SOLO Wilderness First Responder (WFR) Certification — 8-Day Course
SOLO Wilderness First Responder (WFR) Certification — 8-Day Course
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Wilderness First Responder (WFR) Certification — SOLO 8-Day Course
The SOLO Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification is the recognized industry standard for outdoor professionals, guides, expedition leaders, and serious backcountry travelers who need comprehensive wilderness medicine skills when EMS access is hours or days away. This 8-day, 72-hour SOLO WFR course is delivered by the GB2 Cadre using SOLO's official curriculum — the oldest continuously operating school of wilderness medicine in the world.
Upon successful completion, students earn a three-year SOLO Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification, a two-year CPR/BLS with AED certification based on AHA/ILCOR guidelines, and an ACS Stop the Bleed certification. The course meets Wilderness Medicine Education Collaborative (WMEC) 2024 standards.
Why This SOLO WFR Course
The Wilderness First Responder is the industry benchmark for remote medical training — and SOLO is the program that set that benchmark. This course blends SOLO's proven curriculum with GB2's field-tested approach to survival and preparedness. The result is 72 hours of scenario-driven, hands-on training built to hold up when conditions are rough, resources are limited, and you are the only medical resource available. Students leave with a repeatable assessment process, clear treatment priorities, and the confidence to manage a medical emergency from first contact through evacuation decision.
What You'll Learn
Foundations of Wilderness Medicine
The course opens with the medical-legal foundation every WFR provider needs — duty to act, Good Samaritan principles, scope of practice, consent, and confidentiality. From there, students build a systematic patient assessment process: scene size-up and safety, primary and secondary surveys, vital signs, SAMPLE history, and SOAP note documentation. This framework underlies every scenario and skill throughout the eight days.
Trauma Management
Students work through the full spectrum of trauma encountered in remote environments — hypovolemic shock and hemorrhage control including tourniquet use, wound packing, and pressure dressings; traumatic brain injury and head injuries; chest trauma and breathing compromise; spine injury and Focused Spine Assessment (FSA); soft tissue injuries and wound care including infection prevention; musculoskeletal injuries and splinting for joints, long bones, and pelvic stabilization; and burns and blister care with strategies to reduce complications in the field.
Environmental Medicine
Environmental medicine covers the conditions most likely to kill or injure students' patients in remote terrain. Cold-related injuries include hypothermia, frostbite, and non-freezing cold injuries. Heat-related illness covers heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Altitude problems address AMS, HACE, and HAPE. Additional topics include lightning strikes, drowning, contact reactions from poison ivy, oak, and sumac, and sunburn and snow blindness.
Medical Emergencies
Students learn to recognize and manage cardiac emergencies including heart attack and stroke, seizures and neurological conditions, diabetes and hypoglycemia in the field, allergic reactions and anaphylaxis including epinephrine use, asthma and respiratory emergencies, and gastrointestinal complaints, flu-like illness, and abdominal pain in remote settings where evacuation decisions carry real weight.
Core Skills and Practical Training
Practical skill blocks run throughout the course. Basic Life Support covers adult and child CPR, AED use, airway management, and rescue breathing. Bleeding control covers tourniquets, wound packing, and pressure dressings. Spine management covers Focused Spine Assessment and patient lifting, moving, and packaging. Musculoskeletal treatment covers joint and long-bone splinting, pelvic stabilization, and shoulder and digit dislocation concepts. Evacuation and rescue considerations cover risk-benefit analysis and improvised carries and litters.
Elective Topics
Depending on course time and conditions, students may also be exposed to search and rescue fundamentals, psychological first aid and behavioral health emergencies, diving or marine-related injuries, emergency childbirth, and advanced spine and musculoskeletal techniques.
Instructor Cadre
Primary Instructor — Rick Swain
Rick Swain is a former Army combat veteran with more than 20 years of experience as a Special Operations Combat Medic and Paramedic/HAZMAT Technician, serving in technical and tactical units in Iraq, Afghanistan, Panama, Ecuador, and other austere environments. After his military career, he mentored and evaluated National Guard CBRN response units and trained at multiple outdoor and wilderness schools — including GB2 and SOLO — before becoming a registered Maine Guide and certified SOLO Wilderness Medicine Instructor. Rick brings hard-earned experience and a direct, practical teaching style to every course.
Additional Instruction — Joshua Enyart
Joshua Enyart, the Gray Bearded Green Beret, is a former Army Ranger and Green Beret with more than three decades of experience as a professional instructor for military and civilian organizations. As founder and head instructor of Gray Bearded Green Beret, he integrates wilderness survival, bushcraft, preparedness, and wilderness medicine into a cohesive system focused on real-world application.
All instructors hold current WFR and CPR/BLS with AED credentials at a minimum.
Who Should Take This Course
The SOLO WFR is built for anyone whose time in the field creates extended separation from emergency medical services. It is the standard certification for outdoor professionals including guides, rangers, expedition leaders, and camp staff; search and rescue members and volunteers; backcountry adventurers and expedition hikers; and survival and bushcraft students who want medical skills to match their fieldcraft. If you are working toward GB2's higher-level training programs or instructor pathways, this course also supports the medical readiness expected at those levels.
Course Details
The SOLO Wilderness First Responder Course is delivered by the GB2 Cadre using SOLO's official WFR curriculum. The course runs 8 days at a minimum of 72 training hours and includes practical skill evaluations, written exams, and scenario simulations throughout. Students who successfully complete the course earn a SOLO Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification valid for three years, a CPR/BLS with AED certification valid for two years, and an ACS Stop the Bleed certification. The course meets Wilderness Medicine Education Collaborative (WMEC) 2024 standards. Recertification at expiration requires a minimum of 16 in-person hours.
How This Course Fits the GB2 Curriculum
The SOLO Wilderness First Responder Course is the live course through which the GB2 System of Training™ delivers its wilderness medicine curriculum at the advanced level — using SOLO Schools' nationally recognized 8-day certification program. Students who are new to wilderness medicine and want to build a foundation before committing to the full WFR should start with the SOLO Wilderness First Aid (WFA) Certification — the 2-day entry-level course. The first two days of the WFR cover the same curriculum as the WFA, and the WFA course itself may satisfy SOLO's 16-hour recertification requirement for current WFR holders. Students who want to pair medical training with foundational field skills will find the GB2 Wilderness Survival Course a natural complement. Students who want to build familiarity with wilderness medicine concepts before attending a certification course can also explore the Wilderness Medical Course Instructional Series on the GB2 Network — non-certifying, but a solid introduction to the material.
Event Status and Booking
Courses listed as Scheduled are planned events pending minimum enrollment. Once minimum enrollment is reached, status changes to Confirmed and the course is guaranteed to run. Confirmed – Limited indicates only a few seats remain. Students are advised to make travel arrangements only after a course is marked Confirmed. Gray Bearded Green Beret LLC is not responsible for airfare, lodging, rental vehicles, or other travel expenses in the event a Scheduled course does not meet minimum enrollment or must be rescheduled due to circumstances beyond our control.
View all scheduled dates and locations at the Live Training Events & Courses collection.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the SOLO Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification?
The SOLO Wilderness First Responder (WFR, pronounced "Woofer") is the gold-standard wilderness medicine certification for outdoor professionals and serious practitioners. The 8-day course covers advanced patient assessment, traumatic and medical emergencies, orthopedic injuries, environmental emergencies (hypothermia, hyperthermia, lightning, altitude illness), improvised treatment and evacuation techniques, and extended patient care. WFR is the certification required by most professional guiding outfitters, wilderness therapy programs, and expedition teams. CPR certification is included. At GB2, the WFR course runs concurrently with the SOLO Wilderness First Aid (WFA) program for the first two days — WFR students cover WFA-level content alongside WFA candidates before continuing into six additional days of advanced WFR material.
How is the WFR different from the 2-day Wilderness First Aid certification?
The WFA is designed for anyone who spends time in the outdoors — hikers, campers, preppers — and provides foundational competency for managing a wilderness medical emergency. The WFR is designed for outdoor professionals who bear responsibility for others in the field. It covers significantly more clinical depth, a broader range of medical and trauma scenarios, and more advanced patient management skills. WFA is 16 hours; WFR is 70–80 hours of instruction and field scenarios. At GB2, WFA and WFR students train together for the first two days — WFR students complete the full WFA scope as part of their program before advancing into WFR-level content.
Who is the 8-Day WFR course designed for?
The WFR is designed for outdoor professionals and serious practitioners: wilderness guides, expedition leaders, search and rescue team members, military and law enforcement personnel operating in austere environments, wilderness therapy counselors, outdoor educators, and anyone whose role places them in a position of medical responsibility in the backcountry. It's also appropriate for highly motivated civilians who want the deepest available level of wilderness medicine training.
How long is the SOLO WFR certification valid?
The SOLO WFR certification is valid for 2 years. CPR certification is included with the course. Recertification is available through a shorter Wilderness First Responder Recertification course. Many outdoor industry employers require current WFR certification as a condition of employment, so recertification timing is important to track.
Is the SOLO WFR recognized by employers and professional organizations?
Yes. The SOLO WFR is one of the most widely recognized wilderness medicine certifications in the outdoor industry. Authorized SOLO providers and their graduates are recognized by the American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA), the American Camp Association (ACA), the Association for Experiential Education, and the majority of professional guiding and wilderness program organizations. If you're pursuing a career in the outdoor industry, WFR is the standard certification to hold.
What medical scenarios does the 8-day WFR course cover?
The WFR curriculum covers: comprehensive patient assessment (including head-to-toe exam and SOAP notes), traumatic injuries (hemorrhage, fractures, dislocations, spine injuries, chest injuries), medical emergencies (anaphylaxis, diabetic emergencies, seizures, altered mental status), environmental emergencies (hypothermia, hyperthermia, lightning, altitude illness, drowning), improvised equipment and evacuation packaging, extended patient care and evacuation decision-making, and wilderness-specific medication considerations. Instruction is delivered through lectures, skill stations, and full-scale field scenarios.
Do I need prior first aid training before attending the WFR?
No prior first aid or WFA certification is required. At GB2, WFR students cover the full Wilderness First Aid scope during the first two days of the course — that content is built into the WFR program, not treated as a prerequisite. The course builds from foundational principles through advanced WFR-level content over all 8 days. If you want to arrive with some preparation, reviewing basic first aid concepts beforehand is never a bad idea, but it is not a requirement.
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Important Notes
This course is a field course that requires students to spend the training day in a remote and primitive setting. There will be limited access to electricity or running water, and restrooms will likely be limited to portable toilets on-site.
However, camping is provided on-site, and students will be allowed to either construct their own shelters or use a tent or hammock system. Students will have access to their vehicles during the course before and after the training day and often for lunch as time permits. You may coordinate for off-site lodging for yourself, but are responsible for being back at training on time the next day. Staff is not responsible for you while off the venue.
It is important to be prepared for harsh weather conditions and embrace the challenging field conditions, including cold, rain, wind, and snow. Safety will be a top priority maintained by the course cadre and staff.
It is essential for students to remain dedicated and engaged throughout the course. We will not give up on you if you do not give up on yourself. However, if a student decides not to continue training or does not participate, they will be immediately escorted back to their vehicles and must leave the training venue. Please note that there will be no refunds or credits for the course, and students may not leave and come back at a later time (with some exceptions determined by the cadre).
Upon arrival, ensure that you are physically prepared for the course and have all the equipment you need.
Participants are responsible for bringing their own food and snacks for the duration of the course. Going off-site to get food will likely be limited to the evenings after training or mornings before training starts. Lunch breaks, when available, will likely be shorter in duration and not long enough to go off-site to eat. Additionally, it is highly recommended to bring electrolyte replacements, either commercial or homemade.