Area one hour away in the Blue Mountains where you’ll take a one hour lesson from a professional instructor, then you’ll have an hour and a half to practice your skills skiing or snowboarding on your own. This is a great opportunity to learn what could become a lifelong skill of skiing or snowboarding, while getting off campus into the winter wonderland of the blue Mountains! Includes an activity fee that covers transportation, instruction, cold weather clothing and accessories, lift ticket, and rentals.

Beginning Mountain Biking

1 credit

The goals of the Mountain Biking: Beginning Riding, Maintenance and Repair class are: 1.) To give students the skills and experience needed to become competent beginning to intermediate mountain bike riders through instruction on campus, at Bennington Lake, and on 1-2 weekend day long trips to mountain biking destinations within 60-90 minutes of campus. There will be a strong emphasis on safety, including bike sizing/fit, proper helmet fit, and gloves, as well as risk management. This will include accessing the terrain to make appropriate decisions about what and how to ride through features, or to walk. Instruction will be given and skills will be practiced in a progressive format so as to build a strong foundation of the basics before moving on to more difficult objectives. 2.) To provide a basic understanding of mountain bike maintenance and common repairs through instruction, demonstration, and hands on practice with mountain bikes at the OP Bike Shop. A few of the topics included will be bike history and development over time, and practical skills including proper cleaning and regular maintenance, fixing a flat tire, changing a tire, adjusting brakes and shifting/derailleur cables, fixing a broken chain, and potentially looking at bearing systems in hubs, bottom brackets, pedals, and headsets if interest and time allow. Logistics: This class will be held once/week for 2 hours each. This will allow enough time to go mountain biking at Bennington Lake with transportation provided from campus to the lake. There will also be 1-2 full day bike trips in order to reach better mountain bike riding options, within 60-90 minutes of campus. Gear: Outdoor Program mountain bikes/helmets/gloves will be provided for the students enrolled in this course. There are currently 8 mountain bikes that the Outdoor Program owns that can be used by students. Students may provide their own mountain bike at the discretion of the instructor.

Beginning Indoor Rock Climbing

1 credit

Learn the basics of rock climbing in our indoor rock-climbing facility. Focus will be on learning to use harnesses, belay devices, and ropes. You will learn how to belay, climb, and be lowered. This is a great introduction to indoor rock climbing for first time climbers.

Beginning Whitewater Kayaking

1 credit

A course designed for individuals interested in receiving an introduction to the sport of whitewater kayaking. The skills covered will be mostly pool-based, and will include basic kayak strokes, self-rescue methods, and basic risk management in a whitewater setting. The course will include a mandatory, full weekend field trip to a local river with class I-III rapids. Students should feel comfortable in water and with swimming while wearing a life jacket.

Beginning Camping Skills

1 credit

An introductory course for students interested in learning more about camping. The basic skills of what to bring, selecting a camping spot, setting up camp, knot tying, backcountry cooking, treating water, fire building, map reading, basic gear repair and "Leave No Trace" practices will be included. In addition to regular weekly meetings there will be a weekend trip included.

Intermediate Skiing

1 credit

Learn how to downhill ski in this six week course. Spend the first six Fridays of the winter/spring semester traveling to Bluewood Ski Area one hour away in the Blue Mountains where you’ll take a one hour lesson from a professional instructor, then you’ll have an hour and a half to practice your skills skiing or snowboarding on your own. This is a great opportunity to learn what could become a lifelong skill of skiing or snowboarding, while getting off campus into the winter wonderland of the blue Mountains! Includes an activity fee that covers transportation, instruction, cold weather clothing and accessories, lift ticket, and rentals

Intermediate Snowboarding

1 credit

Learn how to snowboard in this six week course. Spend the first six Fridays of the winter/spring semester traveling to Bluewood Ski Area one hour away in the Blue Mountains where you’ll take a one hour lesson from a professional instructor, then you’ll have an hour and a half to practice your skills skiing or snowboarding on your own. This is a great opportunity to learn what could become a lifelong skill of skiing or snowboarding, while getting off campus into the winter wonderland of the blue Mountains! Includes an activity fee that covers transportation, instruction, cold weather clothing and accessories, lift ticket, and rentals

Intermediate Indoor Rock Climbing

1 credit

Building on beginning climbing, students will learn how to use more advance techniques to learn how to climb, lead climb, and repel.

Wilderness First Aid

1 credit

Prepare for the unexpected with this engaging, hands-on introduction to wilderness medicine, taught over two or two and a half days. If you like to take short trips relatively close to medical resources, work at wilderness camps, enjoy weekend family outdoor activities, or recreate outdoors, this course is for you. This course is great for people of all experience levels, and is best suited for those who recreate outdoors where EMS response can be expected in a timely manner (fewer than eight hours). You'll learn the Patient Assessment System, how to provide effective first aid treatments for injuries and illnesses common in the outdoors, and how to make appropriate evacuation decisions. You'll learn both in the classroom and in outdoor settings regardless of weather, so come prepared for wet, muddy, cold or hot environments! You will receive a Wilderness First Aid Certification from the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) upon successful completion of this course.

Wilderness First Responder

2 credits

This Wilderness First Responder course is a nationally recognized course that trains participants to respond to emergencies in remote settings. The 80-hour curriculum includes standards for urban and extended care situations. Special topics include but are not limited to wound management and infection, realigning fractures and dislocations, improvised splinting techniques, patient monitoring and long-term management problems, plus up-to-date information on all environmental emergencies along with advice on drug therapies. Emphasis is placed on prevention and decision making, not the memorization of lists. Upon successful completion of practical and written exams a two-year WMI of NOLS Wilderness First Responder certification and a two-year Adult Heartsaver CPR certification will be issued.

Climbing Wall Instructor

1 credit

This course provides instructors and potential instructors with an in-depth and standardized understanding of the skills essential to teaching climbing in an indoor setting. It is the first step in a sequential approach to professional climbing instructor development. The course reinforces the importance of teaching technically accurate information and debunks many common climbing myths. The course emphasizes the presentation of sound fundamental skills to climbing gym participants, the use of deliberate and effective instructional methods, the formation of risk assessment and risk management skills and basic problem-solving skills such as belay transitions and on-wall coaching and assist techniques. Participants will be assessed on both their core knowledge and their ability to effectively teach and coach related skills. 

Climbing Movement & Technique

1 credit

This course is intended for current climbers interested in improving their movement skills and technique. This course will have a heavy bouldering and movement emphasis but will do some roped climbing as well. Attention will be given to both footwork and hand and arm techniques. Advanced movement skills such as crack climbing, off width technique, knee bars, drop knee, flagging, monkey hangs, and much, much more will be covered along with taping and injury prevention techniques. 

Route Setting for Climbing

1 credit

This course is intended for climbers interested in learning how to do effective route setting. There is a lot to good route setting and this course will cover risk management and safety concerns with route setting along with artistic elements. This course will have a heavy bouldering route setting emphasis but will cover how to do vertical route setting as well. Attention will be given to route setting so as to reduce the likelihood of athletic injuries and overuse injuries. Hold types, frequency and locations for holds to reduce and prevent certain common overuse or athletic climbing injuries with be covered. 

Outdoor Sport Climber

1 credit

This course is intended to build upon the skills developed in the Intermediate climbing class and prepare students to lead climb single pitch bolted sport routes outdoors. Anchor building, cleaning & rappelling, with a variety of techniques and materials will be covered. Site and equipment considerations, risk management and additional lead climbing techniques will be covered.

River Guide Leadership

2 credit

A course designed for individuals interested in developing the technical skills, leadership skills and theoretical foundations for leading trips in a dynamic river environment. The skills and theories covered will be directed toward trip planning, risk management, hazard awareness and avoidance, legal implications, hard and soft skill development, conflict resolution, leave no trace, river hydrology, rescue skills, leadership techniques, multiday trips, rigging, and group management techniques. Skills for paddle rafts and oar rigs will be the focus of this course but management of other whitewater crafts such as kayaks may be discussed. A willingness to camp and swim in cold conditions are the only prerequisites.

Outdoor Leadership

2 credits

A course designed for individuals who are interested in leading or organizing adventure trips. The skills and theory covered will be directed toward backpacking and snow camping adventures, food planning, legal implications of leadership, hazard awareness and avoidance, navigation, emergency response, and minimum impact camping. A Spring Break outing will be coupled with classroom studies. Appropriate for first and second year students who would like to start leading trips for the program.

Beginning Flat-Water Kayaking

1 credit

This is an introductory kayak course for first time kayakers. Most of the time will be spent in the pool, but there is also an outdoor kayaking field trip.

Glacier Mountaineering

2 credits

The goal of this course is to learn the basics of glacier travel and mountaineering so that the participant becomes a competent group member capable of participating in trips with other skilled individuals. Some of the skills that will be covered include: knots and rope handling, belaying, protection placement and anchor building, hazard evaluation, ice axe use, self-arrest, technical snow and ice climbing, crampon use, snow and ice anchors, fourth class climbing techniques, peak ascents, roped glacier travel, crevasse rescue, fixed line ascension & snow camping techniques. The primary class requirement is participation in the class weekend trips. This course is limited to 9 students for risk management and permitting reasons. Offered every other year.

Swift Water Rescue

1 credit

The course is intended for guides, recreational kayakers and rafters and other river professionals. This course will combine skills from Lifeguard training, kayak instructor training, raft guide training and skills outlined by the ACA (American Canoe Association) and NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership school). The goal is to foster increased safety through the development of skills, knowledge and experience. This course will create a theoretical and practical experience that will enable boaters to be better prepared and equipped as a rescuer in the swift water environment. Classroom sessions will be complemented by practical “on water” exercises. The course will focus on throw ropes, safety vests, foot entrapment/ vertical pin scenarios, knots, anchors, mechanical advantage systems (i.e. z-drags and pig rigs), the reach system, as well as wading rescues, boat based rescue (kayak/raft), and other related theories and ideas.

Intermediate Kayaking

1 credit

Building on beginning whitewater kayaking, refine paddle strokes, build confidence in your roll, and get out and paddle on outdoor rivers with multiple field trips.

Traditional Climbing

1 credit

Traditional (or trad) climbing, is a style of rock climbing in which a climber or group of climbers place all gear required to protect against falls, and remove it when a pitch is complete. This course is intended to teach students how to place trad gear, build trad anchors and lead climb while placing that gear.

Winter Mountaineering Skills

1 credit

This course is designed for individuals interested in developing winter camping and cold weather survival skills. Snow shelter construction, extreme weather dressing and equipment, snow kitchens, winter camping, snowshoeing, snowpack and weather assessment, trip planning, risk management and mitigation techniques to be covered. This course is to be mainly taught over one long weekend trip. Extremely useful for individuals interested in pursuing glaciated mountaineering, multi-day winter activities or pushing their skill base to better handle camping in harsh weather.

Canoe Guide Leadership

2 credit

A course designed for individuals interested in developing the technical skills, leadership skills and theoretical foundations for leading canoe trips in a dynamic outdoor environment. The skills and theories covered will be directed toward trip planning, risk management, hazard awareness and avoidance, travel skills, rescue procedures, boat-handling skills, leadership, hard and soft skill development, conflict resolution, leave no trace practices, navigation, multi-day trips and group management. A willingness to camp and swim in cold conditions are the only prerequisites.

Sea Kayak Guide Leadership

2 credit

A course designed for individuals interested in developing the technical skills, leadership skills, seamanship skills and theoretical foundations for leading kayak-touring trips in both ocean and inland water environments. The skills and theories covered will be directed toward safety and risk management, travel skills, rescue procedures, boat-handling skills, leadership, hard and soft skill development, conflict resolution, leave no trace practices, expedition planning, navigation and group management. This course will alternate between being offered locally and being offered in more distant locations so as to provide different teaching environments and different economic choice.

Improvised Rock Rescue Systems

1 credit

This course is designed to train skilled lead climbers in improvised self-rescue systems for technical rock climbing. It is useful for both single pitch and multi-pitch climbers. It is especially useful for instructors and advanced climbers to help them both analyze and mitigate potential hazards and problems. It also will enable them to initiate self-rescue through a variety of tried and true systems that can be combined and used in various ways. Ascension systems, escaping the belay, passing a knot, lowering systems, raising systems, counterbalance rappels, assisted rappels and other rescue concepts will be covered.

Wilderness Expedition: Sea Kayaking

1 credit

A course designed for individuals interested in developing wilderness expedition skills in a variety of skill areas. The skills and theories covered will be directed toward trip planning, risk management, hazard awareness evaluation and avoidance, hard and soft skill development, conflict resolution, leave no trace, rescue skills, leadership techniques, multiday trips, rigging, and group management techniques. Sea kayaking, glacier mountaineering, backcountry skiing, whitewater boating and backpacking are the types of expeditions that will be offered, and these topics will rotate from year to year. This class will involve preparation classes at Whitman before going on the expedition, which will run for one or two weeks and will normally occur during Spring Break but could occur during other breaks on some years.

Advanced Kayaking: Whitewater Kayak Instructor

2 credit

This course trains students to be whitewater kayak instructors and offers the opportunity for students to earn a nationally recognized certification with the American Canoe Association. The course will teach students about advanced paddle strokes and boat maneuvering, kayak curriculum progression, supporting a positive learning environment, managing participants in dynamic river environments and some basic rescue and assist techniques.

Advanced Climbing: Single Pitch Instructor Course

3 credit

This course is designed for strong climbers interested in becoming climbing instructors and managing an institutional single pitch climbing site. Emphasis will be on developing an awareness of liability concerns and how to mitigate risk. Topics that will be covered include: movement on rock, knots and rope systems, anchors, protection placement, rappelling, belaying, lead climbing, following, single pitch rescue techniques, teaching techniques, route setting and climbing wall management.