RKMP 2010 Winter Newsletter

Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program WINTER 2010 NEWSLETTER

Michael Dalton Becomes Fifth Director of RKMP Mr. Dalton, science teacher and long time staff member of the Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program, accepted the challenge of becoming its director as classes began this fall. Mr. Barros, director since fall 2003, moved into his new position as director of Center for Sustainability (see article in this issue).

Mr. Dalton has taught science at Berkshire since 1999 and was also dean of students from that date through 2002, when he became science department chair for three years. He has also served as a new teacher mentor and adjunct dorm parent for Allen, Spurr and Stanley Dorms. He is passionate about playing the bagpipes and serves in this capacity in full regalia for all graduations and special events on campus.

Mr. Dalton has overseen Berkshire’s maple sugar production since he began at Berkshire, and under his guidance The

Arthur C. Chase Sugar House was built in 2001. It is a hub of activity for both students and staff in winter and spring. Mr. Dalton has also been a backcountry skills staff member and ropes course instructor for many years, initiating students and new faculty to the wonders of Mt. Everett.

In 2008 he received the first Class of 1957 Faculty Award recognizing him “for excellence in teaching and tenure of service.”

Mr. Dalton and his wife, Lori, a former nurse at Berkshire, live in one of the older cottages on campus (Northrop House) and have two children, Katie ’02 and Sean.

Mr. Dalton’s plans for the RKMP for 2009-10 include upgrades to the ropes course, recertification of faculty in Wilderness First-Aid, repainting the canoe trailer, repair of canoes, and restoration of the Glen Brook Trail Bridge.

Rebuilding the Manganese Bridge over Dry Brook

By Mike Dalton, director of RKMP Returning from summer vacation last year, faculty members of the Backcountry Skills team learned that a summer storm brought heavy rain and strong winds over Black Rock and into the drainage known as Dry Brook, where the Manganese Bridge is located. Two large red oaks went down on the bridge, damaging the handrails and punching holes in some of the decking.

Upon closer examination of the bridge deck it was obvious that one good hard kick could break many of these timbers. The bridge, located just north of the Thoreau House and just below the trail to Black Rock, is surrounded by large hemlocks that shade it from the sun. Years of trail sediment had settled on the bridge surface along with leaves and needles, keeping the timbers moist for long periods of time. The wood previously used for decking was stout eastern hemlock, cut green, but was no match

Members of The Trail Squad pose on Art Chase’s beloved 1927 Chevy truck after completing restoration of the Manganese Bridge over Dry Creek in 1955.

State of the bridge in September 2008.

continued on page 8

The new Manganese Bridge.

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Last summer, RKMP sponsored a canyoning trip to the Pyrenees in Spain. Instructors Frank Barros and Jesús Ibáñez led nine students on the trip: George Haydock ’09, Sierra Labonte ’10, Kit Landry ’10, Mike Middelburg ’10, Lindsay Harnett ’10, Eric Zahn ’11, Arthur Copstein ’11, Connor Morgan ’12, and Christa Montano ’12. Canyoning (also known as cayoneering) is traveling in canyons using a variety of techniques that require rappels and ropework, technical climbing or down-climbing, technical jumps, and/or technical skills.

The three canyons explored were narrow and steep-walled, devoid of any vegetation and as smooth as petrified wood. Though group members did rappel down some waterfalls, they chose to just jump off most of them, with the narrow walls posing more of a test than the actual thirty-foot heights. The sport proved to be great fun and a wild way to explore some beautiful canyons.

The food was great, the people were friendly, and the atmosphere was always lively. It was a wonderful trip that combined adventure with some great sight-seeing.

– Frank Barros

In the beginning…

Back row, from left: Mr. Ibáñez, Lindsay Harnett ’10, Sierra Labonte ’10, Connor Morgan ’12, Eric Zahn ’11, and Mr. Barros. Front row, from left: Christa Montano ’12, Kit Landry ’10, Mike Middelburg ’10, George Haydock ’09, and Arthur Copstein ’11.

Home base for canyoneering in the Pyrenees, Bierge, Spain.

Swift Trip to a New Self

By Christa Montano ’12, Alford, Massachusetts Nine students and two teachers traveled on a trip to Spain in June to take part in an extreme sport called canyoneering. Most of the participants had never heard of this sport or only had a vague idea of what it entailed. It was a oncein-a-lifetime experience and challenged everyone physically and mentally. We soon found out that jumping twenty feet into uncertain water is not as easy as it sounds.

Tired and hungry from our long trip, we arrived in Barcelona and were met by two guides who drove us to a restaurant for our first experience of Spanish cuisine. We stayed in Bierge, a village of two-hundred-fifty inhabitants near Girona, where the owner of our small hotel prepared traditional dishes for each meal over the next several days.

On the first day our guides lead us on a hike to the starting point of our initial three-hour canyoneering experience. Because the river we negotiated was fed by melting mountain snow, we changed into hooded wetsuits, helmets and booties designed to protect us from the cold and took the plunge into the freezing water. Over the next three days we dove down into underwater caverns, jumped off the sides of rocks, rappelled down waterfalls, careened down natural rockslides and floated down whitewater rapids while managing to obtain only a few scratches and bruises along the way. The Pyrenees rock structures that formed the narrow cavern around us were breathtaking.

After five hours of canyoneering on our final day, we decided to take a walking tour of Girona and had our last meal in a restaurant overlooking miles and miles of beautiful vistas in every direction.

Sierra and Kit swimming to underground cavern.

After hiking to the top, Lindsay begins canyoneering experience by rappelling down canyon wall.

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In the morning we packed up and headed out for Barcelona but took a detour along the way…a few hundred feet in the air.

An exhilarating hot air balloon ride had been arranged for us!

In the final four days of our visit we took in as much of the culture as we could. Biking was the easiest way to navigate through the streets of Barcelona. We toured the old quarters, went to the beach, saw traditional Flamenco dancers, and went to a tapas bar. We traveled to the Montserrat to explore the Basilica, a massive structure with amazing views. The Basilica was built to house the statue of the Black Madonna. On our final day we toured the beautiful structures created by architect and builder Antoni Gaudi, the La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell.

After we finished our last traditional meal, we headed back to our hotel to pack for the long trip home.

For everyone in our group, it was over too swiftly. We were proud of what we accomplished and will never forget the amazing week we spent together in Spain.

Basilica of Montserrat

Visiting a tapas bar in Barcelona, George samples the cuisine as Mike looks on.

Bicycling through Barcelona.

The Black Madonna was made out of olive tree wood in the XII century, replacing the lost original from the VIII century. For the past 800 years those making a pilgrimage to the site were able to touch the statue for protection. More than a million pilgrims visit annually. To protect the statue from decay, it was enclosed in glass and a hole made where the sphere, representing the universe, resides in the right hand of the Black Madonna allowing contact to visiting pilgrims.

Parting shot taken at Gaudi’s Park Güell.

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Center for Sustainability

By Frank Barros, director of Center for Sustainability

Mr. Barros, science teacher and former director of the RKMP, has taken on the role of director of Berkshire’s new Center for Sustainability. He wrote the following essay about the importance of this work: Berkshire’s commitment to environmental stewardship is rooted deep in its history. Since the school’s establishment

by Seaver Buck in 1907, faculty have continued to use the mountain to teach students respect for our natural resources.

Berkshire School has stepped up with the intention of being a leader among independent schools in advancing the principles of sustainability as a charter member of the Green School Alliance (created by schools, and working with and through schools worldwide to take action on climate change and the environment) and as a national coordinator of the Green Cup Challenge. Berkshire is the first secondary school in the country to partner with Clean Air-Cool Planet, the region’s leading organization dedicated to finding and promoting solutions to global warming. And, finally, Berkshire has been recognized by the National Association of Independent Schools for its sustainability efforts and is an active member of the U.S. Green Building Council, National Wildlife Federation, and the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education The concept of sustainability can be used in many ways, but at Berkshire it is defined as “meeting the needs of the present generation, without compromising the ability of

future generations to meet their own needs.” The sustainability plan addresses short and long-range objectives that incorporate environmental, societal, and economic responsibility. It establishes sustainable principles and practices to enhance the positive transformation of the campus community through the following actions: • The most innovative part of Berkshire School’s sustainability initiatives is the learning process involved in their implementation.

Most of the sustainability initiatives are led by students in the Sustainability and Resource Management elective and guided by faculty and staff on the Sustainability Committee.

• Students in the class are responsible for three areas: research, operations, and networking. Students conduct background research and risk analysis on strategies that will forward the goals of Berkshire’s campus sustainability plan. They write up proposals and present their findings and ideas to the Sustainability Committee. The committee, made up of the director of the physical plant, chief

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financial officer, director of dining services, director of campus sustainability and other key individuals, asks questions and decides whether the proposal is ready for implementation. Students are also in charge of day-to-day operations such as recycling, composting, source reduction (decreasing the amount of materials or energy used during the manufacturing or distribution of products and packages), data collection, and the implementation of strategies.

Finally, students connect with other schools, businesses, government organizations, and the local community to create a healthy dialogue about issues in sustainability.

• A more traditional education about why we need to conserve our resources is still taught through environmental science classes, and elements of environmental stewardship are included across the academic curriculum. Also, students can pursue their own interests through the school’s Independent Study Program. (One student created an emissions trading program that became the

New y Facult

Innovative and Experimental Solutions award-winner in the National Wildlife Federation’s Chill Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming nationwide competition.)

Future plans include: • Energy Management Plan

Doug Brown

• Landscape Master Plan

Mr. Brown graduated from St. Lawrence University in 2009 with a B.S. in Biology. As captain of the St. Lawrence alpine ski team, he comes from a long line of Olympic and National Team alpine skiers, and his family owns and operates Cochran Ski Area, a small resort in Richmond, Vermont. Mr. Brown himself was an NCAA Academic All American in 2006 and 2007. He lives in Allen Dorm and teaches science, works in the Kenefick Learning Center, coaches skiing, and assists Mr. Dalton in backcountry skills for RKMP. He has also been trained on the ropes course.

• Piloted creation of steering committee to introduce and manage new sustainability assessment system for boarding schools (Exeter, Andover, Northfield Mount Hermon, Hotchkiss, Lawrenceville, and Choate all have representatives on the committee) • Developing a database of alumni with careers related to issues in sustainability • Community Garden • Life Cycle Assessments of food we eat in the dining hall • Creating a database to track recycled content of products and success of going more digital • Energy Conservation Accountability System (ECAS) make better use of Energy Management System and Security Reports to conserve electricity and heat • Research into using Fair Trade Coffee and either Ecologo or GreenSeal cleaning products • Switching campus to eco-friendly pens and pencils • Research into the feasibility of eliminating bottled water and using compostable plates, spoons, forks, etc at events • Inventory of sustainability across curriculum.

Inroads into getting sustainability more into the curriculum and possibly having mandatory summer reading list for all students in sustainability

Dan Spear Mr. Spear earned a B.S. in Physics from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 2005 and an M.S. in Physics from Binghamton University in 2007. Mr. Spear began as a teaching assistant in graduate school and then entered the profession teaching physics at St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Florida. He and his wife, Beth, live in Stanley Dorm. He has been trained on the ropes course and has been assisting Mr. Barros in rock climbing and parkour in RKMP. He will assist Mr. Ibáñez in the spring with kayaking.

The mountain continues to be an invaluable resource for academic growth on many levels, and the RKMP is proud to have the Center of Sustainability under its umbrella.

In addition to his work as science teacher and director of the Center, Mr. Barros continues his participation in RKMP as coordinator of Beyond the Mountain (domestic and international wilderness trips), instructor in rock climbing and mountain biking, and his latest passion, parkour.

(To learn more about Center of Sustainability activities, visit Berkshire School’s Web site.)

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Above left: Rawson Clough recaps the collection pail while Silas Bullock and Mark Driscoll haul the sap away (spring 2009).

Above right: Faculty children, Rawson Clough (standing on truck), David Ibanez pouring sap, and Silas Bullock having just delivered sap to truck.

Above: The first “Sugar Shack” was erected where the Chase House parking area currently stands. Mr. Chase (next to truck on left) poses with maple sugar crew of 1955 and his 1927 Chevy truck used, among other things, to collect the syrup around campus.

Right: Dan Brooks '04, Robin McGraw ’70, and Joe Cohen ’08 overseeing the sugaring process.

Above: Robin McGraw ’70 stokes the fire to sustain temperature.

The Sap Still Flows Under the Mountain

By Robin McGraw ’70, Sheffield, Massachusetts A history of Glenny Farm found in Berkshire School’s archives confirms that maple syrup was being produced here long before the founding of the School. Between 1762-1764 Direck Spoor and his three sons built their dwelling, cleared pastures high on the slopes of Mt. Everett and burned the fallen trees for charcoal (to be hauled to the iron furnaces in Salisbury, Connecticut), fenced the clearings with stone walls, dug wells, set out apple and pear orchards, grew their own winter wheat and rye, and tapped the maple trees.

Back in 1966, during my freshman year, faculty member Arthur Chase told us that we were tapping trees that had survived several generations and that making maple syrup on this property was part of our heritage and a continuation of a long tradition which Mr. Chase began in earnest when he came to Berkshire in 1937. Early this spring we will tap some of those same trees, and the process of producing Berkshire’s own maple syrup will begin again.

When I was a student, I was busy with Press Club, athletics, and roaming the mountain. I only remember enjoying our maple syrup on rare occasions. During those days many of us were involved in the collection of sap, but it wasn’t until my senior year that I stopped by the sugar house late one evening to see how it was really done. Now, these many years later, I have been involved with my friend Mike Dalton, who several years ago took over The final step in production: weighing the operation and continues to have a in and labeling (circa 1955). cadre of devoted students and faculty.

When construction was underway for Activity is constant at the sugarhouse. the Jackman L. Stewart Athletic Center Mike regularly has students, faculty, their there was a two-year layoff of syrup prochildren and guests over to make some duction and eventual relocation of the Arthur C. Chase Sugar House. In 2008-09 cider, have some pancakes, or work on the woodpile. As winter descends on the almost 100 gallons of Grade A Medium mountain, we are cutting, splitting, and amber syrup was produced, a record since Mike began the program! The majority of stacking. Everyone is invited to volunteer to continue the maple syrup legacy at bottled syrup is sold to Berkshire parents Berkshire—please drop in! and community members, with minimal amounts distributed for events.

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New g Offe rin The Art of Moving

By Bonita Lovison, director of stewardship

Mr. Barros and Mr. Spear have brought a new sport to the RKMP called parkour, a non-competitive, physical discipline of French origin in which participants negotiate obstacles in the most efficient way possible. Parkour practitioners are often called traceurs if male, or traceuses if female. (So far we only have traceurs practicing parkour: Casimir Benner ’10, James Coenen ’10, Theo Friedman ’11, Louis Jacobs ’12, Kit Landry ’10, Jack Lee ’10, Michael Middelburg ’10, George

Parkour is an amazingly enjoyable sport. The feeling of accomplishing a move you have been trying to do with your friends is incredible. Students practice at the stairway leading to Senior House.

Torsilieri ’10, Chris Utz ’12, and Eric Zahn ’11.)

Skills such as jumping and climbing, or the more specific parkour moves (vaults, rolls, and landings) are employed using only the human body and the objects in the environment. Often practiced in urban areas because of the many suitable public structures available such as buildings and rails, parkour is also considered by some to be a way of thinking, a way of training and a

method by which to develop one’s spirit and inner strength through movement by getting from point A to B as quickly and efficiently as possible via moves, vaults, or jumps. Hundreds of online communities offer parkour training tips, and parkour events are held around the world.

Students are attracted to the sport for a variety of reasons. A participant is continually improving and there is no “finish line,” but always a new place to train or a new technique to learn. The challenge to the individual is endless.

Training begins in the gym.

Traceurs work the wall around Rovensky Student Center.

Traceur Chris Utz on outside wall of gym.

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Manganese Bridge

continued from page 1

for moisture and rot. All of the deck would need to be replaced and to do this the handrails atop the deck would need to go as well. A complete restoration was at hand.

The original bridge was wiped out in the Hurricane of 1955. At that time, Art Chase and the Trail Squad members (made up of faculty and students, as it is today) used hemlock timbers in anticipation of future floods. The bridge had last been renovated in 1998 by the Watch program. Backcountry Skills*, which replaced Watch, is tasked with many of the same jobs on the mountain: specifically, annual trail clearing and maintenance and, when necessary, bridge building or repair. Hilary Russell and Al Bredenfoerder (instructors in the Watch program and former faculty) and their crew were instrumental in the last repairs to the bridge and spent a lot of time building up a strong rock foundation for the bridge landings. The “stringers” that were used were large 10’ by 14’ logs hewn by hand and put in place with a jerry-rigged derrick. For this task RKMP hired an outside consultant, Peter Jensen and Open Space Management, with experience in bridge building.

Fortunately these three large timbers were only rotten on the top surfaces where water

had seeped in between the deck timbers.

Joining me were Devon O’Rourke ’02 and Dan Yaverbaum, then science teachers at Berkshire, and the students who had signed up for Backcountry Skills. Our greatest challenge was removing the old timbers.

The rotten wood planks came off without too much effort, but the ten-inch spikes holding these planks down were virtually impossible to remove from the three hardened, oak timbers that held the bridge up.

In fact, one afternoon I tried to “persuade” a spike from one of the stringers with a sixfoot long pry bar, and I slipped on the wet, slimy wood going airborne and landing tenfeet below in the stream bed. At that point we realized that it was easier to leave spikes in the wood by cutting them with a hacksaw until the exposed heads could be cut off.

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges was carrying the new timbers up to the bridge site. The old trail behind Berkshire Hall was off limits because of the extensive renovation of and construction to that building, so a truck couldn’t be used.

Working conditions worsened with the onset of some early snow storms. One could only imagine what it was like for the 1955 Trail Squad crew! Fortunately, we

The Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program 2009-2010 Offerings and Staff Fall Rock Climbing and Parkour Backcountry Skills

Frank Barros and Dan Spear Mike Dalton and Doug Brown

Winter Boat Building Winter Mountaineering

Richard Giles Mike Dalton

Spring Mountain Biking Whitewater Kayaking

Frank Barros Jesús Ibáñez and Dan Spear

Beyond the Mountain (domestic and international wilderness trips)

Frank Barros

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Clubs Birding Fly fishing Maple Syrup Corp.

Appalachian Trail Crew Trained in Ropes Course

FSC area

Clay Splawn Bill Bullock and Dan Skoglund Mike Dalton Mike Dalton and Peter Quilty Mike Dalton, Doug Brown, Emily Skipp, Bill Bullock, Dan Spear

were able to pre-build the new handrail components in our warm home base, Chevalier Lodge. These were carried to the bridge and put in place in a day.

To prevent trail debris from washing down onto the new bridge, extensive work was done to divert water away from the bridge. The final challenge was the cleanup of the large fallen tree trunks that were cleared from the bridge in the early days of the project. This wood was cut, split and then hauled down to the Thoreau House and the Chase Sugar House for firewood.

Work was finished around mid-November, thus completing a cycle of stewardship to the mountain that surrounds our campus. The newly renovated Manganese Bridge should be around for some time to come. *Backcountry Skills participants not only maintain trails but hike to many off-campus locations, paddle local rivers and lakes, and learn camping skills that will be tested on weekend trips to places like the St. Regis Lake Region of the Adirondack mountains. As the weather early in the season is more predictable we use this time for canoeing, camping and hiking, reserving bridge restoration for the latter half of the season.

Thank you to the donors who have given to the RKMP endowment, from all the students who have bene fited from their generosity.