Mountaineer Magazine

If you’ve spent any time at the Seattle Program Center, you’ve probably come across John Wick in the basement, building test friction slabs or adjusting plumbing to install a washing machine, or behind the climbing wall removing bee hives, or attending an event. A mechanical engineer by trade and longtime employee of Boeing, John has shared his professional skills along with his love of the outdoors with The Mountaineers and the greater outdoor community. Read more…

Life is all about mountains for Marybeth Dingledy — not just the kind you scale, but the rugged terrain you have to slog up, over, around or through when life goes sideways. Read more…

For veterans Steve Redenbaugh and Michael Fairman, climbing together was a way to cope with their struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  Read more…

Snapping awake sometime before dawn, I extracted myself from sleeping bag and tent as quietly as possible so as not to awaken my tentmate. Snuggling in down parka, alpaca cap and mittens, I found a perch on a rock in the front row of the sunrise light show over the Cordillera across the deep gorge below. Read more…

As Mountaineers, we see the outdoors as the ultimate community center. It's a venue for young and old, new and seasoned, professional and novice to convene around a common interest. The renovated program center in Tacoma is an indoor space that proves the outdoors is not the only place Mountaineers come together.  Read more…

Few places on earth rival the rugged beauty and biological diversity of Washington state’s North Cascades mountain range. Read more…

Several months ago, I successfully rehabilitated my core and left hip stabilizer muscles, but steep steps remained awkward and tentative on my right leg. It turns out that crucial gluteal muscles were lagging behind those on the left side. It was time to even things out. Read more…

They’re all over Latin America. Along roadsides and in town squares; makeshift memorials honoring the lives of so many who departed this world prematurely. Usually placed on location of a terrible accident; these memorials allow us to reflect on the life taken from that very spot—and perhaps to lament the unfortunate situation leading up to it — alcohol, speed, negligence, distraction — the list goes on. Read more…

It’s 1:50am. The faded beam of my headlamp illuminates the narrow trail ahead. A river rages somewhere in the distance, like static from an unseen television. My legs are jelly. My back is soaked in sweat. The rhythmic crunch of two sets of feet behind me keeps my body pushing forward. The crew — Jordan, Dills, and I — have been hiking for six grueling hours, gaining 2,000 feet in elevation before winding around Lost Creek Ridge, and now sinking back to sea level as we near the river. Read more…

“You guys got me, right?” A student shouts down to her classmates, who are belaying her 50 feet into the air at Camp Long’s high ropes course. Her English is heavily accented, marking her Somalian roots, and the reply she gets from the ground comes from a native Spanish speaker, "Go, climb! You can make it!" Read more…