Women Hikers of the World to Aconcagua

A group of women* hikers from Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Nepal, Tanzania, Kenya, Germany, UK and Italy, are gathering to climb the Aconcagua mountain. United, equal, supporting and caring for each other to tell a collective feminist hiking story. 

The project aims to build a transnational network of mountain women and to organize its first expedition to the Aconcagua mountain - 6962m, via the normal route (Horcones Valley) from December 2021 to January 2022.

It is a collective collaborative project by the enterprise Mujeres a la Cumbre  from Argentina and Chile, non-profit organization Feminist Hiking Collective  from Europe, non-profit organization Empowering Women of Nepal  from Nepal, and with groups Women Who Hike  from Kenya, Kilimanjaro Women from Tanzania, and Cholitas Escaladoras  from Bolivia.

We are seeking funds to allow the participation of two women from each of the participating groups to the expedition: by making a donation (no matter how small) you can contribute to sponsoring the expedition cost (which includes airport transfers, mountain guides, porters, all food and drinks, internal travelling, all expedition accommodation and park entrance fees). Each woman's expedition cost amounts to approx. 3,000 Euros - for a total of 36,000 Euros.

*When we use the word “women” we always mean people self-identifying as women.

Read more about the project:
We aim to gather in the Aconcagua mountain women hikers, guides, porters and mountain workers from different countries and backgrounds, including women who are working in heavily patriarchal environments where men generally carry out these activities. Some of the women who are part of the project's organizations and groups are women from disadvantaged backgrounds, and many of them are also mothers and have families in charge; therefore, it would be difficult for them to access this type of experience.

The project seeks to build women’s collective feminist leadership and to sustain a transnational network of mountain women before and following the expedition. This support network is a tool to support and connect mountain women and facilitate cultural exchange, sharing skills, knowledge and learning from each other, creating new collaborative work opportunities and shared projects.

We aim to promote multiculturalism and diversity as elements of deep richness and shared learning; to create and promote a narrative of mountaineering as a collective experience that builds collective power and solidarity that belongs to women too, thus encouraging more women to get involved with the mountains, and a narrative that promotes mountaineering as a tool for collective care, to build humility, resilience, connection and reciprocity with Mother Earth, sharing and solidarity.

Most importantly, it is about doing this as a team, collectively. The mountain unites us. Together we transform!

The partner organizations and groups will prepare in their respective countries their participating women, which upon their return they will seek to share this experience in their communities with wider groups of mountain women.