Learning from Loss: 20 Years Since the Sharkfin Tower Incident - Online Classroom

In 2005, a group of Mountaineers experienced a tragic incident while climbing Sharkfin Tower in the North Cascades. There were multiple injuries and fatalities that occurred, and this session will revisit the incident to foster reflection, learning, and restoration. The goal is not to point any finger or allocate blame or shame, but to foster humble inquiry into the event. How did it happen to an experienced group, and how could it happen again if we don't learn the lessons?

lead Image by Petr Slovacek

Seminar Notes

This presentation will encourage attendees to speak up throughout the presentation and be interactive with prompting discussion questions interspersed within lecture segments. Breakout rooms will be used.

Pre-Reading:  The National Parks Service Morning Report for Thursday, July 14, 2005​​

presenter

Steve Smith is a risk management consultant at Experiential Consulting, LLC. He has worked in the outdoor industry for over thirty years, including hundreds of days in the field instructing, administrative leadership roles with national organizations including Outward Bound and The Student Conservation Association, and helping The Mountaineers envision and launch Progressive Climbing Education as a member of the Adult Education department. Steve served as chair of the Wilderness Risk Management Conference (WRMC) for three years. He has a Master's degree in English Composition, along with six years of university-level teaching experience, and earned a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification from the Society for Human Resources Management, all of which help him view outdoor education through a variety of educational and administrative lenses. A regular speaker at regional and national conferences, Steve strives to make his presentations fun, engaging, and practical. He lives in Langley on Whidbey Island and enjoys exploring the mountains, forests, and coastlines of the Pacific Northwest. His superpower has to do with deep frying buffalo wings in improbable places.

Photo Courtesy of Steve Smith

6:30-8:00pm PST via Zoom Meeting