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Kickstarter Campaign – Learn to Packraft!

Bozeman-based Backpacking Light, Montana Packrafting Guide Ryan Jordan,
and a Montana State University cinematography crew team up to bring
packrafting to the masses by creating the world’s first video instructional series
and a documentary celebrating packraft-based wilderness travel on remote rivers.

Backpacking Light (backpackinglight.com), the world’s leading
provider of wilderness trekking education focusing on lightweight wilderness travel, has
teamed up with ultralight guru and packrafting aficionado Ryan Jordan to create a
comprehensive online video course series called Learn to Packraft! that teaches the
safety, skills, and styles of packrafting to a mass audience. Packrafting represents the
fastest growing trend in river sports, and has the potential to inject new energy into a
slumping river recreation and wilderness travel industry.

"Packrafting is the most exciting development in outdoor recreation that I’ve seen in my
25 years of being involved in the outdoor industry," says Jordan, a Montana Packrafting
Guide (ryanjordan.com) who has been at the forefront of promoting packrafting in the
Northern Rockies for the past ten years.

Jordan, a Montana State University graduate (PhD ’99, Center for Biofilm Engineering),
has teamed up with a cinematography crew from his alma mater led by Director of
Photography Sasha Joseph Neulinger (BFA ’12, School of Film and Photography).
"Having the opportunity to partner with a wilderness guide and teacher of Ryan’s caliber
is a filmmaker’s dream come true," says Neulinger.

Jordan and Neulinger will be employing filmmaking techniques that have never before
been used in filming packrafting and are creating what may be the world’s first technical
instruction video manual for whitewater paddling. "The sophistication involved in what
we’re trying to do is unreal," says Jordan, "and will bring an entirely new perspective to
learning packrafting that is both inspirational and technically sound. Learn to Packraft!
will significantly raise the bar for how video education should be developed and
delivered."

In addition to the Learn to Packraft! video course series, Jordan and Neulinger will be
creating a festival documentary called The Packrafter to celebrate wilderness
packrafting. The film will follow a group of packrafters paddling the remotest rivers in the
wilderness of Montana and Wyoming. "We’ll use the film to raise awareness of
wilderness recreation in general, and human powered river recreation more specifically,"
Jordan says. "Our wilderness and blue ribbon rivers are pretty special places. As
packrafters, we can play a key role in their stewardship."

Jordan and Neulinger are raising money to finish the projects via a Kickstarter
campaign. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/backpackinglight/packrafting-documentary-learn-to-packraft-video-se "This is an ambitious and inspiring project," says Neulinger. "It has the
potential to put Montana squarely on the map as a leader not only in outdoor recreation
education and cinematography, but also as home to the most beautiful wild rivers in the
world – a perfect destination for packrafting tourism and education."

Learn more or contribute to the project at
http://www.LearnToPackraft.com.

Kickstarter Campaign Page:

About Backpacking Light

Backpacking Light is based in Bozeman, Montana and is the world’s foremost authority
on the subject of lightweight backpacking. Backpacking Light publishes new content
each week focusing on the gear, skills, and philosophy of lightweight wilderness travel.
Backpacking Light’s Wilderness Trekking School is the only outdoor education provider
in the United States focusing exclusively on ultralight backpacking and packrafting
education.
Learn more at http://www.BackpackingLight.com.

For More Information, Contact:

Ryan Jordan

Backpacking Light

[email protected]

406-595-4453

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