Andrew Skurka's Blog

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Plan Like a Pro FAQ livestream

For those that prefer to watch rather than read, or who have unanswered questions about our upcoming cohort of the Plan Like a Pro online course, we’re hosting a FAQ livestream on Thursday, March 20 at 6pm MT.

The intention with this session is to provide a targeted discussion that covers the most important topics prospective students need to know before deciding whether this course is right for them.

Questions covered, more or less in this order, include:

What does a student learn during this course?How is this course delivered?Who is this course for, in terms of goals, experience, demographics?What is the time requirement?What does it cost?What is the backstory of this course?How do I know it will work for me?What is a good goal trip?Who are the instructors?How many sessions are we running in 2025?How many students are in each course?What happens if I can’t make the calls?What happens if I’m out of town for two weeks?What platform is used to share information?Is the course relevant to thru-hikers?Is the course relevant to international trips?Watch here:Enroll now for the March 24 session

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Plan Like a Pro is Open for Registration

Can you plan all aspects of your first trip, next trip, or dream trip — and without making errors, taking too long, or forgetting key parts?

Successful backpacking trips are typically planned, not improvised. A thoughtful approach towards gear, food, maps, permits, travel, fitness, and skills will increase your safety margin and trip quality, and will actually create more potential for adventure — by solving foreseeable problems beforehand, you can respond fully to the true unknowns.

On March 24th, we start our first 2025 session of Plan Like A Pro, an online course in which we guide students through a holistic trip planning framework:

Defining trip parameters,Researching likely conditions,Selecting gear,Planning meals,Creating or finding maps and guides, andDeveloping skills and fitness,

The curriculum is designed to be applicable for every location, season, experience level, age and gender. All assignments are reviewed by our instructor team, and the course includes three virtual meetings (gear, maps, and post-course wrap-up).

We launched the program in 2020, and more than 400 students have completed it. Read 184 testimonials. Some students have used the framework to plan their first-ever backpacking trip, while others have planned multi-week or -month thru-hikes on long trails and high routes. 

Find all the details, including curriculum, dates, and course fee here.

How to registerComplete the registration form.Submit the course fee.

If we can help you purchase the right gear the first time, avoid tens of hours down an internet rabbit hole, or maximize the potential of your vacation time, or help you avoid an evacuation, the course will pay for itself several times over. 

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Livestream || The Overland Route, Steve Allen’s definitive tour of the Escalante

Later this week I will be hosting a livestream about the Overland Route, a low-profile backpacking route down the watershed of the Escalante River in southern Utah. I will be joined by Katie Gerber and Eric Volk, who completed the route last spring. Event details:

Thursday, February 276-7pm MTJoin live to ask questions (or use the same link to watch the replay)

Scant information is available about the Overland Route. Its origins are in Steve Allen’s Canyoneering 3, tucked in the very back and cryptically written. Web searches produce some additional information, but not much relative to similarly expert-level backpacking routes like high routes for the Winds or Yosemite.

In this hour-long discussion, we’ll introduce the route, recommend a planning process, discuss critical gear and skills, and describe the experience. Please join us!

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Hiring for 2025: Lead Guide and Junior Guide

For the 2025 season I am looking to hire a:

Lead Guide (1-2 positions)Junior Guide (up to 1 position)

Both positions are short-term and seasonal, and need to be augmented with steadier full-time work or a broader freelance portfolio.

At most in 2025, we’d assign you to one location (Utah, Alaska, California, or Yellowstone) and between one and three trips, with the specifics being dictated by your availability and qualifications, and our needs. This year is effectively a pilot — it’ll be an opportunity to determine if you like us and our program, and if we like you. If it’s a good fit, there may be more work available in 2026.

Required qualifications: Lead Guide

To be considered for the Lead Guide role, you must have:

1. Extensive professional experience as a backpacking guide (100+ days) with a proven ability to:

Manage groups, junior guides, risks, and incidents;Teach wilderness skills, including but not limited to off-trail navigation; and,Lead trips in the American West (good) and/or Alaska (better).

2. Extensive personal backpacking experience with a history of:

Completing high routes and/or similar expert-level DIY itineraries;Using modern backpacking gear and skills; and,Exploring remote parts of the American West (good) and/or Alaska (better).

3. A fantastic “guide personality”: enthusiastic, patient, empathetic, communicative, personable, inspiring, adaptable, organized, responsible, etc.

4. Sufficient physical fitness to lead groups rated as 4/High fitness.

Required qualifications: Junior Guide

To be considered for the Junior Guide role, you must also have three of the qualifications describe above:

Extensive personal backpacking experience;A fantastic guide personality; and,Sufficient physical fitness to lead High-level groups.

For this position, we do not require previous professional guiding experience. But we do prefer it:

Good: Experience as a teacherBetter: Experience as an outdoor guide, instructor, counselor, or educatorBest: Experience as an overnight backpacking guideBonus qualifications

Among the applicants who have the required qualifications, we would give extra consideration to those who also have experience with:

Long-distance thru-hiking,Adult clients,Early-season backpacking conditions, canyoneering, winter backpacking, and other outdoor disciplines,Interpretive topics, such as geology, natural and human history, plants and animals, etcPoints of comparison

If you are uncertain whether you meet the qualifications, compare yourself to some of our existing guides.

Jeff Wohl and Scott Christy were exemplary Lead Guides candidates when they joined our program — they were already pros, and they only needed to learn our program.

Before they became guides, Mikaela Osler and Witt Wisebram were exemplary Junior Guide candidates. They had the personal experience, the guide personality, and the fitness, but needed to develop their guiding skills further.

How to applyComplete this form, and upload a resume and/or letter of interestApply by Wednesday, February 26, end of day

We plan to schedule interviews during the week of March 3 and to make hiring decisions early the following week.

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Contest: Submit your favorite backcountry breakfast or dinner

For the 2025 guiding season we’re looking for a new breakfast and dinner recipe.

The two winners will get to take our “Plan Like a Pro” online course,an 8-week comprehensive trip planning curriculum.

Most importantly though, they will become immortal backcountry chefs, whose meals will be savored by hundreds of starved backpackers for years to come!

How to enterTo submit a recipe, complete this form, andThe deadline is Sunday, February 16

The form will collect your name and email, which will not be sold or added to our newsletter; and then asks for either a link to the recipe(s) or text with ingredients and preparation/packaging instructions.

Recipe ideas left as comments won’t make the cut.

You can submit up to two recipes (a breakfast and a dinner, or two breakfasts, or two dinners), so send us only your best.

How to win

In general, we are looking for recipes that are:

-REALLY tasty;-Made of easily available ingredients (locally or online);-Calorically dense, by having fats and no/little water;-Mostly shelf-stable, for up to several months;-Vegetarian, or easily made vegetarian; Extra Credit: It can be vegan also-Allergy-friendly, or at least accommodating of allergies (peanuts/gluten, etc) with simple ingredient substitutions; and,-Reasonably economical, but not cheap.

Oils, sauces, butter, and/or cheese are acceptable ingredients — and perhaps even encouraged. Many of our other meals include them, so we’re familiar with packaging, carrying, and distributing them.

Finally, these new meals should be DIFFERENT from our existing breakfasts and dinners. For example, we would be more interested in a mac-and-cheese dish than a beans-and-rice dish, since we already have one of those.

Questions? Leave a comment below!

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2025 needs-based scholarship: now accepting applications

In 2022 we launched a needs-based scholarship program to create more opportunities for individuals whose outdoor access has been hindered by limited financial resources, lack of generational or communal outdoor knowledge, or discrimination. Beginning today, February 3, we’re accepting applications to award scholarships for our 2025 guided trips and in our Plan Like a Pro online course.

In 2025, scholarship spots will be offered on the following trips:

Utah Adventure 5- and 7-day courses.

We’ll also be awarding spots in our Plan Like a Pro online trip planning course.

The scholarship award is equal to 80 percent of the trip or course fee. Guided trip recipients will receive access to a pre-trip planning curriculum as well as our gear library.

The deadline to apply is 5pm MT on February 16, 2025. All applications submitted before that date will be given equal consideration.

Learn more and apply here.

If you’re not interested in applying, but would like to help make this program a success, please share this post.

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Reminder: Open application periods ends on Sunday!

The open application period for 2025 trips ends this Sunday, December 22. Apply this weekend to:

Lock in the 2024 prices, andHave your best chance of getting on your Top Choice trip.

Starting Monday, December 23, we will still accept applications. However:

Prices will increase, roughly in line with inflation; and,Applicants will be limited to remaining spots, on a first-come first-served basis.

As a practical matter, it will take us the entire week of December 23 to finish reviewing all applications, especially with the holiday and holiday travel. Until we form groups, we can still factor you into this process. However, your price will go up — there is no flexibility on this.

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Looking back: My guiding program turns 15

Next season will my fifteenth year in operation. Join us live on Thursday, December 19 at 6pm MT for a history of the program — my motivations, learnings, evolutions, challenges, and favorite memories and people. Katie and I will be hosting the event, and we’ll have three special guests — Alan Dixon, Mary Cochenour, and Scott Christy — to add their own stories and perspectives.

Watch the event:

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Alumni panel: What are our guided trips really like?

Last night Katie and I hosted an an alumni panel with Conor, Eric, Kaylor, and Lisa to discuss their experiences on our trips. Conor and Kaylor were first-time clients in 2024; Conor had hiked the Pacific Crest Trail previously, while Kaylor was a never-ever backpacker. Eric and Lisa are multi-time clients (five trips for Eric, four for Lisa) and have been to most of our locations. They answered questions like:

Why did you apply the first time, and why did you keep coming back?What was your biggest concern prior to your first trip?Does the fitness matching really work?Do you still keep in touch with other members of your groups?Among the guides you’ve had, what characteristics do they all seem to share?How did you train?How much time did you spend completing the Planning Curriculum?

Watch the replay here:

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