Wilderness First Responder (WFR) Course (Dec 11 - 15, 2027)

Wilderness First Responder (WFR) Course is organized by Backcountry Medical Guides (BMG) and will be held from Dec 11 - 15, 2027 at Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve, Big Sur, California, United States of America.

Description:
Whether you plan on working or guiding professionally in the outdoor world or just simply enjoy exploring on your own, our Wilderness First Responder course can help you stay safer and go further.

Five days of hands-on wilderness medicine training in Big Sur, led by paramedics and EMTs who've trained guides, rangers, ski patrollers, and adventurers up and down the California coast. You'll work through patient assessment, trauma management, evacuation decision-making, and environmental emergencies through field scenarios, trail-side instruction, and peer presentations on core wilderness topics.

Curriculum & Objectives:
Our guides train you how to prevent, manage, and treat a range of common emergencies that you may encounter in the wilderness. This course combines online self-paced precourse work with a highly immersive day hiking and overnight backpacking skills training trip in the beautiful Big Sur wilderness. You must complete the online learning portion within 30 days of the in-person skills training and assessment in Big Sur.  

This combination of focused learning and practical experience provides you with the conceptual knowledge and hands-on skills to face common emergencies that you may experience while exploring the wilderness. Expect to work hard, get out in nature, make new connections with other like minded people, and learn a ton about wilderness medicine.

By the end of the course, you will:

• Build strong patient assessment skills
• Demonstrate common treatments of traumatic injuries and life threats
• Recognize and treat medical emergencies
• Prevent, recognize, and treat environmental emergencies
• Learn improvisation, evacuation, and rescue techniques
• Practice pre-trip and expedition planning
• Practice preventative strategies