Outdoor recreation is the fabric of Western North Carolina: the reason people live here, move here, retire here, vacation here. But even in a region where wilderness looms large, getting out in it sometimes takes help, whether it’s a rafting trip for those who’ve never wielded a paddle or a backcountry expedition for those with less-than-stellar map skills.

There’s a cadre of people who serve as adventure ambassadors, the guides and outfitters that connect people with the outdoors. Training them — not just the rank-and-file but the managers and bosses that run the outdoor companies — is big business for Paul Wolf, the director of the Southwestern Community College Outdoor Leadership program. When Wolf talks about his students’ course work — rock climbing, kayaking, backpacking, caving, bouldering — it can sound more like summer camp than college. But it’s serious stuff for Wolf, something his students quickly come to find out.

“The activities are merely a means to another end. Some of my students’ biggest challenges aren’t paddling Class III rapids or the 350-foot rock wall,” Wolf said. “It’s what you do when someone just accidentally dumped the entire bottle of pepper into your camp meal, when it’s been raining all day long and there’s no other food and you have to stay warm because it’s dropping below freezing that night.”

It’s high stress, demanding and doesn’t accommodate slackers. But on paper, the sound of the degree naturally attracts some coasters.

“I won’t lie. You get the ‘it’s all good’ raft guide types. Occasionally a student comes to the program who is looking for the easiest route so mom and dad will still send them a check,” Wolf said. But they get weeded out fast.

“Academically, we are just as demanding as any other program,” Wolf said. “When you are at the other end of a 150-foot rope supporting somebody’s life, it is intense. You are thrust into stressful situations. You can’t hide. You need to know your stuff.”

Southwestern Community College is among the few nationally that offer a two-year degree in the outdoor industry. The program stands out from others thanks to the surroundings — it’s based at the Swain County campus of SCC, just a few miles from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and almost right on top of Fontana Lake and the Nantahala National Forest.

“We literally step right outside our back door,” Wolf said.

The program pumps high-caliber staff into the local outdoor industry, hopefully advancing the region’s adventure status. The outdoor industry could see a struggle to remain viable as aging baby-boomers — the crux of the tourism market — look more toward “soft adventure” and youth are increasingly isolated from the outdoors.

“Rafting has gone somewhat stale. Numbers are down 17 percent in 10 years,” Wolf said, citing Nantahala Gorge stats. “One of the potential issues is we are losing people because we don’t have good quality folks out there interfacing with them. This program can do that.”

The industry might also need to retool what it offers.

“There are other activities that people coming to this area want. What can we do to tie in other activates and start new businesses?” Wolf said.

Going places

The Outdoor Leadership program emphasizes the word “leadership.”

“Ultimately, this degree isn’t meant to put people out as starting raft guides on the Nantahala,” Wolf said. “We are trying to train people who are going to go on and take leading roles within the industry.”

Of course, being an entry-level river guide is exactly what a few students do. But most go beyond that. Some start their own guide companies. Some become park rangers. Some run camps for at-risk youth, for overweight kids, or for kids with disabilities.

Another interesting job on the horizon: gated communities seeking guides to manage an on-site repertoire of programs, from naturalist hikes to fishing trips.

“Almost like an outdoor concierge,” Wolf said.

And some students score the super-sweet jobs, like a graduate last fall who landed a gig as the National Forest Service River Ranger on the Nantahala. He grew up in Franklin and now spends his days kayaking the river to check paddlers’ registration wrist bracelets and provide first aid and rescue.

“How is that for a local guy, to be able to get a good-paying federal job?” Wolf asked.

Now in his eighth year as the program’s director, Wolf has yet to get tired of his own job. “Ugghhh, not another backpacking trip,” doesn’t cross his mind.

“It is different every time. What makes it different is the people. I have such a diversity of students in background, age, even nationality,” Wolf said. “People come into this program from all walks of life.

Among them are mid-life transfers who want a career change.

Others have gone through school, didn’t find their degree useful, and are now honing in on what they really want to do.

“Over half my folks already have college degrees,” Wolf said.

Some students are already in the outdoor industry, but want to move up. Like the student who was working at Glacier National Park and realized a degree in outdoor leadership would accelerate his career path with the National Park Service. Another typical student: those who spent a memorable part of their childhood visiting a vacation home in the mountains and now want to make their life here.

Some who come into the program are bona-fide outdoor aficionados, but not all know how to cook on a camp stove or stake a tent.

“We have had students who had never even peed outside, and I have folks who have already hiked the whole Appalachian Trail,” Wolf said. Some have never suited up in a kayak skirt and others guide on the Gauley River.

“We also have super hot climbers and those who are afraid to look over the edge of a cliff,” Wolf said.

Geographically, students are all over the map as well. There’s those who have grown up right here in the mountains or transplants from around the country who like what the course has to offer. There was even a recent graduate who came all the way from Brazil.

From the ground up

The idea for the Outdoor Leadership degree came from the college president himself, Dr. Cecil Groves. Given the dominance of the tourism and outdoors industry in the region, Groves saw a niche that needed filling, Wolf said. The support from the top hasn’t waned, one reason for the program’s success.

When Southwestern Community College launched the program eight years ago, Wolf came on board as the first director and instructor. His goal was to become a “nationally reputable training institution in the adventure education field,” to quote his official vision statement. Wolf spent the first several years establishing a good base, building the program a little each year.

“We have set up a really good program over this time with good results and good feedback. Now we are moving it up a bit,” Wolf said.

Wolf inherited a curriculum designed in part by outdoor companies. More than a dozen were invited to a year-long series of roundtable meetings.

“It was designed to meet the needs of the industry,” Wolf said. Every year since then, the degree is updated based on input from outdoor companies, keeping the program relevant.

“It gives me a lot of input and perspective, so I am not just operating independently,” Wolf said.

It’s a model Wolf likes. To create a new concentration in therapeutic recreation, Wolf is calling a summit of four major therapeutic recreation providers in the region to find out what they are looking for in graduates.

“They are desperate for good staff and they want to hire from a program,” Wolf said.

Another new concentration under development is ecotourism.

“That is once again trying to meet the needs of industry in this region,” Wolf said.

Choose your own adventure

Those looking for a bump up in their outdoor industry career path don’t have to commit to a full two-year degree. They can opt for a Certificate in Outdoor Leadership. The track includes four courses — two theory courses and two outdoor skills courses — plus wilderness medical training.

“Having that by itself doesn’t guarantee you are ready for the industry,” Wolf said of the certification. But it’s all some people are looking for — like one of Wolf’s students opening a climbing gym in Atlanta — and can be knocked out in a semester.

For those who want more than the two-year degree, they can transfer to Western Carolina University and go for the full major in Parks and Recreation after getting core classes under their belt at SCC.

And then there’s the option of taking a single class. Want to learn to rock climb? Backpack? Kayak? Sign up for the class as continuing education. Those already working in the industry often seek out a single class for certification in things like Wilderness First Responder, Swift Water Rescue or Leave No Trace.

“You can either take a class, take a certificate, get the degree or use this as a spring board for your bachelor’s,” Wolf said of the program.

Students graduate with an impressive list of credentials. Aside from knowing how to do just about everything outdoors, they have a host of national certifications. On the academic side, there’s outdoor ethics, public land management, even psychology, which can go a long way when conflicts arise in extreme wilderness conditions. Students also learn the marketing and economic side of the industry with courses like business management and Web site development.

“We don’t just want people to be raft guides but be able to manage a raft guide operation,” Wolf said.

Since Western North Carolina is such an outdoor mecca, Wolf can draw on the best of the best to serve as instructors, often those actually working in the industry. For example, the head of raft guide training at the Nantahala Outdoor Center is one of Wolf’s instructors, as is the owner of Dillsboro River Company.

For the class on ropes courses — also called challenge courses — the students spend their class time on the challenge course at Nantahala Outdoor Center.

“The class is run entirely out at the Center, hands on,” Wolf said. The students get 80 hours of training on a first-class ropes course. NOC lets the college use it for free, given the prospect of being able to hire graduates with an intimate knowledge of the course.

The degree serves up applicable skills, prepping students for employment right out of college. Many have jobs lined up before they’ve even graduated.

It’s a degree where life just seems to click.

“You love working with people and you love the outdoors and you love sharing that. You love living where we’re at,” Wolf said.