Outdoor Adventures

Mission Statement
It is the mission of the UAF Outdoor Adventure to promote and enable UAF students and affiliates to safely explore, discover, and understand the timeless beauty of wild Alaska.

Alaska is an adventurer's paradise with boundless wilderness, spectacular natural beauty, and plentiful wildlife. The Wood Center Outdoor Adventures Program has been offering recreational outdoor trips to UAF students and affiliates for more than twenty years. We rent high quality outdoor equipment and we provide an increasing number of instructional trips, activities and classes, as well as slides shows and movies to inspire you to get out and explore!

Outdoor Adventures Trips
Experienced students leaders and University staff take you throughout Alaska, year round, and immerse you in the many different ways to recreate in Alaska's immense backcountry. Our trips vary in length from half-day to seven days. Summer trips include long wilderness hikes, day hikes, canoeing, sea kayaking, rock climbing, and whitewater rafting. In the winter we offer snowshoeing, cross country skiing, dog mushing, ice climbing, winter camping, and cabin trips.

Equipment Rental
Alaska 's challenging weather and environmental conditions requires expensive, high quality outdoor equipment. Outdoor Adventures is proud to offer a wide variety of quality rental outdoor equipment at inexpensive rates; thus students are able to explore Alaska without spending thousands of dollars on Alaska worthy outdoor equipment.

On Campus Activities And Events
Outdoor Adventures offers a growing number of outdoor-related activities and events. We help sponsor movies such as the Banff Mountain Film Festival, the Warren Miller Ski Movie, and the Teton Gravity Research Ski Movie. We sponsor skills workshops such as bike maintenance and repair, ski waxing, basic winter survival and others. Look for us on the Starvation Gulch and SpringFest calendars with exciting contests and clinics.

Academic Classes
Outdoor Adventures also offers a growing number of classes. Wilderness First Responder ( EMS 195) teaches students how to access and deal with injuries/medical conditions when far from medical care. We typically offer WFR in May in partnership with UAF Summer Sessions. We also offer sport spefic courses in rock and ice climbing, canoeing, kayaking, and winter camping. For students looking to gain more leadership experience we offer Wilderness Leadership courses through NRM. Finally, we coordinate courses with other academic departments. They teach the material and we run the logistics to make sure that students have a fun and safe class out in the wilderness. An example of this would be Introduction to Glaciology Field Methods or Introduction to Outdoor Photography. We are growing our course offerings every year and are open to suggestions.

Safety
The Outdoor Adventures program is committed to practicing and promoting outdoor safety. We have an excellent safety record. Our trips allow UAF students and affiliates to safely explore Alaska in a "reduced risk" environment while learning/practicing outdoor skills and safe backcountry practices.