Stuck Inside Youth Blog

As a Mountaineers member over the last 75 years, I have discovered that individual and communal learning takes place when we find ourselves at the edge of our comfort zone. Being out on the edge is where we learn and grow the most. The skills, education, and experiences we receive through The Mountaineers take us to that edge, guide us to uncover our unique leadership styles, teach us what it takes to protect our planet, and inspire us to give back to the communities that shape us. Read more…

I don’t know about you, but I’m missing our Mountaineers community more than ever. We were going to have a Gala tonight and I was prepared to stand in front of 500 of you to make an appeal for support. That’s not the usual setting for me, but I was looking forward to swapping my warm layers and rain gear for a suit jacket and silk tie. I decided to get fancy anyway and made a video for you because tonight I’m All Dressed Up With Nowhere To Go. Read more…

Welcome back! Each week, our youth team is sharing ideas and activities for kids of all ages to stay engaged while also staying home and safe. In our first Stuck Inside, we presented our best ideas for fun ways to bring the outdoors in. This week, we’re focusing on ways to keep our spirits up when we’re in a funk.  Read more…

It feels strange to agree with a rule and yet hate it: recently, following closures of National and State Parks across the U.S., Washington and Oregon indefinitely shut down access to 24 million acres of established outdoor recreation areas. Although I’d already ceased my own outdoor activities outside Seattle city limits in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic—and fully support the decision to close public lands—the finality of this announcement is heartbreaking.  Read more…

As Mountaineers, we are committed to learning from our experiences. We examine every incident that happens on a Mountaineers trip for opportunities to improve the ways we explore and teach. Our volunteer safety committee reviews every incident report and picks a few each month to share as examples of ‘Lessons Learned’. The trip report below describes what happened on this trip, in the leader’s own words, and outlines the lessons the leader has identified. In some cases, we offer additional key learnings from the incident. Read more…

Wow.

It’s not often that I’m at a loss for what to say...but I find myself in awe as I reflect on last week and the groundswell of support we experienced from our community. Read more…

While we’re all practicing social distancing and earning our Stayed Home badges for the greater good, we invite you to sharpen your skills and stay connected to the outdoors and each other with our new Virtual Education Center and Virtual Events & Activities Calendar. Build out your toolkit with new tips & tricks, read how to's, find online learning opportunities, and register for virtual events and activities to help you stay connected and engaged with your Mountaineers community. Read more…

Spring has sprung and so has the growing season at local farms--all in the wake of the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak. The #WeArePugetSound book and campaign has been promoting different ways that people can show up to protect our environment in the Salish Sea. But we know a healthy environment requires healthy communities too. Read more…

Welcome back! Each week, The Mountaineers youth team is sharing ideas and activities for kids of all ages to stay engaged while also staying home and safe. Last week’s Stuck Inside focused on how to keep spirits up during this less than ideal time. This week, we’re offering ideas on how to connect with others as we are physically apart. Read more…

Welcome back! Each week, The Mountaineers youth team is sharing ideas and activities for kids of all ages to stay engaged while also staying home and safe. Last week’s Stuck Inside focused on connecting with others. This week, we are giving suggestions for new skills you can learn with all this extra time on our hands. Read more…

Welcome back! Each week, The Mountaineers youth team is sharing ideas and activities for kids of all ages to stay engaged while also staying home and safe. Last week’s Stuck Inside focused on learning new skills with all this extra time on our hands. This week, we are suggesting ideas on ways to celebrate Earth Day! Read more…

We’re excited that public lands are beginning to reopen for recreation. While we’re all eager to get back to our favorite places, it’s critically important that we recreate responsibly to keep lands open for use. This is not a return to normal: COVID-19 is very much still a public health threat and we all need to make extra efforts to keep each other safe and public lands open. Please see our How To: Recreate Responsibly blog and  visit our COVID-19 blog and response page for more information. Read more…

Imagine a bowl of fresh vegetables glistening on your kitchen counter, ready to make the most nutritious and flavorful salad or curry or pizza. It would be even more nourishing if the lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and basil came from just a few feet outside your door. Read more…

Join the Tacoma Branch Photography Committee as we celebrate our 2020 Gallery Show! Going on its 14^th year, this show is typically only seen in person at Catholic Community Services in Tacoma. However, due to social distancing restrictions we are now offering it online for all members to see and enjoy. Read more…

Alpine Ambassadors are a group of climbers who lead 5.10+/WI3+ and are looking to push their limits together, learn from the mentorship of guides and highly accomplished climbers, and mentor others. This talented group is comprised of leaders from all branches with climbing programs, and committed to helping our leaders push their climbing limits. Read more…

Mindfulness has become a popular practice in yoga and other therapies, but it also has its place in the mountains. To be “mindful” means paying complete attention to what’s going on, both inside your head and outside of yourself, and being fully present in the moment. If you are multi-tasking, you are likely not being mindful. Likewise, if you are rushing to get things done, or tag the summit and get back to the car, you probably don’t have a good chance of being mindful. The other component of mindfulness is accepting yourself exactly as you are, or treating yourself the way you would treat a good friend. Read more…

A squabble over climbing styles nearly tore The Mountaineers apart in its early years. Choosing instead to put differences aside, that turmoil spawned a text so seminal that it would come to be read religiously by aspiring climbers around the world. Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills is now seen by many as the pinnacle of climbing education material, and next to it since the beginning is the nonprofit publisher Mountaineers Books. Read more…

I watched in fascinated disgust as dozens of insects squirmed and wriggled towards the edges of the bark where it met the soft damp core, searching for darkness and safety. Just moments before, my mother in an effort to teach me about the wonders of nurse logs had wedged her fingernail between bark and wood and carefully pried off a chunk of bark the size of her hand. “All those insects make their home in the log. They eat the wood and make it into soil so other trees can grow.” Then she replaced the bark as carefully as she had removed it. “Let’s not disturb them any further.” Read more…

One of the most beautiful and wild places on the eastern seaboard, the Chic-Choc Traverse was placed on Peter Potterfield’s 25 Classic Hikes of North America with good reason. In May 2000, my wife Heather and I did a recon trip to Quebec’s Chic-Choc Mountains in the 200,000-acre Parc National de la Gaspésie. Three months later we returned to backpack the 50-mile Chic Choc Traverse – one of the most stunning stretches of the International Appalachian Trail. We were hooked. Read more…

Dear Readers,

This month of April marks the 60th anniversary of Mountaineers Books, an independent and nonprofit publisher based in Seattle. For sixty years we’ve been publishing books that educate readers about the outdoors, connect us all to wilderness places, and inspire everyone to find their own outdoor adventures. While we are widely known for our comprehensive and expertly researched guidebooks and instructional texts, we also have an extensive list of award-winning narratives—outdoor adventures, natural histories, biographies, memoirs, and more. 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…

Is this quarantine starting to get to you? Are you watching birds out your windows and dreaming about what a birding trip might be like? Where might you go on your own during these Coronavirus times, and what might you find and identify? Our new course, Birding in Quarantine: Maximizing Your Fun and Relaxation, is here to help! Read more…

Our website is built on the open source Plone CMS (Content Management System). It was running on Plone 4, which is built with Python 2.7 with an end of life this year. We started the update to Plone 5 in May 2019, and launched it on May 5, 2020, our website's sixth "birthday." Read more…

I'm not certain what it was about this week, but it was a tough one. The cumulative impact of the Stay Home order, limited interactions with other people, and the realization that our "new normal" will be in place for a while seems to be weighing heavily on many. And, at the same time, as we near 50,000 COVID-19 related deaths in the US, we're reminded just how horrible this disease is and how important it is that we all continue to do our part to fight its spread. Read more…

As our community adapts to a new way of gathering together and learning, we're collecting ideas, tips, and how-to's to help you be successful. The Mountaineers community of staff and volunteers has stepped-up to share success stories and answer frequently asked questions about how to make your next virtual event run smoothly. Read more…

Did you know that The Mountaineers have been leading international adventure activities since the 1960s? Since our beginnings we've taken members on 220 different adventures, trekking, hiking, backpacking, climbing, scrambling, and skiing to over 25 different countries and on nearly every continent. Read more…

Welcome back! Each week, The Mountaineers youth team is sharing ideas and activities for kids of all ages to stay engaged while also staying home and safe. Last week's Stuck Inside celebrated Earth Day. This week, we are opening the Explorer Art Contest! Read more…

We are halfway through The Mountaineers fiscal year and what a journey these last six months have been. When our Board of Directors approved an operating budget of $9.28M in October to support outdoor programs, places, and books, they never would have guessed that our plans would be disrupted by the catastrophic impacts of a global pandemic. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that relies on a combination of earned revenue and philanthropic support to sustain operations, we’ve been challenged to pivot and re-imagine how The Mountaineers can best serve our community as incoming revenue slows to a trickle. Unrestricted charitable support from individual donors is paramount to our ability to sustain core operations. In this May edition of our monthly Impact Giving blog series, we are shining light on the Peak Society and how these leadership-level donors support our organization in good times and in bad. Read more…

Fighting the coronavirus pandemic is a community-wide effort, and thanks to the diligence of Washingtonians to Stay Home and Stay Healthy, public lands have begun to reopen. It's essential that we recreate responsibly to keep each other safe and public lands open. Read more…

Are you cooking at home more these days and need some healthy but delicious recipe suggestions?  Whether you're an outdoor athlete looking to improve your performance or simply an at-home chef seeking to better your understanding of nutrition, Peak Nutrition will appeal to and inspire those interested in cultivating a healthy lifestyle in the kitchen and beyond. Read more…