Seattle Packrafting Committee

The Mountaineers Packrafting Committee was established in 2022 by a core group of enthusiastic river runners.  Our first packrafting course was offered in Fall 2022 to a full roster of enthusiastic students.  We offer the following programs that include something for everyone, from a seasoned river guide wishing to join our community to a first-timer in a boat of any kind.  

• Courses and Clinics
• Equivalency
• Trips
• Leadership Mentoring

courses and clinics

We are currently offering two levels of courses: an introductory flatwater course and a whitewater river running course.  The Introduction to Flatwater Packrafting course is geared to those who are brand new to the sport and takes place in the Fall.  For those who have some packrafting experience the Basic Whitewater Packrafting Course takes students into the exciting world of river running and takes place in the Spring.

A typical clinic consists of one day on the water practicing a specific skill, preceded by a lecture on that specific topic.  Some of the clinics we have planned are:  Catching Eddies, Paddling a Slalom Course,  Rolling a Packraft,  Surfing a Packraft, and Overnighting in a Packraft (2 day outing). 

Equivalency

Equivalency for Basic Whitewater Packrafting is available for people who already have the paddling skills taught in our basic whitewater paddling course. A list of these skills can be found on the Basic Whitewater Packrafting Course page. This will allow you to join our whitewater river trip.  See our equivalency page for details. 

Trips

We offer several types of trips on a variety of water bodies, of varying duration and difficulty.

• Flatwater Day Trips on Class I rivers, river deltas and estuaries
• Whitewater Day Trips on local Class II and III rivers 
• Overnight river trips on regional rivers, such as the John Day, the Grand Ronde, the Owyhee 
• Wilderness Travel Expedition Trips in the Arctic, southern Utah, and elsewhere

See more river information.

leadership

We are expanding our cadre of qualified leaders.  The first step in becoming a Packraft Leader for the Mountaineers is to fill out our Leader-Aspirant Questionnaire, [link to be inserted].  In the meantime, if you are interested in becoming a Packraft Leader please send the Chair an email to get the questionnaire.  There are three basic criteria involved in the leader mentor program: pass the basic whitewater course or equivalency, help instruct one of our courses, assist in leading some of our trips to gain first hand experience on how our trips are run.  Rafting guides, hard shell kayakers, whitewater canoeing guides, and leaders of other water sports can be fast-tracked where appropriate.  

Boat Types

We currently limit our trips to packrafts.  Packrafts are unique in their diversity of use and are quite possibly the funnest form of boat on a river.  Due to their design and light weight they are nimble on the water, relatively easy to maneuver, and simple to gear up and gear down. 

Why not other boat types? The skills required to descend rivers in other boat types such as inflatable kayaks or hard shell kayaks are not that different than packraft so it is reasonable to think they may be included in trips.  However, the current committee members do not feel that we have a sufficient base of expertise in use of these boats to take responsibility for use of them on trips.  If people with experience using other boat types join the committee we may expand our scope to include other boats.