Sea to Summit eVent® Compression Dry Sacks

When things don’t just go right, means perfect product testing time; In this case a march Grand Canyon raft trip. (See Thank Heaven for SD last week) March, high in the 80’s low in 50’s from obviously a broken thermometer. In 18 days we never saw 80’s and some days we barely saw the 50’s. It rained and it snowed on my sandaled toes. But that is great weather for testing product.

I took three Sea to Summit
eVent® Compression Dry Sacks with me. These stuff sacks are extremely light weight, 5.9 oz for a large one and they work. I took a large Sierra Designs® Wild Bill 20⁰ Extra Long sleeping bag (Which is another story!) and put it in a large Dry Sack. The sack worked. It compressed the bag down to a small size (8″ x 9″ round), easily and kept the bag from getting wet.

But that is not the real test. I also put a wet tent into a medium stuff sack. Five days later I used the tent again and I pulled it out of the stuff sack dry. No mildew no water a dry tent. The eVent® compression sack had compressed the tent to a small bag, and allowed the water vapor to escape.

Stuff sack looks like any other stuff sack till you look at the opening. Instead of a drawstring there is a roll down closure to seal water out. The eVent bottom allows air to escape as the bag is compressed.

Features of the eVent® Stuff Sack from the website are:

• Unique compression idea – allows air to be pushed out to compress, but water can’t get in because of the waterproof, air permeable eVent® fabric base
• Rugged 100 D nylon body & lid
• Waterproof seams – double stitched and tape sealed
• Roll top Hypalon™ closure with lid and 4 straps evenly compresses and maintains compressed size
• Reinforced stitching on all stress points
• Pull handle on the bottom
• Super compact and very light

Thanks Sea to Summit

Position available as Risk Manger at East Coast Resorts

Come join the Peak Resorts Family as our Eastern Resorts Risk Manager.

Peak Resorts is known as an innovator and a technological leader in the ski resort industry. Help us continue to promote a culture of safety for our staff and guests at our four eastern resorts, Mount Snow, Attitash, Crotched Mountain and Jack Frost Big Boulder. You will manage and coordinate the workers’ compensation program including managing claims and identifying loss control measures that could prevent or reduce frequency/severity of claims. You will minimize risk exposures for guests and employees through communication, education and training.  You will chair the safety committee and develop or improve policies and procedures. Qualifications include a minimum five years of safety/risk management experience, general liability knowledge, incident investigation experience, knowledge of OSHA regulations, workers’ compensation and excellent ski/snowboard ability. A degree in a related field, significant professional training and experience is preferred. Excellent communication and consensus-building skills are necessary.  Requires significant travel, excellent time-management skills and detail focus. Requires an ability and willingness to perform various jobs indoors and outdoors requiring various levels of physical ability, including strenuous work on-mountain in harsh conditions. Proficiency in Word, Excel and PowerPoint necessary. EMT/CPR/First Aid certification desirable. Apply online at www.Mountsnow.com (Employment Section). Peak Resorts values a diverse workforce and is an equal opportunity employer.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

2009 AORE RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM – 5^th Anniversary

At the 23^rd Annual

Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education Conference

Minneapolis, MN, November 5-7, 2009

ABSTRACTS DUE: Monday, May 4, 2009 to Raymond Poff at raymond.poff@wku.edu

Abstracts are now being accepted for the 2009 AORE Research Symposium, the 5^th anniversary of the event. The symposium provides an international forum for scholarly exchange relevant to outdoor recreation, education, and leadership. Abstracts should present quantitative and/or qualitative research findings -or- conceptual/theoretical discussions pertaining to outdoor recreation, education, or leadership techniques and methods; outdoor recreation behavior; or advances in research methods. Applied and theoretical submissions are encouraged. Research studies to be completed by September 1, 2009 or scholarly discussions may be submitted. Only data that have not been previously published or presented at another professional conference should be submitted. Papers are presented either as formal paper presentations or as posters. All abstracts receive the same blind review without consideration of presentation format. Abstracts for both types of presentations are included in the “Conference Proceedings and Research Symposium Abstracts.” Questions regarding the Research Symposium should be addressed to Raymond Poff at raymond.poff@wku.edu or (270) 745-2498. Student attendance and submissions are strongly encouraged.

ABSTRACTS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED VIA E-MAIL AS A MICROSOFT WORD FILE (.DOC) IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT:

Cover Sheet: This page precedes the 1-2 page abstract and should include:

1. Title of the abstract.

2. Principal author’s name, degree, institutional or organizational affiliation, mailing address, phone number, e-mail address, and summer contact information (June 1^st to Aug. 31), if different from above. It is assumed that, unless otherwise specified, this person will make the presentation if the abstract is accepted.

3. Full name, degree, and institutional or organizational affiliation of all co-authors.

4. The author’s preference for presentation format. Indicate one of the following: (a) poster only; (b) prefer poster but would do formal presentation; (c) prefer formal presentation, but would do poster; (d) formal presentation only. Note: Reviewers are not aware of the stated presentation preference. This information, in conjunction with time and space limitations, is used by the symposium chair when establishing the final schedule.

Abstract:

1. Two pages maximum including all discussion, tables, and figures. Abstracts exceeding this page limit may not be reviewed. A reference list is required if citing sources and may extend onto a third page if necessary. References should follow APA 5th edition guidelines.

2. Use 12-point font and one-inch margins on sides, top and bottom of 8 1/2″ by 11″ page with single spaced lines.

3. Abstracts should have a clear title above the first line of text, with no information about the author(s).

4. Use appropriate subheadings. Abstracts reporting empirical studies should contain subheadings identifying an introduction, methods, results, and discussion with a component addressing implications pertinent to the profession. Abstracts reporting conceptual and theoretical discussions should also have an effective set of subheadings.

INFORMATION FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE ABSTRACTS ACCEPTED:

1. Following the blind peer review, the symposium chair will make final decisions about acceptance, but typically adhere to the recommendations of the reviewers. Abstracts may also be rejected due to time and space limitations, ineffective development of the 2-page abstract, or weaknesses in the study itself.

2. All individuals who submit an abstract will be notified via e-mail of acceptance/rejection by June 30th. Authors whose presentations are accepted must submit a revised abstract (pending reviewer comments) via e-mail by Aug 3rd.

3. Presenters must register for the Conference of the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education; registration information will be posted on the AORE website, www.aore.org. Please note: all expenses associated with attending and presenting are the responsibility of the presenter(s). AORE does not provide funding to presenters.

4. AORE reserves the right to reproduce and distribute abstracts of all presentations in a conference proceedings publication. AORE does not preclude subsequent publication of the presentation (same version or an extended version) by the author(s) in a journal or other publication.

1. You will be notified of the date and time of your presentation after the full conference schedule has been established. Typically, formal presentations are allotted 15 minutes, followed by 5 minutes for discussion. The poster session will be scheduled for about two hours. Poster preparation guidelines will be distributed to authors.
   

Associate Professor, Recreation Administration
Executive Director, WKU American Humanics (Nonprofit Administration)

Managing Editor, Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership (www.ejorel.com)

Dept. of Physical Education and Recreation
Western Kentucky University
1906 College Heights Blvd #21090
Bowling Green, KY 42101-1090
Phone (270) 745-2498 Fax (270) 745-3592

Thank Heaven for SD

I own two Sierra Designs Tents and three Sierra Designs Sleeping bags. One of the tents and two of the bags are over fifteen years old. The tent was just used in April, 2009 and the older sleeping bags in June of 08. But that is not the story. The story is a new bag I got to review. Sierra Designs
Wild Bill 20⁰ Extra Long sleeping bag. Thank heaven for my Sierra Designs
Wild Bill 20⁰ Extra Long sleeping bag!

I was on a March-April Grand Canyon River trip. That time of year historically in the canyon the highs are in the 80’s and lows in the 50’s. On this trip the 80’s were never seen and the fifties were a rare sunny day. During the day you are rowing an 18′ boat so keeping warm is not hard. At night things were different.

Three of the nights fronts came through, three mornings we had snow less than a thousand feet above us. It was also windy. So windy that some tents had several inches of sand in them in the morning even after being buttoned up tightly all night. I slept in the open all except one rainy night, when I used my 15 year old Sierra Designs Tiros Pro. (A fifteen year old tent that has done more than ten Grand Canyon River trips, 2 trips to South America, and lots of stuff in between.) All other nights as usually I throw down my Jack’s Plastic Welding Pack Pad (Silverback, I am decadent) and throw down a sleeping bag. As I said earlier, thank heaven for Sierra Designs
Wild Bill 20⁰ Extra Long sleeping bag. One night I finally put on a bivy sack because it was so windy. But light rain, sleet, snow and wind did not keep me from staying comfortable and warm. And no sand came through the bag or the zipper.

And it fit. I’m big and the extra long bag had plenty of room. I could pull me knees up (if the boat was rocking to keep me from rolling off) with plenty of room. The hood covered me up as much or as little as I wanted and on many nights included my full size pillow. (I told you I was decadent.) At the same time I was able to fit it easily into a large stuff sack which squashed it down to an 8″ by 9″ sack.

What a great sleeping bag. I got to looking forward to going to bed at night. As the evenings grew chilly I knew I could be nice and warm in a few minutes. The Snag Free Zipper Tracks worked great. I tried several times to zip up the inner liner of the bag in the zipper with no success. The bag was a left hand zip and I’ve never used one before. For a few nights getting out of the bag was an exercise in route finding and zipper control (or mind control). But not matter what I did the zipper worked easily.

Not sure what the liner was but it did not make you shiver when your skin touched it and it did not crinkle and wake you up when the boat moved. Some nights I was in and out of the bag 3-4 times as I checked on boats and each time the bag was wonderful to crawl back into as well as easy.

Thanks Sierra Designs.

Off Topic – But you need to know about it.

This is a video which shows a recording of the TSA violating a US citizen’s rights. Pretty sad. Worse is I have heard plenty of stories similar to this, one here in Denver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMB6L487LHM&feature=player_embedded

The end get’s pretty right wing, but still it is interesting.

Fundamental Problem between Attorneys and Clients

A fundamental problem always exists between attorneys and their clients. When I ask a client what my job is, their answer is to “keep them out of trouble.” However the answer is always given after the problem has all ready occurred. The client is in front of you, subpoena or summons in hand (or behind a glass partition on a phone) looking for help. Whether the client admits it or not, they are all ready in trouble.

First let’s look at the answer. Rarely if ever can one human being influence another to the point that they change their way of acting. You staying out of trouble, even in this intensely legal world is your job. I cannot do that. That requires you, to make a decision contrary to the one you are inclined or trained to make. To deal with the person properly or to not do something that creates a problem.

Frequency of course is always another issue. If you are frequently in trouble then the changes you need to make in your life or your business (which for most small businesses is one and the same) are drastic. It can be as simple as repairing or replacing a problem, however more likely than not it is changing the way your deal with customers in the outdoor recreation & fitness industries. See It’s Not Money.

Subsequently, if staying out of trouble is your job, it is my job to answer your questions to assist you in making the right decisions to “stay out of trouble.” Those questions, to be answered must be asked and must be asked prior to “trouble.”

But let’s get back to the answer to the question. The answer is plain wrong. Both for the reasoning behind why it was given and in the belief about what I, an attorney can do.

As I stated above, you are in charge of your life. Any client who comes in and denies any, if not most of the responsibility for litigation after working with me for a while is looking for a new attorney most times. This is not to say that you are at fault, this is just stating that no one is blameless. Every accident and consequently every lawsuit is the culmination of a series of events. Statistically speaking, in that series of events, you did something wrong. Reality says you might have done a lot of stuff wrong. The legal issue is: did you do something that rises to the level of a legal wrong?” Maybe though you should ask the question “did you do something that is morally or ethically wrong?” Granted you may think it is a stretch for an attorney to talk ethics and morals, but the law is just a culmination of the ethics and morals of society.

Contrary to popular belief and our joke culture, anytime the issue of breaking a moral or ethical rule has arisen in a conversation with me it has always been brought up by a client. I suspect most attorneys would agree with this. Those of you who disagree probably did not like the answer you were given.

However, I am not a judge, I am an advocate. My job is not to judge you, but to help you understand the problem and then assist you in solving the problem. Rarely, in fact never am I working alone to solve a problem. We are a team. You have the issues and the ability to implement change and I have legal knowledge and reasoning. Together we come up with a plan to solve the problem.

Now we are back to timing. When? If after you are in jail (I don’t do criminal work) or have been sued by someone then the team was probably formed a little too late. The team works best with no stress and looking at all aspects of the issues and possible problems. A good client/attorney team starts working together to fulfill the answer to the question way before it needs to be asked; “to keep you out of trouble.” That of course means we are working before the summons or subpoena arrives.

The reality is the answer is always given after the client is in a lot of trouble. This in turn creates another problem. I cannot turn back time or change history (other than my own version of my skiing and mountaineering accomplishments from long ago.)

Update on Ohio University Lawsuit

We reported earlier in a post Lawsuit against university outdoor program about a student in a university outdoor recreation degree program was badly burned in an outdoor program.

The college paper, the Ohio University Post is reporting in Burn victim asks $3.2 million in lawsuit against OU that the suit is continuing and the victim is asking for a lot of money.

The pictures associated with the article are pretty grotesque. So might be blaming the University for your Injuries in this case. This is a very sad situation, but it is not one where the control was in anyone’s hands except the individual who was injured.

Annual Cortland Recreation Conference

Once again, it is time to start thinking about the Annual Cortland Recreation Conference, the longest student-run conference in the country. On November 5th and 6th, 2009 this student-organized conference will be celebrating its 59th year with the theme: “Destination ReGREENation”. This theme is intended to focus on, but is not limited to: promoting local recreation; environmental stewardship; outdoor recreation; inclusive recreation services, and sustainable practices. We are soliciting presenters for 60 and 90 minute sessions focused on the theme of this year’s conference.

An element new to the conference this year is a Research Symposium. The Symposium is a component of the Annual Conference and features formal, peer-reviewed research presentations, followed by questions and comments from the audience. The Cortland Recreation Conference committee wants to provide presenters with an opportunity to take advantage of the generality of our theme, and to present topics which the presenters feel are important to the needs of both participants and providers within the profession. We encourage you to consider sharing a presentation at the 59th Cortland Recreation Conference. Graduate research is strongly encouraged.

The link to the Cortland Recreation Conference website can be found at the Department of Recreation, Parks and Leisure Studies homepage: http://www.cortland.edu/rec. There you will find all the necessary information pertaining to this year’s conference as well as the Proposal Form the committee would like you complete and submit. Thank you for considering our request to be an important part of the legacy of the Cortland Recreation Conference.

Sincerely,

59th Annual Conference Planning Committee
SUNY Cortland
Cortland, NY 13045
Phone: (607) 753-4939
Fax: (607)753-5982
recconf@cortland.edu
www.cortland.edu/rec

2009 Symposium on Experiential Education

The deadline for abstracts for the 2009 Symposium on Experiential Education Research (SEER), held in November at the Association for Experiential Education conference in Montreal, is approaching. Proposed abstracts are due March 27. 12 final abstracts will be selected for presentation through a blind peer-review process, and can be submitted for publication in the Journal of Experiential Education in 2010.

Please consider submitting an abstract for a presentation on original conceptual or empirical research at SEER. The call for abstracts is available at the following link:

http://www.shhs.unh.edu/kin_oe/2009_seer.html

Thank you!

With regards,

Jayson Seaman, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator

Department of Kinesiology, Outdoor Education Option

UNH NH Hall 202

124 Main St.

Durham, NH 03824

603-862-1162

On the web: http://www.shhs.unh.edu/kin_oe/

Response to Comments on the New BSA Medical Form

I wrote an article about the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) New Medical Form. (New BSA Medical Form is a Disaster) That post has been gathering a lot of comments. I am responding or updating those posts with this update.

“so if you have people notarize their release forms, it doesn’t matter in a lawsuit. is there any benefit to having those forms notarized?”

Notarizing a signature does nothing. If you signature is notarized all it means is the person who notarized your signature knows that you are you. The notary either has known you for a long period of time or you provided proof to them that you are you. That is all. So notarizing a form provides not greater legal protection.

The issue then is, do people try and say that was not their signature. Sure in 25 years I’ve seen it happen twice from hundreds of thousands of releases signed. However a simple hand writing comparison shot that down quickly.

Don’t get signatures notarized. IT doubles the time needed to complete a form. Besides, each form will have to be taken to a notary and signed there.

And you can’t notarize a minor’s signature.

“The BSA has an activity consent form and release. Is this document any better than the release in the new medical record form?”

The BSA Activity Consent Form and Approval by Parents or Legal Guardian is no different from the BSA Medical Form. It has no legal value. It is not a release and parental indemnification is not supported in any state. All that form does is prove that you have the legal right to be in control of the child. It won’t stop a lawsuit if the child is injured in your care.

“I would also like to hear your view of the older class 1, 2 and 3 medical forms. Is the new form an improvement from a legal perspective?”

NO the new form is not an improvement! Read the post before you ask questions. The old forms were fantastic.

“As a Scoutmaster, I am not sure of the best approach. Where can I find a better release and should we use it in our troop?”

Yes you need a release or more appropriately in most states an assumption of risk form. Only five states allow a parent to sign away a child’s right to sue. However a release signed by the parents and the youth may stop the lawsuit by the parent and if written properly prove the child assumed the risk of the injury he received. Assumption of the risk is a good defense to a lawsuit by a minor.