Essential Eligibility Criteria for Participation on Adventure Treks trips

Adventure Treks’ essential eligibility criteria (EEC) is designed to help potential participants understand if Adventure Treks is the right fit for them. These criteria help guide our admissions process and are not intended to be exclusionary, but rather identify the fundamental elements of participation. Adventure Treks strives to foster an inclusive, welcoming, and judgment-free community of peers that celebrates individuals and the unique strengths they bring. Students are expected to respect others’ backgrounds, gender identities, race, and beliefs that may differ from their own.

General participation

Each participant must:

  • Be motivated to step outside their comfort zone and try new things.
  • Be active and engage in all lessons, curriculum, and activities.
  • Demonstrate tolerance, compassion, and inclusivity toward all community members.
  • Be a positive and contributing group member, willing to work through conflict, open to feedback, and eager to collaborate with any team member(s), even when not of their choosing.
Safety and judgment

Each participant must:

  • Be able to signal or notify instructors or other students of personal distress, injury or need for assistance.
  • Independently understand and follow directions and instructions given by others to be able to execute appropriate techniques to avoid hazards and manage risks. These directions may be given verbally and/or visually before the hazard/risk is encountered or may need to be given during exposure. Also must be able to perceive and comprehend significant and apparent hazards including, but not limited to, fast-moving water, cliff edges, loose rock, crevasses, potentially hazardous animals and insects, and rugged, steep, and/or uneven terrain.
  • Be able to do the preceding warnings in conditions with limited visibility, inclement weather, or with loud background noise (such as high winds or while near roaring rivers).
  • Be able to stay alert and to focus attention for up to several hours at a time while traveling in wilderness terrain or receiving instructions.
  • Act reliably around stated hazards to minimize risk even when not directly supervised.
Outdoor skills

Adventure Treks does not require students to have previous experience in any or all activities offered at Adventure Treks (excluding the Alaska Expedition, where new students must have previous backcountry experience). We do, however, require that students be physically prepared and able to participate in these activities as they are taught and performed during each program.

Each participant must:

  • Remain adequately hydrated, fed, and properly dressed so as to remain generally healthy and able to avoid environmental injuries such as hypothermia, heat illness, sunburn, or frostbite.
  • Learn and perform safely (with instructor supervision and guidance) the fundamental camping skills of setting up a shelter and cooking with a camp stove.
  • Be able to move around camp independently in order to attend to toileting and hygiene needs and contribute to camp tasks as necessary.
Wilderness hiking and backpacking

Each participant must:

  • At minimum, be able to travel over and negotiate through varied wilderness terrain with a backpack weighing about 30–50 pounds.
    • Travel conditions may include (but are not limited to): rough, rugged, and/or uneven steep and sloping terrain; human- and animal-made trails; rocky terrain that may range from smooth bedrock to boulder fields; river and creek crossings without the aid of bridges; ascending/descending/traversing slopes covered in snow, rocks, or vegetation.
    • Traveling distances can range from less than one mile to 10 or more miles in one day.
    • Travel duration can range from less than one hour to more than 12 hours in one day.
  • Have average strength and endurance and basic balance and agility to safely travel through such terrain with a backpack.
  • Be able to stay alert and to focus for several hours at a time while traveling.
Mountain biking

Each participant must:

  • Wear all protective equipment such as a helmet and closed-toe shoes.
  • Be able to balance independently on the bike, including getting on and off the bike.
  • Move over uneven mountain terrain.
  • Be able to brake, steer, control the bike, and propel it forward by pedaling
  • Be able to perceive, understand, and respond to instructions or directions given by instructors or other students, or communicate commands to other students, used to maneuver and/or avoid obstacles.
Whitewater kayaking, canoeing and flatwater canoeing

Each participant must:

  • Wear all protective equipment such as a helmet and PFD.
  • Be able to balance getting in and out of the watercraft.
  • Paddle through whitewater rapids and on flatwater.
  • Be able to swim to safety and follow whitewater safety protocols.
  • Be able to wet exit from a kayak and swim to safety.
  • Be able to perceive, understand, and respond to instructions or directions given by instructors or other students, or communicate commands to other students, used to maneuver and/or avoid obstacles.
Rock climbing

Each participant must:

  • Wear all protective equipment such as a helmet, harness, and climbing shoes.
  • Be able to climb basic or beginner routes on a rock face.
  • Be able to belay peers under instructor supervision.
  • Be able to perceive, understand, and respond to instructions or directions given by instructors or other students, or communicate commands to other students, used to maneuver and/or avoid obstacles.
Mental health

Adventure Treks is not a therapeutic program and is not able to support students in need of ongoing professional mental health support.

Each participant must:

  • Fully disclose their physical and mental health history, including medications, surgeries, substance use, learning differences, illnesses, and any other potential limitations during the application process.
  • Be at least six months out of a therapeutic or rehabilitation program.
  • Be able to spend up to seven consecutive days out of cell phone service on backcountry expeditions.
  • Be able to forgo regular therapeutic support from a mental health professional during the program*.

*During the spring and fall Leadership Adventure Semester, students may be able to schedule video calls with a mental health professional but should not expect to follow a strict schedule of appointments due to the nature of our program.