About Us - Outdoor Leadership Training Seminars

OLTS offers transformational outdoor growth experiences, including vision quests, for youth and adults, and focuses on connecting individuals with the earth and developing earth-based spirituality through immersion in nature.

The purpose of such programs is to provide impetus and support for those wishing clarification and understanding of their life purpose and skills. A variety of approaches and perspectives derived from many cultures and age-old traditions provide a rich forum for personal and group exploration.

OLTS is committed to a deep ecological perspective towards human’s place on the planet, an ecological approach that seeks to heal the earth and humans through connection in nature, and a commitment to spiritual development and integration.

OLTS also serves as a vehicle and support for other practitioners and organizations seeking to develop and grow similar programs, particularly in the field of wilderness therapy and organizational transformation.

Founder/Executive Director

Rick Medrick, Ed.D., is the founder and has been executive director of Colorado-based Outdoor Leadership Training Seminars (OLTS) since 1973.

He has also run the annual Outdoor Growth and Leadership Training Seminar to train outdoor leaders with intensive skills instruction, training in group process and facilitation skills, and exploration of issues and processes related to deep ecology, ecopsychology, and personal transformation.

He founded and ran Arkansas River Tours, worked as an Exum mountain guide (Tetons), and has been a PSIA-certified ski instructor for over 50 years. He also served as an instructor and director for the Colorado Outward Bound School.

He is currently graduate faculty for Adventure Education in Prescott College’s Master of Arts Program and cofounder/faculty for Prescott’s PhD program in Sustainability Education. He has a B.A. in philosophy and literature from Dartmouth and a doctorate in humanistic psychology and experiential education from the University of Northern Colorado. He and wife Carolyn served as Peace Corps Volunteers in East Africa (Kenya). He has practiced and taught tai chi for 30+ years and incorporates Taoist perspectives, tai chi, and meditation into teaching climbing, skiing, and leading other wilderness pursuits. He has designed and run numerous programs and retreats for corporate groups and other populations.