Blog

The Senate passed the Great American Outdoors Act, a historic bipartisan bill to fund parks and public lands. The legislation includes measures The Mountaineers has spent years advocating for, including finally ensuring full and permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) as well as establishing new funding to restore and maintain public lands.  Read more…

In case you haven’t read yet, last week we announced that our July 23 gala is going virtual. As with many organizations navigating the effects of COVID-19 we’ve had to adapt to new modes of operation, and moving our auction online is one of them. It’s come with a learning curve, but we’ve already noticed many benefits: you have more time to bid on your favorite items, it opens up opportunities for everyone to participate, and we have the opportunity to further promote businesses that have donated to the auction. 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 close to home and following your county’s phased guidelines. Last week's Stuck Inside celebrated the H20 (so fun!). This week, we are sharing youth-specific resources on racism to support Black Lives Matter.  Read more…

In November of 2001, my friend Stacy and I began our regular journey eastward, heading home to our respective states of Tennessee and Connecticut after a season of teaching Outdoor Education in California. We were both excited to visit Zion National Park on the way home for a few weeks of exploration. Both climbers in our 20’s, Stacy and I hoped to rappel through a slot canyon. Read more…

With great sadness we share the news of the passing of Marty Babare, an active 23-year member of The Mountaineers Tacoma Branch. Marty was at his cabin in Hood Canal when he suffered a heart attack on Saturday, June 13, 2020. Multiple resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful.  Read more…

In our Mountaineers climbing and alpine scrambling courses, an essential skill we are always trying to instill in our students is what I call “mountaineering judgement.” To be safe outdoors and in the mountains, one always needs to be aware of - and alert to - risk factors, changing conditions, and issues with other party members. Because of this, courses in activities like climbing, scrambling, and kayaking could just as easily be called risk management courses. Everything students learn in these courses reduces risk and makes the activity safer. Read more…

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

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

Earlier this week we announced to gala attendees that the July 23 event will now be virtual in order to protect the health and safety of guests, speakers, and staff. While we originally hoped to celebrate in-person, we’re excited about this change as it opens the event to our entire membership and hopefully provides a little light and camaraderie for our outdoor community during these challenging times. Read more…