2012 Edition
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I can't say enough positive things about this course! The curriculum was great!
Our team leaders were great! The assistants and volunteers were all great!
I learned even more and I accomplished much more than I ever expected to.
BCEP is implemented using 100% volunteer effort. And I have to say that all of
our instructors were very gracious and generous with their time. Herding around
a bunch of dumb students can't be all that much fun for them so I certainly
appreciated it when they explained how to tie the same knot for the 50th time..
you couldn't ask for a better team of leaders! Some I liked better than others,
of course.. but I liked and respected all of them. Each has one or more areas
of expertise and it was great being able to tap into that if I had a question
about something that they were experts in. I feel honored and very lucky to be
chosen to be on Team 3. Maybe all of the other BCEP teams were just as good.. I
dunno. But the instructors on team 3 were outstanding!
When I first started looking into BCEP last December, it wasn't at all certain
that I was up to this class. I'm sure I'm the oldest, most out of shape applicant
to come down the pike in a while. Even though I am a Mazama member and attended
all of the "info night" seminars, I figured it was probably 50:50 that I'd
actually be accepted. And even then, it was far from certain that I'd be able
to complete the physical demands of BCEP. But... I figured I'd give it my best
shot, do my best and if they kicked me out at some point because I couldn't keep
up, oh well.... at least I would have learned something. I think I was more
surprised than anyone when David handed me my graduation certificate after passing
the skills tests and getting 95% on the written test.
OBSERVATIONS: None of these issues detract from the quality of the BCEP training
and in most cases are only coincidentally related to the curriculum...
1) "Mandatory" means something different in BCEP than it means in the dictionary.
All field sessions and a minimum of four hikes are a mandatory requirement for all
BCEP students. Yet on most hikes and on some field sessions, there were [far] more
instructors/volunteers than there were students. In some cases, the missing students
were off on far more difficult hikes than what the team was doing but still... these
hikes are ostensibly as much about team building as they are about conditioning.
I believe that John A. and I are the only ones who did 100% of the mandatory activities.
Not to blow my own horn but I was the only student to get perfect attendance recognition
on team 3. I even attended ALL of the optional activities.
2) The pace on many of these conditioning hikes was waaaaaay too fast, at least for
me. However, since no one else on team 3 seemed to have any problems with the
pace, I'll concede that at least part of this is due to the fact that I am not in
the sort of prime physical condition that my peers are in. Still, it probably
would have added only a few more minutes to these hikes if we went at a more sane speed
instead of traveling heads down, oblivious to everything around us... Julie and I
do 3 miles per hour and one hour per 1000' of elevation gain which is fairly standard
unless you are a trail runner.
3) I think even a casual observer would agree that Team 3 wasn't much of a "team".
There were a few small "cliques" of people who seemed to get along well but for the
most part, we were twelve individuals, doing our own thing and pursuing our
own agenda. Again, this is not a failing of the BCEP program and I'm sure that
life long friendships were fostered on other BCEP 2012 teams.... just not on ours.
(at least in my case). I really liked Dr. M and Maxine is pretty cool. Tall Dan
and I seemed to always be on the same team and he seems like a really nice guy.
Uncharacteristically for me, I tried numerous times to engage my peers as teammates
and pretty much fell on my ass. I'd be very surprised if I hear from any of them
after the festivities are over. Don't get me wrong... the folks on Team 3 are all
very nice people. They just don't seem to have much in the way of team spirit.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I never felt much of a team connection
with them. One on one I liked everyone I worked with though.
4) Amy chose to drop out of the program at the very end... and did so in a most
unpleasant manner. She seemed like such a nice, sweet little girl to me so this
outcome was a shock and surprise to me. The only reason I bring it up now is that
apparently, at least some people never took the time to read and comprehend all the
information about the BCEP program that is on the Mazama web site. Even a casual read
indicates that BCEP involves a serious emotional, financial and time commitment from
those interested in participating. I'm not sure that everyone "got that".... IMHO
it is disrespectful to the leaders, instructors, volunteers and everyone else involved
if people sign up and are not totally committed to dedicating 7 weeks of their time to
this program.
5) I am very grateful to the administrators and staff of the Jackson Middle School for
graciously hosting our Tuesday night BCEP sessions!
6) Laura is a total babe! :)
And finally.... while not part of the BCEP curriculum per se, I think the thing I got
the most out of was the collaborative decision making process when things went bad.
Being Ex-Military, I am used to the guy in charge making ALL the decisions and the
rest of us saluting and doing what we are told. That's not the way it plays out on
climbing expeditions. Yes, there is a climb leader and it is agreed that s/he will
be the ultimate decision maker. But during our conditioning hikes there were
occasions where we needed to stop, assess our situation and make decisions about
what to do moving forward. David was always the team leader on these hikes and he
is much calmer, more reserved and is much more conservative than I am. Possibly
because he was leading a herd of dumb students... if we were all at his skill level
perhaps the decisions would have been different. While I did not always agree with
the final decision (I typically want to press on and am loathe to quit or turn back)
in retrospect, ALL of David's decisions were the correct ones based on our situation.
When I get myself in a jam in the future, I will reflect on David's leadership and use
what I learned as a model to (hopefully) keep me and my team out of trouble. If there
is a way to package this process and implement it into future BCEP programs, doing
so would definitely be worthwhile.
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