Hey Folks! Welcome back to our (roughly) monthly newsletter where we spill the deets on our life and ministry at Frontier Lodge. A quick note that Frontier Lodge is a non-profit organization, and thus we rely on donations to subsidize our staff salary; If you like what you hear please consider making a tax-deductible donation (instructions at the end). Let’s jump in!
Explore Winter Term:
Life here has definitely taken another dramatic turn for January and February! The cabins were again been flooded by a mob of Outdoor Leadership students, and the schedule got pretty packed! Emilie and I were mainly a part of some of the behind - the scenes work this winter, but we also got the opportunity to get some valuable training that should allow us to have a bit of a different role next winter. I worked with the kitchen and maintenance teams to make sure things ran smoothly around camp, making meals and thawing frozen drains were pretty typical for my workload. I also got to start fixing and cleaning our fleet of mountain bikes, getting them ready to sell. Meanwhile, Emilie could be found helping out in the kitchen, doing the Frontier’s books, or helping plan this year’s round of summer camps, the registration for which is now open at frontierlodge.ca. We also each got to take part in an ice climbing day with some of the students - it was awesome to see their progression from last term into really fantastic leaders.
Learning New Things!
Em and I have had some awesome opportunities through work to go out and tackle two courses in January. The first was a 40 hr wilderness first aid in which we learned many valuable skills that will help us to become more proficient outdoor leaders. We also took our Avanlance Safety Training Level 1, in which we were equipped to safely travel in avalanche terrain, unlocking our access to the world of winter backcountry adventures!
Ok Fine - Winter Rocks!
Lately we’ve been reconciled to winter, as we’ve discovered how many great adventures there are to be had during the season. We’ve been making the most of our days off by taking micro-adventures like exploring Allstones creek on snowshoes or taking a spontaneous 15 minute drive to Abraham lake to sleep in our car and wake up to the sunrise over the mountains. These are some pretty simple outings that are super achievable but highly rewarding. They can also be upgraded by taking family members along or trying something new or challenging. This really hits on some of the biggest values of adventure - the ability it has to draw people together in the face of challenge seems just about unmatched. All this said we’ve also had the opportunity to do some bigger adventures - ones that took more effort to plan or attain, but were only made more valuable as a result. For example, I’ve wanted to try backcountry ski touring for something like 4 or 5 years now, but the time and cost of attaining gear and avalanche safety training have always stood in the way of realizing this. Emilie and I were finally able to strap on our boots and tour up Bow Summit for an amazing day of backcountry powder skiing!
What have been some really impactful adventures you’ve been on? We’d love to hear about them!!
If you’re able to and would like to contribute to our journey and ministry here at Frontier Lodge, you can send Frontier a donation via their website (frontierlodge.ca/donate) and let them know you’d like it to go to mine and Emilie’s compensation. Frontier Lodge is a non-profit organization and as a result, a lot of our salary has to come from donations such as this, so the support is greatly appreciated! You’ll receive a tax receipt on your donation to boot!
Thanks for tuning into this month’s newsletter! If you enjoyed it please let us know, and if you know anyone you think would like to receive these updates, let them know they can send us their email and we’ll add them to the mailing list. Newsletters will also be able to be viewed on our blog at https://emilieeperrault.wixsite.com/blog. Thanks again for checking this out!
We love you guys! Ariel & Em.
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Great job on the blog. Always enjoy hearing what you are up to. So proud of the beautiful couple you are becoming. Keep up God's work. 💞