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What Will Your Next Adventure Be?

All Programs and Courses

"Verascapes Emanates Community! Cultivating a space of fellowship by instituting a welcoming environment to all ages, types, and experience whether that be as steward, administration, novice, or all-around fun-time retreater.  As a female person of color, I am stoked about these ideals Verascapes possesses and have thus far felt so embraced into this outdoor education experience – and I say 'experience' because that’s what it is!  An inviting, community-oriented, encouraging EXPERIENCE!"

Raquel G.

Verascapes Rocks! So often, feeling like a burden to others more experienced than you can be a huge barrier to the outdoors. In addition, when you come from an underrepresented community and no one looks like you in the outdoors, that feeling is compounded. I am so grateful that I was able to learn in a safe and supportive environment. Verascapes helped challenge me, educate me, and inspire me. 

Tina P.

I am a woman of color, I am also an outdoor enthusiast. These two identities, which are too often mutually exclusive, have often brought me to spaces where I feel like “the only one”.  I’ve found myself in many situations surrounded by well intentioned and well educated white men. Trying to learn in this environment can be difficult because when you feel like the “only one” you already feel as if you don’t belong there and that information is not meant for you. Maybe your peers make you feel silenced. Maybe you don’t feel comfortable asking a “dumb question”. When I had the opportunity to take my avalanche course with all women, and other women of color, I jumped at the opportunity. In this space, I felt heard and acknowledged in a way that I hadn’t experienced before in the outdoors. I was surrounded by other people that had also felt like the “only one,” except this time we were no longer alone in that experience. 

Ina W.

Outdoor Leadership Accelerator Program

The Verascapes’ Outdoor Leadership Accelerator Program (OLAP) is a unique program advancing inclusive leadership in the outdoors. We bring together outdoor leaders who are committed to the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ,) and we accelerate their professional development. We focus on supporting a small cohort of leaders who are under-represented or accomplices in the outdoor industry, so they may learn from each other and create a network of colleagues with shared values. We emphasize having a cohort of people with mixed identities, ages, skills, and professional trajectories in order to foster deep learning.

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