Tom Tolman
Trip leader, Colorado Explorer 1 & Alaska Expedition 2a
Tom is a Rapid City, SD, native and still calls it home. Tom has worked as the admissions counselor for the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. His love for outdoor education began as an instructor for Avid4 Adventure in Colorado, where he led multi-day backpacking expeditions and rock climbing, canoeing, kayaking, mountain biking, and fly fishing trips for middle and high schoolers. Tom has served as a substitute teacher in Rapid City and as a naturalist for the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks, and he is a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) graduate.
- Education: Black Hills State University, bachelor’s degree in outdoor education
- Medical certification: Wilderness first responder
- Favorite outdoor memory: My favorite outdoor memory would have to be Father’s Day back in 2005. I was 14, we went and hiked around in this massive granite playground, and that was the day I became hooked on the outdoors.
- Biggest outdoor achievement: I reached the second summit of Chimborazo. We broke 20,000 feet, and given the location of the volcano on the equator, I was the closest human to outer space and furthest from the center of the Earth that day.
- Countries visited: The Huayhuash in Peru is one of the most beautiful places in the whole wide world!
- Favorite hobbies: You can’t ration passion! I love ice fishing in absurdly cold conditions, mostly in an attempt to recreate Shackleton’s expedition to the South Pole. I have a serious ice cream addiction that requires at least two servings a day, and I love pebble wrestling, also known as rock climbing. And I’m also a giant Doctor Who nerd.
- What are you excited to learn this summer? I’m excited to learn how the students see the world around them, especially as they are preparing to choose paths to start walking down as adults. And I am beyond stoked to meet a whole new group of awesome humans! I can’t wait to get back into the Talkeetnas, and hopefully see some caribou again!!!
- Previous Adventure Treks trips include Alaska Expedition