Wilderness EMT, Rescue, First Responder Courses

Women's Courses

Womens CoursesOur women only courses are being offered in conjunction with Babes in the Backcountry, an organization which specializes in outdoor education for women. The intention is to provide the training for working professionals in the outdoor education field to upgrade their technical rock, river and backcountry skiing and avalanche skills to the highest standards in the field. Participants will be better prepared and feel more confident to pursue more advanced technical work at their respective organizations.

These courses will introduce the novice female participant to a mode of wilderness travel (e.g. backpacking, sea kayaking, or backcountry ski touring) and the basic wilderness medicine skills necessary to travel safely and competently in the backcountry. Scroll down this page for more!

Climbing Rescue & Guide Skills for Babes


This course will review standards for anchor systems and rappelling practices, cover top rope site set-up and management practices, introduce the rescue skills of belay escape, lowering victims, improvised rappels, ascending a rope using prusiks or slings and building pulleys using standard climbing gear, as well as management considerations for the guide when lead climbing with students. This course will not cover multi-pitch management techniques.

River Rescue Skills & Guide Skills for Babes


The River Rescue course will cover the curriculum described in the Swiftwater Rescue Professional course, but it will be all chicks at the helm!

Ski Guide Skils for Babes


The focus of this course will be to develop within each participant a systematic approach for the assessment and evaluation of potential avalanche slopes in the backcountry, as well as on guiding skills. practices and considerations. This will include weather, snowpack, terrain information and the interactions among them. We will cover snow avalanche mecahnics, learn differnet methods of observing and collecting information in the field, as well as how and when to perform a variety of shear tests, and how to relate each test to the overall "big picture". Each participant will get a chance to plan and guide a ski route while we are in the field. In addition, special winter first-aid concerns and treatments, improvised winter litters, self-rescue and client rescue, including multiple burials will be covered. Only Betty's need apply......

Course Registration
  TBA for 2010