Just as the weather begins to get cold in Iowa, student leaders from the Outdoor Recreation Center will be heading south.

Warmer weather is one advantage of rock climbing at Kentucky’s Red River Gorge, one of three south-bound trips the Outdoor Rec has planned for Thanksgiving break, said Jerry Rupert, Outdoor Rec program coordinator.

Nice weather is not the only attraction Red River Gorge offers.

“It’s the area to go for sport climbing in the United States,” said trip leader Justin Simon, senior in civil engineering.

It also helps that the trip leaders know the area well, said Simon, who participated in a training trip for the Outdoor Rec staff to Red River Gorge last year.

Since this year’s participants may or may not have climbed much, it’s good that leaders are familiar with routes for all abilities, he said.

“It’s very diverse,” said Nolan Semrau, trip support staff and junior in mechanical engineering.

“There are all kinds of different routes for experienced climbers or first-timers.”

Hardly beginners, nearly half the climbers on this year’s trip are Outdoor Rec support staff members who are working through their final stages of training before becoming trip leaders themselves, Simon said.

“Support staff on a trip is informal training,” said Brian Thuesen, support staff member and sophomore in agricultural engineering. “We know the technical aspects of climbing, and now we just have to transfer that over to the group setting.”

Proper training and leader competence are top priorities at the Outdoor Rec, Rupert said, and the best way to ensure these is to train leaders in the field.

“I can teach you in the outdoors what I can teach you in the classroom,” Rupert said. “But I can’t teach you in the classroom what I can teach you in the outdoors.”

The outdoors is the place to practice the technical aspects of some outdoor sports that leaders just have to do in order to learn, participants said.

“Climbing is experience-oriented for trip leaders,” Simon said, so climbing staffs tend to take more time practicing the leadership role before actually taking on the responsibility of a trip leader.

“They like you to do support staff on as many trips as it takes for you to be comfortable with what you’re teaching,” Thuesen said.

Although training is important for trip leaders, Rupert said, he looks for certain prerequisites when he interviews potential staff members.

“If they’re a great rock climber, that’s awesome, but if they don’t have good character and enthusiasm for what they’re doing,” Rupert said. “Those are things that can’t be taught.”

The Outdoor Rec hopes to take nine participants on the trip, although four vacancies remained as of Oct. 31.

Simon said the group will drive all night Friday, camp at a nearby state park, climb for several days and return Wednesday so participants and staff can still go home for the holiday.

The other trips planned for Thanksgiving break include canoeing in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia and backpacking on the Appalachian Trail.