Professional athletes and health experts support women in outdoor adventure vacations.

Although the resumes of the camp's staff are impressive, their continual smiles, enthusiasm and energy are even more amazing, and luckily, quite contagious. The staff members provide personalized, cutting edge instruction in the many camp disciplines. They also offer heart-felt support and encouragement throughout the retreat. The high staff-to-camper ratio allows plenty of opportunity for individual guidance, safe supervision of all activities, and personal attention to your needs.

Some Questers comment on the staff

"I really commend and admire the ingenuity, dedication and total gusto of all the staff at Women's Quest. Colleen Cannon and her staff are out of this world! They really encourage and challenge us to take a different view of life. I hope to return to another retreat soon!"

"I can't completely describe all the qualities the group of leaders of Womení s Quest have in their possession other than it is a sweet combination of Love, knowledge, strength, camaraderie, beauty & tenderness you would find if you totaled the best of Mother Nature, Dali Lama, best girlfriend, mentor and Guardian-Angel."

Colleen Cannon Colleen founded Women's Quest after a highly successful career as a professional triathlete. In her racing days, she was World Champion in 1984, and National Champion in 1988 and 1990. She also was a multiple U.S. National team member. Her passions, besides chocolate and being in nature, are liberating and empowering women through movement and balance, and targeting their true "hearts' desire." "Colleen continues to EVOLVE adventures for Women's Quest, delighting in ways to ENCHANT women with the experiences that coax happiness grown from joyful physical experiences." Colleen's vision for Women's Quest
Jacqueline Stanford Jacqueline was a professional triathlete for many years, winning Ironman races and "The World's Toughest Triathlon." She also rode in the first Women's Tour de France. She has a love of water and was a National flat water and kayak racer. She loves to help people on ropes challenges courses. Jacqueline is a true "wild woman of the West" and her love of life and enthusiasm is catching. With her, you can do anything. Jacqueline is also a very talented artist. You can see her pottery at www.castlewoodpottery.com. She makes any functional custom pottery, special mugs for Women's Quest and very beautiful horsehair pottery.
Julia Ingersoll Julia is currently a professional painter who has been living and working in the hills of Florence, Italy for the past five years, creating landscape, still-life, and figurative paintings and drawings, and moonlighting as a cycling/culture guide in Tuscany several times a year. In her past-life as a former top-ranked professional mountain bike racer,she was a six-time national mountain bike team member, and also competed in road races for fun and fitness. Cyclingachievements include winning the North American Championship in 1992, the Colorado Off-Road Series in 1990 and 1992, a bronze medal at the 1989 World Championships in Belgium. Julia finds cycling and painting to be reciprocal passions andenjoys sharing with others the life-giving immediacy of moving and working in nature.
Lorraine Moller Lorraine is a four-time Olympian, a three-time world champion, Olympic bronze medallist, and winner of sixteen major international marathons, including the Boston marathon. She holds the distinction of being the only woman to have run all four of the Olympic marathons for women. Her twenty-eight years as an international athlete are unprecedented in distance running, and she credits her success to her unique and creative approach to competition, training, and learning to play with space and time. Alongside her running achievements, Lorraine was a forerunner for equality in women's athletics, and an activist for professionalism in distance running. Since retiring from competitive sport in 1996, Lorraine coaches Olympic hopefuls, teaches remote viewing, writes for various fitness publications, and does the occasional sports television commentary.
Christina Russell After downhill skiing for 25 years, Christina turned her attention to free heeled skiing. As a certified ski instructor Christina has taught cross-country and telemark skiing for the past 12 years. Currently, she is a massage therapist at Alpine Physical Therapy and Wellness Center in Fraser, CO. Her approach to massage is integrative. She uses techniques such as acupressure, reflexology, deep tissue, neuromuscular and passive stretching. Canoeing and kayaking, mountain biking, and most recently, triathlons are her sports of choice in the summer months.
Gretchen Spiro, MA Gretchen has facilitated transformational movement experiences through YOGA and DANCE since 1986. She emphasizes playfulness in movement, drawing from her career as a performer, choreographer, and teacher of improvisation. Gretchen is trained in Dance/Movement therapy, and brings inspiration from her background as a somatic psychotherapist into experiential exercises. Gretchen has the unique ability to GET PEOPLE MOVING. Gretchen creates an atmosphere of exploration, where there is no "right" way to move. She uses music, imagery, and fun group games to assist women in discovering their "own way" of moving. She invites women to move generously along the edge of what they are, into the territory of what they can become.
Kris Freewoman Kris's love of dance and energizing spirit brings to mind one word?..joy! She is the founder of Rhythm Workout, a fitness class that utilizes the full body and exuberant movements of African dance. Through yoga and dance, Kris helps us to embrace the beauty, power and wisdom inherent in our body no matter what it's shape or size! Kris invites us to honor the body as the temple of the Goddess and to forget about perfection and reach for delight!!! Her passion in studying women's mysteries has led her on a path to leading rituals and celebrations.
Tamara T. Davis “T” is an avid soccer player from the east coast with a degree in Outdoor Recreation. Her love of sports brought her to Colorado for the hiking, biking, and many of the other fun adventures in her backyard. She enjoys working with groups at the Challenge Course and bringing everyone together and working as a team experiencing new adventures. T always seems to adapt to any environment and is very patient. She is a great role model for kids and can teach them to enjoy the outdoors as she has throughout the years.
Helen Attridge Green, Life Coaching Helen is an expert in the field of mind, body, spirit, coaching, has 18 years experience in the personal development field, is a Certified Professional Coach and holds the highly regarded Master Certified Coach credential, MCC through the International coach Federation and has worked for and consulted to some of the top personal development companies in the world. Helen's company Inner Wisdom Total Coaching's mission is to awaken body mind and spirit to ignite your passion for life! Helen works with clients locally and nationally by phone, she is passionate about empowering women to create lives they LOVE to wake up to. For more information call 530-477-0314 or visit www.innerwisdomcoaching.com
Cathy Lambert Cathy is a professional yoga instructor and certified yoga therapist. She has been teaching yoga and meditation for over a decade and now brings her love of these studies to the Women's Quest Horse Adventure by sharing lessons in awareness and mindfulness, along with the fundamentals of horseback riding, applied naturally.
Oliver Blackman Oliver leads hiking, cycling, climbing, paddling, and skiing adventures in northern Vermont. He has also run programs on Low and High Ropes courses for both recreational and corporate clients. While he continues to retain a passion for all of these activities, what sends him out the door with a smile every day is the opportunity to get to know and enjoy the people he shares them with.
Rebecca Delong In 1992 Rebecca traded in the East Coast and the Corporate World for the Colorado mountains and a new career in Massage Therapy. She has a great love for the outdoors and just about every sport. She spent many years racing triathlons, mountain bikes, and road bikes and competed in the first Eco-Challenge Adventure Race. She has been on Women's Quest's staff since the beginning and feels blessed to have worked with so many amazing and inspirational women over the years. This is absolutely her favorite job besides raising her Uber-awesome son.
Heather Ross Heather is our favorite travel expert. She is a very helpful travel agent with whom I have been working for 20 years. Heather is at The Travel Society has been coordinating cycling trips for years and can help you with whatever you need. Heather Ross, The Travel Society 3000 Center Green 220 Boulder CO 80301 Ph 303 381-7423 Fax 303 381-0609 email heatherr@travelsociety.com
Margaret Gutgesell Margaret Gutgesell, Medicare eligible, is an avid road and mountain biker. She retired from the practice of pediatrics at the University ofVirginia and traded her degrees of M.D., Ph.D. (exercise physiology) for that of M.W. (mountain woman). She lives and plays in the Rocky Mountains of Fraser, Colorado in the summer and winter where she also cross- country skis and snowshoes. In the spring and fall she bikes and hikes near the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia (Charlottesville). Her motto is 'Live simply: bike, eat, sleep, repeat.'
Shenna Fitzgerald After years of balancing her professional career in marketing and public relations with her life as a professional mountain bike racer, Shenna has slowed life down to have time with her two-year old son. She now balances work with Women's Quest, doing marketing and public relations, with daily outdoor adventures and the adventures of motherhood. She loves to share the spirit and amazement of the outdoors with others.
Juli Ames-Curtis. LMT, RYT Juli’s first love of outdoor activities is skiing. Growing up in Minnesota, she started skiing at age 4. With over 30 years of experience in teaching, Juli encourages her students to have fun while sliding over snow. A Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance for 11 years, Juli teaches an eclectic style of Hatha yoga focusing on inner body flow. Juli jokes that her injuries from being so active in sports was “on the job training” for her massage practice-her expertise is sports/orthopedic massage! A fateful meeting with Colleen on the ski trail has made Juli’s dream of working with a women’s outdoor adventure company a reality. She is psyched to add her love of the outdoors, devotion to spirit and knowledge of the body to Women’s Quest!
Anna Garaway From Santa Cruz, California, is the 2nd youngest in a family of competitive surfers. Traveling from an early age around the US with her parents and internationally with her siblings, at 15, Anna went to Chile and never looked back. Her surf travels have also taken her to Barbados, Mexico, Hawaii, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Bali, Japan, Italy, England, Holland, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. She fell in love with Costa Rica’s beauty and friendly people and decided to live there. While there Anna returned to competitive surfing, winning the Costa Rican National Women’s Championship. When Anna started surfing she followed her sisters and brother into the contest scene becoming a regular finalist in NSSA, USSF events and joined the USA junior surf team to Indonesia for the Quicksilver World Grommet Games. In 2005 she followed a sister as an instructor in the O’Neill European Surf Academy. She has served as an instructor with numerous California surf schools and in Costa Rica.
Kristen Wheeler Kristen Wheeler is dance/movement therapist and facilitator. She came to athleticism late in her life through yoga and dance. With masters degrees in Somatic Counseling Psychology and Mythology, she brings her love of personal story and embodiment to Women's Quest. Linking the present moment to the future beyond your Women's Quest journey, Kristen helps women deepen their experience and take the gems into their future.
Candace Newlove Living in the mountains of Colorado, Candace can be found enjoying the out of doors hiking with her horse and dog or skiing at our local ski area. She spends most of her time working in her clay and fiber studio making rice bowls to teasets to sculpture or weaving colorful multitextured fabrics used for blankets and shawls. You can visit her website at www.candacenewlove.com to see some of her work. When not working or playing she really enjoys spending time teaching and encouraging people to get in touch with their creative side through the simplicity of art and play.