Spend 30 days alongside other 16- and 17-year-olds learning two of the most rewarding ways to travel through the wilderness. You’ll start with 19 days climbing world-class rock in Wyoming, followed by 10 days paddling whitewater through the remote canyon country of Utah.

Your course begins at NOLS Rocky Mountain Campus in Lander, Wyoming, where you’ll meet your instructors and group, and prepare gear before heading into Wild Iris or Vedauwoo, some of the best climbing destinations in the country. You’ll start with the climbing fundamentals like knot tying, rope handling, belaying, anchor building, and rappelling before moving into multi-pitch routes, rescue techniques, and lead climbing skills. Climbs can be several hundred feet long and take a full day to complete. You’ll also learn to evaluate risk on the rock — reading conditions, assessing hazards, and making decisions that keep your team moving safely.

From there, you’ll transition to the NOLS River Base in Vernal, Utah, getting comfortable in whitewater kayaks before heading to the put-in at Desolation Canyon on the Green River. Traveling by kayak, paddle raft, and oar rig, you’ll learn eddy turns, ferries, raft captaining, and rescue techniques as the canyon’s difficulty builds downstream.

The NOLS leadership curriculum will be taught and practiced through both sections, and as competence builds, instructors hand more responsibility to the group. Weather in both locations is unpredictable — mountain storms, river cold, and canyon heat are all part of it.

You’ll leave with new friends, a solid foundation of climbing and river skills, and leadership experience to carry with you well beyond this course.