Welcome to Nelson
OAT's Purpose
At Outdoor Adventure Training, our mission is to provide the tools and resources that help outdoor enthusiasts feel confident and strong on their adventures. We preach what we practice, and we practice what we preach. Our programs are built from our professional expertise and credentials, and shaped by the hours we spend testing our methods in real terrain, on real adventures. There’s very little space between our professional work and our personal lives. When we’re in the mountains, we’re talking about training. When we’re training, we’re getting fired up about the next big objective.
Growing a niche business like OAT demands a certain rhythm. We thrive on seasons of focused work. Weeks or months are spent building programs, filming authentic content, setting up new systems and then we retreat to the mountains to refill the tank. When we return, we’re fresh, inspired, and ready to sink our teeth into whatever’s next.
Base Camp
Ashland, Oregon has been OAT’s basecamp since day one. The little Shakespeare town nestled in the foothills of the Siskiyou Mountains provides everything we need to train and adventure. Over 100 miles of singletrack for hiking, trail running, and biking. A small ski hill for quick morning laps. And access to iconic places like Mount Shasta, Trinity Alps, Crater Lake, and the mighty Redwoods. Ashland is an incredible training ground—simple, accessible, and full of variety.
Growth & Expansion
But over time, we started to feel its limitations. Ashland is a mountain town that doesn’t quite know it’s a mountain town. After returning from a month of trekking in the Alps, the contrast was impossible to ignore. The terrain we wanted to train in, the winter we wanted to live in, and the community we wanted to grow with all seemed to be pulling us north. While Ashland will always be where OAT was built, another winter there felt too comfortable—and maybe even a step in the wrong direction when it came to expanding our skills, fitness, and business.
Hiking in the Ashland Watershed
Backcountry Skiing and Winter Camping on Mount Shasta, New Years Eve 2023
On the Hunt
Our search criteria were simple: bigger terrain, a mountain-oriented community, and real winter. After spending three weeks in the spring road-tripping and backcountry skiing along the coast, we knew we wanted to escape the crowds and head deeper into the interior ranges. Revelstoke, Fernie, Golden, and Banff were all flagged as potential destinations. But none of them felt like the right fit. We were looking for something more down to earth—more local, less on the radar.
Scouring the map eventually led us to Nelson, British Columbia. Tucked into the heart of the Kootenay Mountains, it carried a reputation for snow, community, and endless adventure. It didn’t take long to find a seasonal rental for a small cabin in the woods ten minutes from town, and before we knew it, we were heading north.
Garibaldi Neve Traverse in the Coast Range in April 2025
Tour du Mont Blanc in September 2025
Finding Nelson
From the moment we arrived, it felt different. Friendly faces, easy conversations, and a co-op that reminded us of home—organic produce, bulk goods, and all the backcountry staples you could want. The terrain sealed the deal. Morning Mountain and Pulpit Rock became quick favorites, offering steep, technical trails with big elevation gains and sweeping views of the Selkirks. On our first run up Pulpit, looking out over Kootenay Lake and the town tucked along its shore, we knew we were in the right place.
Making new friends on the trail on Day 1
Steep Trails on the way up to Pulpit Rock
A real Mountain Town
Within a week, the community made itself known. Nelson & District Community Center was full of skiers of all ages grinding through Bulgarian split squats and talking about incoming storms in the sauna. The Nelson Leafs hockey game packed 1,200 people into the arena, ten percent of the town’s population showing up on a Friday night in November. Every beer and every menu item seemed to have a ski pun. The shops carried real gear meant for real winters. All the signs pointed the same direction: this was a place built with mountains in mind.
Downtown Nelson and Kootenay Lake from Pulpit Rock
Downtown Nelson looking up to Pulpit Rock and the Flag Pole
Quiet Creativity
As we settle in for winter and wait for the snow to stack, the creative reset has already begun. New terrain is sparking fresh ideas. The quiet of the Kootenay foothills is giving us the space to write, program, edit, and think clearly about the next chapter of OAT. A local studio will help us continue producing high-quality training content, and the mountains outside our door will keep pushing us to evolve as athletes and coaches.
Snow in the Selkirk Mountains
Larches on the Lake
THe Next Chapter
Nelson feels like a natural fit for the work ahead. This season in British Columbia will give us room to dial in our own training, elevate our fitness, and pour everything we learn back into the programs we build. We’ll return to Ashland in the spring to thaw out and plan the next big objective. And while we’re not ready to share details yet, we’ll leave you with this: a big expedition is brewing in 2026—something rooted at the epicenter of mountain culture.
Big things are on the horizon for OAT.
