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The training, preparation, leadership, and teamwork of our Outdoor Leadership Program (OLP) staff and students turned what could have been a nightmare into a successful evacuation and valuable learning experience. 

During a recent OLP backpacking trip, when one camper sustained a serious injury, the group jumped into action to stabilize her, carry her out of the wilderness, and get her to the hospital. 

Prep’s OLP tackles nearly two dozen adventures year round with students of all ages, from hiking and backpacking to kayaking, skiing, caving, and more. Risk of injury is inherent in outdoor activities, but OLP has thorough emergency plans that include site specific evacuations and protocols.

In addition, some OLP staff have been through extensive risk management training, and they always have at least one staff member on each trip who has wilderness first responder certifications. 

In late September, OLP Director Molly Rennie and science teacher and OLP staff member Anna Wilkerson took 33 people (six adults, 10 upper school students, and 17 eighth-graders) on an eighth-grade backpacking trip to the Cruces Basin on the Colorado border.

The hike in is about 1.5 miles downhill and a great intro to backpacking, according to Rennie.

Shortly into the trek, an eighth-grader tripped and fell on a rock, sustaining a deep, serious gash on her shin. “Anna and I took one look at it, and we decided we needed to evacuate her to a hospital immediately,” Rennie explains.

Both Wilkerson and Rennie have wilderness first responder certifications and were able to utilize their training to create a splint.

“We decided that it would be in the student's best interest to carry her out to avoid furthering the injury,” Rennie says. 

They rallied some of the parents and all of the Camping Associates (experienced upper school OLP students who work with faculty advisors to plan, organize, and lead trips for the middle school program) and -- about half an hour after the student’s accident -- began the hike out while the rest of the group stayed behind.

“The act of carrying a human out of the backcountry is really challenging,” Rennie reports. “Our little human is pretty small, but still, you don't know physical challenge until you team-carry a person for 1.5 miles uphill. Five of us would walk about 10 yards with two people on either side of her and one at her head, and then we would switch out.”

Sophomore and CA Meredith Staples ’26 guided the whole operation, choosing the best path and shouting instructions. 

Nearly two hours later, they reached their SUV, settled the patient in the back, and notified her parents. Because the student was not bleeding or in pain, the decision was made to drive her to Espanola rather than Alamosa because it would be more convenient for her parents.

She arrived at the hospital about three hours later, where she received excellent treatment, was stitched up, and able to return home with her parents.

Rennie praised the eighth-graders for “being really brave when they all saw a very ugly wound.” They remained at camp and cooked their own dinner under the guidance of a CA and former Prep employees Paul Ryder and Scott Crago, who joined the trip “and immediately got thrown into a crazy situation,” she adds.

The CAs were impressive in the way they worked side by side with the adults to get the student out. “They showed grit, determination, and incredible maturity,” Rennie says. “There are simply no words to express how proud I am of them.”

The parents on the trip “supported the process, helped carry, and were incredibly level headed the entire way,” she adds.

Finally, Rennie expressed gratitude to the entire OLP staff for working through evacuation scenarios and medical scenarios. “I felt that we were prepared for this incident,” she says.