Boundary Waters Dog Sledding & Cross Country Skiing for Adults
Tackle a rugged winter environment with a team of expert Instructors and hard-working sled dogs that thrive in these conditions and can’t wait to hit the trail each day.
Dogsled, ski and snowshoe over magical, pristine lakes and snowy forests on this exhilarating dog sledding and cross country ski expedition. Experience the beauty and learn the techniques of winter travel and camping in order to be inspired and refocus on your priorities. Develop outdoor skills, greater self-reliance and increased self-confidence as you unplug and disconnect from the stressors of your normal daily obligations. Learn to harness, mush and care for a dog team as you work together with the dogs to move the expedition gear from camp to camp. Instructor-facilitated discussions around key concepts of life/work balance, coupled with time for personal reflection, add a valuable dimension to this wilderness expedition. No prior winter knowledge or experience is necessary; skilled Instructors and energetic sled dogs provide all of the training you will need.
NOTE: Outward Bound strongly recommends that all students be vaccinated against COVID-19 and up to date as defined by the CDC prior to arriving to their course start. For all open enrollment courses beginning on or after April 15, 2023, Outward Bound will no longer require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19. For questions regarding this policy please see this page or call us at 866-467-7651.
UPCOMING COURSES
What is this?
For detailed information on course availability statuses and what they mean, click here.
Course # VMAD-324
Age 18 and up
Days 8
Cost $2,900
Dates 12.27.23 - 1.3.24
Course # VMRD-326
Age 30 and up
Days 8
Cost $2,900
Dates 12.27.23 - 1.3.24
Course # VMAD-2421
Age 18 and up
Days 8
Cost $2,665
Dates 1.13.24 - 1.20.24
Course # VMRD-2421
Age 30 and up
Days 8
Cost $2,665
Dates 1.13.24 - 1.20.24
Course # VMAD-2422
Age 18 and up
Days 8
Cost $2,665
Dates 2.18.24 - 2.25.24
Course # VMRD-2423
Age 30 and up
Days 8
Cost $2,665
Dates 2.18.24 - 2.25.24
Course # VMRD-2425
Age 30 and up
Days 8
Cost $2,665
Dates 3.16.24 - 3.23.24
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.
What an amazing, challenging (both mentally and physically), awesome, difficult and satisfying expedition. It’s so easy to get into the same routine of your life and not even realize that before you know it, it’s flying by at an outstanding pace and you haven’t tried nearly all the things you intended to when you were 25. This course helped me break out of my everyday life as wife and mother and see that it’s not too late to be someone different for a while. To go back home feeling more empowered and recharged after accomplishing something this difficult is an amazing feeling.
Together with a team of expert Instructors and loveable sled dogs, students experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect with nature, working animals and each other in thrilling, challenging and utterly stunning wilderness environments. Using map and compass, students learn to navigate a route over frozen lakes, rivers and the overland portage trails between them. Participants develop skills in dog mushing, cross-country skiing, ice reading, winter camping and sled dog care. Students 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,” carrying their own supplies for the day in backpacks or towing a small personal sled known as a “pulk.” While skiers navigate, check for safe ice conditions and track out a trail, mushers help guide the loaded dog sleds to follow. The group comes together to maneuver the dogsleds over obstacles and steep terrain and at the end of each day, make and enjoy camp.
Students learn what it takes to construct a winter camp and live comfortably in the depths of a Minnesota winter wonderland. 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 evenings stargazing before drifting off into a well-deserved sleep. Students learn that not only can they survive, but truly, they can thrive in an extreme and remote winter environment.
Service is a cornerstone of every Outward Bound experience. From the seemingly small daily acts of service to the environment to the regular tasks of being part of an expeditionary team, participants have ample opportunities to experience the value of giving back to the larger community. On the expedition, participants are encouraged to practice environmental stewardship in the form of Recreate Responsibly ethics. Participants also practice regular acts of service for their team, including the hard-working sled dogs, by preparing and serving meals, securing drinking water, breaking trail and giving the dogs plenty of affection.
At one point during the expedition students are provided a secluded spot to reflect alone, with all the food, skills and supplies they need, and are monitored by staff throughout the experience to maintain safety. We call this part of course, Solo. 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. 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. The duration of Solo depends on the course length and type, as well as the competency and preparedness of the student group. 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 course.
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota
Established in 1978, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness 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. Within these borders you can canoe, portage and camp as the native peoples and French-Canadian Voyageurs did before you. The Boundary Waters' 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. While more difficult, winter enthusiasts travel over frozen lakes and rivers by dogsled, cross-country ski and snowshoe. Winter in the Boundary Waters is mesmerizing, peaceful and exhilarating. 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
What an amazing, challenging (both mentally and physically), awesome, difficult and satisfying expedition. It’s so easy to get into the same routine of your life and not even realize that before you know it, it’s flying by at an outstanding pace and you haven’t tried nearly all the things you intended to when you were 25. This course helped me break out of my everyday life as wife and mother and see that it’s not too late to be someone different for a while. To go back home feeling more empowered and recharged after accomplishing something this difficult is an amazing feeling.
I have grown and challenged myself during this course and I am more focused on things I can do to challenge myself in life. I will carry this experience with me as a positive reminder on the lessons of life and the importance of challenging myself.
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.
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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.