How "Rock" or "Snow" Graduation Credit Is Determined

        In order to graduate, students must participate in at least three trips, and on each trip they must successfully scramble to 
the summit of a peak on the Seattle Scramble Peak list.  These trips must have been listed in the Go Guide or on the Web site for 
the Seattle branch. At least one of the three must receive "Rock" credit, one must receive "Snow" credit, and the third may be 
rated as "Rock", "Snow", or "Other".  (An "Other" peak is a summit which involves off-trail scrambling, but which simply does not 
involve any significant exposure to snow or rock conditions.)  While the ratings listed in the trip notice in the Go Guide are an 
indication of the kind of credit that may be awarded, ultimately the determination of the type of credit is made by the trip leader 
as part of his or her trip report after the trip has been completed.

        If no significant snow travel was involved, the leader will not have been able to assess a student's snow travel/ice ax 
skills, and cannot award Snow credit, regardless of what the Go Guide says.  Likewise, if a trip did not involve significant 
exposure to and movement over rock (perhaps because the rock that is usually present was buried under heavy snow), no Rock credit 
can be awarded.

        Of course, some trips may involve exposure to both snow and rock, in which case the leader will indicate that the trip is 
eligible for credit in either category (but, please note, the student may only count a single summit once: if the student counts 
the peak as having fulfilled the Rock credit, the student will still need to summit another Snow peak, and vice versa).  An "Other" 
summit may be counted as one of the three qualifying scrambles, but does not satisfy the requirement for one "Rock" and one "Snow" 
summit.

        Note that reaching the summit via a trail route with no snow, or insufficient snow, does not qualify for any credit. Such 
a trip would therefore be a trail trip, and should be led for one of the Mountaineers Hiking Activity committees.