Launched in 2018, the Adventure Grant was created to boost opportunity and encouragement for women to pursue their wildest adventure dreams.
We know the temptation of curiosity, the rush of adrenaline, and the feeling of satisfaction when fulfilling a dream. It is something everyone should experience.
Trail Sisters and The North Face want women to embrace their capabilities and confidently go explore. These adventures provide representation of what is possible, and help to motivate others.
Though we are only able to award five women with a $500 grant, Trail Sisters and The North Face hope all women will be inspired to take on their wildest adventure dreams.
“72.5 miles of trail, what an amazing adventure! Thank you Trail Sisters and The North Face for making this incredible opportunity possible for me. Now all I think about is what is it going to be like, what else do I need to take, are there gonna be too many mosquitoes? See what you’ve done?! Trail and backpacking thoughts by the dozens going on in this little head! I can hardly wait!"
“I am both stoked and honored to have been chosen for the 2022 ROMP Cotopaxi Climb Team! The Range of Motion Project (ROMP) is an international, non-profit organization dedicated to improving the mobility of people with amputation. ROMP creates empowerment through mobility and enables those with disabilities to redefine their human potential. As someone who has always found my heart & soul in, and fed by the outdoors, it means the world to me to be climbing Cotopaxi with a team of amputee athletes and ROMP as part of this mission and vision. Our climb is more than just a summit for me or the 20 team members climbing - it is about the right to life, to live, to pursue dreams and summits and experiences; a right that, grotesquely, so many amputees are stripped of. I am prepared to be humbled, inspired, fired up, and filled up by this project.”
“Growing up as a queer person in Southwest Virginia, I felt that I needed to escape these mountains to live a full and authentic life. I now know better: I know these mountains love who I am - they have been waiting for my return. This adventure to backpack the Virginia Triple Crown will be a homecoming for me and I am so grateful to Trail Sisters and The North Face for uplifting the stories of all kinds of folks who are returning home to the outdoors. We all belong here!”
"I am honored to receive the Trail Sisters Adventure Grant presented by The North Face and intend to utilize the funds to purchase gear and/or supplies. These items will be provided to fellow mental health providers, in order to participate in a fastpacking trip on the Rogue River Trail. This will be an opportunity to bring awareness to advocating for our own mental health and will allow for a sense of community, time in nature and nurturing our own resilience."
“Even though I spent my entire childhood in Maine, there is still so much of the state I haven't explored. This summer, I'll be returning to my home state to circumnavigate Isle Au Haut, an island off the coast that is accessible only by ferry, where my grandmother spent her summers working as a teenager. I'm so excited to spend the day exploring a new place in Maine, connecting with my grandmother's history, and getting some great ocean views and breezes from the trail!”
Five selected awardees receive a $500 grant to help with costs associated with their adventure. In addition, they receive a Trail Sisters gear kit and a pair of The North Face VECTIV Trail Running Shoes.
To qualify, candidates must submit applications that will be reviewed (anonymously) by a panel of Trail Sisters & members from The North Face.
All women wanting to pursue their dream adventure are welcome to apply. Grants may be awarded for a first time trail run adventure, the seasoned hiker planning the next big challenge, or chasing down a fastest known time.
There are no required performance standards or previous experience, but awardees are required to write about their experience in an article for Trail Sisters and The North Face post-adventure.
Participants must be 18 yrs or older, and US residents (due to federal rules and regulations).
The deadline for application submissions is June 10th. Awardees will be announced at the end of June.
Adventures must be completed before November 1st, 2022.
Please note: These grants are not intended to help fund a trip to an organized race or event.
At 11:50pm on October 6th, 2022 Kyle, José and I left Refugio Cotopaxi to begin our summit attempt at the Cotopaxi Volcano at 19,347 feet. We were among a team of 20 individuals, ten of whom were amputees – including Kyle – who were attempting to summit Cotopaxi that morning.
Kari Hays is a 2022 Trail Sisters and The North Face Adventure Grant recipient.
Three strangers met in-person in early October in southern Oregon. The reason for coming together was complex, and simple, at the same time. They each sought connection, in a time of continued uncertainty, loss, and mental and physical exhaustion.
My 85-year-old grandmother has dementia. Her oldest memories, however, are crystalline. She returns to these stories so often that our family knows them all by heart. My favorite is her story of the two summers she spent as a teenager working at a resort on an island off the coast of Maine called Isle Au Haut.
In order for you to understand the importance of this trip for me, I must give you some background information of my desperate need for it. This grant provided by Trail Sisters and The North Face came as a sweet blessing, precisely at the right time. I now have come to realize that the biggest problem I’ve had for many years, is that of balance.
We chose to tackle three sections of the Long Path. The Long Path is a storied 357+ mile hiking trail stretching from the George Washington Bridge in New York City to Altamont near Albany. It runs north into the Palisades along the Hudson River before veering west into Harriman State Park and the Catskills.
I’m floundering in thigh-high snow, the struggle mostly futile, trying to catch up with my field partner. We are high above Yellowstone National Park, following the three-day old GPS points of a wolf wearing a radiocollar used for research, studying its diet and behavior by seeing where it goes and what it leaves behind.
LA Freeway is a route from Longs Peak to the Arapahoes along the Continental Divide. It links the tallest point in Rocky Mountain National Park to the tallest point in the Indian Peaks and tags every peak along the way. Although it’s only 36ish miles long, there is approximately 20,000 feet of elevation gain, tricky navigation, and 5th class scrambling.
I have long thought about training for the Ruby Crest Trail – a point to point 35 mile/9k vert trail that winds its way up and down the Ruby Mountains in eastern Nevada. The Ruby Mountains, aka the Duka-Doya Mountains of the Te-Moak Tribe, are Nevada’s hidden gem. They span rugged peaks, sagebrush meadows, and crystal cool alpine lakes.
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