Northern Tier is the site of the Boy Scouts of America’s National Cold Weather Camping Development Center. Okpik Cold Weather Camping, Northern Tier’s winter offering, is the BSA’s premier winter camping program. At Okpik, Scouts experience a true Northwoods winter: learning how to thrive in subzero temperatures, travel across frozen wilderness lakes and construct their own sleeping structures out of snow. All trips are fully outfitted and provisioned, including almost all of the personal gear necessary to stay warm in the winter. A highly trained staff member, called an Interpreter, accompanies all crews on their trek.
Okpik Camping Weekend
Okpik Camping Weekends are designed to teach scouts how to have fun in the cold. In this program, crews will pack their gear onto sleds )or “pulks”) and head out into the wilderness for 1-3 nights where they will learn to set up a winter campsite, how to build snow shelters, how to cook meals at low temperatures, as well as traveling by ski, snowshoe, or by foot across frozen lakes.
- Group Size: 6-8/9-11 participants (majority youth)
- Season: Winter
- Age: 14 years old or in the 8th grade
- Leadership: Each crew must meet all Youth Protection Standards
- Dates: Varies