Outdoor Leadership

The Olympia Sea Kayaking Committee is launching our 2018 sea kayaking program with trip planning, instructor training, incident management training, Wednesday evening paddles, and a new group of sea kayak students. Join us for another season of fun on the water! Read more…

For our Leader Spotlight this month we talked to Christine Grenier, a hike leader with the Kitsap Branch who offers other Mountaineers the chance to slow down, look around, and enjoy the scenery. Read more…

These days many Olympia Mountaineers know Mike Kretzler as a trip leader for hiking, backpacking, and snowshoeing and a course chair for the Navigation program. What they might not realize is Mike's has a long leadership history with the chapter, including a term as Secretary and a term as Council Chair. Read more…

For our Leader Spotlight this month we talked to Danielle Graham, a volunteer leader with the Foothills Branch who encourages aspiring leaders to glean tips and tricks from every leader they interact with, and who wants all members to feel valued and included in The Mountaineers' community. Read more…

For our Leader Spotlight this month we talked to Tom Eckhout, a volunteer leader with the Olympia Branch who cherishes every moment he has in the mountains. Read more…

Volunteers are the lifeblood of The Mountaineers, and we get a clear view of their incredible impact when we dive into the numbers! Here is a look at our  collective impact over the past year. Read more…

For our Leader Spotlight this month we talked to Kyle Breakey, a volunteer with the Bellingham Branch who sees a huge value in mentorship for leaders at The Mountaineers, both as a mentor and a mentee.  Read more…

The Mountaineers hosted our fourth annual Leadership Conference on Saturday, December 2 at the Seattle Program Center. It was an outstanding day of leadership development for our volunteers and community partners - thank you to everyone who was able to attend! Read more…

As part of our Progressive Outdoor Education initiative, The Mountaineers is investing in eLearning to complement our existing courses. Our successful pilot with Wilderness Navigation in 2016 showed us the value of eLearning in improving the delivery, impact, accessibility, and consistency of our courses.  Read more…

For our Leader Spotlight this month we talked to Jerry Logan, a volunteer with the Kitsap Branch who takes pride and joy in helping new climbers achieve summits they didn't think were possible! Read more…

Josh and I first met when we worked together at the Northwest Outward Bound School, and I’ve always been struck by his creativity, analytical skills, approach to teaching, and sense of humor. Josh has a rare ability to champion and role-model the highest values and expectations as an outdoor educator/guide — one of many attributes that make him such an inspiring professional colleague. Read more…

In the summer 2016, The Mountaineers hired Outdoor Safety Institute (OSI) to evaluate how we manage risk in our Global Adventures, Climbing, and Scrambling programs. OSI outlined a number of recommendations, and we have put together a plan to implement them. Read more…

The Mountaineers 'Vision 2022' Strategic Plan calls for us to invest in being “innovative leaders in outdoor education.” This means we need to respond to growing needs and address new century challenges in ways that are different from traditional  outdoor education. This includes investment in our volunteers – the greatest source of innovation and a priceless resource that is uniquely Mountaineers. We call this new approach "Progressive Outdoor Education."  Read more…

The Mountaineers Leadership Conference is a one-day conference held on Saturday, December 2 at the Seattle Program Center in Magnuson Park. It is an engaging and exciting day of leadership development for you - our community of outstanding leaders - and we hope that you're able to join us! Read more…

For our Leader Spotlight this month we talked to Rodica Manole, a volunteer with the Everett Branch who encourages her fellow women to step into leadership roles because you’re more ready than you think you are. Read more…

In the process of writing a recent blog on committee volunteerism, I shared an email conversation with John Dunlap from the Olympia Branch about volunteering with The Mountaineers. John is a five year member who supports several committees, including Olympia’s Scrambling and Sea Kayaking Committees. When I asked John about his experience supporting committee work and volunteering with The Mountaineers, his response took me by surprise - in a very good way. Read more…

My own Mountaineers leadership story started with a search for trail companions. I was seeking a compatible group on the types of hikes and backpacks that interested me. Then, one day, I took a new arrival from China on his first hike, and I saw the joy and wonder blossom on his face when Mount Rainier emerged in all her glory behind a ridge covered with meadow wildflowers. That was it, I was hooked. Read more…

For our Leader Spotlight this month we talked to Bill Borom, a 5-year leader whose involvement in a wide variety of club activities has continued to spark his sense of adventure and expand his pool of friends to adventure with! Read more…

Did you know that The Mountaineers club didn’t have a paid employee until 1984? Tired of all of the paperwork, the growing organization hired a part-time administrator to help with waivers and dues so that volunteers could focus on the fun stuff: developing courses, providing instruction, leading trips, and running committees. Read more…

For our Leader Spotlight this month we talked to Donna Kreuger, a Hike Leader who wants people to understand that they don't have to be a big, bad mountain climber to rock the outdoors! Read more…

Last year, The Mountaineers went through an exercise to clarify and distill our core values, both as an organization and as a community. The core values we identified—Adventure, Advocacy, Community, Education, and Volunteerism—closely align with our mission to “explore, learn, and conserve." In a recent course, one of our students identified a common language shortcut with the unintended impact of being non-inclusive. Read more…

Occasionally, Mountaineers leaders are interested in leading a multi-day trip outside the Pacific Northwest. If you want to lead a backpacking trip to Hawaii, a volcano climb in Canada, a sea kayak trip in Mexico, or, perhaps even farther afield like a sailing trip in Greece, a climb in Peru, or a trek in the Dolomites, we have different ways to get involved. Read more…

For our Leader Spotlight this month we talked to Sherrie Trecker, a Climb Leader who knows how to delegate, wants to inspire more women's leadership, and always has a bag of gummies in her backpack. Read more…

Participation Notes are an important part of The Mountaineers internal reporting and tracking processes. Leaders use this tool to capture and review notes about a member's past participation that might be useful for future leaders. Read more…

I recently attended a webinar on Emotional Intelligence, shorthanded to EQ or EI. Hosted by one of our partner organizations, Camber Outdoors, I was intrigued by the webinar’s title, “EQ - The Secret Sauce for Accelerating Leadership”. Read more…

For our Leader Spotlight this month we talked to Charlie Michel, a Sea Kayak Leader who can still hold his own with the young guns. Read more…

Attendees of our Leader Seminar will learn what it means to lead a Mountaineers hike or backpack. We'll cover how to prepare and lead your participants in a safe and enjoyable outing and how to handle some common on-trail leadership challenges, as well as how to post a hike or backpack and a post-trip activity report. This seminar  will get you started toward becoming a certified trip leader for the Seattle or Foothills Branches. (this seminar can count toward certification for the other branches as well!) Read more…

Last month I had the opportunity to participate in a rock climbing leadership course with about 20 other Mountaineers leaders and instructors. The first seminar focused on identifying our personal leadership style using the NOLS No-Doz model. which divides people into 4 leadership styles. Read more…

Join the Seattle Branch as we recognize the outstanding achievements of all of our Mountaineers volunteers. The event is open to volunteers across the entire organization and tickets are available on a first come first serve basis. Read more…

Over the years, members of The Mountaineers community have worked on a number of inclusion initiatives to encourage more involvement from diverse communities. To date, limited resources have been put toward a mindful effort to create a more inclusive environment at The Mountaineers. Read more…