Skiing & Snowboarding

Skiing & Snowboarding

All posts

Backcountry Film Festival in Bellevue and Seattle - Jan 22 & 29

The 13th Annual Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Festival will show at the Bellevue Botanical Garden on Monday, January 22 and at the Seattle Mountaineers Program Center on Monday January 29.  Adventure, environment and climate, youth outdoors, ski culture - you’ll find it all in this award winning lineup of eight films.  Read more…

Join us for Winter Trails Month 2018!

Picture yourself tromping through a winter wonderland with your friends, family, and favorite Mountaineers trip leaders. The Mountaineers will be celebrating Winter Trails Month in January 2018, in conjunction with the national Winter Trails organization. Read more…

Mt Baker Lodge – Winter Fun Starts Nov 24

The Mountaineers' rustic Mount Baker Lodge is nestled in the spectacular North Cascades and is a beautiful, fun getaway three hours from Seattle. Located within walking distance of the Mt. Baker Ski Area, come up this winter to enjoy a weekend in the mountains. Read more…

Kick and Glide: Find the Nordic program best for you

Are you interested in cross-country skiing with The Mountaineers this winter? Several of our branches offer a variety of classes. Take a look, learn about the differences, and decide which might be the best option for you! Read more…

A step Ahead of Avalanches

On December 29, 2002, a party of seven mountaineers were involved in an avalanche accident in Cement Basin near Crystal Mountain. While skiing, they triggered a slide that buried one and partially buried three. One person was killed and another sustained a broken leg.  Read more…

How To: Protect from Sun on the Snow

This is my friend Casey. She's a rockstar, and summitted Mt. Baker via the Squak Glacier in a single day last June. We spent 13 hours on our feet to summit and get down, with 7-8 of those hours under direct sunlight. Read more…

Backcountry Skiing at Baker Lodge - March 17-19

If you're looking to take your backcountry skiing to the next level, we hope you'll join us for an immersive weekend at our Baker Lodge March 17-19. We'll use the Baker Ski area to practice skiing tactics in steep terrain while building confidence to ski the backcountry. Read more…

Free Your Heel, Free Your Mind* - A Recap of Everett Nordic Ski Success

For the last four decades, the Everett Branch has offered a Nordic (cross-country) ski course in January and February. This year we carried on the tradition and introduced a new batch of adventurers to the joys of Nordic skiing. Read more…

How To: Be A Good Adventure Buddy

Experienced adventuristas often forget what it was like to be 'the noob'. We have our kit dialed, know how much food to pack, and can go from no plans to leaving on a two-day ski trip in 30-minutes without breaking a sweat. But we were all beginners once, and each have someone to thank for taking us out for our first hike, bike, ski, or climb. Read more…

Gear Review: Small Avalanche Beacons

My first avalanche transceiver was the original Ortovox S1, which sported 3 antennas, a slick grid search, and looked like a transponder from Star Trek. Considering flip phones were just on the way out and Myspace was still relevant it didn’t seem out of place. Read more…

How To: Layer in the Backcountry

Mastering your personal layering comfort is one of the most difficult aspects of backcountry travel. Too many clothes and you're soaking yourself from the inside out. Too few and you're freezing your little tootsie off. No bueno either way. Read more…

Finding Paradise in Methow Valley

I fell in love with the snow as a child. We didn’t have a lot of the white stuff where I grew up near London, England but I was fortunate in that my parents took my brother and I skiing in Austria. Every winter after that I tried to get in at least one ski vacation.  Read more…

Meany Lodge Committee Positions Open + Snow Cat Transport

Meany Lodge is looking to fill several committee postions that will put you at the heart of one of The Mountaineers most vibrant communities.  Read more…

Be An Outdoor Ambassador: How To Implement Low-Impact Recreation Skills

At The Mountaineers, we've believe venturing into the outdoors is an essential piece of the human experience. We go outside to wander and explore the adventurous spirit within ourselves. It's important to implement low-impact recreation skills to keep our wild places as sanctuaries for the human spirit; so our grandchildren can experience the sensation of discovering an untouched place. Read more…

Turns All Year: A Personal Look at Backcountry Skiing

I consider myself one of the ‘lucky ones’. I learned to ski shortly after learning to walk, and remember a childhood of white Montana winters racing after my parents down the ski slopes. Winters get cold in Big Sky Country, but fueled on a steady stream of hot cocoa and M&Ms, my dad managed to teach not only me, but my younger twin-sisters, to be pretty darn good skiers. Read more…

Backcountry Film Festival - Jan 7, 9, and Feb 4

Grab your outdoor bucket list and adventure buddies to tune into a night of human-powered winter celebration, with ten edge-of-your-seat films celebrating backcountry skiing and other adventures! Read more…

How To: When To Put On Crampons

Crampons are an indispensable tool for any alpine mountaineer. But sometimes it's not so "cut-and-dry" as to when you should use them. Read more…

It's going to be a POW year and we're ready!

While some folks are still disillusioned about last year's ski season, our team at Stevens Lodge is 100% convinced that this will be a year to remember...and we are doing lots of work to prepare the lodge for an epic season! Read more…

How To: Pick a Tent

Terry Breaux is what you would call an expert camper. He fell in love with the outdoors as a kid the first night he slept in a tent under the stars. He continues to pursue bikepacking expeditions today, always testing gear and seeking ways to create better shelters for outdoor users.  He's been designing tents since 1989, and for the last nine years he's worked at MSR. Now he's spreading his tent knowledge with you. Read more…

Sharing the Backcountry - New Winter Trails Policy For Our Forests

Ten years ago the Forest Service issued a travel management rule designated to regulate wheeled vehicle use on Forest lands. At the time, snowmobiles were considered “optional” to regulate, and were therefore not included in the legislation. Then, last summer, we asked you to share your voice on a new proposal for winter travel management in our National Forests. Now, a new regulation known as the Over Snow Vehicle Travel Rule has been passed to account for snowmobile use. Read more…

Website Workshop for Activity and Course Leaders - Jan 15

This free evening workshop offers participants individualized hands-on learning for activity leaders about how to use the Mountaineers website to list activities and courses, manage rosters, and communicate with activity/course participants, and any other website skills that participants wish to learn about. Bring your laptop or tablet if you have one (you can also share someone else's or follow along with demonstrations on the screen). Read more…

Celebrate Winter Trails in the Methow

Picture yourself tromping through a winter wonderland with your friends, family and favorite Mountaineers trip leaders. The Mountaineers will be celebrating Winter Trails Day in the Methow Valley this January. And, instead of just one day, we will be there the whole weekend! The Mountaineers will be leading snowshoe and cross-country ski trips for members and the public of all ages and abilities. Read more…

Ski and Snowshoe in Maine Wilderness!

Escape to the tranquility of mountain lakes, flowing rivers, and spectacular waterfalls in lovely untouched Maine wilderness on this Mountaineers Global Adventure over winter break (Feb 15-21, 2015) with Patti Polinsky, veteran leader of decades of fun and successful domestic and international adventures! Read more…

Info Night: Ski-Snowshoe in Maine, Ski or Winter-Walk in Austria and France

Long-time winter sports expert and Global Adventure leader Patti Polinsky will be holding an info night on Sept. 29 to talk about a lodge-to-lodge ski-snowshoe adventure in Maine and a skiing-walking adventure in French and Austrian resorts that she's leading in 2015. Read more…

Sharing the Winter Backcountry

Do you spend time outdoors during the winter? Do you backcountry or cross-country ski, snowboard, snowshoe or enjoy winter mountaineering? If your answer is yes, then you may be impacted by the new rules for Over-Snow Vehicle (OSV) Travel Management. Read more…