Pathfinder Boundary Waters Dog Sledding & Cross Country Skiing
Discover your strengths and develop skills that will shape your future on this 30-day dog sledding and cross-country skiing expedition.
This extraordinary adventure is your chance to gain leadership skills, define your values, be of service and—most importantly—discover what you are capable of. Travel over frozen lakes and rivers; learn how to manage teams of sled dogs; cross-country ski; navigate with a map and compass; check ice conditions; cook over an open fire and stay comfortable in extreme winter temperatures. Enjoy the satisfaction and camaraderie that comes from being part of a small team with a dedicated purpose as you enjoy hearty meals under the brilliant night sky. At the end of the course, participate in a facilitated family conversation where your family can gain insight into your experience and discuss how your newfound knowledge will transfer back to your daily life. No prior winter travel knowledge or experience is necessary.
UPCOMING COURSES
Course # VMPD-2561
Age 18 - 25
Days 30
Cost $8,070 $7,570 exp.12/25
Dates 1/24/2025 - 2/22/2025
APPLY NOW
This means a course has several open spots and is actively processing applications.
Course # VMPD-2661
Age 18 - 25
Days 30
Cost $8,070
Dates 1/24/2026 - 2/22/2026
APPLY NOW
This means a course has several open spots and is actively processing applications.
APPLY NOW
This means a course has several open spots and is actively processing applications.
APPLY NOW – Almost Full
This means there are three or fewer currently available spots left on a course. To secure your spot click Apply Now to begin an application!
JOIN WAITLIST
Once a course has reached capacity, three waitlist positions become available. To join a course’s waitlist, click “Join Waitlist” to begin the application process. A $500 deposit is required. This $500 deposit includes a $150 non-refundable application fee and a $350 tuition payment. The $350 tuition payment is refundable only if you cancel your waitlist application or if an open position does not become available. If a position does become available, the applicant will be applied to the open position and the Application and Cancellation Policies of the Regional Outward Bound School will be followed, including forfeiture of the $500 deposit if you cancel 90 days or less prior to the course start date.
Waitlist applicants are encouraged to complete all required admissions documents while awaiting an open position. Positions may become available up to two weeks prior to the course start date. Applicants may only apply to one course. We recommend applying to a course with open positions instead of a course that is accepting waitlist applications. If you have questions, please call 866-467-7651 to speak with one of our Admissions Advisors.
CALL TO APPLY
This means a course is very close to its start date. Although it is unlikely to secure a spot this late, you can call the National Admissions office at 866-467-7651 to discuss your options.
COURSE IS FULL
When a course has reached maximum capacity, meaning all spots and the three waitlist spots are occupied, a course will read “Course Is Full.” This means applications are no longer being accepted.
CLOSED
As a course nears its start date, the availability status may read “Closed.” In this event, a course roster has been finalized and applications are no longer being accepted or processed.
It takes extremes like sleeping under the stars next to a thermometer reading somewhere below -40 degrees Fahrenheit, watching snow blow across the Kawishiwi River after a long, hard day of travel, sitting around a stove in a canvas tent with a group of real, close friends, laughing and telling stories, and living simply in challenge and triumph, to learn some things about yourself, and without this experience, I would may have have never known them.
Most College Savings Plans, including the 529 College Savings Plan, may be used to attend an Outward Bound expedition, thanks to a partnership with Western Colorado University. Anyone can register – you do not have to be a current Western Colorado University student. Registration is easy! Click here to learn more.
Together with a team of expert Instructors and lovable sled dogs, students experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect with nature, work with animals and each other in this thrilling, challenging and utterly stunning wilderness environment. Using map and compass, students learn to navigate a route over frozen lakes, rivers and the overland portage trails between them. Students develop skills in dog mushing, cross-country skiing, ice reading, winter camping and sled dog care. Group members take turns mushing the dogsleds and skiing or snowshoeing throughout the course. Take part in a beautiful winter choreography as skiers serve as advance “scouts”—navigating, checking for safe ice conditions and tracking out a trail while mushers work with the dogs to help guide the loaded dog sleds to follow. The group comes together to maneuver the dogsleds over obstacles and steep terrain and make and enjoy camp at the end of the day.
Students learn to rely on their own locomotion as they use skis to kick and glide across the frozen landscape. Adequate training will be given to teach the skiers to break trail, set the tracks for the dog sleds to follow and check the ice to allow for safe travel. The exhilaration that comes from the freedom of being able to efficiently move across a frozen lake or snow covered trail will make students understand why this is one of the oldest sport activities in the world. Skiers will occasionally help the mushers move the sleds over difficult terrain but otherwise travel separately from the dog sleds, carrying their own basic supplies for the day in backpacks or towing a small personal sled known as a “pulk."
Students learn what it takes to construct a winter camp and live comfortably in the depths of a Minnesota winter. Instructors teach students techniques for harvesting water from beneath the ice, dressing properly for freezing temperatures, felling trees for firewood, cooking over an open fire and setting up shelters and cozy winter sleeping systems. A hearty dinner and enriching conversation with fellow group members around an outdoor fire or the wood stove in a large, canvas wall tent rounds out each day. Students often enjoy clear evening stargazing before drifting off into a well-deserved sleep. Students learn that not only can they survive, but truly thrive, in an extreme and remote winter environment.
Service to the environment and to others is one of the core values of Outward Bound. Students are encouraged to practice service to the environment; leaving campsites cleaner than they found them and practicingRecreate Responsibly ethics. Designated service projects are coordinated with land managers, like the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service, to collaborate on land restoration projects. Other projects may be based in the local community. Students develop a value of service, seeing the impact of their actions firsthand, and transfer this desire to serve to their communities back home.
The Solo experience provides an important break from the rigors of the expedition and gives students the opportunity to reflect on their Outward Bound experience. With all the food, skills and supplies they need, students are given a secluded spot to reflect alone, and are monitored by staff throughout the experience to maintain safety. The duration of Solo depends on the course length and type, as well as the competency and preparedness of the student group.
Many students use this reflection time to make decisions about their future, journal and enjoy the beauty of their surroundings unencumbered by the constant external stimulation of modern life. Students find that Solo provokes profound and powerful learning in a short period of time and often becomes one of the most memorable parts of their Outward Bound experience.
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota
Established in 1978, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) is a labyrinth of lakes and rock that has been specifically protected as a true American wilderness. No roads, power lines or motorized craft may enter its borders. Therefore, the Boundary Waters wilderness has changed little since its unveiling when the glaciers melted 10,000 years ago.
Over one million acres in size, the BWCAW extends 150 miles along the Minnesota/Canadian border. With over 1,200 miles of canoe routes, nearly 2,200 designated campsites and more than 1,000 lakes and streams, the BWCAW is a truly amazing place to experience the wilderness. It contains portage-linked lakes and streams, interspersed with islands, forests and crags. It has no piped water, prepared shelters or signs to point the way. Paddling routes offer outstanding opportunities for solitude, remoteness, teamwork, adventure and challenge.
In the winter, the Boundary Waters transforms into an even more severe and remote wilderness. Winter enthusiasts travel over frozen lakes and rivers by dogsled, cross-country ski and snowshoe; a mesmerizing, peaceful and exhilarating experience. It is a place of spectacular extremes, trackless snow, bracing cold air, glowing warm embers and powerful silence. These regions are the ancestral lands of the Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ and Očeti Šakówiŋ (Sioux) nations.
Course Stories
It takes extremes like sleeping under the stars next to a thermometer reading somewhere below -40 degrees Fahrenheit, watching snow blow across the Kawishiwi River after a long, hard day of travel, sitting around a stove in a canvas tent with a group of real, close friends, laughing and telling stories, and living simply in challenge and triumph, to learn some things about yourself, and without this experience, I would may have have never known them.
My Outward Bound experience was nothing short of utterly life-changing! I developed a keen self-awareness and a worldly view I never thought I’d be fortunate enough to have. My previously lack-luster set of morals and beliefs have been solidified into something I am truly proud to call my own, and my abilities to communicate my own thoughts and feelings is remarkable. Ski-joring across a frozen lake with a beautiful dog under a sunset was straight from a movie and might be the most magical thing I have ever done in my life! This course has given more to me than I ever thought I’d get out of an outdoor expedition.
Throughout the expedition, I could not tell you how many times I fell down, but thanks to those around me, I was able to find incredible healing power in getting back up, so I cannot wait to fall down some more.
I elected to attend this course for no great reason or purpose, but simply because I didn’t know what to do. This course was the most different thing I could think of from my normal life, so I went into it with zero expectations. While I didn’t discover my sole purpose as a human being or discover the meaning of life in one month, the course certainly roused me from the lull of modern life. I had several smaller, but valuable discoveries: I am a more capable leader than I previously believed; I’m stronger than I previously believed; and life is more remarkable than I previously believed.
This course has gifted me lessons that can take lifetimes to learn and it only lasted a month! I have learned about the power of positive leadership. All people are unique, beautiful and uniquely beautiful and to lead one must understand they cannot change people so they must understand them instead. I learned that a true leader leads by example, gathering the individual needs of group members and shifting things around so everyone is heard and all needs are met. People work their hardest when they are having fun. Beyond that, I learned that I can be that leader and have a positive effect on a group and the world. I came here wanting to be led but I couldn’t be happier that I ended up leading. There is nothing more empowering than the trust of peers that you respect. Thank you for the gift of growth.
I came to Outward Bound seeking physical challenges and tests of endurance, but I was challenged in ways beyond simply braving the cold, sometimes 40 degrees below zero cold. Learning how to not just survive but thrive in subzero weather was its own reward. Beyond the frozen eyelashes, it was being in a close-knit team that pushed me to discover inner strengths I didn’t know were there. We came from all over, had diverse backgrounds and worldviews, but this team overcame any challenge put in front of us. Our plurality was our strength. My perspective has been broadened and my life has been irrevocably changed by these six people.
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Getting Started
If you are ready to enroll on a course click the enroll button next to the course you wish to select or you can enroll over the phone by speaking with one of our Admissions Advisors (toll-free) at 866-467-7651.
To secure your spot on a course you must submit an enrollment form and $500 deposit that is applied toward the total cost of the course and includes a $150 non-refundable enrollment processing fee.