The Mountaineers
Learn about how to organize carpools, update your Mountaineers profile to arrange carpools, and more!
Carpooling Policy
As stewards for outdoor conservation efforts, The Mountaineers actively encourage participants to carpool as an effective way to decrease our environmental impact and reduce the number of vehicles at trailheads. Plus, carpooling is a great way to meet other people participating in your adventure!
We strongly support carpooling and self-selected, self-directed carpool organizing. However, our insurance will not cover the liability associated with Mountaineers staff or volunteers assigning and organizing carpools for participants. By allowing self-selection, the responsibility shifts to the individual to make appropriate choices to ride with a driver they believe is safe and responsible – and drivers can choose to offer rides if they feel comfortable doing so. Carpools may be set up independently on a self-directed basis, but any such arrangements are not an undertaking of The Mountaineers. Drivers and riders who choose to participate in carpools to Mountaineers events are doing so at their own risk. Thank you for being responsible.
The Mountaineers has not established a specific carpool mileage reimbursement rate. We suggest that riders ask the driver how much they paid for gas and divide by the number of people riding in the car, rounding up to help cover wear and tear on vehicles.
Organizing Carpools
When registering for an activity, you can see the roster of the other participants. You'll notice some names are in all-caps and are blue, and others are in lower case and are black. The blue names are "public" - meaning these people have chosen to share their information with other Mountaineers members who are signed in.
To arrange a carpool, click on the blue names of those members who have chosen to share their information publicly. This will open a pop-up window where you can see the person's profile and contact information. Please use this information to contact other participants to arrange a carpool.
As a participant, you will have access to only the information of members who have chosen to share. Leaders have access to the entire roster. Before an activity, leaders will often email the full participant list to share activity-related information and remind participants to arrange their own carpools if they want to.
Share your information for carpooling
To make your profile public so that your contact information is viewable to other Mountaineers members signed into their account, visit your My Profile page (by clicking on your name in the upper right hand corner) and select "Edit Profile". Note: if your account is set to private it will be noted like this:
Once you click on edit profile, select the "Preferences" tab and uncheck the box where it says "Make my profile private."
This will make your profile viewable to all other signed in members. Now, you may be contacted to participate in carpools.
Additionally, from the same tab you will want to set your carpool preferences from the pull-down options. You can choose None, Drive, Ride, or Drive or Ride. The "Carpool Notes" box will allow you to add additional information such as where you prefer to meet, how many people you can take, and other general information that will help you connect with others.
Frequently Asked Questions
What type of protection do I have as an individual who decides to be a driver in a carpool?
The Mountaineers has never offered the individual driver protection or insurance in case of an incident or accident. Our insurance protection for volunteer leaders starts at the trailhead. Your personal automobile insurance is your protection.
What type of protection do I have as an individual who decides to be a participant in a carpool?
As a participant in a carpool you will have to take responsibility for making a decision on whether or not you want to participate. Many things may factor into your decision such as: Does the driver have insurance? Is the person a safe driver? Do they live close to me? Etc. How you answer these questions is a personal decision that you take responsibility for.
What can leaders and participants do, or not do, to organize car pools?
Leaders may facilitate carpooling by encouraging participants to use a carpool info sharing system such as groupcarpool.com, sharing participant contact info, and suggesting a carpool meeting point. Leaders may not assign who goes in what car. We encourage leaders to work together to share ideas and best practices for carpooling communication and options.
Participants may indicate their preference to drive or ride and obtain other participant contact information to self-organize carpools. See above for detailed information on how to do this.
This article was originally published in May 2014. It was Updated to reflect our improved website functionality in May 2023.
