We spend most of our time on in Team OSI thinking about how to get outdoors in our everyday lives where we live, but outdoor sport can also provide an awesome opportunity to explore places that other people call home as well. That’s why Team OSI is hitting the road this winter and heading north…way north.
When most of us think about skiing deep powder in the mountains we think of places like Colorado or British Columbia, but there’s big mountain ski adventure to be had much closer to home. North of the Maine-New Brunswick border lies Quebec’s Gaspe Peninsula. Stretching out into the St. Lawrence Seaway, this rugged piece of Quebec is home to the Chic Choc Mountains, and some of the deepest snow found in eastern North America. This winter Team OSI is seizing the opportunity to tour this incredible region.
We will spend a full week exploring the mountains, trails, and huts in this vast park. Along with your teammates you will learn to sharpen your skills for winter backcountry travel, group management, judgment, decision making, and working as a community to find success.
Traveling and exploring new terrain allows us to build stronger skills, find comfort in a new environment, and gain new perspectives on the world around us as well as our own communities at home. Join us for our annual Team OSI winter trip, and see what skills, comfort, and perspectives are waiting to be discovered.
Dates & Location
Monday, March 2nd to Sunday, March 8th, 2020
Itinerary at a glance
Monday, March 2nd
· Load up & travel to the Parc de la Gaspesie
Tuesday, March 3rd & Wednesday, March 4th
· Base out of a roadside hut that allows us to access a variety of terrain, we will work on backcountry skills including skiing, turning, snowpack assessment, heat management, working as a group, and managing risk as we travel in the mountains.
Thursday, March 5th & Friday, March 6th
· Ski into the park’s interior, applying our skills over the course of a couple nights along the park’s backcountry hut system.
Saturday, March 7th
· Return to the roadside huts for one final day of vertical fun
Sunday, March 8th
· Load up and make the trip home
Price $495 - includes coaching, transportation, meals, lodging, and group equipment.
Food & Lodging - All meals will be provided beginning with lunch on the first day, and ending with lunch on the final day. We will prepare meals as a team on camp stoves throughout the entirety of the trip, both when we’re on the road, and in the huts.
Each night of the trip we will stay in rustic huts that are heated by wood stoves. All of these huts are equipped with bunk beds, mattresses, and a common area for drying gear and preparing meals.
Equipment Participants need to provide personal items including clothes, sleeping bag, ski gear, and safety equipment. A packing list will be provided upon registration. OSI does have backcountry skis available for students to use at no charge, and we will work with students to source the safety equipment needed to participate.
Registration / Cancellation
Register HERE
Cancellations by Feb 1st will be refunded minus a $50 administrative fee. Cancellations after Feb 1st will not be refunded.
Pre-Requisites
This course is open to current Team OSI members that are in 9th through 12th grade in Maine High Schools.
Coaches Our courses are led by outdoor sport professionals. They are skilled teachers, guides, coaches, and facilitators, and they are passionate about sharing outdoor sport with others.
The Outdoor Sport Institute & Team OSI
OSI helps communities create, improve, and increase access to outdoor sport programs, equipment, trails, and local leadership through training, resources, and a network of peer-to-peer learning.
The mission of OSI is to strengthen communities through outdoor sport, and explore outdoor sport through community. We are a 501c3 non-profit organization working to -
Build a community’s capacity to envision and create an active, outdoor culture
Build capacity of students, educators, and other adult allies to serve as outdoor sport advocates, mentors, and leaders where they live.
Foster intergenerational relationships within the community through outdoor sport
We believe outdoor sports such as biking, paddling, skiing, and hiking can foster personal skills we all need to improve like self-confidence, resilience, discipline, humor, risk management, judgment, and decision making.
We believe everyone in a community has the ability to be a positive mentor to others, and through Team OSI we want to help young people build that ability in themselves.
For more information contact:
Mike Smith, OSI Executive Director
mike@outdoorsi.org
207.227.0250