The Gear Bay
Thompson River University (TRU) is located in Kamloops, BC and located only hours away from beautiful rivers, lakes, and mountainous terrain. TRU is a school with renowned tourism and adventure tourism programs. On a recent trip to the campus we saw a unique perspective of the school that only those in the Adventure studies program have access to, the adventure studies gear bay. The gear bay is a resource on campus that the students in the adventure program and the AdventureU club have access to for their outdoor equipment needs.
Upon entering the space there is a small office belonging to Simon Wardable, who is responsible for overseeing gear bay operations. Simon keeps track of who has what gear, and delegates tasks like inspecting, repairing, and organizing the equipment to the adventure studies students who are required to volunteer during the semester. After passing through Simon’s office you enter the first of two large rooms where the equipment is stored and organized by activity.
All of the equipment is focused on the various outdoor field courses that the adventure studies program offers. The first category would be camping and survival equipment. The gear bay has a large assortment of; tents, stoves, pots, pans, fuel canisters, tarps and other basics required for thriving in the harshest of environments. From there, the equipment becomes more specialized for the individual activities that the students are participating in. Two major categories the gear is separated by are mountain and water based activities.
Water based activities cover a broad range of sports that take place across the province of British Columbia and beyond. First and closest to home here in Kamloops are great lakes and rivers that can be utilized by rafts, whitewater kayaks, and even canoes! If the picturesque straights and coastlines of BC are more your thing, then you can take out a sea kayak for your exploring needs or if hanging loose is on the course list then grab a surfboard to catch some waves in Tofino. Safety equipment is also available for water sports and includes; paddle floats, throw bags, personal floatation devices, pumps for when you end up in the drink, charts for navigating to your destination, and helmets for when the waterfall doesn’t go as planned.
The gear bay is also equipped with equipment that provide students the necessities to explore the mountains. For starters they have a large selection of climbing gear to protect adventure students as they are scaling sheer cliff faces on their mission to the summits of the many mountains that BC has to offer. Along with packs, skis and ice axes for multi-day traverses across glaciers and high mountain cols in the dead of winter. These tools are necessary for the many courses and trips that the program runs in order to prepare the students for the many challenges they have to come in their guiding careers.
The gear bay is truly a unique resource that is available to the adventure studies students. It allows them to be equipped with all the supplies required to be successful in their courses. Along with supplying them with equipment so they can further improve their skills outside of the courses to set them up for our future careers in the outdoors. This resource on campus is one of the reasons that the Adventure studies program here on at TRU is world renowned.
