TRAINING / FOUNDATIONS
Earn the standard before you carry the load.
ETP and EPC are the entry points into the Untamed Tribe pathway. Weekend and multi-day intensives built to assess your baseline, install the systems, and prepare you for the expeditions that follow. You don't book an expedition with us until you've moved through here.
PRICE RANGE
$500 – $2,000
ETP weekend through EPC multi-day
PROGRESSION RATE
35%+ Target
ETP graduates progressing to full expedition
ENROLLMENT
Application-Based
Screening call with Derek or Sam
COHORT SIZE
6–10 Participants
Small by design, not by accident
PROGRAM 01
ETP — Expedition Training Program
DURATION // 2–3 days
TUITION // $500–$800
LOCATIONS // FL springs, NC backcountry, CO front range
PREREQUISITES // None beyond baseline fitness
A weekend intensive that tests where you actually are — physically, mentally, and in your ability to operate as part of a team under load. Not an obstacle course. Not a suffer-fest. A structured assessment and foundation course that introduces the systems Untamed Tribe operates on and gives you an honest read on your readiness for what comes next.
Curriculum
DAY 1 — BASELINE & SYSTEMS
Ruck assessment, pack systems and weight discipline, navigation fundamentals with map and compass, and an introduction to the operational debrief format used on every Untamed Tribe expedition.
DAY 2 — DECISION UNDER LOAD
Extended movement carrying expedition load, small-team leadership rotation, weather and risk assessment exercises, fatigue-state decision drills, and the evening debrief that defines our mentorship model.
DAY 3 — AAR & PATHWAY
Structured after-action review against the Expedition Readiness Standards, individual assessment from your lead guide, and a documented next-step recommendation: continue training, progress to EPC, or apply for a specific expedition.
WHAT YOU LEAVE WITH
A clear assessment of your current capability, the Untamed Tribe gear and systems baseline, a 12-week training plan built around your specific gaps, and — if you meet the standard — an invitation to apply for EPC or a domestic expedition.
PROGRAM 02
EPC — Expedition Preparation Course
DURATION // 4–6 days
TUITION // $1,500–$2,000
LOCATIONS // Colorado alpine, Appalachian traverse, FL cave country
PREREQUISITES // ETP completion or vetted equivalent
EPC is where you stop training for an expedition and start operating like you're on one. Multi-day, multi-environment, with the load, the weather, and the consequence dialed up. By the end, your lead guide knows whether you're ready for a domestic flagship — and so do you.
Curriculum
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Environment-specific competencies: rope systems and anchor building for alpine cohorts; paddle stroke, swiftwater self-rescue, and trim for water cohorts; cave navigation and gas planning for cave cohorts. Tools, not toys.
WILDERNESS MEDICINE
Patient assessment, hemorrhage control, environmental injury management, and the evacuation decision framework. Run as scenarios, not slides. Pairs cleanly into a WFA or WFR pursued separately.
NAVIGATION & COMMS
Map, compass, and pace count under fatigue. Gaia GPS and CalTopo for planning. Garmin inReach protocols, check-in cadence, and what happens when the SOS button gets pushed. Real systems, used the way we use them in the field.
LEADERSHIP ROTATIONS
Each participant runs the team through a defined operational period — route, pace, weather call, go/no-go. Then sits through the debrief. The point is not to perform. The point is to learn to lead under fatigue and be coached on it.
RISK ASSESSMENT
The Untamed Tribe go/no-go framework applied to real conditions on real days. You learn the questions we actually ask before committing a team to terrain — and the threshold above which we turn around without apology.
EXPEDITION READINESS REVIEW
Final assessment against the published readiness standards for whichever expedition track you're aiming at — Colorado alpine, Peru Cordillera Blanca, Belize cave/reef. A documented green light, yellow light with development plan, or honest "not yet."
THE PROGRESSION
Training is not a separate product. It's the front end of the pathway.
ETP and EPC are not weekend warrior content. They're how we screen, develop, and prepare every participant who will eventually stand on a ridge in the Cordillera Blanca or descend into a Florida cave system under our flag. The pathway is intentional and the order matters.
ETP — Foundation Weekend
Baseline assessment, systems, and an honest read on where you are.
EPC — Multi-Day Preparation
Technical skills, leadership rotations, and an expedition readiness review.
Domestic Expedition
7–10 day flagship: Colorado alpine, Appalachian traverse, Florida cave systems.
International / Advanced
Peru Cordillera Blanca, Belize reef and cave, and onward to Guide Development.
WHO THIS IS FOR
If any of these are true, apply.
- You're a veteran, first responder, or operator who misses being held to a standard.
- You've achieved external success and feel a widening gap between your comfort and your capability.
- You want to be developed, not entertained. Mentored, not coddled.
- You're willing to train before you show up — and willing to be told you're not ready yet.
- You see ETP and EPC as the beginning of a multi-year pathway, not a one-off weekend.
WHO THIS IS NOT FOR
Save your money and ours.
- You're looking for an adventure vacation, a bachelor party, or a corporate ropes-course substitute.
- You expect to be congratulated rather than coached.
- You're unwilling to be screened, assessed, or turned away from the next step in the pathway.
- You want to skip the foundation and book directly onto an international expedition.
- You're chasing skull-and-warrior aesthetics or tactical tourism.
READINESS STANDARDS
Baseline expectations before you show up.
These are not gatekeeping. They are the floor below which the program cannot deliver what it's designed to deliver. If you're under the line, your discovery call will include a training plan to get you above it.
ETP — RUCK
35 lb / 6 miles