5 night: Feb 19-23, 2024: $200 deposit due at sign-up; Remainder due on November 1st
 
Offered in partnership with Grounding Truth Holistic Guiding
 
Calling all women and women-identifying people interested in taking their backcountry skiing to the next level. This Women’s Backcountry Mentorship Camp is intended for women and women-identifying humans with level one and/or level two avalanche knowledge and at least one season of backcountry skiing (15+ days) experience. The program will focus on mentee leadership, decision making techniques in action, day to day observations and zone specific forecasting, group debriefing, building out a runlist, and tactics for exploring new terrain– both safely and efficiently.
 
Your guides, Julz Holder and Jodi Redfield, aside from mentoring women in backcountry skiing, also teach avalanche education courses, ski guide, and offer wilderness medicine programs during the winter months. They look forward to offering you nuggets of wisdom from their collective 20+ years of experience in the industry, empowering you with opportunities to expand your skill set and confidence, and providing you with compassionate feedback while we explore the nuances and dynamic relationships that exist in the mountains. Mentorship exists on a wide variety of skills and topics and will mostly depend on group desires and conditions.
 
The setting of Fortune Peak Huts allows for an incredible mountain retreat-like experience, with a wide variety of terrain that will provide a good challenge and encourage creativity in tour-planning.
 
Immediately above camp are the Esmeralda Peaks, Koppen Mountain, Teanaway Mountain, and Iron Peak. These mountains offer everything from protected storm skiing in the trees to 2,000'+ couloirs. Perched just east of the cascade crest at the confluence of cold eastern air and moisture-laden storms rolling in off the pacific, this part of the cascades is colder and sunnier than the mountains to the west. So the odds are pretty good for high quality turns!
 
Accommodations include a barrel sauna and a weatherport style hut set up to provide a comfortable escape from the winter elements– can you say dreamy? Your guide team will keep the wood stove cranking out the heat and drying out your gear for tomorrow's adventures. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided and we will all take turns pitching in on the cooking.
 
This experience is as much about fostering community and empowering women’s voices in outdoor spaces as it is about skiing powder and aesthetic lines. We look forward to sharing the magic of the mountains with you!
 
Itinerary
Day 1 Approach: 
We will meet at the 29 Pines Sno-Park about 30 min north of Cle Elum, WA. From there we will pack up our gear on the snowmobiles and begin moving up the valley. Our gear will go all the way to the hut and we will finish the commute to camp with a 4-mile/600’vert skin directly to camp or by climbing an objective or two along the way and descending into camp.
 
Day 2 Tour: 
After a wholesome and hearty breakfast and packing lunches, we’ll discuss conditions before getting out into the field for a full day of touring. We’ll ease into the trip with a more mellow lap or two to get our legs under us before venturing out into whatever terrain is appropriate for the team and conditions of the day! We’ll end the day with some sauna and appetizers before dropping into dinner and our debrief of the day.
 
Day 3-4 Tours: 
Our next full tour days will provide more opportunities for participants to take on leadership roles with supervision and feedback from mentors. Options exist for a variety of ski options, including: 2,000’ couloirs to gladed tree skiing. As will become tradition, we’ll end the day with a sauna and appetizers, a quality debrief of the day, and a delicious shared meal.
 
Day 5 Tour and Exit: 
After breakfast and packing up our overnight gear, we’ll head out for one last half day tour. Around midday, we’ll come back to the hut for a final lunch and celebration before we exit the field, and begin our journeys onwards.
 
 
What is included:
4-night hut stay
3:1 max mentee to mentor ratio
High quality instruction, mentorship, and feedback.
Meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert) for the duration of the trip, excluding 1st breakfast and last day dinner, non-alcoholic beverages (All dietary restrictions will be provided for. The food will be high quality and nutritious!)
Gear portering in and out of camp
4-mile snowmobile shuttle, shortening the approach/exit
Evening saunas
 
What is not included:
Extra snacks
Personal Gear and kit (Equipment list available upon request. But will include personal backcountry ski/split and safety equipment.)
Alcoholic beverages
Bedding (bring a warm sleeping bag)