As the exclusive NOLS location with winter-only courses, NOLS Teton Valley is buzzing with activity during the cold winter months. Photo: John Fitzgerald

On the quiet side of the famed Teton Range, Driggs, Idaho provides a spectacular home to NOLS Teton Valley. At 6200 ft. Driggs is a western mountain town of 1300 residents located between the jagged peaks of the Tetons and the sprawling Big Hole Mountains. NOLS Teton Valley is literally surrounded by its operating areas— within 10 minutes you can be out of town, past the potato farms and at a trailhead to begin your course.

Housed in an old Mormon church, NOLS Teton Valley is a medium-sized location with a shower facility, a briefing room, student bunkrooms and a gear barn. When students are here, they are an integral part of the NOLS Teton Valley team, helping with meal preparations, clean-up and taking on daily responsibilities alongside staff and instructors.

NOLS Teton Valley is buzzing with activity during the cold winter months. Students spend the first days of their courses learning snow skills at nearby Grand Targhee Resort before heading out to refine their skiing or snowboarding techniques.

In the sunny summers of the West, NOLS Teton Valley comes alive with Adventure courses, specifically designed for teens, and the paddling courses that run the wild rapids of the Salmon and Owyhee Rivers.

So whether it’s winter, water or the Tetons you want, the small-town community and welcoming atmosphere of NOLS Teton Valley is the perfect starting point for your backcountry expedition.

Local Facts

Courses can travel in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Oregon NOLS Teton Valley is right down the road from one of the West’s last surviving drive-in movie theaters, named the Spud Drive-In, which is often an end-of-course highlight for students In the winter, approximately 30 instructors work out of NOLS Teton Valley and in the summer between 50 and 60.