Frequently Asked Questions

Every company has a different focus, and it’s important to find the camp that matches your family’s goals. At Camp Pinnacle, we partner with parents to help raise caring, independent, and capable young people equipped with skills for 21st-century success. Our goals include:

• Safety
• Personal growth, confidence, & independence
• A kind and inclusive community
• Age-appropriate activities & outdoor skills
• An electronics-free connection with nature
• And FUN!

At Camp Pinnacle, our directors Fayssoux and JG Moss know every camper and are directly involved with the selection and guidance of camp staff and campers. Our director and leadership team are actively involved in all aspects of camp and spend their summer participating in activities, eating lunch with campers, leading evening programs and off-camp adventures, and more!

Our directors personally interview all new counselors, who complete a rigorous application process:

• 3 interviews
• 4 reference checks
• Complete background check

The maturity needed to be an outstanding role model for children is best handled by counselors who are at minimum 18 years old, have attended at least one year of college, and have significant knowledge of outdoor activities and youth development.

Through our partnership with Bold Earth, we have an intensive leadership program that trains advanced students (who have demonstrated excellent potential and proven leadership skills) to become outdoor professionals. Many of our counselors are graduates from Bold Earth programs.

Safety and injury prevention are our first priority. Camp Pinnacle requires all counselors to have wilderness first aid and CPR certifications, and our directors and many senior staff have an additional wilderness first responder certification (an intensive 80-hour course).

Our 24-hour registered nurses lives on the property, and our doctor lives locally and makes rounds at camp as needed. Our facility is located 10 minutes from Pardee Hospital in Hendersonville, NC.

At Camp Pinnacle, orientation is so important that it takes a full two weeks! It begins with an emphasis on building a close, inclusive, and caring community; after that, we dive into workshops on safety, camp policies, cabin dynamics, and child development. A child psychologist visits to talk about youth development, and we host a parent panel, where local parents share their hopes, objectives, and anxieties with our counselors. In between, we teach activity skills and also become certified in lifeguard training and anaphylaxis.

Camp Pinnacle is a coed camp—we have the best of both worlds. Most of our activities are done in cabin groups, giving campers the ability to learn and play differently. However, all of our campers come together for meal times and special events. Campers are able to enjoy the benefit of a close-knit cabin experience, while learning to interact and respect the all genders under the guidance of our outstanding role models.

At Camp Pinnacle, we are proud of our 3:1 camper-to-staff ratio. This allows us to break into smaller activity groups and keep safety as our number-one priority.

At Camp Pinnacle, all campers will try different activities, learn new skills, and have a lot of fun! As a cabin group, campers will participate in both in-camp activities and in our off-camp adventures program in the western North Carolina mountains. To optimize the experience, some days feature scheduled activities with cabin groups, while some days allow campers the flexibility to choose their own activities and build the specific skills they’re interested in. Our schedule ensures that every camper gets to participate in all we have to offer.

Yes, we are American Camp Association–accredited! Camp Pinnacle is permitted in all the places we visit (Pisgah National Forest, Nantahala National Forest, DuPont State Forest, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park). We also use standards from the Association of Experiential Educators, North Carolina Youth Camp Association, America Outdoors Association, and the Wilderness Risk Management Conference to provide the highest-caliber and most professional experience for our campers. Executive director Steve Baskin has served as executive board member and national treasurer for the American Camp Association. We also maintain a Grade A health rating.

Camp Pinnacle is a non-denominational camp that promotes common values that parents from a host of religious traditions can get excited about.