Informed. Not just lucky.
Preparing for your outdoor time enables you to get creative, ambitious, and to help ensure that you Start & End at Home.
Start & End at Home is a skills accelerator: twenty years of hard-earned experience compressed into a single online resource.
Join the winter cohort or work at your own pace
A cohort of participants will meet for weekly Q&A and discussions from November through January. Or, work at your own pace. You will have access to everything, forever.
Plan and prepare for:
Hiking and backpacking
- Download maps and satellite imagery to your phone
- Plan and create your intended route ahead of time, and carry it on your phone and/or GPS unit
- Use satellite imagery and weather resources to plan the timing of your trip
Paddlesports and multisport adventures
- Use Google Earth and Esri World Imagery to identify and record points of interest, cruxes, exit plans, etc.
- Measure river or overland miles so that you plan your pace and supplies accordingly
- Create a trip and emergency plan to leave with your in-town contact
Backcountry skiing and mountaineering
- Use Google Earth and other applications to plan your route
- Identify climbing routes, crevasse bands, and other features of interest
- Use slope-angle shading to identify avalanche terrain
- Create an emergency plan and carry the right communication device
Rescue, guide, and organization professionals
- Use near-real-time satellite imagery to determine the current conditions in the area of interest
- Record and share search efforts to help identify missing coverage
- Manage geographic data (waypoints and routes) collected from various sources
Safer. Creative. Ambitious.
From smartphone navigation during a day trip to planning remote expeditions—this course can help.
What makes Luc Mehl and this course unique:
- Stewardship and ethics: Growing up in a half-native community in rural Alaska, Luc learned the value of wild lands and the importance of respectfully visiting them. Respectful visitation is woven into all aspects of this course.
- Risk assessment and safety: These are priorities in all of Luc's work. Luc's attention to safety was recognized when The Packraft Handbook was awarded Banff Mountain and National Outdoor Book awards: "One of the book’s strong points is Mehl’s emphasis on safety. He returns to the safety angle again and again with the hope that his readers will keep it foremost in their minds."
- Community: Join like-minded folks for weekly discussions and an online forum.
- Hard-earned expertise: Luc has traveled over 10,000 miles in the backcountry under his own power. The tools in this course have all been tested.
- Top-tier instruction. From swiftwater rescue to university physics: "Luc is, by far, the most thoughtful and conscientious instructor I've ever had the pleasure of working with. He is able to explain things in a way that makes sense, and he cares as much about the experience of his students as he does about their safety." -Eric C.
COURSE CONTENT
KNOW WHERE TO GO
Module 1: Route planning. Plan ahead and prepare by drafting your intended route—replete with points of interest and bail-outs. Google Earth will be our workhorse—augmented by features available from Esri, CalTopo, and Gaia GPS. You will finish this module with a detailed route and trip plan document.
- Google Earth
- Esri World Imagery
- CalTopo
- Gaiagps.com
- File management
KNOW WHEN TO GO
Module 2: Near-real-time satellite imagery. In this module, you will learn how to access and interpret satellite imagery. These resources enable you to identify seasonal trends and current conditions. How much snow can we expect in April? Are the lakes frozen? When does the vegetation typically leaf out?
- NASA Worldview
- Sentinel Hub Playground
- Sentinel Hub EO Browser
- EOS Landviewer
KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT
Module 3: Weather. Weather forecasts and history help you determine what to expect and when to visit. An understanding of seasonal trends can help you avoid (or seek!) snow and put the wind at your back. Learn how to compare models and interpret a meteogram forecast before you head out.
- Windy.com
- Environmental data portals
- Garmin and WX2InReach weather messaging
FIND YOURSELF!
Module 4: Modern navigation. Your smartphone serves as a powerful GPS unit that can show your location on a topographic or satellite basemap, even if you are out of cell range. This module consists of tutorial videos for all of Gaia GPS's features, as well as a discussion about not relying on electronic devices.
- Gaia GPS
- Avenza Maps: Importing custom basemaps
- How to import your route to a GPS unit
- Printing maps
- Map and compass essentials
THE EMERGENCY PLAN
Module 5: Risk and the emergency plan. An SOS button is not an emergency plan. Take the time to evaluate what could go wrong and how you will respond. This module presents risk assessment frameworks and how to add an emergency plan to your trip plan document.
- Satellite communication devices and guidelines
- What happens when you push the SOS button
- Options for evacuation insurance
RESPECTFUL VISITATION
Module 6: Stewardship. Let your love for wild places inspire you to reduce your impact. Impact is easy, recovery is hard. This module presents the Leave No Trace ethics and provides a framework to discuss sharing routes and geotagged locations, visiting Native and private lands, and more.
Former participants and clients
Sam Alexander
Mountain Guide and Former US Special Forces Detachment Commander
I have planned and executed high-level Special Operations combat missions as well as complex backcountry guided tours and I will outright say that taking a course from Luc has made me a better operational planner. And as an Alaskan Native, I appreciate the thought and care he puts in his approach to stewardship of the land and his sincere desire to be a good neighbor.
If you want to take your backcountry planning to the next level, spend some time with Luc.
Online course: Start and End at Home
$395 USD
Trip planning, safety, and low-impact backcountry travel. Everything you need to create your dream trip.
REGISTRATION IS CLOSEDWhat is the time commitment?
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Questions?
Shoot me a message.
