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.

We do not provide transportation on our courses. Please meet us at Scullbinder Ranch the night before the course or at Santa Rita Park, Durango, the first morning of the course. You’ll need to participate in the shuttling. Depending on how many people are on the course, we may need to shuttle multiple vehicles.

You should have your own packraft for this course, as we expect you to be an experienced packrafter. The one exception is if you are an experienced, higher-level kayaker wanting to learn packrafting skills. Then you may rent a whitewater boat from 4Corners Riversports. Our clients get a 10% discount. You may also get a 15% discount if you order from BackcountryPackrafts.com.

An open Alpacka Classic packraft, PFD, paddle, helmet, sanitizing kits and camping. We do have bike bags to loan out.

All food, lodging is included starting with lodging and dinner the night before the course starts (or after the course ends, your choice).  Meals end with lunch on day 5 (or dinner if you choose to stay the night after the course is over). Lodging is in glamping tents, trailer or the cabin, first come, first served. You’ll have 3 nights of lodging of your choice. Some people choose to come the night before the course; others choose to stay the night after. Additional nights with dinner & breakfast cost $95 per person. 

Adult beverages, transportation, drysuits, river knives, whistles or throw bags. You will need a drysuit for the duration of the course. Drysuit and whitewater boats rentals are available locally at 4Corners Riversports or at Backcountrypackrafts.com. We’ll 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 will be a certified International Rescue 3 Whitewater Rescue Technician Professional (WRT-PRO) and IRF Whitewater Packraft Guide late April. 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.

Waldo Aguayo

Waldo is a professional adventure tourism guide who specializes in water sports, mainly in packrafting. He has nine years of experience touring the Northern and Southern Chilean Patagonia. He first started packrafting seven years ago and quickly pioneered several routes on various rivers, fjords and lagoons in Patagonia. In 2019 he founded @scoutingrios, a guide service that runs tours, classes, clinics and packrafting expeditions in Patagonia.

Safety Skills

• ✔You should already have mastered all the Level 1 & 2 Safety Skills or taken one or more Swiftwater Safety Institute packraft-specific courses.
• ✔We will review skills on a TBD basis depending on the needs of the participants.

Advanced Paddling & River Running Skills

• ✔You should already have mastered all the Level 1 & 2 Course Skills. 
• ✔Technical and complex strokes
• ✔Dancing with the river: running big waves and laterals.
• ✔Managing vertical drops
• ✔Advanced surfing
• ✔Paddling a expedition loaded boat in whitewater
• ✔How to read whitewater

Advanced Expedition Planning Skills

• ✔Expedition/multi-day trip planning & logistics
• ✔Expedition 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, etc
• ✔Advanced use of online resources: GIS, USGS water gauges, Google Earth, etc
• ✔Managing your backcountry camping and boating gear
• ✔How to find a good camp
• ​​✔Time management skills
• ✔How to efficiently transition from the river to camp
• ✔Read & run style boating
• ✔Expedition mentality

Advanced Group Dynamics Skills

• ✔Scouting and decision-making
• ✔Group selection
• ✔Expedition group dynamics
• ✔Group downstream travel technique & communications
• ✔Eddy hopping, traveling in groups. How to travel down a river safely by eddy hopping in groups
• ✔Clear communication: hand signals
• ✔Setting safety and choosing challenges: review, practice and implementation

Packraft Hacks

• ✔Basic optional roll instruction (not a focus, but you may request)
• ✔Backcountry repairs clinic

✔Storytelling