April Learn to Packraft With Tyler Marlow: An Instructional Paddling Course for Beginners
Learn Packrafting Skills
Turn the blue lines on maps into trails and acquire the packrafting skills you need to embark on your own safer, more exciting adventures with Tyler Marlow!Â
We feel certain you’ll walk away from this course with a deeper sense of enjoyment for both living in and utilizing human-powered tools to pass through remote landscapes. We want your experience to be the milestone in your life that you measure everything else up to.
Course Overview
From 10a.m.-4:30p.m. over two days, you’ll learn basic paddle and river reading techniques on the Animas River on up to Class II rapids. We’ll teach you what you need to know to enhance your existing backcountry skill set.
This Packraft Instruction course is for adventurers wanting to learn basic packrafting skills, from paddling and reading rivers to overnight adventuring. Scroll down to book.
Price: $650
A 50% deposit is due upon receipt to secure your space. The remaining balance is due 30 days prior to your course. The remaining balance is due immediately if you are registering inside of the 30 day window.
Please review our cancellation policy, which you will find on our Terms, Conditions & Cancellation Policy Page.
What's Included
This course includes an open packraft, PFD, paddle, helmet.
What's Not Included
Drysuit, whitewater boat, lodging, shuttling or food.
You will need a drysuit for at least the first day of this trip. Rent drysuits locally at 4CornersRiversports.com (they only have four), or get a 15% discount if you order them online at BackcountryPackraft.com (we will give you the discount code once you pay your deposit).
Instructor
Tyler Marlow: Born in the lush green forest of the American south, Tyler has never been one to sit still. At 18 they left home to thru hike the Appalachian trail and havent stopped walking yet. Educated as an Anthropologist, Tyler seeks to understand the connection between humans and the landscape; where environments meets culture. Called to the desert, Tyler moved to Southeast Utah and began a love affair with the Colorado Plateau; working in youth conservation, trail work, and now as a carpenter and guide. With their dog Mira riding shotgun Tyler migrates seasonally, from the Sonoran desert, to the Four Corners, and McCarthy, Alaska with detours far afield.
What You will learn
We base this instructional courses on confidence and skill progression. The course starts with the basics. And then we push you a little harder as the days progress, tailoring the experience to your own personal abilities.
Beginners will learn basics paddling skills and river reading techniques such as:
- âś“Equipment (use and care)
- âś“Swimming and general water confidence
- âś“Self-rescue & buddy assistance
- âś“Dealing with currents
- âś“Aggressive & defensive swimming position
- âś“Decision making
- âś“Hazards & river dynamics
- âś“Basic paddle strokes
- âś“Using eddies
- âś“River commands
- âś“Spacing on the river
About The Animas River
Most of the intensive training for this course will take place on up to Class II on the Animas River. We spend a lot of time spent on the Animas City Kayak Play Park. And we’ll do various sections of the Animas to and from the play park.
Length of Play Park: 1.25 miles
Length of Daily Adventures: 5 to 8 miles
Gradient: 30ft/mile
Difficulty: Class II III at 500-2000 CFS
Class III to IV 2,000 CFS and up.
High Water Flows: May-July
Flow: below 500cfs is low; 1,000-2,000cfs ideal for this course. Water Flow please see water levels
Length of Play Park: 1.25 miles
Length of Daily Adventures: 5 to 8 miles
Gradient: 30ft/mile
Difficulty: Class II+ III at 500-2000 CFS. Class III to IV 2,000 CFS and up.
High Water Flows: May-July
Flow: below 500cfs is low; 1,000-2,000cfs ideal for this course. Water Flow please see water levels
The event is finished.
Date
- Apr 18 - 19 2024
- Expired!
Time
- 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
Cost
- $650.00
Location
Animas