Breaking the Halo: Lessons in Leadership from Outdoor Education - Mountaineers Seattle Program Center

7-9pm in Cascade A/B

Following the death of a climbing student in 2018 (on a non-Mountaineers climb), Katja and a small group of climbers found several contributing thinking errors and a need to better prepare and empower students to confront heuristic traps. "Breaking the Halo" offers a simple, universal approach to confronting complacency, assumptions, and communication breakdowns between students and instructors. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase a copy of the "Breaking the Halo" book, with the goal that they are able to bring training tips back to their own communities.

Katjarina "Katja" Hurt is an outdoorsy nerdette with a penchant for volunteering and trying to make the world a better place. In 2018, Katja left her six years in law enforcement to launch Wilderness Chaplains, a nonprofit providing education and crisis support to wilderness first responders. She wrote "Breaking the Halo," a presentation-turned-publication on empowering students to confront heuristic traps in outdoor education. Katja's degrees include crisis and disaster management, communication studies, and a master's in pastoral studies...but she prefers to be known for her work as a police and fire chaplain, Outdoor Emergency Care instructor and 12+ years volunteering with the National Ski Patrol. She is a fourth generation Mountaineer and graduate of the Olympia Basic Climbing Course.