John Abbott is a lecturer in the Environmental Studies Program and the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Program in the Rubenstein School. His courses include: Wilderness Education & Leadership, Winter Leadership Skills, Backcountry Skiing/Snowboarding & Avalanche Education, Wilderness Leadership & Outward Bound and Introduction to Mountaineering. John has directed UVM Outdoor Programs since 1996 including the UVM Climbing Wall, Adventure Ropes Course (UVM ARC) and the University of Vermont Outing Club (UVMOC), one of the largest and most active collegiate outing clubs in the country. The UVMOC is currently celebrating 100 years of student-led wilderness trips and leadership training. John's courses focus on expedition based wilderness leadership, technical hard skill development, team building, group management and risk assessment. He advises undergraduate students interested in pursuing research or graduate study in the fields of wilderness leadership and environmental education. John began his wilderness leadership work in 1988 as an Instructor and Course Director at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School (HIOBS) in Newry, Maine where he now teaches UVM students during the summer session. He has traveled with UVM students both domestically and internationally, climbing and skiing in the Adirondack & White Mountains and in Peru & Ecuador. In 1998, John was part of a successful international sailing expedition that retraced the Viking voyages of Leif Ericsson over 2,000 nautical miles from Greenland to Newfoundland aboard a replica Viking knarr.