The WCU group climbs a slope during the "Teton Steward Course."

A group of Western Carolina University students who underwent some unusual professional training in the snowy Teton Mountains last spring gathered recently to be presented with certificates designating them as “wilderness stewards.”

The 10 students participated in a 10-day “Teton Steward Course” offered jointly by WCU’s Division of Educational Outreach and the Wilderness Education Association, a national outdoor leadership organization.

Led by Maurice Phipps, professor in WCU’s department of health, physical education and recreation, and Todd Murdock, director of the university’s Talent Search Program, the course took the students to the Teton Mountains along the Idaho-Wyoming border in late spring to learn the technical skills required for traveling and camping in snowy mountainous terrain, and also more generic skills such as leadership, judgment and decision-making.

The 13 trip participants, including Mark Sheffler, an emergency room physician in Cherokee who went along as “expedition physician,” gathered in Tetonia, Idaho, on the western slopes of the Teton Mountains on May 26. The group was pelted by a combination of rain, sleet and snow each day of the trip as the students learned snow-climbing techniques such as the “ice-ax arrest” and “sliding middleman.”

The certificates presented to the students designate them as graduates of the WEA Wilderness Steward Program. The students also had the option of earning three hours of academic credit from WCU. Participating students included Kevin Dyer, David Lilley, Krista Neumann, Shane Baker, Robert Mott, Kurt Bivins, Emily Turke, Evan Agee, Leigh Ann Fox and Chris Osterhoudt.

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Last modified: Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008