WFR in New England

Hi all,

I've had some thoughts in the back of my mind of receiving more training, avy training, wilderness first responder, self rescue/ technical rescue climbing training, etc.

In regards to WFR
A basic google search turns up SOLO in North Conway for WFR. They talk of it being a two week process and costing $900. Anyone have any thoughts on this, other organizations? Seems like quite an undertaking, would this be an irrational certification for someone who wasn't working in a guiding scenario. I just have this feeling that I have a responsibility to learn more and be better prepared for when a scenario presents itself.

Open to any thoughts, recommendations!

I highly recommend SOLO. I took the course, learned a ton, and have no interest in guiding. Just gives you a little more peace of mind and confidence when out in the hills, especially knowing you're not completely useless if your buddy takes a bad digger.

The course is about $500 without lodging, that's where they get ya. The $500 includes lunch. So if you don't wanna fork out the $900 just camp in the area and save some dough.

I took my WFR through SOLO and I can't recommend them enough. One person in my WFR was renewing their WMI WFR and another person used to have their street level EMT. Both of them said that they learned more in the SOLO WFR course than their other courses.

I would definitely recommend SOLO and I hope that when I need to renew my WFR that I can take it through them rather than WMI.

A+ outstanding organization

Hey Tom! WFR good no matter who you are and what you do. I know that Utah is not where you might want to take it but the University of Utah did offer WFR for about a 1/3 of the cost of what you are quoting. You get to take it somewhere in the west, mine was 6 days in Zion. Taught by WFR techs and Doctors and the prof for mine was a SLC EMT/Wilderness EMT. The Doctor offering the course taught at The U and was an ER doctor as well. He was ashamed of the cost of other courses offered so he started this WFR program on his own, pretty nice of him. Got to meet and talk with him, very genuine guy I must say. They started producing their own manual and we were the first class to use it so he sat in to get our feedback. Really thought a lot of the whole experience. At least check it out. Bud

You're going to hear a thousand different opinions about the different organizations that offer a WFR. I took mine through WMI and it was awesome. if you have the extra cash and time I would recommend it even if you don't want to work in guiding/outdoor Ed industries. I will say that 2 weeks sounds like a long time. While practice is always good, you can only practice a head to toe so much.

The WFR is a great course for anyone spending a reasonable amount of time in the backcountry. If everything you do is frontcountry/local crags then save your money and do a wilderness first aid course, this covers the basics without all of the extras.

As for organizations, any of the bigger agencies put on good courses, they just sometimes have slightly different focuses. I'm confident that if you take a course through WMA, WMI, SOLO, or RMI you will be happy with what you learned.

For reference I am a backcountry Paramedic who did my WEMT through WMI.

Good luck and enjoy.