Overland Training

[Blackeye]

I just returned from a week-long, comprehensive overland training course in Arizona put on by Overland Training and I thought I would report about it. More detailed info is at their site:

http://www.overlandtraining.com/

The course was primarily taught by Graham Jackson and Scott Brady was present for the first two days. The course included camping / field sessions in the Table Mesa area and classroom sessions in the Prescott area. The course incorporated vehicle awareness drills, sand driving, sand recovery, tire pressure analysis, spotting, rock driving, river crossings, hill climbs, convoy driving and other driver training applications. We learned a variety of recovery skills, reviewed and used a variety of overlanding equipment, discussed loading and lashing, clothing, tire repair, navigation, food, water, and logistics. The course even included discussion and analysis of security, border crossings, documentation, cultures, conservation and much, much more.

Everyone that I met associated with Overland Training, the Overland Journal magazine and Expeditions West was very welcoming, intelligent and respectful.

The vehicles present were a full size Earthroamer LT, two jeep base Earthroamer JK’s, a brand new Sportsmobile 4x4 E350 RB with penthouse, a Mercedes G-Wagon and our rig, a 2008 Sportsmobile 4x4 E350 EB with a Voyager top.

I knew that the Sportsmobiles were impressive, but after the field days, I am absolutely blown away at what these things will do.

I highly recommend Overland Training and the information that they teach. The course catalog on their site tells of their course offerings. You can take individual (intensive) segments or take the comprehensive overland training course over a week.

[adventureduo]

Scott puts on one heck of a good course, Did you take any pics?

[PeasBugs]

I have been interested in doing the training but was not sure if the sportsmobile would be the ideal vehicle for this training. It sounds like you had a great time. I had heard that the other sportsmobile was from SMB west is that true? I would love to see the photos.

[Blackeye]

There were some pics from the group that I will try to obtain and post. It was a great time. Yes, the other SMB was driven by Alan Feld of SMB West. He was very helpful in his knowledge of the SMBs and he drives it with great skills.

The class is well suited to almost any rig that could / would be used for vehicle dependant overland travel. Heck, look at the different types of rigs there during our session. There was the G-Wagon rolling on street tires up to the Earthroamer LT with 41” rubber.

[PeasBugs]

Thanks for the reply. I knew the SMB would work great for this training but my main concern was the type of trails that would be used. Although learning to handle and pick lines on difficult trails is good training I'm not looking into running the rubicon with the SMB.
Thanks