Courses & Activities

The Mountaineers have been part of the Pacific Northwest since we were founded in 1906. We are pioneers and adventurers. 

Young and old, new and seasoned, passionate teachers and eager learners – the outdoors bring us together. The Pacific Northwest is our home. Read more…

fric·tion
/'frikSH(e)n/
The resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over another
slab
/slab/
A large, thick, flat piece of stone, concrete, or wood Read more…

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…

On a scholarship from the Seattle Climbing Committee, two volunteer Mountaineers leaders attended an American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) single pitch instructor training course. As a result, they returned with techniques and methods that were presented and adopted by the Seattle Climbing Committee: (1) the extended rappel and (2) the pull, break, under, slide belay technique. Want to learn about these techniques? Read what Abby Hunt and Stef Schiller learned.... Read more…

“I didn't know how living outdoors and sleeping on the ground in a tent each night and walking alone through the wilderness all day almost every day had come to feel like my normal life, but it had. It was the idea of not doing it that scared me.” Read more…

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…

Join long-time Mountaineers trip leader Royce Poetter for a five-day getaway in Maui's Haleakala National Park next March. Read more…

Some of you may have seen a little fruit cake tin in the Mountaineer Archives which contains a very old cookie or biscuit. I've seen this before and have always set it aside for another time (after scratching my head over why it was even there). Read more…

Guten Morgen family and friends,

I just completed leading The Mountaineers club Switzerland Via Alpina trek. It was outstanding, fabulous, perfect - one of the best ever. Everyone loved it! Read more…

Join trip leader and long-time world traveler Patti Polinsky for a potpourri of life-list experiences! This trip promises lots of sun and spectacular scenery with few tourists. Read more…

Reposted with permission from Mike & Amanda - the Access Fund Conservation Team

The Pacific Northwest is an adventurous climber’s dream. Long hikes into remote peaks and crags challenge climbers’ fitness and resolve, while towering granite peaks and spires inspire one to explore. So we were pretty psyched when we learned that we’d be heading to Darrington, Washington to work at a crag known as 3 O’clock Rock in the Boulder River Wilderness. Read more…

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…

Join us October  16 at the Newport Way Library at 6pm for our new  Hike and Backpack Leader Seminar. Read more…

Craig Miller, veteran of decades leading fun and successful private and Mountaineers adventures in the Himalaya, still has room on two upcoming Global Adventures in the Everest region of Nepal! Don't miss out on this opportunity to see the world's tallest peak and experience the visual and cultural richness of this part of Nepal, with someone who really knows the area. Read more…

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…

Join us for the Tacoma Hiking & Backpacking Committee Fall Potluck! Read more…

Our monthly 4^th Saturday Scandinavian Dance with the Tacoma Mountaineers will be Saturday, September 27, 7 – 10:30 p.m. at the Sons of Norway Normanna Hall. $10 for adults. $5 for students and non-dancers.  Read more…

On August 10, 2014, Mountaineer Joe "String Bean" McConaughy reached the Canadian border and completed a historic effort: thru-hiking the full 2,600 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexican border to the Canadian border in just 53 days and six hours. He averaged 51 miles a day on the PCT. He broke the "assisted hike" PCT speed record, set just one year earlier, by an astonishing six days and two hours. As recently as 2011, the PCT speed-hike record was 64 days. Read more…

Written by Joe Sambataro, Northwest Regional Director for The Access Fund Read more…

After months of fundraising, the outdoor climbing wall has been installed at the Tacoma program center. Be one of the first ones to try it out at our family climbing night on August 27th at 6pm. We'll provide all the equipment necessary for both adults and youth. No prior experience necessary!

Hosts open The Mountaineers lodge at Mount Baker, prepare food menus, supervise and assist meal preparation, operate the lodge, and ensure a welcoming, pleasant, mountain stay where individuals, families, friends and groups of all ages can explore, learn about, experience and enjoy summer and winter outdoor backcountry activities in a friendly, communal and supportive environment. The lodge operates in a cooperative fashion with each guest helping the hosts with meal preparation and other lodge operating tasks. Read more…

November 2 - The Tooth/South Face
Injury: None.  
Cause: A number of converging factors. Read more…

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…

Intense Basic? Climbing immersion? Mountaineering "boot camp"? I’m not quite sure what words best describe nine-straight 12-hour days of climbing instruction, including two nights out for the snow-training portion. But, wow, what an unbelievably wonderful experience! Read more…

The need for the Ten Essentials is not apparent until something goes wrong. Maybe you're surprised by darkness, weather, or a slow partner, or an injury slows or prevents travel. Whatever happens, the lack of an Essential can result in death.  Read more…