Most Popular Blogs

During my previous life as a sportswriter, an NBA player once made me wait for an arranged interview while he horsed around with ball boys in front of his locker. After a long spell of this, he grew bored and finally turned to me. Read more…

Each week we bring you a personal story from one of our members. For our member profile this week we talked to... Read more…

With the addition of four new members, the Equity & Inclusion Steering Committee started building The Mountaineers first organization-wide Equity & Inclusion (E&I) strategy in the latter half of 2020. That work has continued into this year and we are thrilled to share it with you now.  Read more…

Dog lovers rejoice! On certain winter weekends in 2023, a dogsled team from Northwest Dogsled Adventures will replace the Sno-Cat to provide transportation to and from Meany Lodge. Read more…

Backpacking provides isolation, time away from the stresses of work and home, and a window into the natural world. However, there is one element of backpacking that’s incongruent with its value set: trash. Read more…

The West Coast’s winter was wet and soggy. The forecast for the spring and summer is lingering snowpack, muddy trails … and bugs. Lots of bugs! Read more…

Jim Whittaker, a living legend among mountaineers worldwide, is a father, husband, environmentalist, and author. He is recognized as one the most influential climbers in American history, and is a visionary business and community leader in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. We're proud to count 'Big Jim' as a Mountaineers member, and invite you to join us in wishing him, and his twin brother Lou, a very happy 90th birthday today!   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…

Decision-making as a leader is hard and inevitable. There are times when you are forced to face these epic inner battles rivaling Middle-Earth wars and can choose to retreat or be defeated. Retreat equates to loss of pride, but you live to die another day. Defeat may bring you to the ultimate destination but may also ensure delicious victory in the clenching teeth of the Sauron of Summit Fever. Read more…

One step at a time. It can be slow, and often painful, but you can always take one more step. That’s how you climb mountains, and that’s how you recover from addiction.  Read more…

"Look there!" Danielle pointed across the marsh to the west, her binoculars just below her eyes.

"What do you see?" John quickly lifted his binoculars. Read more…

Each week we bring you a personal story from one of our members. For our member profile this week we talked to.... Read more…

Each week we bring you a personal story from one of our members. For our member profile this week we talked to... Read more…

In the six years I’ve served as The Mountaineers Conservation and Advocacy Director, I’ve watched our community come together time and again to speak up for the places we hold dear. Together, we’ve enjoyed a number of successes, and suffered a few setbacks. Threats to our public lands, including the climate crisis, are mounting, and as someone whose life has been formed by adventuring in nature, I am concerned about what our planet will be like for future generations. Read more…

This year, we'll be participating in Microsoft Nonprofit Fair on October 19.   We'll be at The Commons from 11:30am – 1:30pm raffling off outdoor books and gear, so stop by to say hello and learn more about how you can get involved with The Mountaineers. Read more…

Like my first love, I’ll never forget my first grizzly bear encounter. It was highly emotional and intense. Short-lived too, but forever etched into my mind. But unlike my first love, I wish to continue my relationship with grizzly bears into the future. Read more…

Each week we bring you a personal story from one of our members. For our member profile this week we talked to... Read more…

It’s pushing 95 degrees in Portland, and I’m biking home in the uncharacteristic and unforgiving sunshine, squinting even behind my sunglasses. It’s been over 90 all week. Read more…

It’s no surprise to any of us who have been hiking and adventuring in our wild places since the days of heavy luggedsole boots, knee high cotton socks, and external frames that in the words of conservationist Rick McGuire of the North Cascades Conservation Council and Alpine Lakes Protection Society: we are currently facing a human tsunami on our trails. And if we’re to stay true to this metaphor, a tsunami inundating our wild places isn’t going to leave them in good shape. Read more…

We're pleased to present you with the outcome of our most recent Board & Branch elections and we are grateful to everyone who participated in this election process. This year, we saw an +80% increase in member voting with 1,501 votes.   Read more…

When you’re hanging on a rope, upside-down in a waterfall, 50’ off the deck, you’re not doing a lot of thinking. It’s disorienting, the pummeling of ice-cold water. Despite the fact that the vertical momentum of the water very clearly indicates the way down, you can’t keep track of whether you cartwheeled left or right or flipped backwards and it’s not like you can look around to get your bearings. Read more…

As we're offering more vaccine-required programs, many Mountaineers leaders have requested support with tracking vaccination status. After several months of brainstorming and collaboration, we're pleased to launch an optional COVID-19 Vaccine badge for tracking member vaccination status on the website. Thank you to the many members of our community who contributed feedback along the way! Read more…

“Hiking is free. As long as you have shoes and an Orca card, you can go anywhere.” Read more…

The first day of April has grown to be a favorite around The Mountaineers. With the outdoor industry going all in on April Fools Day pranks, we’ve had fun following the pranks and coming up with a few of our own. Surely you remember the HonnSolo 11 Freesolo Airbag Pack by Black Diamond, or the Technical Lederhosen from Outdoor Research. We’re especially proud of the Cheater Badges we created for April Fools last year. Read more…

At 21 years old, Nathan Longhurst has accomplished what most would consider an impossible feat – climbing Washington’s 100 highest mountains in just 94 days, a group of peaks also known as the Bulger List. Now the youngest finisher (and only the 82^nd finisher since the list’s inception in 1980), Nathan undertook many of these climbs with Jason Hardrath, the recent holder of the Bulger List’s Fastest Known Time (FKT). Read more…

Meet Regina Robinson, your branch email editor for the last two years.  When she was recruited into the position, she thought, “No way, I don’t know how to do that!” She eventually agreed after some gentle persuasion and stated, “Okay, I will give it a try." She hasn’t looked back. She promises to keep doing it, "for as long as we will have her." Read more…

This year was a hard one. I hit rock bottom mid-May when I unexpectedly found myself crying alone in a tent in the middle of my living room floor. The chasm between the person I had planned to be when I set goals for 2020 and the person I actually was felt insurmountable. My carefully made plans, proudly anticipated fitness milestones, and dreams of adventure were slipping through my fingers. Read more…

While traveling solo to remote and wild places, I had been in some dicey situations. The risks were real, but I knew of no one else interested in exploring the nether regions of wilderness, nor the Himalayan front range from east to west, nor the ancient trade routes that connect Tibet to India through massive ranges, passes that cut deep, from north to south where borders often go unmarked – and so I had gone alone. Read more…

It took a lot of practice, but I finally learned how to poop directly into a dog bag. I’d been getting outside for years – crag climbing and backcountry skiing mostly – and I wasn’t a fan of carrying a trowel and digging a six-inch cat hole. Instead, I’d find a private space, answer the call of nature directly onto the ground/snow, then pick it up (double bag!) and pack it out (toilet paper too!). Read more…

If you love exchanging stories of the trail or are interested in a mini vacation close to home, we have the perfect opportunity for you! Back by popular demand, the volunteers who run our  Stevens Pass Lodge will open the lodge to Pacific Crest Trail thru hikers this summer - but we need your help to do it! We are searching for volunteers to commit to staffing Stevens Lodge for 4 days at a time from August 20 - September 30.  Read more…