International Guide Training

International River Guide Training (IRGT)

We pioneered this program 10 years ago to train participants to enter the career as professional raft and river guides. With over 30 year’s experience as guides and operators ourselves we host this course each year in Nepal. The International River Guide Training is a 15 day course that puts you on Asia’s most dynamic river systems to teach you basic white water rafting skills and expedition based, river running context.
The curriculum focuses on water safety, technical rafting, team leadership, and multi-day expedition planning. The course will fast track your development, confidence, and guiding skills on the water and provides the perfect fundamentals to further develop a river based guiding career.

• Personal White Water Rafting Skills & Training
• Raft Construction, Equipment Maintenance & Repair
• Safety Briefs, Pre-Planning, Risk Assessments and Emergency Procedures Communication and Signals
• Himalayan Hydrology and Navigation
• Principles of River Rescue and River Safety
• Scouting and Portaging Rivers
• Raft Flips, Pins and Rescue Techniques
• Remote First Aid, Casualty Management
• Incident Management
• Expedition Planning and Considerations
• Wilderness Camping and Cooking
• Leadership and Team Management

Students are individually assessed and graded for proficiency on the river according to the International Scale of River Difficulty (Class I-VI) to ensure they can safely pursue the next appropriate employment or learning opportunity, post programme. All participants complete their Rescue 3
International Whitewater Rescue Technician – Pro and Outdoor first aid and part of the IRGT certification process.

Past IRGT participants now work all over the world as river guides, and IRGT is run in a number of countries including Bhutan and Japan as their recognised guide training program.

This course follows the Trek Leader Training course enabling students to have the option to complete both courses back to back as a 30-day training program. (see course calendar for the next scheduled course date)

International Trek Leader Training (ITLT)

Following on from our 10 years of running successful ‘International River Guide Training’ (IRGT) river programs, the ‘International Trek Leader Training’ course is designed for those that wish to learn the fundamental skills involved in leading treks on established routes as a professional career training program.

With over 25 years’ experience of operating and guiding Himalayan treks throughout Nepal and all over the world, we have designed this 15 day educational program to maximise learning outcomes through the completion of a major trek in the Himalayas to gain first-hand experience, knowledge and understanding of the roles and responsibilities of a commercial trek leader.
Using both lodges and overnight camping experiences, participants will work alongside the team of porters and guides under the supervision of the course tutors, learning the fundamental skills under the following headings:

• Route choice, planning & navigation techniques
• Risk Analysis, incident management and Emergency procedures
• Safe movement on mixed terrain.
• Customer care and welfare
• Campcraft
• Weather conditions and temperature
• Group management
• First aid & Altitude considerations,
• Equipment use and packing
• Environmental considerations and sustainable tourism
• Leadership skills.

As part of this course participants can also gain recognised first aid and navigation awards in addition to their ITLT certification.
The Trek Leader Training course directly proceeds the River Guide training course to allow participants to complete a full 30-day training program in both elements. (see course calendar for the next scheduled course date)