Behind the Course

Each course we provide is tailored specifically to its participants’ needs. We provide high quality outdoor experiences, designed around you. We appreciate the diversity found within a group of individuals, and we therefore understand that outdoor learning techniques must be personalized to make an impact. After all, people aren’t “one size fits all” – thus our courses aren’t either.
 

From course design to our t-shirts – quality is the first principle of our company. The deeper implications of quality for Mountain Challenge have specific meanings. Our courses should be functional, accomplishing a clear objective for our client. Our work should be flexible enough to meet several goals in a variety of conditions. Our courses are simple and straightforward in their design and delivery. A quality experience with Mountain Challenge will provide life-long lessons. Our courses have integrity: that is we do and live what we teach.
 

And finally – it’s fun. Our best courses are the most enjoyable.
 

We hold ourselves to high standards in not just some but all of these areas. A course isn’t high quality if four clients like it, but our staff does not. It’s not good enough for us to teach something we don’t or won’t try to do.
 

After all, we cannot pursue quality piecemeal; it all goes hand in hand. Sometimes participants correctly perceive our activities as dangerous. If people don’t feel safe, absolutely nothing else will take place. Providing the safest possible experience is critical. Safety transcends rules and policies. We think experienced staff making sound safety judgments leads to safe experiences. Two essential questions drive our safety judgments: What are the consequences of failure? and What is the likelihood of failure? Knowledge of the objective hazards, subjective hazards and the safety equation (strength + endurance + knowledge + skill) informs safety judgments. Safety judgments are on-going and include emotional as well as technical factors.
 

An underlying issue is the fitness level of our staff, each of whom need to be fit enough to make sound safety decisions at the end of a long day, as well as at the beginning, and to enact a rescue if the need arises.
 

Safety and quality are bedrock, non-negotiable first principles.