The Seminar at a Glance

Dates: November 12 - November 15 2026
Length: 4 days
Facilities: Camping in bunkhouses provided
Food: Breakfast, lunch, and dinners provided
Location: Sutter Creek, California
Cost: $595 for NSS members. Scholarships available; see below.


Registration lottery will be open August 4 10am PST - August 11 10am PST. Lottery results will be released August 11.

Schedule

November 11Day 0: 6-9pm

Students arrive and check in.
Evening Skills Checkoffs: Students must complete entrance skills by 9pm. You can also demonstrate your skills for a NCRC Instructor before the seminar. (Read more about Entrance Skills Demonstration below)

November 12Day 1: 8am-9pm

Any remaining students check in.
Introduction to SPAR Mindset
Optimizing your system for SPAR
Pre-planning and decision making
Lightweight Rescue Techniques
Small Party Medical Interventions

November 13Day 2: 8am-9pm

Rescue Technique Field Applications
Crack and Crevice Rescue
Advanced SRT Skills
Pickoff fundamentals

November 14Day 3: 8am-9pm

Counterweights
Patient extraction and movement
Rescue through expedition rigging

November 15Day 4: 8am-5pm

Mock Rescue Scenarios
Debrief and Wrap-up
5pm: Drive safe

About the NCRC

The National Cave Rescue Commission is an internal organization of the National Speleological Society. It serves as the society’s representative on issues of cave rescue training and operations. By design, the NCRC is not an operating cave rescue team. Rather, its mission is to provide training and development opportunities for persons and organizations engaged in cave rescue activities. Thus, while many of the volunteers associated with the NCRC perform rescues, they do this as members of their local rescue squads, civil defense units, or cave rescue groups. The main focus of the NCRC is development and maintenance of a national curriculum in cave rescue operations. It maintains a cadre of qualified instructors who deliver cave rescue training programs at the national and regional levels.

Experienced Instructors

Our volunteer instructors for this seminar have over 100 years of combined caving experience. As certified instructors with the NCRC, they have spent thousands of hours perfecting the skills that will be offered to you in this intensive seminar. The excellent student to instructor ratio means you receive as much guidance as possible.

Course Outline

  • Introduction to the NCRC and Small Party Rescue
  • Safety & conservation
  • Gear optimization
  • Pre-planning and decision making
  • SPAR medical
  • Lightweight rope rescue and haul systems
  • Patient extraction and movement
  • Rescue through expedition style rigging
  • Knotcraft and rigging for rescue
  • Mock rescue scenarios

Important Considerations

Prerequisite Skills:

For safety and class efficiency, students should already be competent and comfortable with knot-tying and vertical-caving skills. Before taking the course, all students must successfully demonstrate the knot-tying and single-rope-technique (SRT) skills described in the SPAR student preparation guide. 

We encourage students to contact an NCRC instructor to complete their skills demonstration prior to the class, if available. For any students who are unable to complete this in advance, we will hold a skills demonstration session at the course site the evening of Day 0.

Arrival and Schedule:
Students should aim to arrive and check in the evening of Day 0, from 6-9pm, or at the latest before class starts on Day 1. Breakfasts on Days 1 through 4 will start at 7am with class sessions starting promptly afterwards at 8am. We will continue after dinner until about 9pm on Days 1 through 3 and will conclude by 5pm on Day 4. The schedule is subject to change at the discretion of the instructors.

Students should come prepared each day with water and appropriate gear and clothing for classroom, vertical rope training, and cliff or cave activities.

Camp and Training Locations:
Sleeping accommodation fees are included in your registration. We will be staying in cabins at Golden Valley Camp, which is a 15 minute drive from the classroom, cliffs, and cave site. You will need to bring linens and bedding. Showers and bathrooms are available. 

Food:
All meals are provided with your registration. Both meat and vegetarian meals are available. If you have dietary concerns, please let us know and we'll do our best to meet your needs. If we cannot accommodate your food needs, we may be able to refund you a percentage of the cost of your meals.

Your course fee covers meals from breakfast on Day 1 through lunch on Day 4. We will do our best to accommodate dietary preferences and restrictions shared at pre-registration, but please remember you are ultimately responsible for your own health.

Breakfasts will be served at Golden Valley Camp daily at 7am. There will be lunch supplies available there to make a bagged lunch to take with you into the field. Dinner will be catered to the classroom daily at 6pm by a local restaurant.

Scholarships:
We are pleased to offer five 50% scholarships from our National scholarship fund this year. If interested in applying, please 1) register for the class (you must be accepted during the lottery round to be eligible), 2) fill out this scholarship application form before the deadline of August 25 at 10am PST, and if chosen, we will refund you 50% of the cost. You will be notified on or before September 8th of the results.

Weather:
This course will include field exercises at cliffs and caves near Sutter Creek, California.
Temperatures in November are typically 40-65ºF.
Cave temperatures are roughly 57 °F.
Come prepared for the possibility of rain during field exercises: much of class will be held outside in trees and on the cliffs, and we will continue during rainfall unless there is a significant threat of lightning or the "misery curve" crosses the "learning curve."

Vaccinations:
You will spend time in tight quarters with classmates and instructors, please ensure your covid and flu vaccinations are up to date. Please inform us if you become sick before, during, or even after the event.

Cancellation Policy:
Prior to October 21 refunds are available, minus transaction fees. After this date, we will attempt to issue a refund (minus transaction fees) dependent on our ability to fill your seat. Registrations may not be substituted without permission from the registrar. You must attend each day to successfully complete the seminar.

Availability:
There are a limited number of student spaces in this seminar. Students will be randomly selected if/when demand is higher than course capacity using a lottery system. If you have been previously waitlisted for the Western Region seminar in the past, you will have a 1.25x advantage of being chosen. If you have previously taken this class in CA, you will have a 0.75x chance of being chosen. You will be notified on August 11 if you have a seat in the class. 

Confirmation:
When your registration is received and processed, you will be notified by e-mail. You may receive a text or call to ensure you understand expectations for the seminar and to answer any questions you might have.

White Nose Syndrome:
Absolutely no clothing or equipment that has been used in White Nose Syndrome afflicted areas will be allowed in caves unless all clothing and equipment has been decontaminated in advance using decontamination protocols. All students and instructors will be expected to sign an affidavit stating they understand and have followed these rules. More information is available at www.caves.org/WNS/

Youth Participants:
Minors must be approved in advance and their participation is at the sole discretion of the instructional staff. Please contact the registrar at the email below.

Non-participants:

Please do not bring non-participating family, friends, or pets.

Releases:
All participants must sign an NCRC Liability Waiver and Photo Release, a Western Cave Conservancy waiver, and a Golden Valley Camp waiver before they arrive at the seminar. You will receive more information after registration.

Contact:
Additional information is available by contacting [email protected].

Entrance Skills Requirements

For safety and class efficiency, students should already be competent and comfortable with knot-tying and vertical-caving skills. Before taking the course, students must successfully demonstrate the knot-tying and single-rope-technique (SRT) skills described in the SPAR student preparation guide. We encourage students to contact an NCRC instructor to complete their skills demonstration prior to the class, if available. For any students who are unable to complete this in advance, we will hold a skills demonstration session at the course site on Day 0: Wednesday, November 11th, from 6-9pm.

Other Requirements

  • Bring all required gear in good condition from the list in the Seminar Preparation Guide.
  • Sign all releases before they arrive to participate.
  • Arrive on time, organized, and ready to learn.
  • Have their equipment and helmet properly marked.

Enrollment is Limited

To maintain a high instructor to student ratio, enrollment will be capped. Should interest exceed our capacity, students will be randomly selected.

Students have from August 4 10am PST - August 11 10am PST to enroll. After enrollment closes you'll will be notified via email about whether or not you were selected.

Your payment will be verified with a $1 transaction when you pre-register. If selected on the 11th, you will be billed for the full seminar cost.

Registration

Participant Information

  • You can join the NSS here if you are interested: https://members.caves.org/general/register_member_type.asp

Check this box to enter the name of a partner. During the random selection process you and your pair will be considered a single unit. (They will also need to pre-register separately and choose you as well.)

Emergency Contact

$0.00

Billing Information

Secure checkout PCI compliant
Safe & Secure Checkout PCI-compliant • 256-bit AES encryption
RegFox Event Registration Software
Event Registration Software by RegFox