RECREATION NATURE : Firm Thrives in the Wilderness

David Horine won’t take you mountain climbing in the Soviet Union, but he will guide you to the top of Mt. Whitney on a route first climbed more than a century ago by naturalist John Muir.

Which is not to say you won’t be ready to climb peaks in the Soviet Union, Alps or even the Himalayas. Horine, founder and director of Orange-based Pacific Wilderness Institute, recalls a letter he received from a client.

“She told us that she had climbed this mountain, one of the highest in the Soviet Union, using ice ax skills she learned from us,” he recalled last week. “It made us feel very good.”

But the company, which has been in business since 1982, does not exist solely for would-be conquerors of Mt. Everest. If offers more than 200 programs, ranging in difficulty from novice nature walks to advanced seminars in rock climbing, ice climbing and wilderness survival.

“We can accommodate a broad range of abilities and experience,” said Horine, who has been involved in outdoors activities for more than 40 years. He grew up in Pasadena, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, and it was that proximity that roused his interest.

“We regularly have novices, people who have never had any outdoor contact,” he said, “and we have plenty of activities they can participate in. Obviously, when you get into high climbing, ascending and descending rock, snow and ice, you’re talking about people with a lot of experience.”

Few clients seem to be discouraged by the difficulty of a trip.

“We talk to them,” Horine said. “We discuss the trips and how rigorous they’re going to be. We provide a good description of each outing, where we’re going and how hard it’s going to be. Most people in good health can enjoy our outdoor workshops. Certainly, a program of physical fitness will enhance a client’s enjoyment of advanced programs.”

Clients’ ages vary greatly. Certainly, most people interested in often-strenuous outdoor activities tend to be comparatively young, Horine said, “but we’ve had 80-year-olds on some of our backpacking tours, and we’ve had 8- or 9-year-olds along, too. The age is specific to the kind of activity we’re doing. You aren’t going to find 80-year-olds trying to climb the High Sierra. We try to match our programs to the clients’ abilities and interests.”

Pacific Wilderness Institute, which Horine believes is the largest company of its kind in California, operates throughout the state, virtually year-round. Its activities range in length from one-day nature walks that Horine describes as “introductory” to the High Sierra climbs that take nearly a week and are obviously for veteran outdoors types.

“Typically, we specialize in weekend programs,” Horine said, “because we structure them to accommodate working people.”

Pacific is a private business, not a nonprofit organization, but Horine believes its costs are reasonable enough to attract almost anyone who is interested.

“There are costs involved that people don’t think about,” he said. “Insurance is a major one. We need to obtain permits to enter certain sites that are protected by governmental agencies, and that costs money, too. We have a very experienced staff, and we always want to be sure we have enough people on each outing to look after the needs of all the clients.”

Food and lodging also are included, as is specialized mountaineering equipment. Clients must provide their own clothing, including footwear, but sometimes they try to bring a little extra sustenance.

“We’ve had people, most commonly those who aren’t particularly experienced, show up at the meeting site with a big jar of peanut butter or something like that in their sack,” Horine said. “We try to convince them that, for their own comfort, they really don’t want to carry that extra weight. We know what kind of food to bring, and how much.”

Pacific uses little freeze-dried food, even though it takes up less space than fresh supplies.

“We find that people like fresh food,” Horine said, “and it just works out better that way.”

As for refrigeration, which might seem to be a potential problem for fresh food, Horine offers the reminder that “we find snowbanks and mountain streams make great refrigerators.”

Costs range from as little as $32 for three-hour nature workshops that introduce clients to plant, animal and bird life, to a maximum of $420 for the group’s weeklong Mammoth-to-Yosemite cross-country ski trip, which its catalogue describes as “a classic tour in every respect.” The trip, which begins Monday at Mammoth, goes through remote areas of Yosemite National Park, and ends at Tioga Pass on Sunday.

The staff members are specialists. Some are primarily climbers; others are naturalists or photographers. Each is matched with the group he or she will accompany. “They come from all over the world,” Horine said. “One is a British schoolteacher who works with us during the summer, for example.”

Photography is one of the institute’s specialties. Since it was founded, Horine says, Pacific has concentrated on wilderness photography workshops and tours. These also take place at varying times. Three-day trips to photograph landscapes at Yosemite will be held this year beginning July 19 and Sept. 13. Photo skills workshops for novices will be held in Yosemite on the same dates and in Joshua Tree National Monument on Nov. 8. Those also are three-day outings. Other photography workshops are held in the eastern High Sierra, Sequoia National Park and Montana del Oro, near Morro Bay. Annual Yosemite winter tours also are held, usually in January.

The nature workshops are held virtually all year. One is designed for parents and teachers and is used to introduce children to natural sciences. These trips are held in the San Gabriel Mountain’s foothills and on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Two-day nature trips are held at Joshua Tree, Yosemite and Sequoia.

Possibly the most intriguing of the group’s activities are its mountaineering trips. Horine said the guides like to climb the peaks where they were first climbed. This year, they include Aug. 15 and Sept. 5 ascents of Mt. Whitney, a June 6 climb of Mt. Shasta, and a July 29 trip to Mt. Ritter in the central Sierra Nevada.”

Would-be climbers who want to be certain they have the skills to undergo the trips can start with backpacking workshops, wilderness skills programs, Nordic ski workshops and rock-climbing instruction.

Horine recognizes that his is not the only wilderness group in California but believes it is the “most committed to outdoor education.” Its nature programs are available to schools, and speakers often visit campuses, speaking on nature-and environment-related matters.

Pacific Wilderness Institute is at 3092 Skywood St., Orange. (714) 998-4596.