Backpacking & Wilderness Navigation Course Alpine Ascents International

Backpacking & Wilderness Navigation Course Overview

Exactly what I wanted – Informed Instruction of L.N.T. – Backpacking – Camping. Even “old time” campers and backpackers have something to learn from the course, Excellent!

Course Overview

Do you dream of thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail but have never spent a night in the woods? This is the course for you! We designed this 4-day course for the dedicated hiker who wants to gain the skills needed to safely journey into the remote backcountry, multiple days from the nearest trailhead. The course is also highly recommended for aspiring mountaineers who want to gain a solid foundation of wilderness skills before progressing to a true mountaineering course or a summit climb. Taught by our professional mountain guides, this course welcomes newcomers to the world of wilderness backpacking.

The stunning wilderness of the Pacific Northwest provides the setting for this skills-driven course in wilderness navigation, trip planning, food preparation, survival, and minimum-impact camping skills. It provides a wealth of knowledge for those who want to seriously embrace the rigors of backcountry travel. From the hanging glaciers and craggy peaks of the North Cascades to the sweeping panoramas and heather meadows of the Goat Rocks Wilderness, backpacking allows for a truly immersive wilderness experience, free from the limits of a day hike. Depending on the weather, trail conditions, and interests of the group, we have flexibility to choose between several routes. Read about a few of our favorite backpacking trips in the “routes” section.

Graduates of this course will leave with the skills and knowledge to plan and execute their own backpacking trip as well as the confidence and hard skills to successfully join our 6-day mountaineering school.

Course Objectives

To train aspiring mountaineers and hikers in appropriate wilderness techniques, including but not limited to:

Gear selection and packing
Backcountry nutrition, menu planning, and cooking
Navigation, including compass and map skills
Camp craft
Leave No Trace ethics
Knots for wilderness survival and mountaineering
Mountain weather
Objective and subjective hazard evaluation
Proper waste and sanitation techniques
Bear and wildlife precautions

Graduates of this course will leave with the skills and knowledge to plan and prepare for their own extended backpacking trip as well as the confidence and hard skills to successfully join our 6-day mountaineering school. This is an excellent course for those who are interested in mountaineering but have spent limited time in the backcountry.

Here's some information about our routes

In the Pacific Northwest we have no shortage of amazing backpacking destinations and routes. We’ll select the best itinerary based on weather, trail conditions, and the needs of the group. Below are a few possible routes.

White Pass – Pilot Ridge Loop

A particular favorite, this route features sweeping panoramas of Glacier Peak, long stretches of alpine meadows bursting with wildflowers, and a picturesque campsite near the aptly named Blue Lake. You’ll share the trail with climbers bound for Glacier Peak, whistling marmots, and bountiful huckleberries (starting in September). While there is a fair amount of elevation gain hiking from the North Fork of the Sauk River Trailhead (2,075′) to our first camp at White Pass (5,900′), it’s worth the burn. Your tired legs will be soothed by awe inspiring glimpses of the mighty Sloan Peak and endless alpine meadows. From our first camp at White Pass, we’ll spend the next three days catching views of Glacier Peak, counting marmots, jumping in the icy waters of Blue Lake, and eventually making a loop back to where we started. The route is 29.2 miles long with 7,500′ of total elevation gain.

East Bank Trail & Desolation Peak

A true gem of North Cascades National Park, this backpacking trip has a little bit of everything. You’ll follow in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac who spent 63 days in the fire lookout on Desolation Peak during the summer of 1956, stoking the creative juices that led to the Dharma Bums and Desolation Angels. First, we’ll zip along startlingly blue Ross Lake in a water taxi and get dropped off near our camp for the night. We’ll have ample time to get settled into camp and spend the day exploring the fire lookout which has been called one of the most beautiful in the nation (bring your field notebooks to start that next great American novel!) and to learn valuable wilderness skills. For the next three days, we’ll hike along Ross Lake via the gentle East Bank Trail, enjoying scenic campsites, learning skills, and eventually ending up back at where we launched. The route is 24.8 miles in length with 7,939′ of total elevation gain.

Goat Rocks Wilderness

Old Snowy Mountain 2 1

The Goat Rocks Wilderness is truly awe inspiring. On this trip, we’ll sample some of the most beautiful stretches of Washington’s PCT – replete with wildflower-filled meadows, lingering snowfields, and fabulous views of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens. Throughout, we will be hiking in the craggy shadows of the Goat Rocks massif. On our first day on the trail, we’ll hike about 5-6 miles until we break out of the forest into broad heather meadows and set up camp. For the next 3 days, we’ll backpack through the Goat Rocks Wilderness, even sneaking in a summit of the mighty Old Snowy Mountain. Don’t worry, it isn’t actually very snowy at all! Once we’ve had our fill of panoramic views, fresh air, and marmots galore, we’ll loop back to where we started. The route is 18.5 miles in length with 4,546′ of total elevation gain.

Reading List

This is a highly recommended shortlist and we would be happy to pass on a longer reading list for those interested. These links will bounce to Amazon.com with reviews.

The Backpacker's Field Manual, Revised and Updated: A Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Backcountry Skills

Rick Curtis

The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest

Timothy Egan

Natural History of the Pacific Northwest Mountains: Timber Press Field Guide

Daniel Mathews

Overview

Upon registration, we will send you detailed information about your course, such as the menu plan below.

Food is one of the basic pleasures of wilderness travel. There are countless options for putting together healthy and delicious meals for long wilderness trips, depending on how much time, effort and money you have to spend on preparation before and cooking during the trip. Thorough meal planning and preparation is a must!

While all of our expeditions do include meals; our courses serve a broader function of teaching sustainability and self-sufficiency in the mountains. For this course, you will be responsible for bringing and cooking your own food for the 6 days. Guides will review all food items at the gear check.

For your 6 days in the Cascades you will need:
3 Breakfasts
4 Lunches
3 Dinners

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF WILDERNESS EATING

Nourishment and mountaineering are inseparable for those who wish to successfully enjoy mountaineering. Climbing requires higher daily energy expenditure than most other strenuous activities. Eating well and frequently sustains energy levels and keeps us happy as well as helps us to combat the cold conditions and inclement weather we will likely encounter in the Cascades. One of the most challenging parts of a mountain guide’s job is discussing and advising our climbers on the types and quantities of food to bring on a mountaineering expedition. Unlike clothing or sleeping gear where climbers simply have or don’t have an adequate item, food is somewhat subjective.

Some climbers eat large quantities of food, some don’t. Some love dehydrated meals while others have digestion issues from eating too many. As guides, we can’t tell you exactly what you are going to like or how much you are going to eat and there is no way for us to tell you if you’re going to want 2500 or 3500 calories per day. With that in mind, here are some general thoughts on food planning:

Too little food is terrible, but too much food is not the answer
Going hungry and/or having to live off the extra food of other climbers and guides is not fun. Consider the weight and volume of what foods you are bring.

All food selection is a compromise between taste, weight, and volume (the space needed to pack an item in your backpack)
A block of cheese is easier to pack than a similar amount weight of shredded cheese because it is denser. Dehydrated meals are the lightest meals to pack and easiest to prepare, but if you don’t’ like them it doesn’t really matter how light and easy they are.

Bring food that you like
Six days is a long time to be unhappy with your food choices. If you don’t like a particular food in your home, it is unlikely you are going to start enjoying it in the mountains.

It’s your responsibility to check food preferences and amounts prior to your trip
Is 1 cup dry cereal with 3 tablespoons of powdered milk enough for one breakfast or will you be happier with 1.5 cups? How much pasta should you bring for one dinner…2 packets of instant oatmeal or 3? Trying out a few mountain meals at home will give you a much better sense of what to bring. Test out snack/lunch options before your course.

Condiments
Salt, pepper, mustard, hot sauce, sugar, etc. are all great additions to any meal plan, especially if you are not using dehydrated meals (as they are already very high in sodium). The lightest option is to pick up individual serving packets from the deli section at the grocery and store them in a Ziploc bag. Also, very, very small (1 oz.) plastic storage containers with screw-on caps can be purchased at most outdoor stores for condiment storage.

Hot Drinks
An essential part of breakfast and dinner for both hydration and well-being. Coffee drinkers take heart – there can be decent coffee in the mountains! Starbuck’s VIA’s have become the new standard on mountaineering expeditions. A small portion of powdered milk and sugar can be added to preference. Black tea, yerba mate, herbal teas, hot chocolate and powdered chai are other options. Plan on bringing enough for 2 to 5 hot drinks per day!

Food Storage
Meats and cheeses are great foods for this course as they will not spoil due to cold temperatures. Reduce excess packaging. Get rid of boxes, extra wrapping, etc. Ziplocks are great for repackaging food. A few medium sized stuff sacks are great to help organize food while in camp.

Good luck and have fun experimenting with your menu plan. See you in the mountains, Bon Appetit!

DRINKING WATER

You may want to consider bringing Nuun active hydration tablets or other cold drink mix to add into drinking water for electrolyte replacement during your course ****Please note the emphasis on hot drinks and other liquids in the menu. Staying hydrated while climbing is very important, and this issue is addressed in-depth while on the course.

BREAKFAST

(~300–600 calories) x 3
Having a hot breakfast is important, especially in cold weather environments. Most climbers go with instant or quick cooking hot cereals like oatmeal or Cream of Wheat, or dry cereals and powdered milk mixed with hot water. All of these meals taste better and provide more calories when fortified with dried fruits, nuts, honey, butter, even chocolate chips! Tastier (and heavier!) breakfast ideas are included below. For your course you should have 5 breakfasts. About half of these should be basic meals to carry higher on the mountain and the remaining can be more luxurious meals at the beginning if the trip when we are lower. Don’t forget your Hot Drinks!

Breakfast Meal Ideas x 3
– 1 cup of dry cereal + 3 tablespoons of powdered milk mixed with hot water
– 2 packs of instant oatmeal + 1 tablespoon of powdered milk + dried fruit
– 2-4 powdered eggs + 4-6 strips precooked bacon + tortilla

Lunches

(~800–1,200 calories) x 4
Lunch begins just after breakfast and ends just before dinner. It is the most important meal of the day and needs to have enough variety to keep you happy over 6 days. Continuous eating of small quantities will keep up your energy levels for the whole day, especially on big travel/summit days where we will be on the move for 8 hours or more.

For your course you need lunch food for 4 days. Determining the amount of lunch food to bring is difficult to gauge on your first mountaineering expedition. General guidelines are given below. The rule many guides work with is the weight of your lunch food should be equivalent to weight of your breakfast and dinner food added together.

Each day it’s nice to have one or two Real Food items. These include:
– 1 piece of flatbread, naan or flour tortilla with a few slices each of cheese and meat (salami, prosciutto, turkey, etc.)
– A store bought sandwich (for first day of course)
– Ramen or other soup (for poor weather days)

In addition you will add in Snack Food to supplement your Real Food. These include:
– Nuts (cashew and almonds personal favorite – can buy in 1lb quantities at Trader Joe’s)
– Beef Jerky
– Dried Fruit (again, Trader Joe’s has best selection and is prepackaged by weight)
– Peanut Butter filled pretzel chunks
– Trail mix
– Cheese sticks/squares

For summit day or big travel days (usually three on a 6-day Course) focus on Energy Food. On these days we travel for roughly an hour between breaks. At each break you should be eating 200-300 calories (or about 1 energy bar). These days can have 4-8 breaks. These foods include:
– Energy bars
– Energy chews (Shot Bloks or the like)
– GU’s, Cliff Shots, etc.
– Candy bars (Snicker’s are a favorite of most climbers)
– Gummy bears

Dinners

(~800–1,200 calories) x 3
For the greatest preparation and cooking ease, freeze-dried food is an option. Usually, these foods only require that boiling water be added, and can be eaten within minutes. Often the packaging serves as heating container, and the meal may be eaten from it; thus there are no pots/bowls to clean. However in cold or high altitude environments following manufacturer’s recommendations is often not sufficient to fully reconstitute freeze-dried food. Other downsides of freeze-dried food are the cost, usually an increase in garabge which must be packed out, lack of flavor, etc.

We recommend for only slightly more effort but vastly reduced cost, any supermarket can be tapped for a wide variety of easily prepared foods. Items such as Knorr rice or pasta entrees in envelopes cook in 5 to 10 minutes, and are very tasty. (There are many other brands available). It is best if you experiment ahead of time at home, so that you know which you prefer.

For those with a culinary creative streak, very tasty meals can be made up from scratch with only a minimum of additional effort. Items such as quick brown rice, quick or instant white rice, bulgur, instant precooked and dried beans, dehydrated vegetables, packaged or bulk sauce mixes, smoked salmon, exotic cheeses and whatever spices and herbs you like or want to experiment with can be prepared in excellent combinations.

You will need 3 dinners for your course. Many guides bring a soup packet, like instant miso soup, for each meal (unless the meal is already soup based). This makes a great pre-dinner hot drink and helps keep us on top of our hydration. Don’t forget your Hot Drinks!

Dinner Ideas x 3
– 1-2 Top Ramen + 1 small packet tuna + 1 teaspoon each curry paste and peanut butter (added to cooked soup)
– Dehydrated meal (check serving size + calories)
– instant rice + dehydrated refried/black beans + cheese + tortilla + hot sauce

Dessert

Basically you want something sweet to have as you sit around after dinner, enjoying the scenery. Some people consider sweet hot drinks dessert, while others bring instant Jell-O pudding (a half package is enough for one dessert), cookies, or candy, or chocolate. Jell-O no bake cakes or specialty cookies can also make a great dessert.

Additional Resources

Caloric info: www.whatscookingamerica.net/NutritionalChart.htm
samples at www.wildernesscooking.com
Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, 6th edition, Chapter 3
The Expedition Cookbook, by Carolyn Gunn
The NOLS Cookery by Claudia Pearson of the National Outdoor Leadership School

I entered this course a complete novice with little to no experience, hoping to get an education and introduction to mountaineering and general competency and skills in the backcountry. The course met all my expectations, I learned a ton and I am very happy about that. The skills I learned I feel will be immediately […]

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