Welcome to Summit Sisters!
August 9-11 , 2024 | Jamestown, CO
Summit Sisters is our largest Women’s Wilderness community gathering of the year! The weekend is centered around building our individual and collective resilience through workshops, shared meals and conversations, adventure, and community.
This year’s theme is Belonging: Coming home to ourselves, nature, and community. Together we will explore our relationship with belonging and invite in the vulnerability and excitement of cultivating deeper connections. Check out the video with Summit Sisters organizers Kriste and Erin to learn more!
What's Included
- Belonging, identity, and community building
- Movement and dance
- Outdoor survival skills
- Creative and healing arts
- Plant identification and connection to land
- Reflective and restorative practices
- Nature-based ritual, and much more!
- A full schedule of workshops, group discussions and activities
- Meals and snacks (Friday night dinner through Sunday breakfast)
- Lodging/Camping for Friday & Saturday night
- Cotopaxi lunch bag stocked with snacks!
- Redbudsuds shampoo, conditioner, body and shave soap, all in one. Their shower bars are thoughtfully clean – they eliminate: preservatives, parabens, phthalates, plastic packaging, trips to the recycling bin, and messes in your shower, suitcase or backpack
- Miir Climate+ Insulated Tumbler
Sliding Scale Pricing
Women’s Wilderness has long recognized that systemic barriers often limit the opportunities for engagement and connection in nature. We are excited to introduce sliding scale pricing, which invites individuals to support each other and Women’s Wilderness according to their own resources.
Financial aid is also available, thanks to support from Root Adventures – click here to learn more and apply.
Tier 1
-
This price covers a portion of our costs to host the Summit Sisters Retreat.
Tier 2
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This price cover the majority of our costs to host the Summit Sisters retreat as well as staffing and guest instructor fees.
Tier 3
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This price helps us "pay it forward and offer transformation outdoor programming to all regardless of financial circumstances.
About the Venue
Summit Sisters 2024 will take place at Cal-Wood Outdoor Education Center.
Cal-Wood is a like minded non-profit organization that shares our commitment to removing barriers to accessing the outdoors. This 1,200 acre property is home to mountain views, cozy accommodations, spruce and pine forest, trails and wildlife, and delicious food in the mountains of Jamestown, Colorado. The venue is conveniently located just 35 minutes north of Boulder, Colorado at an elevation of 7,800 ft.
Lodging Options
Camping
Group camping in a field/wooded area adjacent to the main lodge. Space is limited, please consider sharing a tent if you are coming with friends/family. Access to nearby restrooms and showers is available.
Bunk House
Meet Your Instructors
Instructors will be facilitating workshops and creating space for all women (cis, trans, nonbinary, LGBTQIA+) 18+ from all backgrounds, ethnicities, and abilities.
Dameda
(She/Her)
Guest Facilitator
A conscious leader and compassionate soul, Dameda understands the profound connection between breath, body, mind, and Spirit and the pivotal role that connection plays in reclaiming agency and vitality.
Erica
(She/Her)
Guest Facilitator
Michelle
(She/They)
Instructor
Michelle Castor (she/they) is a Portal Doula, guiding individuals and communities through the portal-like experiences of grief & loss, fertility/TTC, and transformation…
Laura
(She/Her)
Instructor
Laura Tyson founded Women’s Wilderness in 1998 and served as Executive Director for the first ten years.
Kriste
(She/Her)
Instructor
Lisa
(She/Her)
Instructor
Erin
(She/Her)
Instructor
Lily
(She/Her)
Instructor
Lily (she/her) grew up in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies and has always loved playing in dirt, snow, water, and woods.
Bianca
(She/Her)
Instructor
Bianca was born and raised in beautiful Colorado, and is passionate about making yoga accessible to all communities.
Savina
(She/Her)
Instructor
Savina grew up in Patagonia, Argentina. Surrounded by the immensity and beauty of that landscape, from a young age, she developed a sense of belonging in nature…
Cheyenne
(She/Her)
Instructor
Sadie
(She/They)
Instructor
Spending her formative years in the backwoods of the Midwest, Sadie‘s (she/they) passion for wilderness medicine and nature connection is rooted in her belief that wisdom is held in nature…
Marley
(She/Her)
Instructor
Marley (she/her) grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado, connecting with the natural world through her neighborhood parks and car camping with family.
Linh
(She/Her)
Instructor
sponsored by
2024 Schedule
| Friday | |
|---|---|
| 3:00pm - 5:00pm | Check-in |
| 5:15pm | Opening Circle |
| 6:00pm - 7:00pm | Dinner |
| 7:00pm - 8:30pm | Belonging To Our Breath Group Session |
| 8:30pm | Oh My Stars! |
| 10:00pm | Quiet Time/ Lights Out |
| Saturday | |
|---|---|
| 6:00am | Moving Meditation |
| 6:30am | Sunrise Yoga to Welcome the Day |
| 7:00am-8:00am | Breakfast |
| 8:00am - 10:00am | Workshops: • Nature Hike (Moderate) • Finding Nourishment in Stillness & Nature • Create with Watercolors • Integral Tai Chi |
| 10:00am - 11:00am | Community Mosaic Mural / Free Time |
| 11:00am-Noon | Lunch |
| 12:30pm - 3:00pm | Belonging: Community Conversations and Affinity Spaces |
| 3:30pm - 5:30pm | Workshops: • "Backpacking Basics: Getting Started in the Backcountry" • Quiet Feet: Contemplative Hike • When Nature Calls, Leave No Trace • Mindfulness: Come Home to Nature and Yourself • Redefining Ourselves Through Play |
| 6:00-7:00pm | Dinner |
| 7:00pm | Instructor Panel and Campfire Circle |
| 8:30pm | • Tender Hearts - A Grief Circle • Let's Relax - A Gentle Yoga Flow to Wind Down |
| 10:00pm | Quiet Time / Lights Out |
| Sunday | |
|---|---|
| 6:30am | Integral Tai Chi |
| 7:00am-8:00am | Breakfast and Pack Up |
| 8:30am - 10:00am | Workshops: • Come Home: A Community Rest Practice • Leave No Trace • Paint Colorado's Wildflowers • Finding Nourishment in Stillness & Movement |
| 10:00am - 11:45pm | Closing Ceremony |
Download Schedule
*schedule is subject to changeWorkshop Descriptions
This list will be updated as more courses are confirmed.
Tender Hearts: A Grief Circle
with Michelle
Come co-create a gentle circle for witnessing, grieving, and presence. In reclaiming communal grief spaces, we expand our capacity to hold the fullness of grief and create belonging through storytelling, embodiment, and leaning in. To each other. To our grief. Let’s ground together. Let’s grieve together. Let’s heal together.
This space is an invitation – you are encouraged to participate and welcome to pass. Our time together will include: creating an altar for grief, heart-centered sharing & witnessing, journal based reflection time, and somatic practices for grounding and presence.
To Bring: anything that helps you feel more comfortable (tea, blanket, fidget toys, etc), something to represent your grief for our altar (picture, flower, note, etc), journal & writing/drawing utensils
Come Home
with Michelle
Come Home is a trauma sensitive community rest practice that invites us (back) into presence and into our bodies.
This circle offers a gentle and steady space to explore the possibility of rest and embodiment. Through heart-centered sharing & witnessing, reflection time, a collective reading, and a guided visualization – this space gifts our nervous systems, our beings, and our spirits a chance for decompression, connection, and the room to breathe and be.
This space is an invitation. You are encouraged to participate and always welcome to pass.
To Bring: anything that helps you feel more comfortable (tea, blanket, fidget toys, etc), journal & writing/drawing utensils
Create with Watercolors
with Lily
How often do you get the time to lean in close to notice the colors and textures of a wild-flower or a bug or to zoom out and take in the sweeping shapes and values of a landscape? This workshop offers a space to slow down and soak in the beauty of the world around us while flexing our creativity and connecting with community. In this workshop, you will learn basic water-color painting techniques, engage in a mindful approach to creative expression, and leave with a beautiful hand-painted card to gift to someone special or keep for yourself as a reminder of your Summit Sisters experience
Backpacking Basics: Getting Started in the Backcountry
with Cheyenne
Join me for an informative and hands-on workshop designed to equip you with the essential skills and knowledge for your first backcountry adventure. Whether you’re a complete novice or have some experience, this workshop will cover everything from selecting the right gear and packing your backpack to navigation, safety tips, and Leave No Trace principles. Gain confidence and learn the fundamentals of backpacking to ensure a safe and enjoyable outdoor experience. Let’s embark on this journey together and discover the wonders of the backcountry!
Community Mosaic Mural
with Cheyenne
Join us in a vibrant and collaborative art project that brings our community together through creativity and shared effort. In the Community Mosaic Mural project, every participant will have the opportunity to design and create their own unique tile. These individual tiles will then be assembled into a mosaic mural that reflects the diversity, unity, and collective spirit of our community. No prior artistic experience is necessary—just bring your enthusiasm and imagination!
Belonging to Our Breath
with Dameda
During our time together, we will delve into the various aspects of belonging from the perspective of the body that includes, but not limited to, connecting with our breath and discovering how connecting and belonging to our breath can enhance our connection and belonging to nature and the communities that surround us. We will explore connecting and belonging to our breath through both dialogue and experiences, breathing into ourselves, into nature, and into community.
Integral Tai Chi
with Linh
Integral Tai Chi is a health improvement program, combining Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and Meditation in one system that integrates body, mind, and spirit. This class serves to bring the vision of restoring health, engendering hope, and facilitating a healing process. This program allows you to generate and use energy effectively, enhance brain functionality, increase physical fitness, reduce stress, increase flexibility, lessen the effects of aging, and improve feelings of wellbeing. Requirements for class include: Yoga mat, t-shirt and sweatpants (no trunks or shorts), water.Redefining Ourselves Through Play
with Savina
As children we use play to try new things, to imagine new ways of interacting with the world, but as adults we often become more structured and move through the world as the “final version of ourselves.” This workshop is an opportunity to use experiential learning games to look inwards into the way we communicate, and the way we connect with others. An opportunity to see what barriers prevent us to show up as our authentic selves, redefining ourselves as we once did, when we were young.
Oh My Stars!
with Lisa
Grab your headlamp with that night vision-saving red light and join Lisa in viewing the stars overhead! Star maps will be provided to assist you in locating prominent planets and constellations. Learn a little about how the celestial skies influenced navigation and mythology and see the heavens much like our ancestors did.
When Nature Calls, Leave No Trace
with Lisa
Learn how to be a better environmental steward on your outdoor excursions! Lisa will introduce you to the 7 principles of Leave No Trace that guide humans in minimizing our impact on Mother Earth. Lisa will also incorporate a few games and exercises to help keep the principles memorable, including how to poop in the woods and what to do when you cross paths with our animal friends…
Paint Colorado’s Wildflowers
with Erin
Let’s get to know the flowers and plants of the Rocky Mountain foothills and use watercolor paints to celebrate their incredible beauty! I’ll provide all of the art supplies, as well as some wildflower guides and painting guidance. We’ll learn about the diverse flora living in our backyards and sketch or paint the flowers we observe. Please bring water and any of your favorite art supplies if you’d like (not required).
Mindfulness: Come Home to Nature and Yourself
with Erin
I invite you to savor our time in nature together as we explore some of Cal-Wood’s beautiful trails and landscapes. Inspired by the Japanese practice of forest bathing (shinrin-yoku), we’ll take our time exploring and connecting with nature together through sensory experiences, creative and playful activities, guided meditation, and quiet reflection. As we practice slowing down and tuning in to our surroundings, we just might find some grace and gratitude for wherever we may be in our own journeys. Please bring water and a journal and pen (if writing or sketching are helpful reflection tools for you). Wear comfortable hiking shoes and know that we may go off trail during our time together.
Finding Nourishment in Stillness and Movement
with Laura
What is nourishment? And how do we take it in? By dropping in to the stillness and movement that lives within us, we will explore how we can relate to the natural world as a place of rest, embodiment, and nourishment.
Sunrise Yoga to Welcome the Day
with Bianca
Begin your morning with an uplifting & energizing yoga flow that will help open our hearts & mind for the day ahead. Expect a gentle yoga flow with plenty of options to modify poses so you can move through yoga postures that work for you and your body. This class is open to all experiences and every(BODY)! I look forward to flowing with you.Let’s Relax: A Gentle Yoga Flow to Wind Down
with Bianca
Join me for a close-to-the-earth yoga flow to help you feel grounded, relaxed and ready to get an amazing night’s rest. This is a gentle yoga flow that will focus on deep breathing with a goal to help you feel good from head to toe! Modifications will be offered, which allows us to choose what works best for us and our body. Having agency over our body and choosing which intensity works best for us is super important as we move through our practice, connecting us to our mind, body and soul. This class is open to all experiences, I look forward to flowing with you!“I can do hard things” Part 1:
An Introduction to Wilderness Medicine
with Sadie
The goal of this 2 hour workshop is to have all participants walk away feeling a little more self-confident about recreating and facing emergency incidents in the outdoors . With a focus on hands-on skill building and wilderness medicine basics, this introductory workshop will give participants the building blocks they need to feel greater self-efficacy in wilderness settings.“I can do hard things” Part 2:
Building Confidence through Outdoor Survival Skills
with Sadie
(Attendance of Part 1 is NOT required) This 1.5 hour workshop will build off the knowledge we learned in Part 1 to take a deeper dive into environmental and exposure injuries, and how we can use ancestral skills in combination with wilderness medicine to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes in backcountry emergencies.What Women are Saying
“The workshops engaged me in activities and ways of thinking that i hadn’t experienced before.”
“I very much appreciated being in a multicultural women’s community in nature. I appreciated the sharing circles, ceremonies, and chanting. I was practicing letting my hypervigilant guard down and reconnecting with nature”
“This weekend really got my wheels turning about how I prioritize time in nature and my ability to seek out time and space there whether on my own or with others. It was so pleasurable being outside in a different setting than I’m used to.”
“So wonderful to spend a few days with friendly, kind and different individuals in a beautiful setting. I left feeling refreshed, grateful, and excited to come back.”
