Jul 1, 2021
Jaret Slipp was born in Edmonton, Alberta and raised in Nova Scotia and Ontario. He believes that anyone can be a leader and that as instructors, it’s our role to provide the environment and training to help people discover their full potential. He is currently living on a sailboat in the Caribbean with his wife and two adorable daughters for a couple of years, while his home base is in Whitehorse, Yukon.
Jaret has worked in outdoor Ed for about 20 years. For NOLS, he has taught canoeing, backpacking, sea kayaking, caving, climbing, and mountaineering. He was a fixture at the NOLS Yukon Branch for many years, starting there as an intern and eventually becoming the Branch Director.
In this episode:
- [5:24] In the beginning, Jaret talks about his bizarre experience in Australia, where what seems to him a log turns out to be a crocodile on which he clumsily stepped on. Later the same day, while everyone was catching some sleep, a student started screaming. Jared began running, to save his students from the crocodile; the whole incident turns hilarious when it was revealed the student has just had a nightmare.
- [12:07] While leading a NOLS course in Baffin Island when he was about to celebrate his birthday, a woman cruised into their camp on an ATV. She invited all the students to watch and help her dad skin a polar bear, which was a very disturbing thing but ended up being a life-changing experience.
- [20:00] Moving forward, Jaret talks about a student on a Rio Grand NOLS canoeing course. In an incident, a student managed to get all his ADHD medication wet. The student’s behaviour drastically changed for the better once he was no longer able to take his medication. The student who looked lost and always in his world became a role model and a great leader for the rest of the trip.
- [25:51] Jaret tells the most adventurous story of his life where he and one of his favourite canoe partners faced an enthralling problem. While they were in June Lake, they had to wait for days. Eventually, the floatplane came to rescue them, but when everything started aligning in the right way, they hit a brick wall, making it all more dramatic, which you don’t want to miss.