Junior Katherine Jones texted her friends good-bye as she left for Winter Odyssey, a seven-day camping expedition out in the northern Minnesota boundary waters, in the early morning of Feb. 10.

Winter Odyssey has been a tradition of St. Paul Academy and Summit School for over three decades, and each year, sophomores, juniors, and seniors are encouraged to participate. Upper School English teacher and SPA Outdoor Program Director John Wensman organizes it, and this year invited alumna Lucia Cowles, class of ‘07, to help as an instructor.

Jones spent weeks trying to contain her excitement for the trip, mixing Valentine M&Ms with a tub of trail mix, telling her friends to write her letters, and buying gear that would help her confront the northern Minnesota cold. “I’ve done summer camping but I’ve never done winter camping, and it’s always been on my list of things I’d like to do,” Jones said.

Likewise, senior Asher Szachowicz, who had gone on Spring Odyssey last year, is also going this winter to check off an item on his bucket list. “I always wanted to do Winter Odyssey and there were a bunch of my friends who hadn’t gone on camping trips for quite some time and wanted to do something,” he said. Although Winter Odyssey had been canceled at the beginning of the year, Szachowicz and other students helped “resurrect” it back into action.

“It’s winter so it’s a whole new experience, and it’s more intimate because of the nature of the weather outside. You have to be closer together; you have to pay more attention to each other,” Szachowicz said. He will spend his two day solo with senior Peter Driscoll, who is also on his second Odyssey.

“Spending seven days with some of my best friends is just too good of an opportunity to pass up, and that’s what I want to get out of it,” Szachowicz said.

Jones looks forward to getting to know others better, too. “I expect some really good friendships to emerge and some good outdoor camping and life skills,” she said. During her solo, in which she will camp by herself for 42 hours, she hopes that “I’ll maybe find a part of me or something like that.”

Jones was initially apprehensive about the weather, but now looks forward to the 0 to 20 degree Fahrenheit temperatures. Both she and Szachowicz are wary of possible accidents that may cause an evac, which involves a camper getting airlifted out or the trip ending early. “There are a few people on the trip that I’m not sure if they’re fully comfortable with the ideas yet so I want to make sure that they’re safe…,” Szachowicz said.

Fortunately, the many successful Odysseys in the past and the countless weeks of training forecast a memorable experience. “The biggest part of it is really making the most of second semester of senior year,” Szachowicz said. “I feel like it’s an opportunity for us to spend a lot of time together and have a good time in a way we wouldn’t normally do.”