Books

Just try to get journalist Greg Johnston to stop talking about the allure of Washington’s Pacific Coast: the wild headlands, windswept beaches, and salmon-rich rivers.  Read more…

It was one of the rare late winter weeknights with a full moon and a clear sky, but I missed a turn. Our Seattle Stairway Walks hiking group was passing several back doors (or were they front doors?) going up many unintended Magnolia steps. This was not the Gaia route I had planned and followed the prior week. Nor was it the highlighted route on the map tucked in my trouser pocket, or the same Gaia route on my iPhone.  Read more…

Join us on September 21 for the next Mountaineers Books Web Series episode with author Maria Mudd Ruth. Maria calls herself an accidental naturalist and has written more than a dozen books about natural wonders that have, one, fascinated her and, two, she became obsessed with learning about.  Maria’s new book, A Sideways Look at Clouds, shares her curiosity about clouds and what she’s learned about them—why there are so many variations, what they tell us, how far away they are, and why they are even there, among much more. Read more…

Mountaineers Books is thrilled to announce that two of our recent titles are finalists for the 2017 Washington State Book Award — My Old Man and the Mountain: A Memoir by Leif Whittaker and Turning Homeward: Restoring Hope and Nature in the Urban Wild by Adrienne Ross Scanlan. Each of these are debut books by the authors. Read more…

Although my bookshelf overflows with well-thumbed copies of our where-to hiking guides, these stories and how-to titles have each offered me a different way of seeing the world. Read more…

Mary Metz, current title Senior Editor, is well into her thirty-first year at Mountaineers Books. She found picking only five books to be quite a challenge, so she’s glad that her predecessors already covered two of her all-time faves, Stehekin and A Field Guide to the Cascades and Olympics. And she cheats a little.* Read more…

In 2007, I was working for The Washington Post and Slate magazine in New York City. My role was to support the sales team in developing media plans and executing digital media campaigns across our publishing platforms: The Washington Post, Slate, Newsweek and Budget Travel. I worked for The Washington Post for about six years, during which time I watched the decline of print newspaper subscriptions as the ascendancy of online media, tablets and smartphones took hold. I experienced first-hand how digital devices altered the world of print publishing. Read more…

The converted bicycle wheel supports much of the litter’s weight, but this trail is miles of boulders and steep hairpin switchbacks, and the light is fading. In the beginning we tie a piece of webbing to the back of the litter for a tagline; four people hold the litter up and then a half-dozen other people grab onto this piece of webbing to keep the brakeless contraption from rocketing downhill with gravity. Nobody can see their feet, and this trail, like all trails, is too narrow to fit the litter in the middle with two people abreast on either side, so the people on the sides are intermittently mashed into trees, or have no footing and suddenly disappear downslope to be picked up at the next switchback. The folks on the front and back ends do not have a better time. Read more…

Mountaineers and friends are invited to join a free webinar, Tuesday, June 20, 7pm. Get tips for starting what for many is a bucket list item: hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) across your state. The presenter for this online event is Eli Boschetto, author of the new book, Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail: Oregon. Eli will talk about how to plan to section hike the Oregon length of the PCT, but his tips will be relevant to anyone planning  to hike the Washington PCT, too. Read more…

After climbing for over 20 years in the Cascades, I have lived through a few incidents and near-misses. This is the story of how I almost died glissading down Aasgard Pass in the Enchantments. Read more…

Mountaineers Books has about 700 titles in print, and many of them are wonderful. This month Art Freeman, the publisher’s Chief Financial Officer, recommends five of his all-time favorite titles. Art is an avid skier, hiker, sailor, and climber, who has completed the Washington Bulger List of 100 highest mountains in the state. When he’s not playing outside, he has a book in his hands. Read more…

Save your legs and learn expert outdoor tips from the comfort of your living room! Mountaineers Books is excited to bring you author webinars this summer - just in time for your next big adventure. Read more…

If you love great nonfiction stories as much as I do, it's always a treat when a friend recommends a gem you wouldn't have discovered on your own. Here are five of my favorites from Mountaineers Books that I think you'll be delighted to find: Read more…

We're excited and thankful for the generous support we've received from Fjällräven to further our mission. Similar to The Mountaineers, Fjällräven is committed to protecting our wild places, engaging as many people as possible in the outdoors, and giving back to the communities they serve.

Additional gratitude is extended to our friends at Canoe Ridge Vineyard, who share a passion of the outdoors and Pacific Northwest adventure, for their generous philanthropic and in-kind support to advance our mission. Read more…

The Nautilus Book Awards recognize books that transcend barriers of culture, gender, race, and class, and promote conscious living, green values, spiritual growth, wellness and vitality, and positive social change. Read more…

Braided River, the conservation imprint of Mountaineers Books, has just been honored with two Independent Publisher Book Awards gold medals for 2016.  Read more…

Braided River, the conservation imprint of Mountaineers Books, will be giving away our We Are the Arctic books at the rallies ahead of the  upcoming March for Science and the People’s March for Climate  and we need volunteers to help make it happen.  Read more…

Steve Swenson, a current Mountaineers Director at Large, has been climbing for more than 45 years. He has made ascents of K2 and Everest, both without supplemental oxygen. In 2012, he and his partners made the first ascent of Saser Kangri II (7518 meters), then the second-highest unclimbed mountain in the world, a feat for which they were awarded the prestigious Piolet d’Or. Steve and his wife, Ann, divide their time between Seattle and Canmore, Alberta. Read more…

Most middle-school art teachers have really small budgets. Lida Enche, author and illustrator of Pacific Northwest Nature: Coloring for Calm and Mindful Observation, teaches about 250 students a year with only $1000 for supplies. That doesn’t go far, so we thought we’d reach out to our community to give her a hand by donating copies of this new adult coloring book from Mountaineers Books. Read more…

On Wednesday, March 1, a large group of Mountaineers gathered for the Everett Branch’s Annual Pot Luck Dinner and Gear Grab at the Everett United Church of Christ (UCC). Members of the general public attended as well and learned about Mountaineers courses and activities. The UCC is a historic gathering place for the Everett Branch because its membership meetings convened there for 38 years.  Read more…

From the Cascades to the Himalayas, The Mountaineers has a long history of exploring nature’s wild unknown, and now we're doing our best to protect what's left of it. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge  – unique in its vast expanse of uncharted lands – represents one our last and greatest connections to this spirit of adventure. Read more…

Working together with partners that focus on eco-sensibility and performance - not to mention plain ol’ good looks - we're pleased to bring you official Mountaineers gear. We know... you've been asking for this since 1906. We hope you wear these with as pride as much as we do! Read more…

After lots of hard work all last fall and early this winter, we're pleased to announce two new major features have been added to our website: an online lodge reservation system and online merchandise sales. We've also made some smaller, noteworthy improvements. Read more…

I first dreamed of writing books when I was twelve years old, stuck on my family’s sailboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Writing was an antidote to boredom, but as I grew up, it became a true passion. When I followed in my father’s footsteps to the summit of Mount Everest, the story was too good not to write about. Read more…

On December 20, 2016, 115 million acres of the Arctic Ocean were protected when the US and Canada issued a Joint Arctic Leaders Statement launching actions to sensure "a strong, sustainable and viable Arctic economy and ecosystem, with low-impact shipping, science based management of marine resources, and free from the future risks of offshore oil and gas activity.” This action protects the wild Arctic Ocean ecosystem. Read more…

One of the stories from The Wild Edge that resonates strongly with me is from Baja California, of gray whales approaching boats and trusting people to touch their bodies and stroke their newborn calves. People who experience these intimate encounters with whales describe them as among the most stirring moments of their lives--a connection of heart and spirit. Read more…

Small yacht cruise specialists Discovery Voyages will be donating one-hundred percent of the trip fees for a 5 day/4 night voyage in Alaska's Prince William Sound to Braided River, our partner nonprofit organization focused on protecting wild places in western North America.  Read more…

Having published over 700+ books, we sure do get opinionated! Here are a few of our favorites from 2016 to share with you, just in time for the holidays Read more…

We’re lucky. We go outside to wander and explore the adventurous spirit within ourselves. We can rely on nature to restore our bodies and our souls. Read more…

What is the life of an editor? On television and in movies, it seems pretty glamorous: a posh office, three-martini lunches, perfectly coiffed women leisurely reading through perfectly composed prose. Or there’s the opposite end of the spectrum: cartoon and joke-inspiring lunatics obsessed over grammar and punctuation with pencils in their hair who get all worked up over a misplaced comma. Read more…