The 10-Day Intro to Adventure is $500. See complete details at Costs

Short Course tuition varies but on average is $50/day per student.

Your travel from your home to and from the meeting point in Anchorage or Palmer, AK. Accommodation in Anchorage before and after the course if needed. Equipment (see details here). More details on what’s included in your tuition here.

16-18 years at the time of the course.

See our Eligibility Requirements for the 10-Day Intro to Adventure Course.

We don’t need you to be an athlete but you need to be capable to be on your feet for most of the day, moving. 

If you huff your way up a hill when you are not carrying a pack this trip is too much.  

See How to Apply

See What to Expect

You will share a small tent with another student.  Sharing space is part of community and having shared tents also lessens our footprint when looking for campsites. See What to Expect

You live in a camp where we have outhouses (nice ones).  We have options for private, cold outdoor showers and if the sun is shining it could be a warm shower!  When we are out in the backcountry we follow Leave No Trace practices for toilet issues and you are always welcome to bathe in a cold pond.   See What to Expect

All about Food.

This feeling happens to all of us, even our most seasoned instructors and guides have a moment (or two) during the season when they long for home.  This is 10 days of your life.  It will be different from other things you have experienced and there will be moments you might want to go home.  But, we think if you sleep on it.  Eat a good bowl of hot food and reflect.  You probably can find the resolve to push through and see the end of the program with your team.  You can always talk to an instructor if there are circumstances that make that impossible.  

We would never keep you against your will. Although we do acknowledge that the course at MOI can be challenging.  We would work with you to make accommodations, but ultimately, if you wanted to leave, your parents would come and get you.

Although we believe in the power of the outdoors to help with many challenges in life there may be many reasons why this program is not ideal for you.  Know that we are not a Wilderness Therapy Program.  We are not a place where a young person should come if they have mental health issues that are not yet safely managed at home. We do not have a psychiatrist or a counselor on staff and although our instructors are skilled in many things,  Mental Health crisis in the backcountry is not something we are equipped to handle.  

MOI is a dry, zero-tolerance program, period. There are no second chances when it comes to such substances and that includes tobacco.  If your teen is caught with these substances it is an immediate removal of the program and you will be required to come get your teen immediately.

What you will learn.

If your teen is homeschooled, you can absolutely apply credit. If your teen is in public school, we can work with your counselor to provide credit, but nothing official it established to date.

This school is experiential; our pillars are built around doing and experiencing.  What most of our students walk away with is a new and stronger sense of self confidence, a new understanding of team, community, collaboration and problem solving.  This translates into strong leadership skills by having personally experienced, outside the classroom or work environment, what challenge and teamwork look like.  These skills serve our students by allowing them to experience enhanced performance in job interviews, school interviews, collaborative work environments, outdoor recreation endeavors, test performance and many other daily endeavors.  

Students also come away with a much greater understanding of wilderness, recreation, survival, and travel.  The hard skills we learn have applications in all arenas of life but they directly translate to your ability to handle yourself and help others on any outdoor recreation journey.  

Learn all About Us here.

We’ll help you plan your travel including the timing of meeting us and the best options for accommodation in Anchorage.

We try our best to accommodate dietary restrictions including vegetarian/vegan, gluten free and dairy free, but due to the community nature of the course (specifically around food preparation and meal time)  it can be very difficult, please reach out to us about severe allergies and sensitivities.

More about Risk.

The situation may still be changing as we approach summer and we may change our requirements based on health agency recommendations. As of now, we are not requiring vaccines or masks and manage this risk primarily by being outside in the fresh air. More about Risk.