The snow-covered spires of one of America’s most majestic mountain ranges will be the setting for a Wilderness Education Association course that will be offered in June through Western Carolina University’s Division of Continuing Education and Summer School.

The Teton Steward Course will be held on the west slopes of the Tetons in Targee National Forest on the Idaho-Wyoming border June 3-18. Participants will backpack through the Tetons while learning spring mountaineering techniques, said Maurice Phipps, associate professor in WCU’s Department of Health and Human Performance.

Phipps will serve as a course instructor, along with Todd Murdock, director of the university’s Talent Search Program. Phipps and Murdock are certified WEA instructors.

Paul Petzoldt, the late founder of the WEA and the National Outdoor Leadership School, taught the first WEA course at WCU about 18 years ago. A renowned mountaineer, Petzoldt was an early mentor for both Phipps and Murdock.

During the two-week course, participants will learn technical skills needed for planning and executing wilderness expeditions, along with leadership, judgment, teamwork and decision-making. Other basic skills to be covered include rappelling, rope work on steep ground, climbing calls, cooking and camping.

The course would be particularly valuable for individuals interested in working in outdoor education, including summer camps, youth programs, community recreation and parks departments, and other mainstream youth programs such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or YMCA, Phipps said.

The Teton Stewart Course is not a “go until you drop” experience, but it is physically and mentally demanding, Phipps said. This is the second time WCU has offered the WEA steward course in the Tetons.

The cost of the course is $1,692.12 for North Carolina residents, and $1,785.18 for out-of-state residents. Graduate and undergraduate academic credit is available, but participants who want to earn that credit and are not enrolled as WCU students must fill out a university enrollment application and pay an application fee of $35.

Transportation is not provided from WCU to the course meeting location at Tetonia, Idaho.

For more information, contact Phipps by telephone at 828.227.3844, by e-mail at phipps@wcu.edu, or write to the Department of Health and Human Performance, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, N.C., 28723-9018.