WHO THIS IS FOR: Packraft enthusiasts looking to take ALL their river skills to the next level. Participants will improve their boat control & paddling techniques, swiftwater rescue ability & trip planning skills- gaining the knowledge necessary to create, plan & execute their own wilderness packraft adventures in Alaska.

SNAPSHOT OF THE PACKRAFT LEADERSHIP COURSE: The overarching objective of this training is to develop the skills necessary to become your own trip leader & explore rivers around the world.  More than paddle skills & trip planning, you'll leave this course with a Packraft Specific Rescue Training (PRST) Certification through Swiftwater Safety Institute (SSI).

DAY 1: Better Boat Control: Level Up Your Paddle Skills & Body Mechanics. The 5 day course begins with a day of refining personal paddle skills & boat control in a class II/III- river environment on Six Mile Creek.  Developing control of personal watercraft & ability to read river features while assessing risk are crucial in expedition planning & set us up for the week ahead.  In addition to personal paddling skills, we’ll spend time refining river reading, hydrology, boat/land scouting & good communication & group management practices while traveling on the water. 

DAY 2-4: Packraft Specific Rescue Training (PSRT) Certification Course: Expert Rescue Techniques & Hazard Identification/Avoidance for Remote and Wilderness Environments.  This portion of the course teaches essential skills and principles for working with limited resources in wilderness settings. Participants will learn to utilize packrafts both as rescue crafts & as means of primary or secondary transportation in remote environments; this training emphasizes risk management, adaptability, and resourcefulness in unpredictable situations. 

Learning Objectives for 3 day PRST Certification Course:

• • Gaining comfort swimming in rivers
  • Self rescue & assisted partner rescues
  • Self rescue & group rescue priorities
  • Remote-based rescues with limited rescue resources
  • Group communication
  • Throw bagging
  • Proper use of a packraft as a rescue craft
  • Foot entrapment extrication
  • Contact rescues
  • Shallow water crossings
  • Hazard recognition & avoidance 
  • Knots and simple anchors
  • Basic (horizontal) technical rope systems
  • Problem solving with limited gear & resources
  • Overall emergency assessment and recognition dealing with swift water application

Additional Modules:

• Tethered rescue craft
• Use of rescue P.F.D.
• Tensioned diagonal
• Unconscious paddler

DAY 5:  Our last day together we “put it all into practice” with a mock overnight day trip, combining “raft packing” & packrafting. IE: we hike 4 miles into nearby Resurrection Creek to paddle a class II/III- section of remote whitewater in a canyon setting away from road access.  The evening prior we’ll review trip packing considerations for multi-day trips- although we are not camping out, you'll bring all of the gear you plan to use on your expedition trips so you can rehearse your actual packing systems & get a realistic feel for paddling a loaded boat. 

Team members will be exposed to a structured approach to river running, and learn how to work toward leading a group of paddlers down a remote section of river.

We’ll wrap up the course this evening with a Q/A & debrief, including topics: trip planning, permitting, logistics, expedition food planning/preparation, expedition pack lists, group member selection, LNT methods of expedition paddling and expedition group dynamics to name a few. 

This is the capstone “Hybrid” Packraft Leadership & Expedition training course in our packrafting training program.  After this course you will possess all of the requisite skills and knowledge necessary to find any river on any map & start planning your next adventure!