Founded in 2007, the Summit Adventure Semester Program is a Christ-centered outdoor adventure college semester abroad spent learning, serving and exploring through classes, service work, home stays, & urban exploration. Students acquire outdoor skills in mountaineering, backpacking and rock climbing while embarking on adventures in Yosemite, Ecuador and Patagonia. But, you don’t need to have any prior outdoor experience in these areas to join us!
The program is designed for college students and gap year participants. Academically, it includes courses in Leadership, Communication, Spiritual Formation, Cross-Cultural Ministry, and Outdoor Physical Education. Students can obtain between 16-18 academic credits that can be transferred to other colleges and universities.
The college semester abroad program is the opportunity of a lifetime. You’ll get opportunity to climb to 19,000’ in the Andes, backpack and ski in Yosemite National Park, trek and rock climb in Patagonia, all while learning about each experience from a Christian academic perspective. There is also multi-cultural and service component to the program, where you will be immersed in South American culture and learn from Ecuadorians and Argentinians.
When you’re not taking classes in Ecuador, living with an Ecuadorian family, or exploring Patagonia, you’ll get to live at Summit Adventure’s base camp, a beautiful cabin in the Sierra mountains.
While our program is oriented around the Christian faith, we welcome everyone from all different backgrounds and religions. We hope that Summit will be a safe place for our students to have open discussions about a number of topics and we understand that diversity only enriches these conversations. In a world that seems very divided, we hope to bring people together through our programs with the common goals of developing critical thinking, listening, learning and working to love each other well.
The program will consist of:
- 6 weeks at basecamp in Bass Lake, California
- 4 weeks in Ecuador
- 2 weeks in Argentine Patagonia
- 3 weeks Expedition-Style
- 1 week of Transition and Semester Culmination before Re-entering “Home”
