Dear Friends

That last update landed hard for the Holden community. 2028 is a long time to wait for reopening, and 2029 is longer still. For each of us, this loss hits differently. Staff who don't know when they'll be back, longtime guests whose annual pilgrimage is on hold, volunteers who cannot come up to the Village and tend to their favorite places. 

It’s a legitimate loss, and I try to hold it with all the respect and kindness I can muster. 



I had the opportunity to be part of the in-Village community July 27–August 10. Those two weeks were a keen reminder of this loss. 

It was also a reminder of where the true gifts of Holden lie: not in a place, but in a community.

Time Compressed 

With just ten of us in the Village, the team had plenty to keep busy. Quinn and Dave marked buildings "Done"—prepped, secured, ready to be closed down at a moment's notice in the event of a wildfire evacuation. Mark spent long stretches locating and exercising street valves throughout the Village—opening and closing each one to be sure it still works, updating maps, and repainting valve covers so the next person knows which valve controls which system. When the hydro got a little fussy (the system unaccustomed to having so much power for so little demand) Mark, Ian, Corky, and Nathan, would get up in the middle of the night to tend to a balky infrastructure.

Emer Kate, Anny, and Corky took turns making the evening meals and tasty treats, in between housekeeping, chalet pack-up, and IT tasks, respectively. Nathan with garbology and heavy equipment and hydro restarts; Noah on building restoration, including lumber sorting and grading, installing new knives in the planer, and repairing the dust extraction system in the woodshop.

We all pitched in, one way or another, adding to firewood piles in Dante's wood crib and under chalets. Now maybe there’s enough for several years. 

I also spent quite a few hours in the Advancement office, sorting through old correspondence and print samples and invoices and marked-up color proofs, trying to decide what the office needed, what belonged in Holden's archives and what maybe didn't. I was struck by how many people had been involved in communications and fundraising, each adding their skills, talents, and perspectives over the years.

And always, evacuation readiness sitting in the back of our minds. Could we all be packed and waiting at the helicopter landing site in two hours? The team trained as though the answer mattered, because it does.

Safety was always on our minds. Some afternoons the wildfire smoke settled in. When the AQI climbed past 200, in a scratchy radio announcement, Quinn directed us to attend to indoor tasks until the air quality improved.

Life together

And still there was time for life together. Dinner every evening at six. Prayer Around the Cross by candlelight, the kind of quiet that asks nothing of us except to be there for each other. Which is everything. Mountain Vespers, where everyone in the Village picked up an instrument or joined with their voices. Walks in twos or threes down FS 8301 to the edge of the first major mudslide, up to the horse ford on the creek, or up to Level 3 on the tailings.

And before I knew it, the two weeks were gone, and we regathered at the Level 2 landing pad for departure. Laughter, hugs, tears: each of us carrying the gifts of Holden with us, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. God give us faith to go out with good courage, wherever this community’s story takes us next. 

Eric Bosell

Director of Advancement

As the days get shorter with the approach of the autumnal equinox, and as school

begins once again, the Holden Store can help you prepare for the coming season.



Browse the Fall Collection at the online Store to find apparel, water bottles, school

supplies, stickers, cozy blankets, and more.

Check out our tiered savings deals:



• Spend $50 from the Welcome Fall collection and receive 15% off.
• Spend $100 from the Welcome Fall collection and receive 20% off!

Also, you can still pre-order the new Holden Scoops! t-shirt in sizes ranging from 6

months to 3XL and a myriad of colors.

And remember, for all of your reading needs be sure to shop on our affiliate sites

Bookshop.org and Libro.fm.

Reference herein to any specific commercial products or services does not necessarily constitute or imply its

endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by Holden Village.

PHOTOS: Eric Bosell, Emer Kate Sanders, Quinn Johnston, Berit Kirkegaard

Newsletter edited by Carl Norquist