Packrafting! An Introduction and How-To Guide

by Roman Dial, Jon Krakauer (Foreword)

PACKRAFTING! is about exploring wilderness and whitewater by packraft, a lightweight, portable boat usually weighing less than five pounds. Written by well-known packrafting instructor and adventurer, Roman Dial, this is the first book published on the topic. The slim volume offers both stories and instruction with full-color photographs from trips around the world. Dial shares information about gear and technique as well as the many applications for using small, packable boats. Packrafting can be combined with mountaineering, backcountry skiing, mountain biking or trekking as part of long expeditions, or short day trips.

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2008

About the author

Roman Dial lives in Anchorage, Alaska with his wife Peggy and Icelandic Sheepdog Poppy. A professor of mathematics and biology at Alaska Pacific University since 1992, he is also an avid adventurer.

He's written two books: Packrafting! An Introduction and How-to Guide and The Adventurer's Son, which was released February 18, 2020 by William Morrow and imprint of Harper Collins.

Reviews

[Leslie (updates on SG) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read Part I because I wasn't interested in the trips described in Part II. The book was just okay because the intended audience seemed to be boaters rather than backpackers. I'm more of a backpacker, so would have appreciated some explanatory figures and a glossary of terms.

Read: 23 Jan 2019

[Fran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview and history of packrafting plus tales of some great packrafting adventures to inspire you but for a lot of the technique stuff (e.g. reading water) you would be better off with a paddling book (e.g. 'Kayak: the new frontier' by Nealy).

[Erik Halfacre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book a lot. In addition to being informative, it was also well designed/laid-out and interesting from cover to cover. Lots of great images as well, which I really enjoyed.

[Chris Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, lot of great stories highlighting that adventure spirit and was very entertaining throughout.