A 50% deposit is required to secure your space. You’ll need to provide the remaining balance 30 days prior to your course. The remaining balance is due immediately if you are registering inside of the 30 day window.

Additionally, please review our cancellation policy, which you will find on our Terms, Conditions & Cancellation Policy Page.

An open Alpacka Classic packraft, PFD, paddle, helmet, all food for the backcountry part of the trip (starting with lunch on the first day in the backcountry and ending with lunch on the final day), permits, wag bags, sanitizing kits and camping. 

Lodging/camping, food for the training ady, adult beverages, transportation, drysuits, river knives, whistles or throw bags.

You only need a drysuit for the first day of this course. You may rent them at Backcountrypackrafts.com (we will provide you with the 15% discount code once you register for the course).

We do not provide transportation, so you must have your own car. And due to legal/insurance reasons, we cannot transport clients in our car. But we’ll work with all participants to ensure shuttling.

Steve Fassbinder

Steve, aka “Doom,” is one of the country’s first Level 4 American Canoe Association Packraft Instructors. And he is a certified International Rescue 3 Whitewater Rescue Technician Professional (WRT-PRO) and IRF Whitewater Packraft Guide. Steve is also certified in Advanced Swiftwater Safety and Wilderness First Responder. An early adopter of packrafting, he has guided or instructed bike-packrafting to kids and adults for over a decade. And he has done remote packrafting expeditions around the world for over a dozen years.

Thad Ferrell

Thad is a Level 4 American Canoe Association Packraft Instructor. He additionally has advanced Swiftwater Safety training and he is a certified Wilderness First Responder. An early adopter of packrafting and life-long cyclist and bikepacker, Thad has accomplished some ground-breaking, multi-week climb-bike-packraft adventures in the desert Southwest. He is also an expert fly fishing guide.

We designed this 5-day courses for adventurers looking to expand their backcountry skills by adding a boat to their repertoire. We teach the standard techniques from our Packraft Foundations–Paddling Skills courses, but we spend less time on drills. Instead we focus more on what it takes to accomplish a multi-day packraft adventure in the backcountry. This course is meant to introduce you to these skills, not to get you to master them. You’ll do more drills and hone these skills in our Level 2-4 courses. 

Paddling & River Running Skills

• ✔Equipment (use and care + boat rigging, fit, and release of thigh straps)
• ✔Posture, safety, comfort, rocking and balance
• ✔Swimming and general water confidence
• ✔Self-rescue & buddy assistance
• ✔Dealing with currents
• ✔Aggressive & defensive swimming position
• ✔River hydrology/dynamics, features & hazards
• ✔Basic paddle strokes (forward, back, draw, sculling)
• ✔Using eddies
• ✔River communication: Paddle, hand, and whistle signals
• ✔Spacing on the river
• ✔The “River Safety Talk”
• ✔Field repair-tips & tricks

Expedition Skills

• ✔Multi-day trip planning & logistics
• ✔Multi-day pack lists
• ✔Where to pack your gear (zippers, weight distribution, securing packs/gear to or inside the boat
• ✔How to pack light (i.e. what to leave behind and why + how to share gear)
• ✔Expedition food planning and prep
• ✔Leave No Trace practices in the backcountry
• ✔Navigation in the field, finding camp, using available resources (river guidebooks and/or researching trip reports from the same stretches of rivers)
• ✔Basic overview of online resources: GIS, USGS water gauges, Google Earth, etc

Swiftwater Safety: Handling common emergency situations on the river

• ✔Identify and demonstrate the use of appropriate rescue and safety gear for packrafting
• ✔Responsibilities of the group, rescuer, swimmers
• ✔Boat-based rescues
• ✔Group communication
• ✔Using throw bags
• ✔Swimming in rivers & water confidence (aggressive & defensive swimming position)
• ✔Self-rescue & buddy assistance (wet re-entry)
• ✔River dynamics: currents, obstacles and hazards
• ✔Rescue priorities: people, craft, paddle, gear
• ✔Discuss how to avoid and prevent cold water shock, hypothermia, and hyperthermia by choosing proper clothing and recognizing and treating early symptoms.