PLEASE NOTE: The programs listed here are for informational purposes only. The UCMC and the SMMS make no endorsement or guarantees about the quality or veracity of these organizations. It is YOUR responsibility to carefully check the programs and the companies which offer them. We encourage you to ask for references.
National Outdoor Leadership School
"The National Outdoor Leadership School is a non-profit educational institution dedicated to teaching wilderness-oriented skills and leadership with a strong conservation focus. Our courses range from 10 to 95 days in length and take place at eight branches in seven countries and on five continents. The skills covered range from backpacking and sea kayaking to mountaineering, with more skills available on a wide variety of courses."
Outward Bound
"Outward Bound is a nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to conduct safe adventure-based programs structured to inspire respect for self, care for others, responsibility to the community and sensitivity to the environment.The Outward Bound process assumes that learning and understanding take place when people engage in and reflect upon experiences in challenging environments in which they must make choices, take responsible action, acquire new skills and work with others. Today, 56 years after its inception, Outward Bound is an international federation of more than 50 schools and centers on five continents. This web sit lists the wilderness adventure courses offered by the five U.S. Outward Bound schools."
Wilderness Medical Associates
Wilderness Medical Associates is committed to supplying the highest quality medical training to outdoor enthusiasts and professionals. Wilderness Medical Associates was founded in 1978 by Peter Goth, M.D. to provide medical training and risk management for Outward Bound schools in the United States. Outward Bound was operating wilderness expeditions and found that conventional medical training programs did not address the specialized wilderness context of delayed rescue transport in remote areas, prolonged exposure to severe environments, and the limited availability of medical equipment. Wilderness Medical Associates tailored courses to these needs and discovered that the demand for this training extended to organizations as diverse as the National Park Service, university outing clubs, rural ambulance services, the FBI, and oil exploration companies
SOLO - Stonehearth Open Learning Opportunities
Headquartered in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Stonehearth Open Learning Opportunities, Inc. (SOLO) offers state-of-the-art training programs and professional certification for all levels of wilderness/ rural/disaster emergency medicine, rescue, and leadership development. SOLO's highly experienced and diversified instructors are actively involved in emergency departments, rescue units, ski patrols, and research teams. Since 1976, SOLO, operating the only full-time wilderness emergency medicine, rescue, and leadership teaching center in the world, has provided training to more than 50,000 individuals. SOLO curriculums have served as models for many organizations' wilderness medicine programs.
American Mountain Guides Association
The American Mountain Guides Association offers training courses and guide certification exams in three disciplines: rock, alpine, and ski mountaineering. The AMGA provides aid in the development of skills required by professional mountain guides. The courses teach skills and define standards; our exams provide a means of assessing those standards. The programs address the needs of most guides working in the mountains and are structured to be completed sequentially over a two- to three-year period. The first step is a guide course, then an advanced guide course, and finally an exam.
Wilderness Emergency Medical Services Institute
WEMSI provides medical care to patients in the specialized prehospital situations of wilderness, backcountry, and other delayed and prolonged transportation contexts such as catastrophic disasters (referred to jointly as "the wilderness context").WEMSI also is involved in a curriculum project. The goal of the project is to produce teaching materials, and a textbook to be used to instruct persons, who are currently certified prehospital personnel (Emergency Medical Technicians, and Paramedics), in providing an appropriate level of medical care in the wild (where physicians, veterinarians, and hospitals are not readily available). Wilderness trained emergency medical personnel care for persons found in the wilderness (as a result of a search and rescue operation), as well as other members of their search party for periods ranging from several hours, to several days.
Seneca Rocks Climbing School
The Seneca Rocks Climbing School has been building on a tradition of professional skill and congenial service for nearly 25 years, at the same location and under the same ownership. The guides you will get to know are all dedicated to teaching, and to helping people safely discover the challenge and adventure offered by the vertical rock environment. We live here, and enjoy showing the folks the beauty of our local crag.
Colorado Mountain School
We guide expeditions all over the world, but we are located in Estes Park and Boulder, in the heart of the Colorado Front Range, and less than two hours from Denver. In our home climbing areas (Eldorado Canyon and Rocky Mountain National Park to name two), we offer all aspects of a complete climbing education, from beginning rock to Big Walls, from an introductory snow school to M6 ice on Longs Peak (14,259'). We climb in some of the finest and most diverse rock and alpine terrain in the North America.CMS is the oldest, continuously running guide service in the U.S. (1879)We are the only permitted climbing guide service in Rocky Mountain National Park.We're American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) accredited and employ more AMGA certified guides (Rock, Alpine, Ski) than any other U.S. guide service.The Colorado Mountain School offers great climbing, great guides who enjoy teaching, a complete range of courses, conveniently located. We believe you will enjoy climbing with us and we look forward greatly to climbing with you.
National Cave Rescue Commission
The NCRC sponsors a weeklong cave rescue seminar each year which is held in various locations around the U.S. The seminar serves as a "boot camp" of cave rescue and involves three levels of training. As in other types of rescue, cave rescue is constantly evolving, and the most up to date techniques are presented there each year. The NCRC utilizes the Incident Command System (ICS) familiar to EMS, Fire and Rescue. In addition to this national weeklong seminar the various regions also sponsor additional weeklong seminars and weekend basic orientation courses.
Nantahala Outdoor Center
Celebrating 25 years of outdoor leadership in 1997, employee-owned Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) has been offering exciting outdoor adventures at our base in Wesser, NC, and around the world since 1972! Located at the convergence of the Appalachian Trail and Nantahala River, we offer whitewater rafting on five southeastern rivers, instruction at our world-renowned paddling school, youth and corporate action learning programs, mountain biking programs, and a worldwide adventure travel program as well as on-site outfitter's stores, lodging and three restaurants.