Thursday, January 29, 2009
Designed for beginners, this class will provide a basic foundation for getting started in climbing. This course will introduce participants to the use and care of climbing equipment, how to tie climbing knots as well as teach you how to manage the most basic rope system known as belaying. Join the Adventure Staff for a challenging evening of indoor rock climbing at one of the Triangle's modern rock gyms, The Vertical Edge. With over 8500 square feet of wall space and 60 routes available, The Vertical Edge provides the perfect learning environment. Adventure staff will focus on teaching concepts associated with belaying and will provide adequate practice to hone it into an acquired skill. By the end of the class participants will be ready to take any climbing center belay test, which is a requirement to utilize indoor climbing facilities. Equipment, instruction, transportation, and plenty of climbing opportunities will be provided. Participants ages 12-15 must be accompanied by an adult.
Intermediate Rock Climbing
Build off the basics and further your knowledge of climbing techniques, route finding, and various types of climbing. Just as there are several types of rock there are several different types of climbs you may face. Find out what they are and how to handle each in our new intermediate class at Pilot Mountain. Pilot's name comes from Native Americans who used it as the "Great Guide" or Pilot when traveling. In more recent times Pilot has be come one of the premier climbing areas in North Carolina due to it's accessibility, variety of climbs and expansive views of the surrounding area. Our experienced staff will set up climbs that are suited for a novice group of climbers, so be prepared for a full day of muscle burn and fun! Equipment, instruction, and transportation are provided Minimum age is 12 and ages 12-15 must be accompanied by an adult.
Quick Start Climbing
Are you ready to get out there and get climbing? If so, Quick Start Climbing is for you. Offering the best of both worlds, our new program combines the intro and intermediate rock climbing programs. Our goal is to provide you with as many climbing opportunities and as much contructive coaching as possible. We have not cut any corners or sacrificed the curriculum in any way. The only thing we have gotten rid of is the wait between courses!
Top Rope Anchors Course
Whether you want to start setting up your own climbs or are just interested in learning more about the climbing system that keeps you off the ground, the Top Rope Anchors Course is for you. This course will cover topics such as cliff site management, selecting natural anchors as well as constructing and evaluating anchor systems. Get hands on experience building anchors with feedback and guidance from professionals at Raleigh Parks and Recreation. This program is a must for anyone who longs to become an independent climber.
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How To Choose Camp For Your Kids
Monday, January 26, 2009
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Wednesday, January 21, 2009
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Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Practice Good Stewardship of our Public Lands:
Safety While Enjoying Winter Sports:
- Dress appropriately for your sport and for the climate. You may need equipment ranging from helmets, goggles, boots, cold weather gear and other safety equipment.
- Be mindful of the hazards that cold weather can present so that you can enjoy winter sports safely
- Do not feed the local wildlife
- Be courteous and remember that you are sharing public lands with other recreationists
- Do not recreate on unauthorized areas
- Bring along extra safety items such as water, flashlights, maps, and a cellphone or radio
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How Do I Find A Secluded Spot For Camping?
Monday, January 19, 2009
How do I find a secluded spot?
There are some easily accessed, developed campsites with toilets and picnic tables scattered throughout the south-west. To find more secluded locations you will need to purchase some good maps which show land tenure so that you can tell what is State forest, and whether it is open to the public (i.e. not closed as a disease risk area). The StreetSmart touring maps are good base maps, more specific information is available from the CALM 1:50,000 series maps. Both are available from DEC's Kensington Headquarters.
Having found your spot:
- Camp in existing cleared areas, but please don't clear new areas. Dig a pit toilet if toilet facilities are not provided. Always make sure that a dug toilet is at least 400 metres from rivers or streams.
- Some areas of the south-west have total fire bans (including campfires) all summer. In areas where campfires are permitted, don't light them on hot windy days. Better still, reduce the potential for a bushfire by using portable fuel stoves at all times.
- Take your rubbish home with you. If you can carry it in you can carry it out.
- Not all campsites allow the use of generators.
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Volcano - Early Warning System
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The United States has abundant volcanoes, and over the past 25 years the Nation has experienced a diverse range of the destructive phenomena that volcanoes can produce. Hazardous volcanic activity will continue to occur, and -- because of increasing population, increasing development, and expanding national and international air traffic over volcanic regions -- the exposure of human life and enterprise to volcano hazards is increasing. Fortunately, volcanoes exhibit precursory unrest that if detected and analyzed in time allows eruptions to be anticipated and communities at risk to be forewarned with reliable information in sufficient time to implement response plans and mitigation measures.
In the 25 years since the cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens, scientific and technological advances in volcanology have been used to develop and test models of volcanic behavior and to make reliable forecasts of expected activity a reality. Until now, these technologies and methods have been applied on an ad hoc basis to volcanoes showing signs of activity. However, waiting to deploy a robust, modern monitoring effort until a hazardous volcano awakens and an unrest crisis begins is socially and scientifically unsatisfactory because it forces scientists, civil authorities, citizens, and businesses into "playing catch up" with the volcano, trying to get instruments and civil-defense measures in place before the unrest escalates and the situation worsens. Inevitably, this manner of response results in our missing crucial early stages of the volcanic unrest and hampers our ability to accurately forecast events. Restless volcanoes do not always progress to eruption; nevertheless, monitoring is necessary in such cases to minimize either over-reacting, which costs money, or under-reacting, which may cost lives.
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NASA Selects Hampton Firms For Engineering Support
Friday, January 9, 2009
The Hampton firms will provide scientific, engineering, and design and development activities in aerodynamics, mechanical, structural, thermal, propulsion, fluid systems, electrical and electronics, avionics and controls, instrumentation and advanced sensor, and manufacturing technology.The work will be performed at Langley and at contractor locations.
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Lightweight camping involves sleeping in tents at places with no facilities and carrying all of the gear necessary to undertake the camp (e.g. short or extended backpacking, sailing, canoeing, pony trekking and cycling trips).
Associated activities (such as swimming, day hiking, or rock climbing) should be carried out in accordance with the requirements of the specific Schedules for those activities.
Nature of hazards
As part of the process of safety self-regulation, all persons engaging in this activity should identify the hazards, assess their significance and manage the potential risks including any additional hazards not mentioned here
Camping carries the potential risk of students becoming lost during activities and suffering from exposure.
Hazards that may be encountered in camping include:
- environmental hazards (e.g. adverse climatic conditions, falling branches)
- physical hazards (e.g. tent pegs, tent guy ropes, gas lights, cooking equipment, inadequate hygiene); and
- biological hazards (e.g. ticks, snakes, bees).
Level of risk
The categorisation of these conditions is subjective and offered as a starting point for risk management planning. The actual degree of risk is best ascertained by persons with intimate local knowledge present at the site of the activity.
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Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Everybody knows space is dangerous. Some of the perils are obvious: hard vacuum, extreme cold, and unpredictable blasts of radiation from the Sun.Other perils are less conspicuous. The effects of prolonged weightlessness on the human body, for example, can be slow and subtle yet no less dangerous if astronauts fail to take proper precautions.
Weakening of the bones due to the progressive loss of bone mass is a particularly serious effect of extended spaceflight. Studies of cosmonauts and astronauts who spent many months on space station Mir revealed that space travelers can lose 1 to 2 percent of bone mass each month a loss doctors don't yet know how to prevent. "The magnitude of this has led NASA to consider bone loss an inherent risk of extended space flights," says Dr. Jay Shapiro, team leader for bone studies at the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.
Space travelers aren't the only ones who worry about bone loss. At least 10 million people suffer from bone loss in the U.S. and untold numbers worldwide it's called osteoporosis. Postmenopausal women are especially prone to osteoporosis, but most of us contract the disease as we age, including men. Researchers hope that solving the riddle of bone loss in space will reveal important clues about what causes osteoporosis right here on Earth.
Spacefarers typically experience bone loss in the lower halves of their bodies, particularly in the lumbar vertebrae and the leg bones. Diminishing bone mass also triggers a rise in calcium levels in the blood, which increases the risk of kidney stones.
Researchers suspect the root cause of bone loss in space is weightlessness.
In fact, the pull of gravity 350 km above our planet's surface where the space station and the shuttle orbit is 90 percent as strong as it is on the ground. That hardly sounds weightless! But orbiting astronauts nevertheless feel weightless because they and their spacecraft are freely falling together toward Earth. (The space station doesn't come crashing to the ground because it's going forward so fast, about 28,000 km/h, that its fall matches the curvature of the Earth. It literally "falls around" the planet.) Just as gravity seems briefly suspended in a downward accelerating elevator, so does the crew in freely falling space station experience "zero-G."
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Exploration Medical Capability
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The work done by team members in this Element is leading edge technology, procedure, and pharmacological development. They develop data systems that protect patient's private medical information, aid in the diagnosis of medical conditions, and act as a repository of relevant NASA life sciences experimental studies. To minimize the medical risks to crew health the physicians and scientists in this Element develop models to quantify the probability of medical events occurring during a mission. They define procedures to treat an ill or injured crew member who does not have access to an emergency room and who must be cared for in a microgravity environment where both liquids and solids behave differently than on Earth.
To support the development of these medical capabilities, the Element manages the development of medical technologies that prevent, monitor, diagnose, and treat an ill or injured crewmember. The Exploration Medical Capability Element collaborates with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), the Department of Defense, other Government-funded agencies, academic institutions, and industry.
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Monday, January 5, 2009
Established in 1997 and funded by NASA, NSBRI sponsors investigations to develop countermeasures to human health related challenges posed by long-duration space flight. While solving a variety of health issues related to space travel, NSBRI research also is leading to treatments for patients with similar conditions on Earth, such as osteoporosis, muscle wasting, shift-related sleep disorders, balance disorders, and cardiovascular system problems.
The first presentation in BioEd's new series is Sleep and Human Performance, by Dr. David Dinges, Leader of NSBRI's Neurobehavioral and Psychosocial Factors Team. Research has shown that the proper amount of sleep is essential for memory and optimal performance. So, how much sleep do people need? Why do adolescents want to stay up late at night and sleep away half the day? After listening to Dr. Dinges, you may decide to make more time to get a "good night's rest."
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Some General Restrictions For Cave Camp
General Cave Tour Restrictions
- Take a little time to ensure that the activity you have chosen is the best one for you. All cave tours and nature walks can be strenuous, so be sure you understand what will be required of you before the start of your activity. If you are unsure, ask a park ranger to explain what will be required of you. NEVER let someone talk you into doing an activity if you feel uneasy about it.
- Cave and surface trails are uneven and slippery so be sure you have the proper footwear and always look before you step.
- All cave tours require shirts and shoes for admittance.
- Camera tripods and monopods, child strollers and infant backpack carriers are prohibited in the cave for visitor safety.
- Walking sticks and canes are permitted on cave tours only when sufficient need is demonstrated.
- To protect air quality, smoking is not permitted in the cave or at cave entrances.
- Year-round cave temperature in interior passageways fluctuates from the mid-50s to the low 60s (in degrees Farenheit). However, winter temperatures can be below freezing at entrances! In most areas of the cave, you'll be comfortable if you wear long pants and take a sweater or jacket with you.
Outside
- When leaving your car at the Visitor Center or a remote trailhead, always lock the doors and store all items out of sight. When possible, park in an open, well-lit area.
- Do not approach or feed animals. All animals in the park are wild, and feeding them harms their well-being. All animals can be dangerous, even the most harmless-looking deer, squirrel or raccoon. Do not approach.
- Always be aware while driving. Numerous animals such as deer and turkey are often visible along the sides of the road. Make sure to use extra caution while driving as these animals may walk into traffic.
- Examine yourself for ticks after spending time outside. Ticks can carry diseases such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme disease. For more information, ask at the Visitor Center.
- Do not drink from rivers, ponds, lakes or springs in the park without first treating the water. Potable water is available in the Visitor Center area and at Houchins Ferry Campground.
- When you begin a trail hike, always tell others where you are going. Sign in at trailhead registers where they are available.
- Use caution on rocky or slippery trails.
- Swimming in the Green and Nolin Rivers is at your own risk, and is not recommended.
- Carry a flashlight if you hike in late evening.
If you set aside a little time to think about safety, your visit to Mammoth Cave National Park will be remembered as an enjoyable time that you will want to experience again.
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