One of the teachers or administrators at Looney Lane must have taken a special interest in me because my name was submitted out of the limited spots for the winter Outward Bound course in Ely, Minnesota. I was incredibly lucky to be chosen and awarded a scholarship to attend.
But this wouldn’t be a walk in the park—this was the winter course. Little did we know, it would dip to over 30 below zero. After one night in the cabin at that temperature, we quickly realized that someone had to be assigned to wake up in the middle of the night to add wood to the fire.
The course lasted a month, starting with basic snow travel techniques—learning to snowshoe, how to pull a pulk, and strategies for camping in the harsh winter elements. We would spend two nights alone in the cold to test our skills, and the course would culminate in a one-week cross-country ski adventure.
This course was designed to build character, and it certainly succeeded in doing just that.