Women's Skills Workshops - These classes provide space for students to learn and practice fundamental outdoor skills in an easy, fun environment.  These courses are scheduled on our Coyle Outside Programs page of Registration and can be custom scheduled for groups or individuals.  We can travel to your group to provide a half day or weekend long training.  Typically a 4-7 hour class .  Bring appropriate outdoor clothing, closed toed shoes and gloves.  REGISTER HERE!

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• Knives/Wilderness Tools - This course gets scheduled at least twice yearly and can be custom scheduled for private groups or individuals.  In this one day course we review and practice the anatomy and safe use of knives, hatchets, axes, mauls and saws.  We learn how to be effective and confident using these tools in a wilderness setting.  We learn how to maintain and preserve them and talk about what kind of tools are most appropriate for which application and user.  All tools provided.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

• Survival Fire - We cover the fundamentals of fire and discuss the "Fire Triangle" components and process in depth.  All along students are challenged to discover, rather than learn, what makes fire happen in a cold and/or wet environment.  We use matches and lighters and progress to using strikers to ignite various materials students gather at different points through the day.  We look for and at various and unique materials that can be found to start fire quickly and easily in a survival environment.  Students learn how to manipulate and process natural and synthetic materials to make them more combustible and students learn how to extend the life of a fire that needs to be left by itself but must not go out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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• Friction/Primitive Fire - This advanced fire class introduces students to the most ancient forms of fire making.  We go over the principles of fire by friction including material science and selection, mechanical advantage, technique and partnering.  All of these contribute to students creating their own friction fire by the day's end.  We use the bowdrill and hand drill primarily but also talk about and may demonstrate some more exotic techniques not native to the PNW.  Students will leave with their own friction fire set to further practice and develop skills on.

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• Shelter - Students review and practice several types of shelter including basic tent set up, simple tarp shelters, improvised survival shelters and primitive/natural shelters.  We spend the day talking about how to assess conditions to place and design an effective shelter as we practice, practice, practice building and improving each kind of shelter.  And then we test them!  Along the way students also learn a few critical knots that have universal applications beyond just shelter and we examine material selection and site selection in depth.  This course leaves students much more confident to tackle a spectrum of situations, everything from camping alone to camping in a storm with no tent.

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• Navigation, Finding your way and staying found - This workshop covers the basics of several orienteering approaches as well as related skills that leave participants more confident and competent in their ability to find their way, stay aware of their location and direction of travel, signal for help and make themselves easy to find.  Techniques taught include map and compass, gps and natural/ancient navigation.  We will practice skills on the ground and consider special environments such as night time travel.  Students should expect to be ready to focus on details and ready to be curious about environmental cues (these will leave students feeling more connected to the natural world.)

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• Women's Backcountry Intensive Expeditions - These trips are scheduled on our registration page and can also be custom developed for your group or family.  Participants learn the fundamentals of traveling and camping in the backcountry and learn more in depth Wilderness survival skills that will keep you feeling confident and give you the best chance to stay comfortable and safe in more challenging circumstances.  We focus on practicing mastery of basic skills such as shelter, fire, knife use, navigation, signaling, rationing and water and food treatment and procurement.  These courses happen in various wilderness locations and may involve backpacking over 5 miles in a day.  These courses are typically between 3 and 6 days long but can be customized for specialty groups wanting a specific experience.