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.

This course includes an open Alpacka Classic, PFD, paddle, helmet, permits, camping, backcountry sanitation kit, all meals for the duration of the course and one night’s stay in a shared glamping tent or cabin at Scullbinder Ranch.

Adult beverages, transportation, drysuits, river knives, whistles or throw bags. You will need a drysuit for at least the first day of the course. You probably don’t need one for the backcountry portion of the course, though you may if you run cold or the weather is terrible (which is uncommon in June). You may rent them locally at 4Corners Riversports for 10% off or at Backcountrypackrafts.com (we will provide you with the 15% discount code once you register for the course).

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.

We designed this course 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.