Thank you
The people behind every scholarship
Women-led guide companies run the adventures. Sponsors and donors pay for them and outfit every recipient. Meet them, follow them, and go climbing with them.
Who runs the trips
Our operating partners
Sponsors make a scholarship possible. These four women-led guide companies make it real. They are the guides, instructors, logistics teams and local experts who turn an award into a week in the mountains. In 2026, our recipients traveled with all four.
You can climb with them too. You do not need a scholarship to join their trips. Each company runs adventures that are open to everyone, so follow them, pick a trip, and bring a friend.
Mountaineering trips for women, led by women
AWExpeditions
Small teams, real skills, and a path for every level, from your first backpacking trip to peaks near 7,000 meters.
- Stepping-stone trips that need no experience, like a Grand Canyon rim-to-rim backpack
- Skills clinics, including Mount Baker Mountaineering School and Rope Team Rising for girls and young women
- High-altitude climbs in Peru, Tanzania, Argentina and beyond
With our recipients in 2026Hosted the Matterhorn, Cordillera Blanca and Rope Team Rising scholarships.
Climbing retreats and skills clinics
She Moves Mountains
An inclusive, empowering place to learn for all women, cisgender and transgender, who want to find out what they can do outdoors.
- Rock climbing retreats and skills clinics in Utah, Washington, California, Oregon, Kentucky and West Virginia
- Alpine and ice climbing, backpacking, and weekends built for beginners
- International trips for climbers who want to go farther
With our recipients in 2026Ran the Red River Gorge climbing retreat scholarship.
A female-owned guide company in Washington
Upward Transitions Institute
Holistic guiding for people from every background, built around learning the skills and leadership to thrive in the backcountry.
- Women+ climbs of Glacier Peak, Mount Baker, Mount Rainier and Mount Shuksan
- Mountaineering leadership and crevasse rescue courses
- Ski mountaineering, plus trips to Japan, Ecuador, Iceland and Mexico
With our recipients in 2026Led the Glacier Peak climb scholarship.
Adventure rooted in faith and friendship
Ma'wa Collective
An adventure community for Muslim women, built on faith, exploration and self-discovery, and on the trust of a group that gets it.
- Group trips designed for Muslim women, from local day hikes to international adventures
- A welcoming first step into the outdoors with a community that shares your values
- Members describe making close friends and finding a community they trust
With our recipients in 2026Coordinated the Chamonix hiking adventure scholarship.
With gratitude
Our sponsors and donors
Scholarships take hard, cold cash, and these supporters keep giving it. They range from premier outdoor brands to charitable foundations who share our views on gender equity, to passionate individuals. Thank you.
Apex sponsor
LOWA
LOWA is more than our apex sponsor. They are the reason the Summit Scholarship exists at the scale it does.
Their multi-year commitment funds the infrastructure behind everything else: the application process, the selection, recipient support and the expeditions themselves. They also make the mountaineering boots our recipients wear on their summits, and the trail shoes that carry them through months of training.
Other financial supporters
Sponsor since 2024
Sponsor since 2026
Sponsor since 2019
Our sister initiative
Partner since 2022
All The Sky FoundationCharitable foundation
Individual supporters make this possible too, including Jeannette McGill and Lucy Westlake, and others who prefer to stay anonymous. Thank you.
Gear partners
Money opens the door, and gear gets recipients through it without breaking the bank. These brands outfit every scholarship recipient.
- Footwear
Mountaineering attire
Active attire
Backpacks
Trekking poles- Lights and accessories
Crampons and ice axes
Nutrition and hydration
Glacier glasses
Goggles
Pee cloths
Training plans
Want to back the next class?
Every gift and every sponsorship creates more scholarships. Tell us what you have in mind, or give any amount today.
For guide services
Run trips for women and girls? Join our operating partners.
We keep a small, intentional roster and add partners selectively, only when new funding supports new spots. If your trips are built for women and girls, we would like to hear from you.
You provide
- The expedition: guiding, logistics, instruction and accommodations
- Group gear and the local expertise that makes your program distinct
- Storytelling about each recipient's experience
We provide
- Funded recipients with full expedition fees paid
- Sponsored gear packages for participants
- Marketing reach through our channels and our sponsors'
- Recipient vetting and an alumnae community
What we look for
- Women and girls at the centerYour programming is built for them, and led by them.
- A proven safety recordAppropriate permits, insurance and a demonstrated track record.
- Shared valuesGender equity, diversity and inclusion in the outdoors.
- Room for recipientsThe capacity to host them alongside paying guests without lowering the quality of the trip.
Joining takes several steps and starts with a short request form. We read every one. Prefer to raise money for your own trips? Open a Friends of Summit Scholarship fund, described on the same page.