Outdoor Adventure Tourism is the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry. The overall objective of this Program is to provide participants with a solid base of combined working knowledge and practical skills to be a wilderness guide in the guide outfitting industry and adventure tourism. 

This builds confidence and character, and enables satisfactory production and performance as entry level guides within the industry. 

Our one and two week programs are intense and designed for individuals intent on learning and developing the basic skills, knowledge and attitudes that are required by a professional guide. It is designed for those seriously interested in a career within guiding, and is applicable for individuals with specific goals (i.e. lead guide, managing or owning your own Guide Outfitter or adventure tourism business). 

Those that benefit from our Training Programs include: 

Our ranch operation:

• We require professional and highly trained guides to lead Level 2 and 3 pack / hiking trips and ultimately, Grizzly Viewing and Research trips. The nature of the work requires a certain character and a wide diversity of skills and knowledge.

Adventure Tourism in general:

• Tourists are seeking the wilderness experience of advanced level trips. Whether guests wish to ride horses, or hike, the focus of these trips will include wildlife viewing, nature interpretation and education.

Graduates and their communities:

• The economic impacts of tourism are significant and communities are developing the expertise that is necessary for participation in this growing industry. Those that choose guiding as a career, bring this expertise and experience back to their communities

The training objectives of our programs are outlined on this page and include specific topics. The participants are tested on their practical skills and working knowledge regarding the topics (including written tests). Our intent is to have each student know the information, so "problem" areas receive extra time. The hours are long and the work is challenging but the rewards are many.

As each objective is introduced, it is continually practiced throughout the Program. The time allocated towards each objective is based upon the value, or importance of that objective. Although all of the objectives are relevant, the weighting of some within the industry are more substantial than others. Horse use, for example, is a main component within the guide outfitting industry, therefore more time, study and practice is applied to this objective.

The Programs combine theoretical and practical training. Each training objective is achieved under guided supervision and time is allocated for individual practice and study. The first half of the Program is based out of the Ranch, where theoretical and practical training is provided in a controlled environment. The last half is spent in base camps where the students have first hand experience by applying their newly learned skills to the "real thing".

How this training program makes a difference:

This program is registered with the Private Career Training Institutions Agency of British Columbia. We train qualified staff to help meet the growing demand for walking, hiking, angling and horse riding adventures throughout Canada. The program teaches those interested in a guiding career how to become professional stewards of the environmental and cultural resources with which they work; it also trains them to become competent in looking after guests taking part in holiday experiences staged in the South Chilcotin Mountains. Those who go through the program leave with skills they can apply in wilderness jurisdictions anywhere.

The program fosters beneficial practices in wilderness tourism best illustrated by the formal protocol agreement that was established between the Government of British Columbia and a number of wilderness tourism operations in the province. Concretely this means we help regulatory agencies carry out their responsibilities more efficiently by teaching our guide trainees how to fill out the wildlife sighting forms that were development jointly by us, with scientists and government representatives. As a result, we are able to share with them 16 years of collected data containing sighting locations, sex and age ratios, all of which are important when making wildlife management decisions.

It stems from this that we have become involved in local land use planning decisions on these public lands, because we know what is happening in the back country. After all these years of recording wildlife sightings, a substantial body of intelligence has already been gathered to feed the decision-making process, so that the long-term stability of natural populations is ensured.

By requiring that all our adventures be guided, we are aware of the impact our guests have on population movements. Our guide training programs emphasize this, and we commit to a very low level of use over a large area. When you have horse riders moving slowly through a valley, you are not displacing the wildlife the way motorized transportation would. The guides learn this; they also learn bear avoidance; and, we always pack out everything we take in. Our overall footprint is minimal. The written procedures we adopt are our commitment to regulatory agencies in terms of maintaining the lowest level of human habituation possible when it comes to wild animals.

Similarly with angling activities and the angling guide training program, we submit creel reports (fish catches) as part of our angling guide management plan. The creel report says how much we take and where we take it from. Guides learn about the particulars of different lakes, streams, ponds and rivers; how they vary seasonally; how they vary in terms of technical skills needed by the guests who are going to fish them; and, where the most appropriate place to fish is. As a result of our training, guides become able to start training their guests from the ground up if they are novice fishermen; or if you they are avid fishermen, they are able to provide them the best high-end challenge. 

In the mountain meadows, our wilderness guides learn to identify when a range mix is ready for horse grazing and what the carrying capacity of that range will be. Horses are not staked consecutive nights in the same area. Guides learn how to avoid putting salt blocks by a creek or a source of water. These are all details that are important for the health of the range. Those are all fundamental aspects of our guide training program.