Outward Bound traces roots to Marble

More than 40 years ago, the first Outward Bound base camp in the United States opened in the tiny town of Marble.

Today, the lodge and cabins still stand near the Elk Mountains, and despite a two-year hiatus, students will again explore the wilderness at the camp in 2005.

"The history is just amazing," said Henry Florschutz, the 25-year director of facilities and capital improvements for Outward Bound West. "You go up there, you can feel the history of Colorado, and you can sense it's so peaceful."

Outward Bound, a wilderness education organization, uses outdoor expeditions to inspire leadership, responsibility and environmental awareness in young adults. Since 1961, the organization has grown to four wilderness schools, two urban centers and a secondary-school reform program throughout the country. In 2003, the Pacific Crest School, based in Portland, and the Colorado School, based in Golden, merged to form Outward Bound West, the organization's largest school.

As a result of the merger, the historic Marble location, founded in 1961, did not hold classes in 2002 and 2003 as decisions were made as to whether the Leadville camp would be a more efficient base. Avalanche Ranch, a resort based in Redstone, made arrangements with Outward Bound to rent out Marble's main lodge to guests during the summer of 2004. But in 2005, classes will begin again, Florschutz said.

Despite 40 years of population growth and overall change throughout the valley, the 45 acres of the Marble camp and the town of Marble have remained relatively untouched, still looking as they did in the early 1960s, Florschutz said.

"It's very classic Colorado," he said. "The town of Marble is just a gem, which has not really changed like the rest of the valley."

In the early 1960s, when Outward Bound was still growing and defining itself as an outdoor learning experience, few people hiked Marble's nearby mountain areas, such as Lead King Basin. The students became the primary recreationists in the area, giving them more of an intense wilderness experience, Florschutz said.

The organization held 28-day courses in the 1960s, with students embarking on short trips from the Marble base camp into the surrounding Elk Mountains and Maroon Bells wilderness. During the courses, students hiked, mountaineered and rock climbed - all while testing their limits and discovering ways to work together.

David Bachman, a summer Outward Bound instructor in 1963, remembers the boys - co-ed courses did not yet exist - ages 15 to 21, whom he taught during the 28-day courses. In 1963, all of the structures at the base camp had not been built, and so often students and instructors camped in tents on wooden platforms, which added to the adventure, Bachman said.

A diverse group of teenagers came from all over the nation and from all kinds of homes to participate in the four-week, often strenuous, outdoor workshops. Bachman organized outdoor survival sessions, such as rescuing a person in simulated mine disasters and fighting forest fires, which Bachman made authentic by creating small fires in safe areas.

Seeing the transformation of the students from people who may have never spent time outdoors to working fluidly as a team in the wilderness inspired Bachman, who is now a retired high school counselor living in Cañon City.

"They didn't know a whole lot about themselves yet," Bachman said. "These experiences helped to bring out their good qualities, even those who have had a colorful or negative family life."

For example, one troubled student from New York City who had never stepped foot outside of the city was "scared to death of mountains," Bachman said. But his Outward Bound experience led him to become a youth leader when he returned to New York, he said.

By the 1980s, Outward Bound offered two courses at the Marble base camp: an 18-day course for 14- to 15-year-olds and a 23-day course for students 16 and older, said Dale Whyte, course director for the base camp in the 1980s and now program director for Outward Bound West.

"A lot of people hold Marble dear to their heart because it's so spectacular and it's the first one," said Whyte, who led expeditions into the Elk Mountains during her years in Marble.

Slowly, the traditional base camp model of taking students on short journeys gave way to a rise in mobile expeditions, where instructors started "capitalizing on the vast wilderness resources," surrounding Marble, Whyte said. Groups began to venture further into the nearby forests, staying away from the base camp longer.

Taking a group of teenagers to the top of Snowmass Peak, a fourteener, and seeing the students' joy and awe stands out in Whyte's memory, she said.

"The purpose of Outward Bound is to ignite human potential," she said. "It's a joy and a privilege to witness people growing and learning and expanding their horizons and enjoyment of the outdoors."

Outward Bound was founded in Wales in 1941 by Kurt Hahn, who believed that moral development should accompany academic learning. Hahn spread his ideas of experiential education throughout Europe, and in the 1950s, Josh Miner, an American, began the process of bringing Outward Bound to the United States.

Outward Bound has boomed since then: The national organization now offers 750 courses throughout the country, from sea kayaking in Washington to hiking in Minnesota, and Outward Bound West led 149 courses in 2004. The organization offers classes for a wide array of people, from 12-year-olds to adults, with a focus on ages 16 to 22.

But the Marble base camp, where everything started, still remains tucked away in an aspen grove, still influencing new students to expand their knowledge of the environment. Bachman said he wants to see more outdoor learning in school curricula, after seeing what Outward Bound can do for youth.

"You can learn something from any situation if you come into it with the right attitude," he said.



Contact Christine Dell'Amore: 945-8515, ext. 535

cdellamore@postindependent.com