We offer technical consulting and training for organizations, educators, industry professionals, and adventurers who demand precision, safety, and efficiency in backcountry systems.

For more than three decades, I’ve been helping individuals, teams, and organizations design lightweight, efficient, and resilient backcountry systems. My consulting services combine field-tested experience, evidence-based analysis, and systems engineering principles to help you make better decisions about your programming and planning. – Ryan Jordan

Whether you’re optimizing an ultralight gear system, planning a demanding expedition, or designing a safer and more efficient trip itinerary, our goal is simple: clarity, confidence, and precision — so you can focus on your experience, not your uncertainty.

Common Objectives:

  • Optimize gear systems for efficiency and reliability;
  • Develop trip plans for challenging or remote environments;
  • Evaluate risk, logistics, and environmental factors with data-driven frameworks;
  • Improve performance and reduce pack weight without compromising safety;
  • Create pedagogical, communications, and technical decision-making frameworks to improve information delivery and adoption across your organization.

Services

We offer personal interaction (in-person meetings, video calls, and email), detailed video reviews, and written summary reports and program design in the following areas:

  • Training & fitness (includes real-time programming, analysis, and adjustment of your training regimen);
  • Food planning and preparation;
  • Route planning and logistics;
  • Equipment and supply guidance and purchasing decisions;
  • Corporate training & community engagement / public speaking;
  • Backcountry skills training.

These services are customized to your needs and offered on a very limited basis, so we can ensure the highest possible quality for you:

Packages & Pricing

One-on-One Consulting Session: A focused 90-minute session that provides expert feedback on your trip plans, gear system, or backcountry strategy. Includes a pre-session questionnaire and a comprehensive post-session written report for targeted insights.

  • Best for: Short trips, gear systems reviews (e.g., shelter, sleep, or pack), route evaluation, or decision support before an expedition.
  • Included: Pre-session questionnaire, one 90-minute live session, written summary report.
  • Pricing: $695

Deep-Dive Package:  Two 90-minute sessions (Planning + Review) and a written strategy brief that comprehensively summarizes optimized gear systems, logistics plans, route plans, contingency and risk management plan, and more. Includes priority email access for 30 days after your sessions. Includes pre-session questionnaire review for targeted insights.

  • Best for: Expedition planning, complex system design, or professional-level projects.
  • Included: Pre-session questionnaire, two 90-minute live sessions, comprehensive written strategy brief, 30 days of priority email access.
  • Pricing: $1495

Enterprise Advisory Services: Custom technical consulting or training for longer-term projects.

  • Best for: Education and outreach organizations, university programs, advocacy groups, guides and outfitters, outdoor brands, and government agencies.
  • Included: Technical audits, product development feedback, pedagogical design, equipment procurement strategies, risk management frameworks, corporate training or presentations, public speaking and community engagement.
  • Pricing: Starting at $5,000 / project

“I hired Ryan as a consultant to help me work through the challenges of pursuing better work/life balance; primarily through living a more adventurous life. His perspective and thoughts were on point, and he provided a thoughtful balance between advising me based on his own experiences as well as encouragement and accountability for me to make the decisions I needed to make. The culmination of our work together was a multi-day guided packrafting trip in Montana with a group of fellow entrepreneurs in my professional network. Ryan not only sorted out all the trip logistics and gear outfitting but also providing critical thinking and leadership in program design and execution, so the entrepreneurs going through this program could themselves reflect on the impact they could make with their lives.” – Jeremy H., Provo, UT

“Ryan lead me into a more direct and profound wilderness experience. Ryan taught me how to live the simplicity of lightweight backpacking in beautiful natural spaces, and through this I found myself free to see and appreciate what matters most in my life.  The brief immersion paid dividends in my vision and decision making well after we left the backcountry.” – Daniel F., New York, NY

How to Book:

Contact us at helpdesk@backpackinglight.com to inquire.

About Your Consultant

Ryan Jordan founded Backpacking Light 25 years ago with the simple mission of providing high-quality education for hikers to help them make informed decisions about buying outdoor gear and become experts in backcountry travel. Ryan’s personal backpacking passion focuses on traveling long distances without resupply, inclement conditions and winter backpacking, and off-trail mountain routes. Ryan holds engineering degrees from Washington State (B.S. and M.S.) and Montana State (Ph.D.) Universities and has spent his entire career focusing on developing pedagogical, risk management, and technical frameworks for guides and outfitters, educators, and industry professionals. Ryan has developed outdoor education, leadership training, and technical guidance for the US Department of Defense, National Outdoor Leadership School, Boy Scouts of America, American Red Cross, Federal Emergency Management Agency, land management agencies, search and rescue organizations, university outdoor programs, and others.

Since November 2000, Backpacking Light has led the outdoor industry in consumer advocacy initiatives and has become a trusted source of information about outdoor gear and skills. Ryan and Backpacking Light have been featured in the LA Times, Outside Magazine, Outdoor Photographer, Scouting Magazine, Fast Company, Men’s Journal, Gear Junkie, Boy’s Life, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Digital Trends, the Travel Channel, PBS, and more.