50% is required to sign up, and 100% if you sign up in within 90 days of the course.

You’ll must provide the remaining balance 90 days prior to your course. 

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

One day of packraft training and getting to know each other on a river near our base camp at Puerto Rio Tranquilo, shuttling to and from the rivers and the start and end points of the expedition.

Airfare, food, lodging in the towns, adult beverages, and shuttling to and from the airport.

For an additional fee, we will arrange lodging for you. And that fee depends on what specifically you want as far as lodging goes. Options are dorms, Airbnbs, etc.
Also not included, but required: a whitewater boat and other relevant equipment (PFD, breakdown paddle, whistle, throw rope, drysuit, locking carabiners, drybags, etc), personal camping equipment and clothing. 

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.

These multi-day Intermediate to Intermediate expedition courses are for people who have paddled Class III and maybe even Class IV, can easily self rescue every time and who have taken courses with us, the ACA, SSI, International 3 Rescue or other accredited guide services. These courses are ideal for people who strive to take others out or plan and lead expeditions, but who don’t quite have the necessary leadership skills to do these things. They’re also for people who want to learn or master technical and complex strokes, expertly navigate eddies, make excellent group decisions, manage vertical drops and surf like a pro. Finally, they are for people who want to hone their expedition planning skills, from planning and packing to understanding GIS and paper maps. These courses are for solid paddlers who want to go reach a more elite level of packrafting. 

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