By Dr. Robert Forto
The Adventure Strategist®
At first glance, this trip might just seem like a scheduling challenge.
Fly from Anchorage to Las Vegas. Metallica at Sphere. A rental car. Three nights across Utah and western Colorado. Estes Park by Wednesday afternoon. Four days later, the Association for Experiential Education’s 54th International Conference at the YMCA of the Rockies. Then Denver, then home.
That description is true, but it leaves out a lot.
The real journey is something I’ve been talking about for a year: leadership isn’t just a presentation. It’s a series of choices. You pick the next stop, look out for your team, and make sure you’re ready to do the work when you arrive.
ASCEND isn’t just a theme. It’s a benchmark.
AEE has named the 2026 conference ASCEND: Growing Community, Elevating Practice. It will be held November 12 to 14 at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, a campus with 860 acres of trails and a challenge course. This is the same place that hosted the 52nd conference in 2024. Over eighty workshops, research sessions, panels, and keynotes will take place. Teachers, guides, counselors, professors, therapists, and researchers will all gather in the same dining hall.
I’m attending as someone who practices what I teach and also runs businesses that need to function even when I’m away.
Peak Experience is here to give people facilitation skills they can use right away. The Team and Trail Foundation provides resources to the people and places that make outdoor leadership possible. Dreamchaser exists because family businesses don’t last on personality alone. They last by passing on what matters.
A conference only makes a difference if it helps us pass on what’s important.
The journey itself is the real pre-conference.
I’m not just flying into Denver on Wednesday and hoping the altitude doesn’t get to me.
This trip is planned on purpose. After the Sphere show on Sunday, I will leave Las Vegas at noon and spend the night at Bryce Canyon. Monday morning, we’ll have coffee in Tropic, then drive along Scenic Byway 12, over the Hogback, through Capitol Reef, and down into Moab.
Tuesday starts with coffee on Main Street, a quick visit to Arches or Island in the Sky, then we’ll take I-70 through Glenwood Canyon. Wednesday morning, we’ll stop for coffee in Carbondale and reach Estes Park that afternoon from the east. Trail Ridge will probably be closed, but that’s not a letdown; it’s just a limit. Good programs work within limits.
I’ve said before that travel is one of the last real tests of leadership. You can’t pretend to have experience. You can’t control the weather. You can’t run a meeting if the road is closed. The same skills we teach in Experiential Facilitation 101, like framing, sequencing, keeping everyone safe, and reading the group, are the same skills you need on this drive.
Metallica at Sphere is all about the show. AEE at the YMCA is about the work. The drive between them is where you reflect.
Moment in Leadership History
““It always seems impossible until it’s done.” ~ Nelson Mandela
What I hope to hear in Estes
I’m not looking for a catchy keynote quote to post online.
I want to hear how others are dealing with the same challenges I face: how to build a community of practice without making it all about one person, how to raise the quality of the work so the next generation can take over, and how to keep adventure real instead of just turning it into content.
Nicole is taking on more at Alaska Dog Works. Michele is the one clients trust and listen to. My role now is to shift from doing everything to building the system. That’s what real succession looks like. AEE is one of the few places where people talk about this honestly.
If you facilitate, coach, teach outdoors, or run a family business that still puts people out in the elements, I want to talk. The coffee shops along this route aren’t about branding; they’re just office hours with a better view.
After the Conference
On Saturday afternoon, I’ll head down to Denver. Sunday, I’ll fly home. The real value begins when my notes become part of the Facilitation 101 course and the Foundation’s next grant cycle.
ASCEND is a great word. Just make sure you still have the energy when you arrive.
—
Dr. Robert Forto is an Adventure Strategist, founder of Peak Experience, and board-level builder of the Team and Trail Foundation. He writes at robertforto.com. Conference details: aee.org.
