40 Days 40 Nights
"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.”
Hosea 2:14
Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. - Hosea 2:14. Mountains, snow, desert, rock, wild flowers, and rivers are all tools the Lord uses to refocus, renew, and equip men and women of God. For thousands of years God has called people into the wilderness for encounters and leadership development. The wilderness is one of God’s training grounds, where he teaches his children how to know Him in all situations. He uses the wilderness to grow his children as godly leaders, stretching them spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally. He uses wilderness experiences to create personal encounters so they will call Him their own. He uses it to develop them into mighty men and women of God. If this is what you desire, then the 40/40 is for you.
Day 1-10: Rock Climbing & Backpacking
Location: Vedauwoo, Wyoming
The journey begins at the SROM building where you will meet your instructors and fellow students. Immediately, instructors teach nutrition, meal preparation, food planning, and food preparation systems. Participants prepare 1,500 backpacking meals. Instructors lead you through “gear issue” for your course. Gear issue is time set aside to review, pack and prep personal and group equipment. Once completed, you will leave the SROM building and travel to a place full of massive multi-colored rocks, towering granite walls, and flowing ridges of Pine and Aspen groves. Here, the wilderness becomes your classroom. For 10 days you will backpack and camp in an oasis of wilderness and climbing called Vedauwoo, Wyoming. You will learn comprehensive skills including knots, belaying, rope management, top-rope climbing, and rappelling, in addition to more advanced skills such as climbing ethics, mock leading, and introductory lead climbing. Toward the end of the 10 days you will be given the opportunity to do multi-pitch climbs on some of the most striking formations in Vedauwoo. You will also have the opportunity to spend time set aside each day for personal and group Bible study, worship, and prayer.
Days 11-13: Snow School and Mountaineering Training
Location: Snowy Range Mountains, Wyoming
After rock climbing, there will be a three-day stop in the Snowy Range Mountains for technical mountaineering training. This training will teach you the skills you need be a mountaineer. This three 3-day intensive snow school will be held on snow fields that allow for a safe environment to learn effective self-arrest (the ability to stop sliding on snow using an ice axe) positions and scenarios, to travel up snow couloirs, to distinguish between safe and unsafe snow conditions, to snow climb with and without ropes, to travel as a roped team, and to descend snow routes using bollards, passive gear and ice axes. Once you are equipped and ready to climb, you will be given the opportunity to climb a snow coulior, and put your new skills immediately into practice.
Days 14-40: Backpacking & Mountaineering
Location: Wind River Wilderness, Wyoming
After completing Snow School, you are ready for your 120-mile journey across the legendary Wind River Mountain Range. The first ten days in the Wind Rivers consist of technical mountaineering. The goal is to ascend some of the most dramatic peaks in the Wind Rivers. These peaks use every skill learned during the snow school and rock climbing portions of the course. Peaks are physically challenging, requiring participants to push their comfort zones and to work as a team. At the conclusion of the technical mountaineering section, participants transition into backpacking and light mountaineering. During this time, you will develop your leadership skills while navigating around crystal clear mountain lakes, crossing rushing mountain streams, steering around towering granite rock walls, breathing the fresh fragrance of wild flowers and sleeping under a sky bursting with stars. You will bake pizzas over a camp stove for dinner and worship Jesus accompanied by a backpacker’s guitar in some of the most scenic valleys and mountaintops in the lower 48 states. You will also spend 48-hours on solo. Here you will separate from the group, choose a base camp, and in solitude, seek after Jesus Christ. After the solo, you will begin the student-led expedition, in which you and your peers will craft a travel plan, present it to your instructors, and for 7 days continue your expedition without your instructors. While on this quest across the Wind Rivers you will learn what it means to be a leader, a servant, and a man or woman after God’s own heart.
