Bring your spirit of adventure, pack your sense of humor, and prepare for snow in all its glorious variations! Enjoy the peace, simplicity, and intentional presence of the Holden winter community. Enjoy snowshoeing or cross country skiing on pristine trails, or cozy up with good book and

Registration for a visit during the early winter season through January 2, 2024 (including the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s holidays), is now open.

Save the Dates

• November 27, 2023: Registration opens for bookings between January 3 to June 8, 2024
• January 2, 2024: Registration opens for bookings between June 9 to August 31, 2024

Make a Reservation

Holden Village transport will only run on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays through January 2, 2024, then only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from January 3, 2024 through May 1, 2024. Please plan on arriving and departing according to those transport days. Learn more about Getting to Holden Village.

What to Expect with a Winter/Spring Visit:

Snow! Have you ever wanted to experience a winter wonderland? With snowfall beginning as soon as November, the Village is blanketed in snow for roughly half of the year. The average annual snowfall is 270 inches! At 3220 feet of elevation in the heart of the northern Cascade Mountains, spring in the Village can take a while to bloom. Snowfall can continue through April, and it is often not until mid-May or June that the Village is snow free. Learn more about year-round conditions at Holden Village.

Emergence of Spring: With warming temperatures and the melting of many feet of snow, the much-celebrated arrival of spring brings a muddy season to the Village in April and early May. Visit in late May to experience the awe and wonder of hummingbird migrations, wildflower blooms, and the splendor of life in all forms returning to the Railroad Creek Valley.

Coziness! A section of the Dining Hall turns into a communal living room during the winter and spring, bringing an opportunity for playing board games, working on puzzles together, and conversations with fellow Villagers. Enjoy an abundance of fresh-baked bread from the Kitchen and tea from the Tea Wall. Unplug from your daily to-dos and enjoy connecting in person. Pause to gather in community for spiritual reflection at daily Sacred Space.

Create Your Own Adventure: Village activities are less structured during the winter and spring. You will have ample free time to enjoy winter recreation like snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, or to rest and restore indoors with reading, journaling, and relaxation. Maybe you will explore a new craft like knitting, weaving, pottery, and more in the Art Studios. You can always find things to do on your visit to Holden!

Join for Events: From special retreats like Women’s Retreat or May Youth Weekend, to the sacred time of Holy Week and celebration of Easter, check out our calendar to find a special time to visit.

Learn more about bringing a group, congregation, or retreat to Holden Village.

Questions? Email registrar@holdenvillage.org.

February 2-5, 2024

Spend a winter weekend at Holden Village this February for our annual Women’s Retreat. Through teaching sessions, group conversations, reflections, crafts, and outdoor adventures like snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, Women’s Retreat will provide opportunities to build new relationships, rejuvenate past relationships, reconnect with the self, and join other women in conversation and recreation.

Holden Village uses an inclusive definition of women and welcomes trans women and non-binary folks. Attendees only need to identify as a woman in a way that is significant to them.

Registration is now open. Make a reservation for Women’s Retreat on February 2-5, 2024!

What to Expect

After your boat journey up Lake Chelan, you will arrive at Lucerne, the port of Holden Village. A ten-mile trip with 2,000 feet of elevation gain will bring you to the snowy Village and a hot lunch. We open the retreat with a welcome session and orientation. You will have free time to settle in and explore before dinner. After dinner, we invite you to join Sacred Space. Our service will be Prayer Around the Cross, a contemplative time to sing, meditate, and pray together. Following Sacred Space, participants will gather for a welcome event; snacks and beverages provided! On Saturday, you can wake up with yoga with Gabrielle Wildheart or an espresso drink from Beanie’s Coffee Cart (or both!). The first teaching faculty lecture of the retreat is Rewilding the Sacred with Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton. This session will engage with women’s roles and contributions to the early church, Celtic Christianity, and theology of the Middle Ages. After lunch, join poet Michele Bombardier for a session on poetry & compassion, using the medium to open our hearts to new perspectives and revisit areas of challenges in our lives. Following the session, enjoy afternoon free time with weaving and an opportunity to make sugar scrub in the art studio, ceramic earring making in the pottery studio, ski lessons, and the many other ways to unwind in the Village. Before dinner, join Gabrielle Wildheart for Temple Dance, a guided flow of different movement styles, such as yoga, belly dance, chi gong, and somatic movement. Sacred Space on Saturday night will be a Holden classic, Vespers ’86. Wrap up your evening with a poetry reading by Michele Bombardier. On Sunday, you can join for another yoga flow with Gabrielle or opt for a slower morning with brunch served at 10:00. After brunch, Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton will present Rewilding Prayer, focusing on the essential nature of prayer practices, the structure of prayer, the role of prayer in personal and communal formation, and how women have contributed to innovative prayer forms within the history of Christian faith. In the afternoon, Michele Bombardier will build on her previous session on poetry and compassion with poems about small encounters with big impacts. Sunday afternoon will include craft circle, ceramic earring making (part II), another opportunity for ski lessons, and intuitive mandalas with Gabrielle Wildheart. Following dinner, we will share in a Eucharist service, which honors our Lutheran roots through the breaking of bread. Afterward, head to the dining hall for the time-honored Holden tradition of game nights with tea, toast, and time together. On Monday, we will send each other out with good courage through a brief liturgy and closing session with the opportunity to exchange contact information with fellow participants. The in-Village community will gather at the 10:00 am bus departure for a Holden goodbye!

Retreat Faculty

The Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton is the Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Everett, WA and the Vice-President of the House of Deputies of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. Rachel has a bi-cultural heritage as a Shackan First Nations person and Northern European lineage of settlers who first immigrated to these shores in 1629. With 30 years of experience in working with diverse communities, Rachel is a Board Certified healthcare chaplain and has facilitated journeys of recovery and healing with communities and organizations that have experienced organizational trauma. She is the founder of Circles of Color in the Episcopal Church in Western Washington and serves as chaplain to the Province 8 network of Episcopal Church Women.

Michele Bombardier is a Northwest poet whose work centers on connection, resiliency, and witness. Her debut collection, What We Do, was a Washington Book Award finalist. Michele holds an MFA in poetry from Pacific University. Her work has appeared in over a hundred literary journals such as Parabola, Atlanta Review, JAMA, Crab Creek Review, and many others. She is the founder of Fishplate Poetry, teaching workshops and leading retreats while raising money for humanitarian aid, specifically medical care for refugees in the Middle East and Northern Africa, partnering with SAMS (Syrian American Medical Society). Michele teaches poetry to all ages and is the inaugural poet laureate of Bainbridge Island where she hosts readings, open mics, workshops, and community events, including activities with high school youth. She’s finished her second collection and is at work on her third.

Gabrielle Wildheart is an award-winning muralist and movement artist who paints large-scale murals for urban spaces. Gabrielle received classical training in portraiture from the Florence Academy of Art in Italy, and an MFA from the University of the Arts, London.  Gabrielle’s practice is rooted in connection to the earth and a desire for social change. Her paintings feature imagery inspired by mystical traditions from around the world, as well as the artist’s studies in Yoga, Tantra, and Alchemy. Gabrielle exhibits her art nationally and teaches yoga and dance on Vashon Island, WA.

Jubilee Auction

October 4 – 8, 2023

Holden Village’s biggest annual fundraiser event is back for the fourth year! The all online silent auction helps keep the daily operations and programs of the Village running.

Register to Bid

Whether you live close by or far away, whether you’ve recently visited or it has been a long time or you have never visited Holden, YOU can feel connected to the Village by participating in the Jubilee Auction. Thank you for sustaining Holden Village’s operations and expanding welcome to those who have yet to visit.

All proceeds support Holden Village, so you can enjoy bidding on fun items and experiences for yourself or as gifts, all while sustaining Holden’s mission.

Visit Auction Site

Did you know that guest fees only cover 60% of the cost to operate the Village? It’s expensive to run a remote mountain village and all the activities that happen here! We rely on donations to help make up the difference and support Holden’s mission.

When you bid on delightfully unique items and experiences offered by the extended Holden community, your donation helps provide:

• Sessions with expert teaching faculty on topics including ecology, art, justice, theology, music, and more!
• Supplies for the Art Studios
• Outdoor gear for the Hike Haus
• Stipends, salaries, benefits, and/or room and board for the staff who keep the Village running
• Ingredients for delicious home cooked meals from the Holden Kitchen
• Candles, bulletins, and worship supplies
• Maintenance for the fleet of vehicles that transport visitors to and from the boat dock
• Bedding, towels, and pillows for a comfy and cozy stay
• Laundry, and cleaning supplies
• Ice cream for the Snack Bar
• And SO much more!

Fund-A-Need

The Jubilee Auction gives you the opportunity to donate to specific needs or projects:

• The Indigenous Artist-in-Residence Program Fund
• Portable Cardiac Monitor Fund
• New Mattresses Fund

Spread the Word

Tell your friends and family about the Jubilee Auction. Please share the following resources with your faith community and your network!

Print Flyers

Print Bulletin Announcements

Content for E-newsletter Announcements

Questions? Email Callie at development@holdenvillage.org

From the dark and cold days of winter, there is a desire to go deep. Deep with one another, deep with God, deep with ourselves. In response to this craving for depth, Holden’s Worship Team invites you to join the Village in the inspired monthly series Practicing Our Faith. Join us each month as we explore a new theme in relation to justice and worship.

February’s theme is Honoring Our Limitations.