Outward Bound is committed to serving our students. Should it be necessary to interrupt programming to protect students, staff or the broader community during the COVID-19 pandemic, we will return to normal operation as soon as it is prudent to do so.

At this time, all international and domestic programs offered by Outward Bound in the United States will be suspended through May 31st, 2020. For the widest selection of course offerings starting after May 31st, 2020, we do recommend enrolling on the course of your choice though the risk of course change or cancellation cannot be discounted.

We are happy to thoroughly discuss our Cancellation Policy and recent updates to address COVID-19-related issues. If you are comfortable with the timing of your payments as they relate our Cancellation Policy and our current course delivery status, we'd love to assist you with your application for a course.

We hope not, but the answer is yes. Our decision to open has been made after careful reflection on risk versus reward. As we gather new information and assess the most current information on disease spread, we reserve the right to cancel programming if we feel that is the safest option for the health and safety of our students and staff. We are also following state guidelines. Should MN or TX see a significant rise in disease spread and implement additional directives, we may not be able to run programs. Both of our basecamps in MN and TX are in remote areas that have not yet seen significant numbers of cases. 

All students and parents will need to sign an additional COVID-19 Statement of Understanding that outlines your responsibilities and commitment to making sure that you are able to arrive at Outward Bound healthy.

Self-quarantine means limiting exposure to non-family members, wearing a face mask around non-family members, avoiding large crowds/gatherings, and limiting unnecessary travel for 14 days prior to the start of your course. You will be required to self-quarantine prior to course-start in order to minimize your exposure to communicable disease.

Once you and your group begin your expedition, you will be living and acting as a family unit while on the expedition.  This means that you won’t need to practice social distancing or other preventative measures for the whole course because your group will maintain isolation for the well-being of the whole group.  Assuming that everyone in the group begins the course having tested negative for COVID-19, we can be relatively confident of maintaining the integrity of the overall group’s health.

Having an underlying health condition would not automatically exclude anyone from participating in Outward Bound. All students undergo a medical screening process to make sure that they are safe and fit candidates for their specific course. Students with underlying conditions are advised to check with their physicians about any additional risks of contracting a communicable disease.

1. Consider getting a flu vaccine prior to your course. By getting vaccinated for the flu, you support your community's health and could decrease the incidence of symptoms very similar to COVID-19 appearing on course.

2. If you have previously tested positive for COVID-19, findings have shown that you may still test positive within the few months following your original diagnosis. If you believe you have had or you have a previous confirmed positive test for COVID-19, you may consider getting tested 14 days prior to course start. In the event that the test results return positive, after 10 days from the test collection date and if you are not showing any signs or symptoms of COVID-19, you would be considered to be negative for COVID-19 according to current medical guidelines. In this event, we would be able to have you on course (proof of a positive test result at least 14 days prior to course start would be required). Any positive test result with a collection date inside of this timeline without proof of a previous positive test would result in needing to cancel your enrollment for your upcoming course.

You will be asked to wear a face mask in specific situations at specific times;  however, you will not need to wear a mask for the vast majority of your Outward Bound experience.  We have structured your Outward Bound course so that your group can distance itself from other non-course staff and groups. You will be required to wear a mask at the drop-off location for the start of the course and periodically throughout the expedition if you are unable to socially distance from people outside of your expedition brigade. You and your group will also need to wear masks if someone within the group presents symptoms that cannot be attributed to another illness, or if you need to leave the course for any health reason to visit a doctor. We have added two washable cloth face masks and a buff to the packing list.

Staff will be required to wear masks when they need to interact with people outside of the immediate group and social distancing is not possible.

Each student will be sleeping in single tents if they are on canoeing courses in the Boundary Waters. Students on course in Texas will be sleeping under tarps and will be physically distanced. Your group will be considered a family unit for the entirety of the course.

Despite pre-course-screening, social distancing requirements, good hygiene, and careful measures, it is impossible to guarantee that you will not contract COVID-19 while at Outward Bound. We will take every precaution to keep you healthy while you are on your course. If a student or instructor exhibits COVID-19 symptoms during a course, we will evacuate them to our basecamp for testing.  Depending on the situation, our goal would be for the rest of the group to continue with their expedition during this time. Upon receiving a negative test, the student would be able to return to the group.  

We have set aside specific cabins and tents at our basecamps to be used as places for a student or staff person to isolate if necessary.

 If a student does test positive for COVID-19, the student would need to leave the course permanently, and parents or friends would be required to pick up the student within a 48-hour window. If a staff member tests positive for COVID-19 they would leave the course permanently and be replaced by a staff member who has been supporting the group. 

Depending on the situation, our goal would be for the rest of the group to continue with their expedition during this time.

Each basecamp will essentially be isolated. Only essential visitors (health inspectors, camp doctors, food delivery, etc.) will be allowed on property for the duration of the season. Visitors will wear masks and practice social distancing while on site.

We have also set aside specific cabins and tents at our basecamps to be used as places for a student or staff person to isolate if necessary. 

All program staff with direct interaction with students will be tested. The frequency of testing will be triggered by the prevalence of COVID-19 in the local area.

If travel or other challenges result in enrollment dropping so low that the group size is below what we believe is necessary for the valuable interpersonal dynamics of an Outward Bound course, we will seek to transfer students and combine groups. If this is not possible, we may be forced to cancel a course.

If local health authorities make a recommendation against, or a restriction that applies to our programs, courses that haven’t yet started will be cancelled and courses underway may be ended early.

If Outward Bound needs to cancel a course due to COVID-19 your Course Advisor will assist you in transferring to a future Outward Bound course OR issue a course credit for a future Outward Bound course OR issue a refund in full.

You can contact student services directly at student.services@vobs.org or  1 (828) 239 2376

If you elect not to send the student on course and they have not been directly exposed to nor contracted COVID-19, you can cancel without penalty if it's more than 90 days out. Otherwise, we will not process a refund for cancellations less than 44 days out. See our cancellation policy here.

You will work directly with our student services team: student.services@vobs.org; 1 (828) 239 2376

This course credit MAY be valid for other course types or areas within Voyageur Outward Bound School's programming and possibly even transferable to other family members. Please speak directly with our student services team: student.services@vobs.org;  1 (828) 239 2376

Course start must be on or before December 1, 2021.