Yes! Our girls and youth programming is open to anyone who identifies as a girl, female, femme. This includes cisgender, transgender, and non-cisgender girls. We also welcome any gender-non-conforming and non-binary youth who are comfortable and want to participate in female spaces. 

If there is anything pertaining to your youth’s gender or gender expression that you would like us to know, please contact us at support@womenswilderness.org.

Learn more about our health and safety in our Parent & Family Guidebook (click here to read).

Absolutely!  Women’s Wilderness offers a robust financial aid program.  Click here to head to the Youth Courses Planning page to learn more & apply.

This varies between courses and programs. 

Girls Lead for Life and Outdoor GIRLS are free programs, so refunds don’t apply.

Our Youth Open Enrollment courses have different refund policies, which are included in the registration forms and Parent and Family Guidebook.

We cater to all abilities, so rock climbing can be as hard as you want it to be, but can also be relatively mellow. All of our rock climbing guides carry a minimum certification as a Single Pitch Instructor through the American Mountain Guiding Association. Our rock guides give youth participants a chance to challenge themselves on beginning to intermediate level climbs. All participants are belayed (on a rope) during their climb.

We have a zero-technology policy for our youth participants. Instructors carry satellite phones on every course that can be used in case of emergency. We encourage participants to unplug during the course in order to foster greater community and connectivity with the experience. By the end of the course, almost all of our participants express how good it felt to disconnect and not be scrolling through social media. It may be uncomfortable at first, but trust us, it feels good at the end!

Yes, you can bring a camera – as long as it’s not attached to a phone, iPod, or tablet.  Old-school digital, film, or disposable cameras only. Note that instructors will take pictures during the course to share with participants and families afterwards. 

We do not give updates to caregivers while programs are in session- no news is good news. However, they are communicating with our On-Call Team two times a day.

At the end of the course, staff will share pictures and a program summary via a Google Photos link.

Definitely! We encourage it! If you decide to come with friends, be prepared to interact with all your groupmates, not just the ones you already know. Instructors will intentionally shape group activities in order to avoid cliques from forming. 

In most cases, you don’t need any prior experience. Our courses are designed with beginners and intermediate people in mind.

Participants often get the chance to influence routes and plans for the day, so programs can easily fit the experience level of the group.

We do our best to include specific mileage and route data on each course registration page. It will always be noted in the course description if you need to have any particular experience. 

Yes, you can. Our welcome email (sent out 2 weeks prior to the course start date) will include a detailed packing list.

On your course start date, instructors will go through all participant gear to ensure it’s appropriate for the activities at hand.

No gear, no problem! Women’s Wilderness has LOTS of gear you can borrow for the duration of the course, free of charge.

This includes: trekking poles, tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, warm clothing, rain layers, backpacks, helmets, harnesses, climbing shoes, hiking books, and more.

Each course includes its own registration form that collects demographic, medical, and emergency contact information.

Some of the questions we ask contain sensitive and personal information, we collect this data to help us better understand our programs’ impact and evaluate the effectiveness of our work in alignment with our mission. We ask detailed medical questions so that our instructors know how to best take care of and support you while on course.

Not a problem! We can accommodate almost all dietary restrictions including many anaphylactic allergies. Our registration forms include questions to gather this information.

All Women’s Wilderness are trained Colorado Medicine Administrators. Instructors will collect all medications (both prescription and OTC) from parents/caregivers at drop off. Instructors will carry and administer all participant medications for the duration of the course.

Getting your period during a course is totally normal! Instructors will have a conversation with the group about backcountry hygiene and have to stay healthy on your course. Menstruating in the backcountry is very manageable and should not deter you from enrolling.

We carry a first aid kit (with tampons and pads) on all our courses and you can ask one of our staff member if you find yourself needing one.

No problem, just send us an email at support@womenswilderness.org or text/call us  at303-938-9191 M-F 8-5pm MST.