Middle School

City of Rocks Climbing
The 6th Grade City of Rocks trip combines rock climbing and hiking and is the first Middle School trip that students do with their classmates. The trip seeks to help students build climbing skills, increase class unity, and foster personal responsibility and growth.

Red Rocks Climbing
This six-day spring trip travels to Red Rocks, Nevada, for more team building, rock climbing, hiking. Objectives for this trip are to:

• Teach and practice rock climbing skills expanding on their work as 6th graders
• Through rock climbing, hiking, and camping together, build class unity, trust, and teamwork
• Explore and learn about the natural history of the area and the dichotomy of conservation and development in the desert southwest
• Have fun!

Nordic Skiing:
The two-day winter trip focuses on Nordic skiing, team building, and winter self care.

Hells Canyon Backpacking
Seventh grade students embark on their first big wilderness adventure in America's deepest river canyon while researching for their class novel project. This trip is ideal for teaching wilderness skills and learning about natural history while keeping the challenges appropriate for 7th graders. 

Telemark Skiing and Orienteering
During their time at the Sun Valley Community School, students have an opportunity to practice almost every method of human-powered travel on snow. During the 7th Grade year, we provide an opportunity to explore telemark style ski travel. We pair this travel with an orienteering and adventure race experience over the three days where self-care, teamwork, map reading, and winter backcountry navigation are practiced. We will not spend any time in avalanche terrain during our field days.

Hagerman Valley, Idaho 

The 8th Grade Fall trip is centered around the Fall Food Unit in the classroom and builds upon climbing and river skills practiced in 6th and 7th grades. This trip is bookended by service projects on local farms in the Wood River Valley where students get a first hand look at our local food system. 

Grand Gulch Backpacking
In the spring students spend six days backpacking Grand Gulch and learn about Ancient Puebloan history and culture as well as desert ecology. Students prepare for Grand Gulch by studying map reading, Anasazi culture, archeology, desert ecology, and natural history, and wilderness skills. The class breaks into four smaller groups and backpacks in the canyon for five days. Each group completes a different point to point route of about 20-30 miles. Specific objectives for the 8th grade Grand Gulch trip:

• To introduce students to the beauty and wonder of a Great Basin Desert ecosystem
• To teach students about the natural history of Grand Gulch
• To teach students about the Ancient Puebloan culture
• Because Grand Gulch is the longest and most remote wilderness trip students have done to date there is an emphasis on teaching core wilderness skills and fostering student independence. 
• Have fun!

Avalanche Class Field Days

In the 8th grade, students take an introductory avalanche course as part of their winter semester curriculum. The course includes classroom work combined with days in the field. The three day 8th grade winter trip is the culmination of the avalanche unit where students get to put their avalanche knowledge to work. Using what they have learned in the avalanche unit, students spend their days evaluating the big four in avalanche forecasting: snowpack, weather, terrain, and human factors to determine the safest routes of travel-or for that matter, if they should be traveling. 

Why Do the Avalanche Unit? 

Avalanche awareness, safety proceduures and rescue techniques are important for every child who grows up in the Wood River Valley to know. Objectives for this trip:

• To introduce students to winter backcountry travel skills: ski, snowboard, and snowshoe
• To reinforce self care in a winter environment
• To have fun!