Scholarships

Since founding this program in 2011, my primary goal has been to empower individuals with outdoor skills and knowledge so that they can confidently undertake trips of their own and informally lead family and friends in the backcountry. In 2022 we launched a needs-based scholarship program to create more opportunities for individuals whose outdoor access…

FAQ

What is an appropriate ‘Goal Trip’ for this course? At the beginning of the trip, we ask you to identify a goal trip. You will apply the Plan like a Pro curriculum around your goal trip – researching conditions, creating a gear list, and more – to be fully prepared to take on this trip…

Admin & policies

Cancellations & transfers A full refund will be issued to students who cancel prior to the first day of the course. If they’ve already been added to Classroom and/or sent a Gear Guide, a $25 administrative fee will be deducted from the refunded amount. During the first 21 days of the course, students are permitted…

Course testimonials

Since 2014 I’ve asked our guided trip clients to complete a post-trip survey to gather feedback about our guides, locations, meals, and curriculum, plus their overall satisfaction. Reviewing the results is a multi-day project but entirely worthwhile: they confirm what we’re doing right, and they give me a checklist of improvements for the following year. Naturally, we…

Meet the instructors

Meet our stellar instructor team, who guide students through our online backpacking course and pre-guided trip curriculum. Our instructors are fastidious planners, have great attention to detail and impressive backpacking resumes. Our team: Andrew Skurka Since founding this program in 2011, I’ve led 91 trips and have spent 413 days in the field with clients.…

Interested in a 2021 course

If you are interested in taking our online course in 2021, subscribe to or follow me on: Newsletter (most reliable) Blog Instagram Facebook

Curriculum & Schedule

The course is comprised of reading materials and discussions, assignments with in-depth feedback and three virtual meetings. The schedule is intentionally designed to keep the workload consistent, and we recommend that students stay on track. It’s not possible to “get ahead” — we’ll release new materials when we’ve scheduled them. If you get busy and…

New Student Welcome

So you’ve registered and paid for the online course. Now what? Instructors To help me run this course I have co-director Katie Gerber, who should be your primary contact and who will be posting most of the materials; and a team of instructors — Hunter Hall, Ella Nuttelman, Mikaela Osler, Tina Currin, and Alan Weil…

Registration

We are now accepting registrations for 2022 courses. To register: 1. Pay the Course Fee now or soon after completing the Registration Form. 2. Complete the Registration Form. Applying will take about 15 minutes; your responses cannot be saved and returned to later. 3. Reference the New Student Welcome for action items before the start of the course.…