The standard for outdoor professionals and serious recreationalists, Wilderness First Responder is an 80 hr course that will provide you with fundamental rescue skills. This course will provide you with essential skills to save lives far from advanced medical response. If you're a mountaineer, backcountry skier, mountain biker, hiker or just love to recreate outdoors, this course is for you!
This 5-day, classroom and field-based wilderness first aid course is great for people of all experience levels. It is designed for those who recreate outdoors where a full EMS response might be expected in fewer than eight hours.
On the course we’ll discuss common injuries and illnesses that you might expect to encounter during your favorite outdoor activities. Activities we often discuss include backcountry skiing, rock climbing, alpine climbing, hiking, backpacking, snowshoeing, mountain biking, road biking and more.
You'll learn:
- The Patient Assessment System
- How to provide effective first aid treatment for injuries and illnesses common in the outdoors
- Techniques to improvise first aid solutions in the backcountry
- How to make appropriate evacuation decisions
Certifications provided upon completion of this 80 Hour Wilderness First Responder Course are:
- 80 Hour (National Association for Search and Rescue) Wilderness First Aid Certification (good for two years)
- AHA (American Heart Association) CPR and AED Certification (good for two years)
This course meets or exceeds the minimum requirement for most Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Wilderness First Responder training needs.
Requisite Experience
No prior experience is required. This course is designed for all experience levels and builds fundamental rescue skills for advanced recreationalists and outdoor professionals. There is a huge amount of information and skills development through this course and it makes for an intense week of training. Be prepared for a mix of classroom and hands-on fieldwork.
Your Instructor
Bill Seline is the former Fire Chief of Truckee Fire and is a licensed paramedic in California and Nevada. Bill serves as a Wilderness First Responder Instructor, AIARE avalanche Course Leader and Ski Guide with Blackbird Mountain Guides. He has years of experience treating injuries and medical emergencies in the front country as a firefighter and in the backcountry as a ski guide and avid recreationalist. Bill's enthusiasm to share his experiences with his students makes him an incredible asset for the Blackbird team and a favorite of WFR and WFA students.
Online Coursework
Students must register at least 2 weeks before the in-person course date to allow time to receive the text and adequately complete the required pre-course work. All students must complete the pre-course learning module in order to attend the in-person sessions.
The Hybrid WFR combines reading and online learning with 5 days of in-person training. You’ll begin by reading the textbook, watching videos and taking chapter quizzes. This takes about 20-30 hours of time and you’ll need to finish this before the in-person portion begins. The 5-day in-person course will focus on skills and scenarios.
