The NOLS Instructor Course consists of an extended remote wilderness expedition where students will move camp most days, cook on camp stoves, and sleep outside. Students will travel through challenging conditions, being exposed to adverse weather conditions. This course will provide you with the outdoor, educational, and leadership skills required to be an outdoor educator, with a focus on NOLS-specific curriculum and operational practices. The curriculum and activities are specific to working NOLS field courses, and there is a selection process for admission to an Instructor Course. Completing this course is how to become eligible for consideration for employment as a NOLS Field Instructor.
Qualifications
Admission to NOLS Field Instructor Courses (IC) is selective. We look at an applicant’s outdoor and leadership skills and past performance in making our selection. The following are standard criteria for acceptance, but none alone are exclusive.
✅ Age. You must be 21 at the start of your course.
✅ Medical Training. You must possess a current CPR certification and at least a Wilderness First Responder certification. NOLS Wilderness Medicine offers these courses.
✅ Travel and Camping. You must be competent in backcountry navigation, travel, and camping skills, including Leave No Trace practices.
✅ Technical Skills. You should apply for a field IC in a discipline in which you posses a wealth of experience. Your IC is an opportunity to learn and practice teaching skills to lead novices on trips in the wilderness. Skills include backpacking, mountaineering, and whitewater paddling to backcountry skiing and horsepacking.
✅ Personal Expeditioning. Your personal expeditions are considered part of your application. Personal expeditions provide opportunities to plan and organize trips without institutional support while gaining skills and experience.
✅ Teaching, Leadership, and Communication. Your experience teaching, coaching, and leading, either professionally or personally, in frontcountry and extended backcountry settings are important aspects of your application.
✅ Risk Management and Judgement. You must have experience assessing and managing risks and hazards in the backcountry.
Application Process
NOLS Instructor Courses are not designed for novices; they are tailored to teach people with extensive expedition experience how to teach novices in a wilderness setting.
- Self-Screening Please read the IC course description and application questionnaire thoroughly before applying. Consider taking a different NOLS course or continue developing professionally to gain more experience and training if you are not yet ready.
- Submit Your Application Apply online via nols.edu
- Scholarship Information A scholarship application is included in the Application. We encourage all applicants to apply.
- NOLS Reviews Applications Pay close attention to the application deadline. NOLS will notify you of your status after the deadline and if all of your application materials have been received.
More About NOLS
NOLS is a multifaceted, global wilderness school that supports thousands of students each year who seek to develop the skills and experience to reach their potential as leaders in wilderness medicine, wilderness skills, risk management, and leadership. Students at NOLS generally range from 14-40 years old.
Expedition Course lengths range from 1 week to 6 weeks, with semesters as long as 130 days. Skill types include, but are not limited to backpacking, sea kayaking, rock climbing, mountaineering, whitewater rafting, canoeing, and kayaking.
More About Being a NOLS Field Instructor
NOLS field instructors teach leadership, risk management, environmental studies, first aid, and outdoor living and travel skills. Instructors must create and maintain a positive learning environment, support student learning and growth of students and co-workers, and invest in their professional development as educators. NOLS’ expedition courses are extended wilderness trips requiring significant judgment, risk management, skills competence, and autonomy from our instructors.
A NOLS instructor is an educator who is excited about facilitating transformative educational experiences in the wilderness. They are invested in showing every student how they too can be a leader and are passionate about making outdoor spaces welcoming for everyone.
What We Require of Field Instructors
Our field instructors are responsible for leading groups of students through remote terrain, often in places they have never personally traveled before and where self-reliance is not optional. Field instructors must be confident in navigating with a map and compass, building and adjusting travel plans in real time, and managing risk in dynamic environments. Experience in outdoor leadership is required; this is not an entry-level role.
Field instructors are responsible for people. That means:
- Making sound, timely decisions in remote areas without immediate backup
- Managing group dynamics over multiple weeks
- Teaching and delivering a high-level curriculum while simultaneously tracking logistics, food, risk management, and student growth
- Assessing terrain, weather, and hazards continuously
- Providing wilderness medical care when needed
- Modeling judgment, composure, and professionalism under stress
A NOLS instructor is an educator who is excited about facilitating transformative educational experiences in the wilderness. They are invested in showing every student how they too can be a leader and are passionate about making outdoor spaces welcoming for everyone.
Is this like an Outdoor Educator course?
No. In contrast, an Outdoor Educator course is open to anyone over 21 years or older who is interested in working in the outdoor industry, but not necessarily at NOLS. Often, when applicants don’t have enough experience to be accepted onto an Instructor Course, the IC review committee might recommend taking an Outdoor Educator course as a way to gain a little more experience. Although it is common for IC participants to be NOLS Alumni, it is not a requirement for being a NOLS instructor.
2027 Field Instructor Courses
Rocky Mountain Hiking Instructor Course
This backpacking Instructor Course will be conducted in the Wind River Range in Wyoming. The course takes place in May which means the bulk of this course will take place in a late winter environment. This includes using snowshoes to travel, navigating safely across snow bridges and frozen rivers and camping/cooking on snow. Your Rocky Mountain Instructor Course will build on any technical outdoor skills you already have as well as fine-tune your teaching skills through an in-depth examination of the NOLS curriculum. This 25-day course includes in-town leadership training, a backpacking expedition, basic training on teaching lessons and how to build and support inclusive course cultures. Successful completion of the instructor course will prepare you to work wilderness backpacking courses for NOLS.
Course dates
April 30, 2027–May 25, 2027
May 14, 2027-June 08, 2027
Tuition: $1000
River Instructor Course
On this course, you will develop and refine the teaching and leadership skills needed to prepare you for professional positions at NOLS. The primary purpose of this course is to train and evaluate potential NOLS instructors. Each participant’s skills and abilities will be assessed and evaluated by the course instructors with the intent of determining their potential as an instructor.
This course takes place in Utah’s canyon country, a beautiful and colorful region of rich human and geological history. You’ll travel in rafts and kayaks through deep incisions of limestone, shale, and sandstone.
Course dates
May 02, 2027–May 29, 2027
Tuition: $1000
Alaska Mountaineering Instructor Course
This mountaineering-focused instructor course will be conducted in the mountains of Southcentral Alaska. Towering peaks, massive glaciers, and dynamic weather and terrain make this a great classroom for teaching mountain travel techniques and outdoor living skills. This course will specifically focus on traveling through Alaskan glaciers and alpine terrain: which can include roped travel on snow, navigating through icefalls, management of firn zone, bare glacier, and moraine travel. Ice climbing, rappelling, and peak climbing are also possible. The Alaska instructor course will build on any outdoor and education experience you already have, while allowing you to fine-tune your teaching and leadership skills. Successful completion of this course will prepare you to work mountaineering and/or wilderness backpacking courses for NOLS.
Course dates
May 02, 2027–May 27, 2027
Tuition: $1000
Alaska Sea Kayaking Instructor Course
On this Instructor Course technical sea kayaking skills will be emphasized, from rescues and emergency procedures to navigation and weather awareness. Wilderness living skills will also be a critical component of the course as you focus on teaching novices how to stay warm, dry, and happy in this maritime environment.
Course dates
May 02, 2027–May 27, 2027
Tuition: $1000
Baja Sailing Instructor Course
This instructor course combines foundational leadership training within the context of a sailing expedition in the Sea of Cortez of Baja California Sur.
Priorities for this course include emphasis on sailing techniques and theory, teaching the NOLS leadership curriculum, risk management in a group setting, and building an inclusive and positive course culture. This course will build on the outdoor and education experience you already have, while allowing you to fine-tune your teaching and leadership skills.
Successful completion of the instructor course will prepare you to work Drascombe Longboat sailing courses for NOLS.
Sailing Instructor Course FAQs!
**We are not accepting application for the Sailing IC at this time**
