Outdoor Adventure Club

What Outdoor Adventure Club does

Outdoor Adventure Club (OAC), founded in June 1996 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, is a privately held LLC operating a direct-to-consumer guided outdoor adventure service targeting Bay Area residents. The company leads professionally guided trips in hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, backcountry skiing and snowboarding, snowshoeing, rafting, surfing, and mountaineering across Northern California destinations including Yosemite, Lassen, Pinnacles, Point Reyes, Tahoe/Truckee, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon. All trips are led by Wilderness First Responder-certified guides, with owner Richard Bothwell (former AIARE Executive Director, 2016-2018) overseeing avalanche education offerings that include AIARE Level 1, Level 2, Avalanche Rescue, and private custom courses.

OAC monetizes through a diversified revenue model combining transaction fees, recurring subscriptions, and professional services. Trip fees are the core revenue stream, complemented by a tiered membership structure (Annual at $199, Monthly at $60 first month then $20/month, Ultimate at $3,000/year for free weekend trips), gear rentals (backpacks, tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, hiking poles, avalanche gear, splitboards), custom AIARE avalanche courses starting at $3,900 for private groups, and gift certificates in $25-$200 denominations. The company holds an inventory of branded gear including Osprey packs and Weston splitboards. Membership is optional, with non-members welcome to book individual trips at higher pricing.

The business operates without proprietary technology infrastructure, relying on its website adventure calendar for direct bookings supplemented by phone and email contact. The company maintains an OAC operations house in Mineral near Lassen National Park and dedicated Truckee/Donner Summit operations for backcountry ski and avalanche courses. Distribution is exclusively direct-to-consumer within a single-country (USA) domestic scope, with no intermediaries, resellers, or marketplace listings. Marketing emphasizes the social community aspect, professional guiding credentials, and the convenience of full logistics handling, reaching a base of 7,000+ newsletter subscribers. The company is privately owned by Richard Bothwell, who assumed ownership in 2008, with no institutional investors, parent company affiliations, or external funding rounds disclosed.

Name

Outdoor Adventure Club

Legal name

Outdoor Adventure Club LLC

Website

https://outdooradventureclub.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Outdoor Adventure Club is a San Francisco-based guided outdoor adventure service offering hiking, backpacking, climbing, backcountry skiing, and avalanche education trips across Northern California for Bay Area consumers, monetizing through trip fees, memberships, gear rentals, and private courses.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Outdoor Adventure Guiding Services

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900), Services-Membership Sports & Recreation Clubs (7997)

akta.pro primary industry

Adventure & Outdoor Local Operators (Trekking/Safari/Diving) (THAKAEAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Hiking, Trekking & Mountain Guiding (THAJABAA), Guided Backcountry & Off-Piste Services (Ski Touring, Splitboarding, Heli/Cat Skiing) (THAAAJAD), Winter & Mountain Guides (Ski, Snowshoe, Avalanche, Ice Climbing) (THAAALAF), Winter Activity & Experience Operators (Ice Climbing, Dog Sledding, Fat Biking, Ice Skating) (THAAAJAJ), Adventure Multi-Sport Camps & Skills Academies (THAAAKAM)

Keywords

• Guided outdoor adventures
• Backpacking hiking trips
• Backcountry ski tours
• AIARE avalanche courses
• Wilderness adventure guiding

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Trip Fees: Revenue generated from individual trip bookings. Both members and non-members pay trip fees, with members receiving discounted pricing.
2. Membership Subscriptions: Annual membership at $199 (renews at $99), monthly membership at $60 first month then $20/month, and Ultimate membership at $3,000/year providing free trips.
3. Gear Rentals: Rental equipment including backpacks ($30), tents ($40), sleeping bags ($30), sleeping pads ($20), and hiking poles ($10). Members get free rentals on OAC trips.
4. Custom AIARE Avalanche Courses: Private avalanche education courses starting at $3,900 for a weekend AIARE 1 course (up to 6 people).
5. Gift Certificates: Gift certificates available in denominations of $25, $50, $100, $150, or $200, usable for any trip or membership.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Outdoor Adventure Club (OAC) operates guided outdoor adventure trips in Northern California, including backpacking, hiking, rock climbing, snowshoeing, backcountry skiing and snowboarding, and AIARE-certified avalanche education, led by professional Wilderness First Responder-certified guides with all logistics handled. The company offers trip bookings, gear rentals, AIARE avalanche courses, membership subscriptions, and custom corporate/private events, complemented by an OAC cabin facility near Lassen National Park.

Product overview

Outdoor Adventure Club (OAC) operates as a premier guided outdoor adventure service combining professional guiding with a social community model. The core offering consists of guided outdoor adventures including backpacking trips, hiking, rock climbing, backcountry skiing/snowboarding, snowshoeing, and avalanche education courses across California. The product portfolio centers on guided adventure experiences enhanced by professional instruction, with additional support services including gear rentals (backpacks, tents, sleeping bags, avalanche equipment, splitboards), membership subscriptions (Annual, Monthly, Ultimate tiers), and gift certificates. The service differentiates through professional Wilderness First Responder-certified guides, small group sizes, AIARE-certified avalanche education, and an OAC cabin facility in Mineral near Lassen National Park.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Guided Backpacking Trips

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 30 couples have gotten married after meeting through the Outdoor Adventure Club

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Tahoe Mountain SportsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner retailer offering OAC students 20% off avalanche gear plus an extra 5% discount for members. Provides gear discount benefits to customers.
• AIARE (American Institute of Avalanche Research and Education)coreOthersOAC is an authorized AIARE Course Provider offering AIARE 1, AIARE 2, and Avalanche Rescue courses. Lead instructor Richard Bothwell previously served as AIARE Executive Director (2016-2018).
• Feather River CollegeminorOthersRichard Bothwell teaches avalanche classes for Feather River College as part of his avalanche education work.
• Lake Tahoe Community CollegeminorOthersRichard Bothwell teaches avalanche classes for Lake Tahoe Community College.
• Nickolay Dodov FoundationminorOthersRichard Bothwell teaches avalanche classes for the Nickolay Dodov Foundation, a nonprofit focused on avalanche safety education.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Tahoe Mountain Sports: Outdoor retailer and rental operation based in Truckee, CA — operating in the same Tahoe/Donner Summit region where OAC runs backcountry ski and avalanche courses. OAC has an active gear-discount partnership with them, signaling direct operational overlap.

Direct peers

• Wildland Trekking: Guided adventure company offering backpacking, hiking, and basecamp trips in national parks across the U.S. Directly comparable to OAC's guided backpacking and hiking offerings in destinations like Yosemite, Sequoia, and Lassen.
• Mountain Travel Sobek: Adventure travel company specializing in small-group hiking, trekking, and active trips worldwide. Comparable to OAC's guided trip product for the same affluent, time-constrained customer seeking professionally-led experiences.
• Backroads: Premier active-travel company offering guided small-group biking, hiking, and multi-sport trips. Directly comparable to OAC on guided small-group adventures for affluent urban professionals, though at a much larger scale and global footprint.
• Sierra Club Outings: Long-running outdoor club offering guided trips across hiking, backpacking, and mountaineering to a member base. Directly comparable to OAC's club/membership model and trip portfolio, with overlapping California destinations.
• Appalachian Mountain Club: Membership-based outdoor recreation organization offering guided hiking, backpacking, skiing, and climbing trips, primarily in the Northeast. Closest structural analog to OAC's membership-plus-guided-trips business model.
• Colorado Mountain School: Outdoor education and guiding school offering rock climbing, mountaineering, backcountry skiing, and avalanche courses. Closely mirrors OAC's multi-discipline guide-and-instruct offering, with similar AIARE partnership structure.
• Alpine Ascents International: Mountaineering guide service offering climbs and backcountry ski programs including avalanche education. Directly comparable to OAC's backcountry ski/snowboard and AIARE avalanche course portfolio, with overlapping AIARE-certified instruction.
• REI Adventures: REI's adventure travel division offers guided multi-sport trips (hiking, backpacking, skiing, climbing) worldwide, directly overlapping with OAC's guided adventure product mix. REI is the largest co-op competitor in the same target customer base of affluent outdoor enthusiasts.

Broad incumbents

• NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School): Premier wilderness education organization offering multi-day outdoor courses. Several OAC guides are NOLS alumni/instructors, and the organizations compete for the same outdoor-education-seeking customer, though NOLS focuses on longer-format courses.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/OutdoorAdventureClub
• Facebookfacebook.com/outdooradventureclubsf
• Instagraminstagram.com/outdoor_adventure_club
• Xx.com/outdooradvclub
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/outdoor-adventure-club

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Outdoor Adventure Club