Where the Wild Women Are

Women: you might learn more and gain more confidence in your outdoor skills alongside other women.

// By Bevin Wallace

“It had been on my bucket list for many years, and it was so phenomenal, I immediately signed up again,” says Elise Mahaffie, a Teton Village resident (who happens to be the art director of this magazine), of the Elevate Women’s Camp at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. “I’m so used to skiing with the boys, and this was a very different dynamic—everyone was so supportive, so chatty, always cheering everybody on. And it really helped my skiing; I love learning and had some ‘aha’ moments.” 

Mahaffie’s experience is not unusual, especially for women who are used to hanging with the guys on their outdoor adventures. “I grew up here and saw all these women getting dragged around by their husbands, boyfriends, and maybe not feeling totally comfortable. When you see another woman ski something, you’re more apt to do it; but if you see your husband do it, you’re like, ‘oh, cool, let him do it. I’ll go around’,” says Crystal Wright, a former pro skier who founded the Jackson Hole Babe Force in 2012 as an answer to the Jackson Hole Air Force, a term used for a group of locals (all men in the 1980s and still mostly men at the time of the Babe Force’s founding) who were pioneering freeride skiing and getting famous in the process. “The idea for us was to find friends to get buck wild with in the mountains,” says Wright. “We had our first ski day in February 2012, and 50 women showed up. I was like, ‘there’s a need for this.’” 

Outdoor events and programs tailored specifically for women offer a chance to learn or practice a skill in a safe, supportive environment. “There is something very powerful and special about women-only adventures,” says Katie McNamara, owner of Wheel Wranglers, a bike shop with locations in Jackson and Victor, Idaho, that offers women-only programming in partnership with Women in the Tetons (McNamara is a WIIT board member) and W.H.A.L.E.S. (Women Hikers and Literature Enthusiasts). “We work to create a space that celebrates being new at something and facilitates connections with women in the community.” 

A study published in the Journal of Experiential Education found that women participating in all-female adventure programs experienced increased belief in themselves, desire to participate again, pride in their accomplishments, self-respect, confidence, and courage. It’s no wonder that interest in and access to all-women adventures is growing.

According to Google, searches for “female-only travel” have increased by over 230 percent since 2016. Adventure travel and tour companies, no dummies, have been ramping up their women-only offerings accordingly. When Backroads, one of the world’s leading outfitters, launched Women’s Adventures in the fall of 2023, the trips filled up almost immediately, and the company, expecting continued growth, now offers more than 40 walking and hiking trips around the world exclusively for women. 

In and around Jackson Hole, there are plentiful options for women to get out and enjoy the great outdoors with other like-minded women. Here’s a roundup of some to explore.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort

A study published in the Journal of Experiential Education found that women participating in all-female adventure programs experienced increased belief in themselves, desire to participate again, pride in their accomplishments, self-respect, confidence, and courage. 

JHMR has several women’s camps, which offer a chance to learn from some of the resort’s best female coaches. The Elevate Women’s Ski Camp, offered every winter (Jan. 13–16, 2026), is a four-day camp for intermediate to expert skiers. The resort says that over half of the participants return year after year because they love it so much and appreciate the breakthroughs they make in their skiing. In addition to small-group instruction, which Mahaffie describes as “very customized and individualized,” the camp includes video analysis, après-ski events, and a celebration dinner on the final night.

The four-day Lady Shred Ski + Snowboard Camp (Mar. 3–6, 2026) is for intermediate to expert skiers and snowboarders and offers groups of friends that are a mix of skiers and snowboarders the chance to do a camp together. Campers are divided into small groups of either all skiers or all snowboarders and learn to handle JHMR’s diversity of conditions and terrain.

For women and non-binary individuals who are new to the backcountry, JHMR’s Beyond the Boundaries Camp offers an introduction to backcountry gear and safety with a focus on building community and confidence. This two-day camp (Jan. 31–Feb. 1, 2026) is for advanced to expert skiers and snowboarders. Campers learn to use touring skis or splitboards and climbing skins and better understand terrain selection in avalanche terrain. While avalanche safety is covered, this camp is not meant to be a replacement for an Avalanche Level 1 course. jacksonhole.com

The Mountain Guides, Jackson Hole

Jackson Hole Mountain Guides was founded in 1968 by legendary skier and climber Barry Corbet (the namesake of JHMR’s Corbet’s Couloir) and, several owners later, continues to offer guided backcountry trips in Grand Teton National Park and beyond, in winter and summer. Its Women’s Network—which was founded 20 years ago by the late professional climber Aimee Barnes, who saw a need in the guiding community to connect women and create more work opportunities for them—offers climbing and backcountry skiing clinics to women (and non-binary individuals; the company refers to “Femmes and Thems”) of all levels, including backcountry ski and avalanche courses every winter, including Backcountry Essentials and Avalanche Level 1. “We are most proud to be doing the backcountry skiing series in Jackson, which launched last year and will run again in 2026,” says women’s program manager Holly Mackin. “It’s designed to get local ladies in Jackson together to build upon backcountry skiing skills.” The Women’s Backcountry Touring Series consists of once-a-month meet-ups, each focusing on a different fundamental backcountry skill. themountainguides.com

Ski Divas Women’s Ski Camps

Former World Tour Freeskiing Champion Jessica Baker is one of only a handful (17 as of 2024) of female AMGA-certified mountain guides in the U.S. In the early 2000s, she worked for several years with Doug and Emily Coombs on their Steep-Skiing Camps in La Grave, France, and during those ski camps, “it was so clear that the male-dominated environment was a barrier to women even interested in trying something like it,” Baker says. In 2007, she founded Ski Divas. “I knew women were craving that opportunity to learn, grow, and push themselves in a more supportive environment,” she says. Ski Divas hosts women’s ski camps in far-flung locales such as Greenland and Alaska, as well as in the Tetons, partnering with Exum Mountain Guides for their annual Women’s Only Backcountry Ski Week, a four-day, five-night guided and instructional trip in the Teton backcountry. In 2023, Ski Divas started its Jackson-based BIWOC Ski Camp for all levels of skiers in the Black, Indigenous, and women of color communities, which includes three days of skiing and evening self-care workshops. skidivas.com

Women in the Tetons

WIIT grew out of the Jackson Hole Babe Force. Today, Women in the Tetons is a volunteer-run nonprofit focused on empowering women “to seek adventure in the mountains,” according to board member Katie McNamara. “We do that through two key areas—our scholarship program and events.” WIIT awards about $30,000 per year in scholarships to local women for things such as avalanche certification, outdoor education, and expeditions. Its events include the “Trails to Tailgate” series in the summer and ski and fat-biking meetups and avalanche beacon clinics in the winter. “It’s amazing. We tend to have huge diversity in participants as far as ages—teens all the way up to retired women. It’s really great to get women in the same space trying something new and having some shared learning,” McNamara says. womeninthetetons.org

Wheel Wranglers

In addition to a large selection of bikes for rent or purchase, Wheel Wranglers, a women-owned and -founded business, co-hosts women-only fat bike group rides and hosts women-only bike-maintenance clinics. wheelwranglers.com

Farther Afield

Founded in 2015 as a Facebook group, Women Who Ski is now the world’s largest organized group of women skiers and snowboarders with over 17,000 members. Membership levels range from Green (free) to Blue ($25) and Black Diamond ($45); the Blue membership includes access to members-only local chat groups, and Black gets you early-bird access to information on upcoming Women Who Ski trips worldwide.womenwhoski.org

Girl, Get After It was founded in Bozeman, Montana, in 2017 by Cassidy Wendell during a rough time in her life. “Instead of searching for a community, I created one,” she says. 

Today, GGAI has Red Bull as a partner and hosts events and supports nonprofits in over 20 communities, including Denver, Bend, Oregon, and Bozeman. The Jackson Hole chapter was launched in December 2024 and has over 50 members who enjoy activities such as a Phelps Lake group hike and the Cirque Series trail run at Grand Targhee. Membership ($15/month or $89/year) includes access to monthly in-person events and meet-ups (including ski days), a mobile app for connecting with fellow members, and more. girlgetafterit.com JH