Outdoor staff training in Scandinavia
The Outdoor Academy of Scandinavia is a project initiated by Scandinavian Outdoor Group, offering the most comprehensive outdoor staff training in Europe. We invite our best retailers and journalists to join OAS, to learn by doing in the inspiring classroom of the Scandinavian outdoors. The objective is to expand your knowledge about the participating brands, to really try out the equipment in demanding outdoor conditions and for you to learn more about outdoor life in Scandinavia. The staff from the participating SOG companies will be your guides.
The Outdoor academies take place in some of Scandinavia’s most beautiful and untouched outdoor locations. Each academy takes place in a different region depending on the season and climate, often with the help of regional destinations as well as the Norwegian and Swedish Travel and Tourism boards.
The OAS is open for participants from all parts of the outdoor industry; retailers, press and sometimes tour operators. Each academy has 30 to 50 participants from all over Europe, together with instructors from the inviting SOG companies. Of course, you have some outdoor experience and share our passion for outdoors. Some academies require special skills upon participation such as experience in winter camping, touring on skis, paddling in kayaks, etc.
Each OAS involves outdoor activities (like trekking, kayaking, moutainbiking, camping, navigation training, ski touring, showshoeing, bivouacking, outdoor cooking etc) product workshops and testing. Weather can be nice or angry, and during the winter, temperatures can drop to below -20 Celsius. You carry your own equipment, sleep in tents and cook your own meals. You work together with your team friends and instructors. The academy language is English, therefore, understanding and speaking English is necessary. Upon completion, participants are certified as SOG “Outdoor Ambassadors of Scandinavia”.
For further information: oas@scandinavianoutdoorgroup.com
Film by: Media Spark
- The first OAS was organized in 2002.
- We have so far organized 56 Outdoor Academies in Sweden and Norway.
- 22 of them have been organized in co-operation with the tourism industry, where also tour operators have joined.
- In total, 1170 retailers and 255 journalists are by now Outdoor Ambassadors of Scandinavia.
- 32 of our current SOG brands have joined OAS.
- We have had guests from 19 different countries, where Germany is number one.
- And, from all the evaluations from the participants we can easily say that OAS is a success story.