Big City Mountaineers

$375 raised by 6 donors

8% complete

$5,000 Goal

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Help a young person discover: “I can do more than I thought.”

Young people need connection, belonging, and access to nature now more than ever. Yet for many young people in Denver, cost, transportation, equipment, and a lack of welcoming opportunities can put meaningful outdoor experiences out of reach.

Big City Mountaineers creates a way in. In partnership with trusted youth-serving organizations, we provide free, fully outfitted, professionally led outdoor programs for young people who face barriers to outdoor access.

But access is only the beginning. The outdoors is our vehicle; youth development is our purpose.

The trail creates opportunities that last long after the trip ends

On a BCM program, a young person may hike a trail, paddle a lake, sleep beneath the stars, or step into leadership for the first time. Skilled instructors, caring mentors, and community partners create a supportive environment where young people can try hard things, strengthen relationships, and discover their own capabilities.

After meeting a challenge on the trail, one participant put the experience simply: “I didn’t think I could do it, but I did.” Another shared, “BCM was a place where I could just breathe.”

We measure success not just by miles hiked or nights outside, but by what young people carry home. In BCM’s 2025 evaluation, youth who completed expeditions scored higher than peers who had not participated in BCM programming:

36% higher self-efficacy
36% higher sense of belonging
28% higher self-esteem

In 2026, BCM has already served 82 young people through 32 days of programming in Denver as of September 17. Nationwide, 383 young people across five metropolitan areas have participated in BCM programs this year—part of a community of more than 10,000 youth served since 1989.

For more than 35 years, BCM has combined outdoor expertise, intentional programming, and trusted community partnerships. Our youth agency partners provide relationships, continuity, and community knowledge before, during, and after each program—helping confidence, connection, resilience, and leadership travel from the trail into young people’s homes, schools, and communities.

Your gift creates access—and opportunity that lasts

Every BCM experience is free to participating youth. Your donation helps provide skilled instructors, caring mentors, transportation, food, safety systems, and essential outdoor gear.

$85 helps make a day trip possible
$415 helps provide an overnight experience
$725 helps provide a three-day expedition
$1,250 helps provide a five- to seven-day expedition

Whatever amount you choose, your gift creates an opportunity for a young person to feel welcomed, supported, and ready to discover what they are capable of.

Your Colorado Gives donation helps BCM prepare the next season of Denver programs and invite more young people onto the trail.

Every young person deserves access to the opportunities, relationships, and experiences that help them realize their potential. Give today—and help a young person carry greater confidence, deeper connection, and a lasting relationship with nature far beyond the trail.

Mission

Big City Mountaineers provides transformative experiences through connections to nature that strengthen life skills and build community for youth from disinvested communities

Background Statement

Big City Mountaineers provides free, fully outfitted, and professionally led backpacking trips and overnight camps for under-resourced youth in Colorado.

Over the last 30 years, BCM has served 10,000+ students, conducted 800+ expeditions, organized 5,000+ volunteers, led 100+ overnight camps, and provided 45,000+ nights under the stars. We want kids to get outside and dream big.

We provide access to the outdoors for youth, so they can soak up all the benefits of being connected to the natural world. We support them with caring adult mentors, so that they see that difference is celebrated. We use the power of the outdoors to reveal the strength, the adaptability, and the resilience that students already possess, and encourage them to use these discoveries in their daily lives.

Our program model relies on People, Partnerships, and Places:

*People: On expedition, our students are paired in a 1:1 ratio with adult mentors. They receive ample support, both from trip instructors and volunteer mentors, to achieve personal goals. Having a professional trip instructor - who acts as both a facilitator and an experienced guide - on each expedition ensures top notch curriculum delivery and a challenging but safe experience for students.Our thorough vetting, recruiting and training process ensures that all mentors are prepared for a successful mentoring experience.

*Partnerships: We partner with community-based youth development agencies to identify and hand-select under-resourced youth that would benefit from the BCM experience. This partnership model maximizes ongoing youth impact in their communities, and allows agencies to play a key role in recruitment, preparation, and support during the experience. In fact, staff from each agency join us on expedition to ensure the needs and goals of each student are being met, that the youth feel comfortable on expedition, and to ensure the transference of lessons learned after expedition is over. To ensure we stay focused on the students who need our services the most, BCM partners with agencies not often engaged in the outdoors: refugee placement groups, immigrant welcome centers, organizations serving youth-at-risk, transitional housing communities, and youth development community centers. 90% of our students have their first wilderness experience in our programs, which has a profound effect on the experience - and on the students themselves.

*Places: The power of nature is inspirational, and our expeditions take youth into some of the most stunning places in Colorado. From the Flat Tops Wilderness to the Holy Cross Wilderness, from the Raggeds Wilderness to Rocky Mountain National Park, each of our expedition areas is hand-selected for its beauty and for its potential for student skill development. As students on expedition spend six nights under the stars, they begin to relate to their environments in deep and abiding ways. The length and depth of student experiences in these places is a key factor in our ability to nurture personal connections to the outdoors and effect positive change in the lives of students we serve.