Courses & Activities

There's still room in this free and informative 2.5-hour evening seminar, designed for brand new hikers as well as people who have hiked before, but want an introduction to safe hiking. Read more…

Rock fall is one of the more common causes of injuries in both climbing and scrambling. The rock in the Olympics is notorious for its poor quality, and the Cascades, although overall it is of much better quality, has its share of choss piles as well. A friend of mine used to joke about climbing in the Olympics, “if you don’t like your options for handholds, pick the rock up and move it somewhere else.” Read more…

At The Mountaineers, we've believe venturing into the outdoors is an essential piece of the human experience. It's important to implement low-impact recreation skills to keep our wild places as sanctuaries for the human spirit. Read more…

Leading hikes and backpacks offers unique rewards, but also unique challenges. Unlike other more technically demanding Mountaineers activities, hikes and backpacks have no course pre-requisites. We often lead people who are new to the outdoors and/or have widely varying capabilities. This seminar focuses on leadership skills to help you thrive and deliver safe, enjoyable trips. Read more…

To honor the amazing resource that is the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (PCT), Foothills Branch is sponsoring a new set of award badges, available to Mountaineers members from any branch, for hiking, backpacking or snowshoeing 50 or more miles of the PCT in Washington State on or after January 1, 2010. Read more…

Earlier in 2016, The Mountaineers Board of Directors voted to allocate funds to a project we’re calling Progressive Climbing Education. The goal is to dedicate resources to advance the goals and initiatives  of our passionate volunteers. Done well, these strategic investments will make our suite of volunteer-led Climbing Programs more fun for volunteers to run, easier to recruit volunteers for, more attractive to new climbers (especially those coming out of the gym), and more advanced for our highly-skilled volunteers and students. Read more…

At The Mountaineers, we've believe venturing into the outdoors is an essential piece of the human experience. It's important to implement low-impact recreation skills to keep our wild places as sanctuaries for the human spirit. Read more…

It’s 1:50am. The faded beam of my headlamp illuminates the narrow trail ahead. A river rages somewhere in the distance, like static from an unseen television. My legs are jelly. My back is soaked in sweat. The rhythmic crunch of two sets of feet behind me keeps my body pushing forward. The crew — Jordan, Dills, and I — have been hiking for six grueling hours, gaining 2,000 feet in elevation before winding around Lost Creek Ridge, and now sinking back to sea level as we near the river. Read more…

Beginning in late 2012, our volunteer climb leaders started dreaming about new, easier ways to teach friction climbing. From their imaginations came the idea to build our very own friction slab climbing center. The plans are drawn, the money is raised, and now we need a project manager to help make this dream a reality. Read more…

Autumn has come to the North Cascades which means primo hiking conditions and beautiful reds and oranges and yellows on the trails. Enjoy time outside and less time driving with a 1-2 night stay at our very own Baker Lodge.  Read more…

Seventeen Mountaineers members from our Seattle, Everett, Tacoma, and Foothills branches joined the Mountains to Sound Greenway on August 27 to help disassemble social trails around popular rock climbing crags on the Little Si Trail. The Greenway staff were impressed at the efficiency of our Mountaineers - from hiking to getting work done, they said we took four hours to accomplish what it would take a normal group to accomplish in a full eight-hour day. When Mountaineers get involved, we show up in force! Read more…

We believe we have a responsibility to teach climbers to be good stewards in the mountains. That's why we embarked on a project called Progressive Climbing Education - an initiative to re-think our program design to better meet the needs of the climbing community and better achieve our mission. The first step involved intensive information-seeking, then we took the feedback to simplify our project goals. One of those goals is to "Develop Good Stewards."  Read more…

There's still room in this free and informative two-hour evening seminar, designed for brand new hikers and for people who have hiked before but want an introduction to safe hiking in our major Pacific Northwest hiking areas. The seminar will help you find hikes that suit your interests and capabilities, understand common trail hazards, prepare for hikes with the right gear and clothing, and practice Leave-No-Trace and good trail etiquette so that you protecting our trails and wild places. We'll also provide useful information on permits, where to buy essential gear on a budget, and other valuable resources. Read more…

As Mountaineers, many of us have spent the majority of our days roaming the hills, but haven't spent enough time on the waters of Puget Sound!

On Saturday September 17, you're invited to try sailing without any prior experience, at just $45 for our members! You can't find an experience like this anywhere else. Read more…

We believe we have a responsibility to teach climbers to be safe, efficient, and competent in the mountains. That's why we embarked on a project called Progressive Climbing Education - an initiative to re-think our program design to better meet the needs of the climbing community and better achieve our mission. The first step involved intensive information-seeking, then we took the feedback to simplify our project goals. One of those goals is to "Develop Safe Climbers."  Read more…

“I must stress that this book is a fascinating read,” wrote Noel Dawson in his review of Sherpa: The Memoir of Ang Tharkay, which appeared recently in an issue of the UK’s Climber magazine. “It tells a very important story that could so easily have been lost.” Read more…

Mountaineer climbers in 1939 were well aware of their unparalleled good fortune. Only the highest Northwest peaks had been climbed, and all a young climber had to do to score a first ascent was head for the nearest blank spot on the map. Many of the mountains hadn’t even been surveyed, and the climbers often went without benefit of a map. Often they explored the area first and returned later, relying on their own notes to reach the summit. Read more…

Each year, Mountaineers kayakers come together to attend the advanced clinics sponsored by the Seattle Kayaking Committee at Deception Pass. Staying at the Environmental Learning Center at Cornet Bay, Mountaineers paddlers attend two full days of clinics that teach skills such as advanced paddle strokes, incident management, on-the-water navigation, introduction to moving and dynamic waters, and more! Being so close to the waters of Deception Pass for an entire weekend allows time for paddlers to spend more time learning skills and to connect with each other.  Read more…

My wife and I moved to Seattle nearly three years ago from Brooklyn, New York. It took us less than a year to decide to make Seattle our forever home. For outdoor lovers like us, how could we not? In under an hour on any given day, we can be on the trails headed to our campsite, in the mountains getting ready for a day of snowshoeing, or on the water in a kayak. Read more…

Olympia Branch Members: we want your BEST - Photos that is! We're hosting a photo contest and we can't wait to show off your great photography skills to our community. Follow the instructions below to submit photos in one of 11 categories to win recognition and eternal bragging rights. Read more…

I led a photography trip to central Washington to photograph abandoned buildings/ghosts towns and the starry sky. I was excited for this trip, because I had never tried to photograph the night sky and stars before. I also like taking pictures of old buildings. Read more…

My brother Colin and I had been planning to climb the Grand Teton in the "light and fast" style with the goal of completing the 12-pitch, 15-mile hike as fast as we could with light gear. No camping gear, no emergency bivy - just some food, enough gear, and a good idea of where we were supposed to go. My bag had all of the gear and food that I needed to climb, so this was not an ideal situation. Read more…

As the summer heat melts the snow in the mountains, more and more patches of  exposed rock appear and can be very hazardous for multiple reasons. Read more…

Many visitors to Rainier have visited Comet Falls - one of the more impressive falls in the park. If you haven’t been there, we highly recommend a visit. And continuing farther up the trail leads to two lesser-traveled spectacular places within the park. Read more…

After a successful summit, while descending back into the Snow Lake Basin down a 20 degree boulder field, a scrambler knocked loose a rock. This rock was supporting several other rocks, triggering a slide above her. Other party members recall seeing somewhere between "several" and "many" "large" rocks sliding down from above where she had been. Somehow in this mayhem, one of the rocks hit the scrambler. Read more…

The Mountaineers Tacoma Branch presents an evening with Jim Lynch, author of the book Before the Wind. Join us to meet the author and learn more about his local inspiration. Read more…

Meet Our Parks | Your Adventure's Caitlin O'Brien. Together with her brother Colin O'Brien, she will climb the Grand in Grand Teton National Park in under 24 hours, all in support of The Mountaineers Youth Programs.  Read more…

The Mountaineers pioneered alpine climbing in North America. Join us on August 18, 2016, to revel in the terrible ways climbing has been portrayed in the movies ever since. The "Arc'teryx Bad Movie Night" is the premier event you didn't know you wanted!  Read more…

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I lead photography trips that have minimal walking until I get my knees replaced (which should happen in the next year!). Read more…

The Photography Committee invites you to their annual Mt. Baker fall colors weekend.  Read more…