Practical Skills
Course Overview
Because being in the wilderness requires skills, and skills take practice, this part of the program is designed to help students with some of the important nuts and bolts of outdoor leadership. From cooking to navigating with a map and compass, participants will be able to practice and perfect many essential skills.
Navigation
In this class, you will learn the theory and practice of using a map and compass as they relate to wilderness travel, and become familiar with concepts like declination, bearings, triangulation, orienting a map, and much more. We’ll also look at how to use a GPS unit and the skills needed to activate emergency response devices.
Outdoor Cooking
Learn to prepare some great meals for the trail, and practice the fun skill of cooking over a camping stove with a select number of utensils. From a simple one-pot meal, a baked dish in a pan to a dutch oven dessert, you’ll experiment and see what you can create, as you learn the fine art of backcountry cooking.
Survival Training
This fun and challenging course will involve hands on practice as we learn to implement the 7 essentials of survival, and spend time in the outdoors practicing building shelters and fires, finding and treating water, learning to make snares, and how to live in the outdoors with minimal gear and a good wilderness skill set.
Rope Work
From simple knots and hitches, to more complex anchor systems, this class will give you the valuable know-how and skill to add to your toolbox of knot tying for a multitude of applications. We will also investigate various materials and shear strengths for the ropes and cords we work with most.
Tracking
A great class where you learn to recognize wildlife by their tracks and signs. Discover the different gaites and strides that animals have, as well as the subtleties that can be read in a print or in a behaviour. Winter is a great time to see what is out and about, in the day or at night.
wildlife Safety Awareness
Based on the Wildlife BC program, we’ll study the most relevant info on how to travel, camp and live in the backcountry while avoiding negative wildlife encounters. From proper food storage and avoiding attractants, to the proper use of bear spray in the event of an interaction.
tides & currents
In this course we take a deep dive on the theory of how lunar cycles affect the oceans, examine tidal currents, rapids, and calculate current speeds and ferry angles. We’ll also learn to use weather apps and useful wind prediction tools.
Gear making & repair
This training will cover some easy repair scenarios such as torn backpacks and damaged boots, then go over some more complex fixes for items such as canoes and stoves. We also practice sewing stuff sacks, seam sealing tarps and fixing broken tent poles. Lots of fun !