We will be following strict protocols to ensure the safety and health of everyone on the trip.

1. Travel Safety

You’ll take as direct a flight as possible to the course area, observing mask and hand washing practices (if you have the option, we’d encourage business class, or window seats).
Once you get off the plane, we’ll ask you to change out of and bag your travel clothes, wash your hands, clean up in the bathroom and come out ready to go in outdoor clothes.

2. Masks

We’ll travel with face masks in large passenger vans to the trailhead with ample access to hand sanitizers and positive ventilation.
“A study published in Nature earlier this year shows that, if worn properly and with the right fit, surgical masks are effective at blocking ninety-nine per cent of the respiratory droplets expelled by people with coronaviruses or influenza viruses”.

3. Sanitization

Once we get into the backcountry, we’ll have 5x/day hand-washing protocol. Everyone has their own eating and drinking utensils and we always observe strict personal hygiene.
“A study conducted at a military boot camp found that a top-down program of hand washing five times a day cut medical visits for respiratory infections by forty-five per cent.”

4. Social Distancing

In the backcountry, we’re going to be outside, socially distancing. Barring rain at night we’re going to be sleeping outdoors as well.

None. We will teach everything from the beginning and you will have the chance to practice throughout the course. If you already have experience in backcountry travel, you have the opportunity to refresh your skills, learn cutting edge ultralight campcraft, and teach your peers.

This course will take your leadership to a level simply not possible in conventional corporate settings. Building on the Harvard-designed Leadership Development Profile and our follow-on coaching sessions, you will experience greater lasting change than typical workshops or retreats allow.

We offer “720 degree feedback” where you have the insights from the psychographic assessment, detailed notes from instructors, peers and your own self evaluation. We aren’t easy graders – our goal is to take you beyond the limits of your experience but keep you within the limits of your abilities. The result is richer data for your own growth than you’re likely to find anywhere else.

If you are moderately active you should be fine. We will start slow and travel no more than 5-6 miles per day with plenty of time for classes, reflection and enjoyment. As always, check with your physician to be sure – but this will be a great chance to reconnect to a more vital and re-engaged you. (We also send detailed pre-trip fitness prep guidelines so you can treat this like you would getting ready for a 10K fun run, a sprint triathlon or any other fitness goal).

We are partnering with the leaders of the outdoor industry and will provide all group gear including shelters, cooking equipment, backpacks and course materials. You will provide your own clothing and personal gear from a detailed packing list.

This course treats all the backpacking skills as secondary to and supportive of the course content – cutting edge experiential leadership training. We will be traveling in style, eating organic gourmet meals and taking in scenery that no luxury hotel can replicate – and you might just find yourself with a new passion.

This is a challenge for everyone – but what this course offers is the chance to combine personal renewal, bonding with peers and professional and personal development. All combined, you will return with more focus, more energy, and full engagement with all the aspects of your life. Invest six days to really live the remaining 359 to the fullest.