Discover

All Women’s Introduction to Backpacking Retreat

The heart of Skala Adventures is truly adding a deeper value to our experience. Not only we learn the hard skills, such as cooking or even baking Delicious meals, or learning practical survival skills, we Go Deeper by Slowing Down. By adding various personal development activities and allowing time to reflect, we hope to explore what’s ahead – to lean into our strengths, hopes, passions, and ultimately our purpose.

If you are looking to reset during these “interesting” times, treat yourself to a journey with us. We invite you slow down, look at life from a new perspective, shake off uncertainty in your life and find an opportunity to ground yourself.

Our goal for the next few days is to learn the basics of backpacking in any wilderness setting you choose in future. A small group size will offer a safe learning environment to cover what it means to be safe while traveling in the backcountry – Leave No Trace principles, thermoregulation, navigation techniques, risk management/animal safety, backcountry meals or overnight gear…

2021 Dates:

July 2-4 (meet – the evening of the 1st)

September 3-5 (meet – the evening of the 2nd)

Location: Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Kananaskis Country, Alberta

Investment:

$490 CAD / 3 days/2 nights (in wilderness)/ 1 night at a ranch

What’s Included:

certified wilderness guide
backcountry camping permit for all days
group gear: tents, cooking gear, filtration system, group first aid kit, bear spray, water treatment
variety of hearty and delicious meals, group dinner on day 1 – lunch on day 3
pre-trip support to help you be prepared for your wilderness journey
backcountry travel ethics and wilderness safety education
reflection time of contemplative/personal development activities supporting your experience / group debrief sessions
accommodation: tenting – ranch/day 0, backcountry days 1-3

What’s not included:

transportation to Canmore – trailhead transportation will be arranged by carpooling together
supper on the last day
personal gear – please let us know what you need and we’ll do our best to arrange a gear rental for you
personal expenses/air fares
travel insurance
tips – much appreciated 😉

Itinerary:

Day 0 – meeting at 5PM in Canmore, and going over our equipment in order to see if we have all necessary gear for our adventure; learn how to pack your backpack for the next few days, getting rid of unnecessary stuff and keeping the layers to keep warm and dry; camping at the property. Bonding time.

Day 1 – wake up, breakfast, carpooling to Kananaskis Country. Today’s hike is short, but it will allow us to cover and refresh the basics of safe and fun backcountry travel (including animal safety), map reading, camp set-up / campsite living basics. Exploration and reflection activity keep us active today, delicious meal awaits in the evening.

Day 2 of 2 – after a hearty breakfast and reflection, we head back to our vehicles in the afternoon.

Day 2 of 3 – a day of exploring, reflection, learning new skills.

Day 3 – after a yummy breakfast and reflection, we head back to our vehicles in the afternoon.

Your trip information package will be sent out after the electronic registration (personal and health information for the guides to get to know you better).

Please note, part of the registration will be an electronic release of liability and waiver, which must be read and agreed to prior to your payment. The paper format release of liability and waiver and the Declaration of Health and Exposure form will also be required once we meet in person. To minimize contact, you can print them out before the trip.

Feel free to check off the recommended Summer-Gear-List.

I am Interested