– 1 –

Head of SchoolMike Maher opened the school yearwith a number of challenges to thefaculty and staff. He emphasizedglobalization, international schoolnetworks, place-based education,sustainability, carbon neutrality, andour mountain. A task force compris-ing RKMP faculty, has been createdto develop a signature program thatwill get all students up on themountain. Even though we alreadyhave an adventure sports programthat rivals most collegiate programs,we want to be sure that everyonewho comes to Berkshire benefitsand learns from the eastern slopesof Mt. Everett.

The task force will need to lookclosely at the core values of theschool, identify skills that reflectthese values, and organize a pro-gram that utilizes our mountain toteach these skills. Berkshire hasthe experience within the RKMP tomanage this task and the naturalresources to accommodate the stu-dent body. Berkshire also has theadministrative backing to give theprogram validity. This “mountainworkshop” will certainly elevatestudents’ overall Berkshire experi-ence to another level. It promisesto round out their college prepara-tory repertoire with an increasedawareness of the environment socrucial in today’s world. Happily,this workshop is just a few stepsfrom the heart of campus.

—Frank Barros, Director of RKMP

and Science Teacher

Several years ago I attended a presenta-tion Tom Wessels gave to our third-form-ers as part of a series of yearlong formexperiences that focused on environmen-tal issues. Wessels, an ecologist and direc-tor of the Environmental BiologyProgram at Antioch New EnglandGraduate School, presented a slide showand talked about how, with a bit of train-ing, anyone can learn to “interpret” natu-ral environments. In fact, Wessels wrote abook entitled Reading the ForestedLandscape, A Natural History of NewEngland (more on this tome later). Whilethe slide show may not have been toostimulating for our young third-formers, Ifound his talk to be phenomenal. It wasthen that I began to imagine a scienceelective designed to get our students outinto the woods on a regular basis. While Ido spend a lot of time in the woods as aninstructor for RKMP’s Backcountry Skills(a fall sport option), those participantsrepresent but a small fraction of theBerkshire School student body. Another

reason for wanting to initiate this courseis that I’ve always had an interest inforests and trees. I earned a forestry meritbadge as a Boy Scout, was convinced as ateenager that I would some day be a forestranger, and spent my first two years ofcollege studying forestry at Paul SmithsCollege.

Last spring I formally proposed thatBerkshire School offer an elective in forestecology for juniors and seniors whowould be interested in an ecology coursethat was field-oriented. Forest ecologywould also take advantage of a greatteaching resource, Mt. Everett. Afterreceiving approval, I looked for a profes-sional development opportunity thatwould help me create a course syllabusand found Field Ecology and NaturalHistory offered at The College of theAtlantic, located on the edge of AcadiaNational Park in Bar Harbor, Maine. Thetextbook for the course was Wessels’Reading the Forested Landscape, so I knewthat this would be a great experience. In

continued on page 8

WINTER 2009 NEWSLETTER

Forest Ecology Elective Offered By Science DepartmentBy Mike Dalton, Science Teacher and RKMP Instructor

Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program

– 2 –

Mountain Biking in PeruBy Kelly Brennan ’09, Saratoga Springs, New York

Biking down single-track trails of the Berkshire Mountains can certainly be challenging and fun. However, bik-

ing down ancient Inca trails of the Andes Mountains in Peru is downright exhilarating. Twelve Berkshire stu-

dents and two guides from the Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program spent the first few weeks of June testing their

own skill and endurance biking down slopes at elevations between 12,000 and 15,000 feet above sea level. They

biked down the hills above the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco, past Christ the Redeemer, the second highest statue

in South America, into the city’s streets and down several of the city’s ancient staircases. They biked down the

Sacred Valley from Chinchero plateau to the Moray Agricultural Center and to Las Salineras, pre-Inca salt mines.

They even biked from Huayracpunku Pass for four hours, negotiating rocks, sharp drops, stairs, twisting trails,

etc., all at fairly high speeds on the best downhill route in South America. – Frank Barros

Kelly Brennan in the forest above Cuzco

The first leg was the easiest, as it was mostly a downhill road.We stopped at many archeological sites to learn about the Incasand their world. Over the next three days our biking skillsimproved as the terrain became harder to navigate. We passedbreathtaking panoramic views and visited places that I imag-ined people would only see on the Discovery Channel.

Above: Tenting it at the hot springs resort

Left: On the Andes Trail

The second leg of our journey required a 50-mile trainride to see one of the Seven Wonders of the World, MachuPicchu. Often referred to as “The Lost City of the Incas,”Machu Picchu is probably the most familiar symbol of theInca Empire. It was built around the year 1450, but aban-doned a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanishconquest of the Inca Empire.

Below: Far left, entrance to Machu Picchu

Right: Group shot at Machu Picchu

The group then visitedthe remains of Raqchi, thegreat Viracocha temple, onthe high plains.

After an eight-hourbus ride to the south-ern-most tip of Peru,we arrived at LakeTiticaca, the highestnavigable lake in theworld, near the city ofPuno, the last leg of

our journey. Lake Titicaca is truly amazing. We took aboat to the floating island, where we learned about thehistory of the lake and the Uros people who live on 42artificial islands made of floating reeds. They hunt andfish for food and live without electricity, using all of theresources available to them. They truly inspired us. Thechildren attend grade school on one of the many islands,but the teenagers must row the lake everyday to the highschool in Puno.

Above: Mr. Barros and condor at Lake Titicaca

Left: Uros people at Lake Titicaca

– 3 –

The trip ended far too soon,and I know we all loved everyminute of it. I want to thankthe donors of the RKMP forgiving us this incredible andwonderful opportunity of alifetime that tested our physi-cal ability while we enjoyedbreathtaking views and mar-veled at historical landmarks.

– 4 –

When I started looking for schools,Berkshire stood out above the restbecause it offered something differentfrom any other school I had researched:an outdoor program called the RKMPand, within that program, mountain bik-ing, which I found intriguing.

Nonetheless, when Mom asked mewhat spring sport I wanted to sign upfor freshmen year, I chose to stay in mycomfort zone with softball and didn’tjoin mountain biking until I was asophomore. Coming to the first teammeeting that spring, I was immediatelystressed out by being the only girl onthe team and with a bike that didn’tresemble anyone else’s. The five guyson the team were George Haydock ’09,Caleb Booth ’08, Ben Bowden ’08, JoeCohen ’08 and Arthur Copstein ’11,and they were each good. I panickedafter clearing some trails and saw that Iwould need some serious technicalskills to ride the terrain. I phonedhome and told my parents I was think-ing of quitting, but Dad (a seasonedbiker) calmed me down and offered tocome up over the weekend to take aride with me and go over some of thetechnical sections of the course. The

following week when the team hit thetrails, I was feeling a little more confi-dent and began challenging myselfdaily by doing something on the coursethat I had not done the previous day. Ithought I did well, even though I didnot ride all the technical parts.Sometimes (actually, a lot of the time)I fell, but I would just laugh at myself,get back on the bike and keep going. Iwon my first race and really enjoyedthe overall experience.

I quickly came to love mountain bik-ing and found that I was actually hav-ing a good time with my teammates. Iremember one day in particular whenour team made its way out to the trickpark, small trails designed to challengedifferent mountain biking skills. Tomove onto harder trails you have to dosimpler skills first. One of the firstthings I had to do was a “drop.”George and Caleb explained how toapproach it, then stood back andwatched. I went off a ramp but forgotto turn the wheel when I made it to theground and proceeded into thornbushes, then off another drop hiddenby the shrubs. Getting up, I found myhelmet visor dangling off to one side

and the guys laughing and con-gratulating me on a goodattempt, but joking that the ideawas to stay on the trial. Theyoffered more instruction, andwithin the next two attempts I hitthe drop correctly. Overall, theguys are good teammates who

made the season extremely enjoyable.When the school year came to an

end, I had won all three races I enteredin the Root 66 Series. Mr. Barrosencouraged me to continue racing overthe summer because he felt I had achance to win the whole series. Idecided that this was something Iwould like to do, and mountain bikingquickly became my passion. My dadand I went out for bike rides together,traversing trails that he previouslycouldn’t bring me on. At the end ofthe summer I had won eight of theeleven races I entered in the Root 66series. In addition to this, I am nowsponsored by my local bike shop,Gamache, and have moved up to theSport Category, a more competitivelevel, during this my junior year.

Mountain biking has affected my lifemore than I thought possible. Eventhough I am no longer a tri-varsityathlete, I do not regret my decision tojoin the team. I have a better mindsetfor and positive outlook on sports andacademics, and I developed a way tokeep my life less stressful. Even thoughI fall a lot—my team members willattest to this—I am able to take it instride and get back on my bike. Iapplied this approach to other aspectsin my life. Now, if I get a bad grade onsomething, I know I tried my best, andI shake it off, telling myself that I willeventually accomplish my goals. I amextremely grateful I signed up formountain biking, and I’m anxious forthe next season to begin!

Note: Sadie eventually went on to win first

place in the New England Beginner’s Women’s

Racers Root 66 Mountain Biking Series.

Far Away From My Comfort ZoneBy Sadie St. Germain ’10, Ashburnham, Massachusetts

Sadie and captain George Haydock ’09 with medals

– 5 –

In June of 2008, I was fortunate to havethe opportunity to travel to Alaska for asix-day mountaineering course run by theAlaska Mountaineering School. While thecourse proved to be extremely beneficialto my own education as an instructor inthe RKMP’s Winter MountaineeringProgram, and a lot of fun, it was also thefulfillment of a life-long dream.

My first impression of Alaska came tome at a young age and much of it wasshaped by the words of Jack London. Myfather spent the better part of the summerreading Call of the Wild to me; I wouldhunker down in my bed each night andlisten with great interest to the tale ofBuck and his transformative experience inthe Alaskan frontier. Nearly thirty yearsafter my father first introduced me toBuck, I departed to Alaska for the firsttime, not knowing fully what Iwas getting into but wonderingall along whether or not I toomight hear the call of thewild—or, at the very least, getto spend a week exploring myprimordial side.

On the road to Talkeetnafrom Anchorage, I witnessedfirst hand just how wild Alaskaremains today. With the excep-tion of a few obtrusive shop-ping plazas scattered along theway, Alaska really did appear tobe the frontier land that I imag-ined. As the road to Talkeetna progressed,civilization dwindled; the only marks ofmankind—a hand-built cabin with, per-haps, a large pile of fire wood in the frontyard or a weather-beaten snowmobilepatiently awaiting winter—were seldomseen; instead, the landscape consisted ofvast tracts of dense, uninterrupted forest,with a backdrop of towering white moun-tains that seemed to grow in stature witheach new mile.

Upon arriving in the small village ofTalkeetna and finding my way to AlaskaMountaineering School, I learned quicklythat I was in for an adventure. Theinstructors’ sun-baked, wind-torn facesinstantly alerted me to the fact that whereI would be going would be a far cry from

the comfortable and protect-ed lifestyle I was accustomedto. After a gear check and aquick overview, we loaded upthe vans and drove down thedirt roads to the tiny airport,where a small single-pro-peller plane awaited us.Airborne and skipping ourway over the tips of the tow-ering peaks, I looked out overthe most impressive stretchof wilderness I have everseen: Denali National Park.All around me, white snow-covered peaks stood tallabove the massive glaciers attheir feet. The plane dippedbetween two peaks, seeming-ly grazing the edges of both,

and dropped down onto a soft blanket ofsnow. The captain threw our gear outonto the snow, said “stand back,” and tookoff again, leaving me with my eight class-mates and two instructors, alone in awhite basin of snow with imposing wallsof rock surrounding us.

For the next six days there was no night.In the land of the eternal sun, I immersedmyself in an intense and challengingmountaineering course, which brought meto the top of several of the surroundingpeaks, across crevasse-laden glaciers, downinto the dark and chilling depths of thosecrevasses, and left me huddled in mysleeping bag each night trying to recuper-ate for the next day’s experience. Duringthese six grueling days, I was forced to

push myself beyond my comfort level dayin and day out, as I learned to practicallyimplement a full set of mountaineeringskills—skills which will serve me well asan instructor in the RKMP WinterMountaineering Program at BerkshireSchool. Though the conditions wereextreme and the lessons were long,intense, and physically and mentallydemanding, I never once felt run down bythe experience; in fact, it was quite theopposite: my energy level seemed toincrease as did my motivation over thecourse of the week. Moreover, my mindwas fresh, alert, and full of new ideas.

When the plane came to pick us up, Iwas filled with mixed emotions. Part ofme wanted to stay longer and experiencemore of the wild, but the other part of mewas ready to return home, where I knewthe living was easy—a warm and comfort-able bed, a plentiful supply of food, a fullbathroom with shower and toilet, a couchand television, and fresh clothes. As theplane flew out from the glacier and crestedthe peaks of the surrounding mountains, Ilooked back at the tiny dot that was ourcampsite on the otherwise uninterruptedtract of white, closed my eyes, and driftedinto a pleasant sleep, knowing that I hadanswered the call of the wild.

The Call of the WildBy Jon Moodey, Admission Officer, English teacher

Base camp

Ready to descend

– 6 –

The Berkshire School campus ishome, at various times during the year,to over forty species of birds. Theyrange from the everyday regulars(northern cardinals, American robins,tufted titmice, and black-capped chick-adees) to the occasional visitors (beltedkingfishers, white-crowned sparrows,barred owls, and pileated woodpeck-ers). No matter how great their fre-quency, however, if you’re not activelylooking (or listening) for them, youalmost certainly won’t see them.

Enter the newly hatched BerkshireBirding Club. The RKMP this year issponsoring the new club to encourageinterested community members toexplore their world and to learn moreabout the feathered friends that shareour home. The club hopes to sponsor

a couple of on-campus strolls plus addin as many as two or three off-campusbird walks.

Key to the success of the new clubwill be its student leader, Matt Ward ’10of Lake Forest, Illinois. Matt’s passionfor birds will be a driving engine toencourage student involvement. Hehas wanted to do something for awhile, and I’m pleased that we’ve finallygot his idea off the ground. And whilebird watching is probably not at the topof most teenagers’ list of things to do, itcertainly appeals, or could appeal, tothe many students who have a love forthe outdoors.

Since I took up the sport myselfabout four years ago, it has enrichedmy walks through the woods and,indeed, my strolls to Berkshire Hall for

that 8:00 a.m. class. As I write this, inmid-September, the black-throatedgreen warblers, whose distinctive zay-zay-zay-zoo-zee fills the woods and sur-rounding areas of campus during thelate spring and summer months, havegone away. But other species remain,including the beautiful cedar waxwing.Unlike the black-throated green’s obvi-ous loud song, the cedars offer a moresubtle, almost insect-like, call. If youdon’t know it, you probably wouldn’teven notice it. So even though dozensof cedars call Berkshire home, a verysmall percentage of human beings thatmake their home here have ever evenseen one. That’s a shame, and it’s whatthe Berkshire Birding Club hopes, inpart, to remedy.

Berkshire Birding ClubBy Clay Splawn, History Department Chair, Philosophy Teacher

From left: Peter Quilty, Dean of Students; Clay Splawn; Julio Morales ’11 of Piscatway, New Jersey; and Matt Ward ’10.

New Offering

– 7 –

Like native brook trout rising to deli-cate mayflies floating on BerkshireCounty’s Green River, twenty-eight stu-dents rose to the opportunity to formthe Berkshire School Fly Fishing Club.With self descriptions ranging from “flyfishing maniac” to “I’ve always wantedto try,” this group of students is excitedto enter a world where sport, nature andconservation intersect.

At our inaugural meeting, the groupplotted out the following goals for the2008-2009 school year:

• Plan monthly outings to local riversand streams to test out skills againstthe wily trout of Vermont,Massachusetts and Connecticut

• Work with local conservationorganizations like Trout Unlimitedand the Berkshire Fly Fishers toidentify a worthy stream enhance-ment project that will benefit nativecold water species

• Develop a fly tying program wherethe club will meet as a group andshare techniques for developing flypatterns to use on our local outings

• Practice our fly casting with castingdemonstrations and instruction fornovice and experienced anglers

• Plan a weekend fly fishing outing inthe spring of 2009 to a wildernesssetting in the Northeast

John Stout ’09 from LookoutMountain, Tennessee, and Christopher“Kit” Landry ’10 from Wilton,Connecticut, had the idea to start theprogram. They are both avid fly fisher-men who wanted to explore therenowned trout waters of the Berkshires.The idea to form the group came on a

Sunday morning outing last spring tothe Housatonic River near CornwallBridge, Connecticut.

The Berkshire School Fly Fishing Clubhas had two outings so far in 2008. Ourfirst trip visited the storied waters of theUpper Farmington River near theRiverton Dam, where Sam Heller ’09 ofCooperstown, New York, and Tyler Cline’12 of Tuxedo Park, New York, spent abeautiful Sunday in October trying toland a migrating fall brown trout.

Our second trip, on our MountainDay in early November, found a groupof five determined anglers fishing theHousatonic near Cornwall Bridge.Despite high waters from recent storms,we hooked several fish and Matt Steiner’12 from Hillsdale, New York, caughtand released a beautiful brown trout.

Our club is anxiously awaiting anoth-er pleasant November or DecemberSunday to squeeze in one last day of flyfishing before winter sets in.

Berkshire School Fly Fishing Club Joins RKMPBy Bill Bullock, Assistant Director of Admission, History Teacher

The second Mountain Day trip included (L to R) Eric Zahn ’11 of Sault Ste. Marie, Canada,Matt Steiner ’12, Tyler Cline ’12, Dakota Richardson ’10 of Stamford, Connecticut and ScotMcMillan ’11 of Salisbury, Connecticut.

Matt Steiner ’12 with brown trout he released

Eric Zahn ’11 fishing for trout in theHousatonic River

New Offering

an interesting twist, the instructor is aprofessor at the University of Maine andwas a high school classmate of TomWessels.

At the start of school this fall there weresix students enrolled in this new offering,and within a few weeks the number hadgrown to ten. The course began with aunit on dendrology, which essentiallyinvolved spending a few weeks learninghow to identify trees by their leaves, fruit,bark, twigs, and shape. Given that thereare almost fifty species found on Mt.Everett, this was not an easy task, but thestudents accepted the challenge enthusias-tically. In addition to knowing commonnames, the students learned each tree’s sci-entific name (genus and species) as well asfamily names. Most class time is spent inthe woods with specific sites providing the“lecture” for the day. Students have notonly been learning the natural history oftrees, but also of other flora and faunaunique to the New England forests. Two

of the textbooks for the course arePeterson’s Guide to New England Forestsand Peterson’s Guide to Eastern Trees;another book I selected for the course isWessels’s book. Much of our field workrecently has involved “wesseling,” a termthat my fellow College of the Atlanticclassmates and I came up with this sum-mer as we attempted to understand thehistory of the forest surrounding CadillacMountain in Acadia National Park.Berkshire students have studied the oldstone walls that weave their way throughthe woods behind the school buildings.They examined old tree stumps, decidingwhether they were hardwood or softwoodas well as determining how long ago theywere cut.

The budding (ahhh… pun intended)forest ecologists have also been learningforest surveying techniques, which includedetermining a tree’s height, dbh (diameterat breast height), and basal area. Theyhave been able to determine the forestcomposition at various locations andcompared their results with work that Mr.Barros’ students have already completed.

This information can be found on theschool’s Web site by going to theEnvironmental Stewardship page andlooking at the Watershed Study Areaspage. Also included in the course areunits on forest pathology, which includediscussion of damaging infestations likechestnut blight, gypsy moth defoliation,the hemlock woolly adelgid, and Dutchelm disease. While the main focus of thecourse is the Eastern deciduous forest inwhich the Berkshires are located, studentswill take “virtual” tours of other majorforest communities found in the UnitedStates and around the world.

Student comments have been positive.George Torsilieri ’10 of Princeton, NewJersey, states, “I like that I get to spendtime outside and being able to know thenames of a lot of the trees that I see.”Rupert Norris ’10 of Alford,Massachusetts, writes, “It’s fun to be ablego outside and learn in the woods insteadof learning in a classroom all the time.”Nick Hazenberg ’09 of New York City says,“The class is great because we get to beoutdoors and experience the mountain.”

Forest Ecology continued from page 1

Thank you to the donors who have given to the RKMP endowment on behal f of all the students

who have bene fited from their generosity .

The Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program 2008-2009 staff and offerings:

Frank Barros, rock climbing, ropes course,

mountain biking and coordinator of Beyond

the Mountain program (domestic and

international wilderness trips).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bill Bullock, kayaking, fly fishing

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Dalton, back country skills, ropes course

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kate Garbutt, rock climbing, winter

mountaineering

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Giles, boat building, ropes course

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jesus Ibanez, kayaking, ropes course

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jon Moodey, winter mountaineering

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Yaverbaum, back country skills

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Visit www.berkshireschool.org to learn more

about the RKMP; click program’s button on the

home page or subscribe to RSS feeds in the

RKMP News section.

Frank Barros taking in

all of Machu Picchu