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By ELIZACETH DAN'EL
P ACK looked back at me as he pulled himself along the
j cave floor and said "I was tired of sex, drugs and
jj technology so I decided to try Outward Bound." ...
Thousands of people each year subject themselves to this
three-week experience called Outward Bound that places
them in sometime dangerous and often exhausting
circumstances without the comforts of civilization.
Some of the Outward " Bound students, like J ack, are
looking for something besides drugs and sex to excite them. A
lot of the students enroll in the course to "find themselves"
and to help solve personal problems. Many more go on in
search of an adult camp, a place to get some exercise in the
outdoors. And, still more go to test themselves. They are
looking for a challenge.
"We have to stay out here in the cold and do all sorts of
climbing and camping," Jani, a 19-year-old from Iowa said.
"Sometimes it's really scary and if you're not in great shape
it's tiring.-1 just wanted to see if I could do it."
Whatever their reasons are they come. Over 900 students
participated in the courses offered by the North Carolina
Outward Bound School (NCOBS in Outward Bound lingo) in
1980. The North Carolina school, one of seven Outward
Bound schools in the United States, is located at the base of
Table Rock mountain outside Morganton, and has another,
camp at Creen Cove in Tennessee.
The standard 23-day winter course, at Table Rock, titled
"Winter Mountain Wilderness" in the brochure, focuses on
backpacking and camping and includes intensive sections on
rock climbing, caving and ropework. .
For two days I followed two crews trying to understand
what they were experiencing. '
Most of the activities involve a great deal of physical stress
but both students and instructors have said that it is the
combination of learning to cope with one's own stress and of
the other crew members that makes the course such a unique
experience. From the first day of the course until the last, the
crew is together 24 hours everyday, except for the solo, a
three day period when the student is alone with minimal food
and equipment in a secluded area. ,
Some students have said they know, their crew members
better than they had known anyone else in their life. "This
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Weekender, January 22, 1981
group has gotten so close," said jack who worKea at x
television station in Spartanburg, S.C.
"I do things in front ot them, and that means the women
too, that I wouldn't do in front of anybody else. And, it's
cool."
m HEN I caught up with my first crew in Worley's
A cave, outside Bristol, Te'on. they " had been
together a little longer than a week and were
preparing to make a three day venture into a cave. For them,
the 55 degree cave would be a relief from the freezing
weather they had been in all week.
The crew dumped all their gear at the mouth of the cave
and the two instructors gave them a general itinerary and
instructions on using the carbide lamps.
They would travel into the cave, set up base camp, where
they would sleep for two nights, "and then they would begin
exploring the cave, the instuctors said. Also, the cave was
fairly warm so they did hot need much clothing, perhaps only
a sweater and coveralls, they said.
At that, the crew, four women and four men, began peeling
off their five layers of clothing and pulling on .their coveralls.
Just as Jack had said, there was no bashfulness. One of the
guys stepped out to the mouth the cave and used the "
j bathroom.
Though I was only with the crew for about five hours, I was
able to see that they did work together as a team. As we
. traveled back into the cave they regularly rotated the heavy
loads and checked up on the slower members. No one argued
or complained.
The crew trudged for more than an hour, with 60 pound
packs, water and a' litter, over the slippery' rocks and
sometimes crawling when ceiling was too low for them to
stand upright. . ;
One. man, Bruce, quickly assumed leadership of the crew,
directing the rest and watching over them. No one questioned
his judgements as they followed him back into the cave's
darkness.' 'y--7';- ' "' ' ':
The first crew varied greatly in ability with some of its
members always lagging far behind. But regardless of the
struggle, as some of the weaker members ran to keep up and
the stronger went painfully slow, the group was very
congenial and seemed pleased with the course. They never
complained, always had their equipment ready and helped
each other readily their crew morale was almost too high:
The crews are not always so optimistic about the course.
Many times during the courses the students want to quit and
go home. . .
D joined my second crew early the next morning, alter a
restless night of sleeping outside in temperatures
below zero. They were, on the average, about 10
years younger than the first crew and not at all happy with
the course.
When I met most of them, they were huddled around the
stove in the dining hall, complaining about the weather and
having to go out. Several of the crew members had been sick
the day before so the crew Was in base camp and had missed
its first day of rock climbing. '
This crew did not have a leader as the first crew did. Their
decisions were together, they acted together and certainly
complained together.
Everyone of the eight members was saying it was too cold
and that it would be ridiculous for them to go outside.
"The "winter session is just that much more difficult
because of the cold," one of the instructors said. "It adds an
incredible amount of natural stress to the stresses that are
built into the course."
When I looked at the crew huddled around the stove after
sleeping several nights in the sub-zero temperatures, I
thought I could see that stress working. According to the
Outward Bound philosophy, that stress is supposed to bring
the group together and that crew was certainty close, even if
they did hate the program at the time.
"I understand how they want us to rough it, but for the
$900 we pay, we could at least have some heat," said Laura, a
dancer from the New York School of Performing Arts. "This
is just ridiculous to have to sleep out here night after night"
As the crew pulled closer to the stove, they traded a
thermometer and tried to prove they were still sick.
Vann. a student from Niceville, Fla., looked at the
thermometer and said, "Damn, it's right there, normal on the
dot." He then glanced around the cabin. The instructors had
left. Vann lifted the top from a pan of water on the stove and
stuck the thermometer in.
. "Shit. It busted," he said, trying to keep the staff from
noticing. The rest of the crew just laughed and consoled for
his failure. He quickly hid the broken thermometer in the first
aid kit. . 0
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An IKE, a college sophomore from Tampa, Fla., said
I after he noticed he did not have a fever either," I
L wish everybody were sick today so we wouldn't
have to go out."
After the instructors returned and found the crew still
bunched around the stove, they were disgusted. .
"What do you think you're out her for, just to sit around
the heater and get warm? Most of you don't have all the stuff
we talked about getting last night. I just don't believe it. Now,
get ready," one of the instructor said.
When the crew finally started moving, the differences
between the first crew and the second were obvious. The first
was strictly divided into leaders and followers, but his crew
worked together as one unit,
When one crew member had forgotten to pack a rope and
others had remembered, the entire crew acted as if they aN
had forgotten.
The cold weather had severly limited the crew's activities.
The crew would miss the usual rock climbing expedition and
work' on rappeling and belaying. The rappeling, which
involves descending a cliff with a system of ropes, would be
limited to 30 and 40 feet because of the cold.
Once the crew got outside and began learning the belaying
skills, their attitude became more positive. All but one of the
crewmembers learned the skills quickly.
-The belayer is responsible for catching the student who
rappels. One student would pretend to fall so the belayer
could learn to catch him.
When the crew moved up the mountain to begin rappeling,
the trust that had arisen among the members became a
noticeable factor. If the climber made a mistake while he was
rappeling and could not catch himself, it was the
responsibility of the belayer to catch him. Though each of
them had just. learned to belay and none had rappeled
before, most, perhaps even all, of the crew members had
great confidence in their belayers.
They worked together getting the equipment set up and
helping each other tie knots in their ropes. No one took
charge. They just got the job done.
The entire crew watched as the first student began his
,rappel At first he gripped the rock nervously, then he slid
down the side. He ran up the side of the mountain shouting
about how great rappeling was and the rest of the crew
cheered htm on.
When it came my turn to go, several of the students
huddled over me helping me tie the various knots on my
saddle seat and pull my
shaking as I backed over
belayer, who had my lif(
high school student fror
the belaying techniques
didn't trust myself to be
mrm HE first step was I
j ladder, to a rath
J gripping the roc
hands were and inexperi
the ropes, myself or my
Several crew member:
ledge shouting encourag
"Just lean back and
members, an experience'
"I don't think I can si
weak," I yelled back. I b
up the rock. I could hand
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"There isn't any pressu
try it."
Questioning my sanity
ledge. There was no pres
rope and ea'sily glided do
the crew cheered me for
The crew worked on t
headed over to do a short
This crew had already d
would go on two more b
day solo before the end.
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Grandfather Mountain, or!
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During this expedition tt
minor roJe to prepare th;
which the instructors wot!
In between the two ex J
their solo. He can do an,1
during the course when t i
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According to the Out-;
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Outward Bound such a rt