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Recently she took her expertise international. Via a Zoom session, she taught more than a dozen Scottish girls in the 17th Dunfermline Brownies the methods to stay alive if they get lost in the wilderness.

“I hosted the Zoom call in my living room with props to show how to build a shelter with emergency blankets and make a nest to stay warm and dry,” says Laura. “All of the kids had their own little blankets so they could follow along and learn. This AdventureSmart Hug-a-Tree training includes a video re-enactment of a child who goes camping with his family, wanders off and gets lost. In the Zoom meeting, the girls, who were all 8- and 9-years-old, discussed what the child in the video did right and wrong after getting lost. At the end, I told them a bit about our search and rescue kits and how searches work. It went really well.”

Laura was born in Scotland and her sister volunteers with the Brownies of the United Kingdom. The call was good practice for Laura and Ken’s upcoming work in B.C.

As the weather warms up, they expect to be hosting more Hug-a-Tree training sessions for children up to age 12.

“We make it fun for the kids as we teach them to make a nest using branches and leaves at the bottom of the nearest tree, make a shelter out of whatever they might have – you can even use your jacket and tuck your knees up into it – and stay put,” says Laura. “At the end we give them a little package containing a silver emergency blanket and a whistle. Those are the two things they can put in their pocket for anytime they are outdoors.”

The Weltes recommend that before you go on your own wilderness adventure, download the free AdventureSmart app. Ken says the app makes it easy to let people know where you are going and when you’ll be back. If you don’t return on time, it will automatically notify your emergency contacts.

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“When the instructor came by to check on us, he referred to our campsite as the Hilton,” says Ken. “We were prepared.” But that does not mean everything was easy.

To become volunteers, they completed approximately 50 hours of academic instruction on topics as diverse as swift water awareness, radio communications, bear safety, using stretchers, SAR command procedures and more. There were monthly tests and field work.

“I had to push myself to do things outside of my comfort zone,” says Laura. “Afterwards it was rewarding to say, ‘I just dragged a stretcher up the side of a mountain.’”

Ken spent two weeks last summer earning his certification in Occupational First Aid Level III. Over the years, he has also gained experience as an Air Cadet volunteer, often taking teenage cadets on wilderness trips. To keep his First Aid skills sharp, Ken now also volunteers as an attendant at community events.

“On average, I believe Central Vancouver Island gets about 60 calls a year,” says Ken. “That’s an average of more than one per week, although summer is the busiest time. This past summer, as members in training, we sometimes had a call every night.”

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Duke of Edinburgh participants earn awards for volunteer work, physical fitness and adventurous journeys. Welte volunteered to take the Nanaimo Air Cadets 205 Squadron on a hike in October to help qualify them for a Duke of Edinburgh silver award. The group traversed 30 km over three days on the rugged Elk River Trail in Strathcona Provincial Park. A highlight of the trip was ascending to the glacier that sits in the shadow of Colonel Foster Mountain.

“I responded to a request for volunteers at the Duke of Edinburgh Leadership Camp in Manitoba last summer from August 23 to 31. Because of my experience, certifications and training, I was selected to be the first aid co-ordinator and teach leadership. I was responsible for eight participants and assigned to two rooms.”

At the camp, participants explored LEAD (leadership, experience, adventure, development) through team-building games, swimming, kayaking, archery and biking.

Looking back on a year of great experiences, another favourite was taking a toddler on a flight for his third birthday. “His mom had emailed the Nanaimo Flying Club asking if he could see the planes close up. I couldn’t resist taking him and his mom up for a quick fight in my plane. I have completed hundreds of introductory flights through cadets and I always do the same flight – it’s long enough to feel like you went flying, but short enough to make sure no one gets air sick.”

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“I encourage students to take advantage of every opportunity through Air Cadets,” says Welte, who is with Sutton Group – West Coast Realty. “I teach the cadets the academics towards earning a scholarship so they can receive their pilot’s license for free… As well, we focus on current events locally, nationally and internationally, making these young men and women fantastic ambassadors for Canada.”

Welte, who has been volunteering for more than 20 years, says many of the students he has taught over the years are currently flying for both large and small aviation companies, as well as serving in the military as pilots, non-pilot officers and non-commissioned members. “I teach them that no goal is too high to obtain. After all, Chris Hadfield started out in Air Cadets.”

His father and grandfather were pilots and his children share the family’s passion for flying. “My son Andrew Gates is a 21-year-old officer cadet at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston. He is studying physics and his trade in the Air Force is as a pilot. My daughter Victoria Welte is 15-years-old and a flight sergeant in the Nanaimo Collishaw Royal Canadian Air Cadets.  She has her glider pilot’s license.”

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