Wilderness Skills and Leadership Program

Pemi West is a 3.5 week wilderness skills and leadership program for 16 - 18 year old men and women. We also offer a ten-day backpacking trip for adults. (See “Pemi West for Adults,” below). This program grew from our desire to provide a more extensive and challenging wilderness experience for older campers. Pemi West's first season was in 1997 in the central Colorado Rockies. Olympic National Park in Washington has been our home since 2005.

Program Features:

• 2-3 weeks of expeditioning among the ridges, snowfields, peaks, forests, and meadows of the Olympic National Park. Conditions permitting, you will have the opportunity to attempt to summit Mt. Olympus.
• Instruction in technical mountaineering skills, such as crevasse rescue, ascending fixed lines, belaying, roped glacier travel, rappelling, and possibly ice climbing.
• Instruction in wilderness First Aid
• Small groups (never more than 9 participants)
• A one-day solo

We offer you the opportunity to:

• Have fun with new friends;
• Acquire the skills and knowledge to safely plan, lead, and enjoy a backpacking trip of moderate length through rugged mountainous terrain;
• Develop a heightened appreciation of the natural world and a sense of stewardship of the environment; and
• Enhance your awareness of your personal capabilities and potential.
  

Pemi West for Adults is available upon request. This trip offers you either the experience of a ten-day backpacking trip exploring one of the most beautiful trails or a smorgasbord sampler of the ocean, rain forest, and mountain hikes. On this latter adventure, we combine day trips from the Ocean View Resort with two night camping trips for a rejuvenating vacation.