Although the nights are just starting to get cool we’ve been thinking about snow and ice and planning our winter schedule. Below is a preview of the programs we’re offering. Additionally, we’ll be offering the Winter Craftsman course in November where you can make your own mukluks and toboggan, bend and lace snowshoes, and more. More on this to come soon.
There are a few dependable weeks of winter left after the Boreal Snowshoe Expedition, and we will likely be adding another course or snowshoe trip. If there’s something that you’d like to see in that space, please let us know.
Winter Bushcraft, Survival & Guide Training Course | 1/4-1/10, 2015, Maine
This is our overview of winter bushcraft and outdoor living in the frozen wilds of northern Maine. Topics covered are snowshoes and snowshoeing, sleds and toboggans, canvas tents, wood stoves, shelter construction using woodstoves, ice fishing, tracking, axe, knife and saw use and safety, use of the ice chisel, understanding ice and ice safety, winter tree identification, outdoor cooking, making emergency snowshoes, and, in general, how to live safely and comfortably below zero. The goal is for participants to learn how to conduct themselves well in bitter cold. Course is held at our field school in Masardis.
Winter Survival Weekend Course | 1/17-1/18, 2015, New Hampshire
A two-day, one night introduction to winter bushcraft and survival at our folk school in NH. Participants can spend the night out in one of our tents or shelters or bunk on the floor in our workshop. Past partipants have spent the night in town if they didn’t want to sleep out. Course is held at our folk school in Wolfeboro, NH.
Subarctic Snowshoe Expedition With The Cree | 1/24-1/31, 2015, Quebec
A cross cultural snowshoe expedition with our friends in the subarctic of northern Quebec. Live outdoors with native Cree in their ancestral homeland for a week. Not an instructional course or a modern expedition, it is described by our guide David Bosum: “Come with us and see how we live.” Participants can expect to snowshoe to a base camp, set a fish net under the ice, learn about trapping and snaring, eat a variety of wild game (ie. bush meat), and see how the Cree have been living out in the unforgiving cold for 5000 years with grace and humor. There is a lot of snowshoeing and participants will need appropriate winter clothing and a cold weather sleeping bag, but this isn’t an overly strenuous trip and thus is appropriate for those with limited experience. Price includes everything once we arrive. Travel to and from Quebec is not included. We will be carpooling and caravaning from NH to Oujé-Bougoumou, Quebec.
Boreal Snowshoe Expedition | 2/7-2/21, 2015, Maine
Our immersion winter program, this is a two-week expedition-style course. Available only to graduates of the Wilderness Bushcraft Semester as part of our Yearlong Immersion Program. Combines all of our winter field school programs into one program.
We hope to see you on the trail this winter, and whether you join us or go on your own, be sure to get out there!
