Mountaineers Books Blog

As a child, I had a lot of adverse experiences exploring the outdoors. I was taught that outdoor spaces were not for people with my skin-tone, religious beliefs, and dietary traditions. It wasn’t until I found an informal BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) group of hikers and climbers in my early 20s that I felt finally able to grow my love for getting out into nature. Since moving to Seattle, I’ve fostered my outdoor pursuits through The Mountaineers – first through backpacking, then climbing and cross-country skiing, before finally finding my true passion: canyoning. Read more…

The Hood River Crag Rats, America’s oldest all-volunteer search and rescue team, is situated in the foothills of North America’s most-climbed glaciated peak: Mount Hood. Author and emergency room doctor Christopher Val Tilburg recounts many of the highs and lows of the Crag Rats' hundred-year history in his new book Crisis on Mount Hood. As climate change and overcrowding alter the shape of mountain rescue, the Crag Rats remain unwaveringly dedicated to keeping adventurers safe. Read more…

Summer is here! We’re celebrating longer days and warmer weather with our annual Summer Book Sale from July 1-30, 2025. Stop by the Seattle Program Center to plan your next trip from our selection of best-selling guidebooks and Green Trails maps, find an adventure story to read at camp, or rep The Mountaineers on trail with Mountaineers merchandise. You can also pick up a Discover Pass or Northwest Forest Pass while you’re here.  Read more…

The folded rock feels like sandpaper. My index finger traces the miniature ridges, trying to sense the organisms that formed them. Some hundred and fifty million years ago, billions of Radiolaria skeletons floated to the ocean floor. The pressure from the ocean’s depth compressed and crunched the skeletons into a ribbon chert (a form of sedimentary rock). Then the chert moved, through continental drift, from Baja California to northern Washington, where the ocean crust uplifted and folded to form the landscape where I’ve come today: Rosario Head. Read more…

On June 5, 2025, The Mountaineers was delighted to host our annual 50+ Year Member Luncheon, a cherished tradition dedicated to celebrating the remarkable individuals who have shaped our community for over 50 years. The Seattle Program Center was filled with warmth, laughter, and a profound sense of shared history as we honored some of our foundational members. Read more…

 For more than 25 years, Christopher Van Tilburg has served as a volunteer with the Hood River Crag Rats – the nation’s oldest all-volunteer mountain rescue organization based on the slopes of Mount Hood, Oregon. As the Crag Rats recently marked their 100th anniversary, Van Tilburg turned a reflective eye to the team’s remarkable legacy in his newly released Mountaineers Books title, Crisis on Mount Hood. Read more…

Recognizing local edible berries, flowers, greens, roots, tree parts, mushrooms, seaweeds, beach vegetables, and shellfish is a passport to a comforting sense of place. In Pacific Harvest: A Northwest Coast Foraging Guide, expert forager and longtime guide Jennifer Hahn introduces both novice and experienced foragers to the Pacific Coast’s ample and diverse edible species, while highlighting authentic Indigenous harvesting practices and amplifying profiles of Indigenous leaders in the traditional foods movement. Hahn’s coastal foraging guide offers a sustainable approach to foraging, reminding readers of what other beings also depend on our local plants and animals as food and shelter sources. Read more…

The Mountaineers is a community of outdoor enthusiasts dedicated to protecting the natural places we love. Our conservation and advocacy efforts are crucial to this mission, ensuring that future generations can experience the beauty and wonder of the natural world. But advocacy for our natural world requires resources, and that's where your support comes in. Right now, we're working to bolster support for our publishing division Mountaineers Books, and we invite you to be a part of it. Supporting Mountaineers Books through donations and book purchases has a profound impact, extending far beyond the immediate transaction. Your generosity directly fuels our ability to resource and support vital voices that inspire action and drive conservation. Read more…

Imagine yourself as a novice alpinist, poised for a journey of discovery, opening Freedom of the Hills for the very first time. Or picture yourself sitting by the fire in a cozy mountain lodge, captivated by stories of Sherpa and Balti climbers in Bernadette McDonald's Alpine Rising. Books are powerful tools, teaching skills to unlock new landscapes and experiences. They can also be an adventure in themselves, transporting readers to distant summits. Read more…

How do you fall in love with a place you’ve never been or creature you’ve never met? How can you gain the knowledge to do what you’ve only dreamed of? This is the mission of  Mountaineers Books. Mountaineers Books opens the door to new experiences, opens the window to new passions, and provides inspiration to pursue both. Their titles are companions we take with us on our journeys. Read more…

As an outdoor community, we are committed to sharing the transformative power of the outdoors by highlighting unique perspectives. One way we do this is through Mountaineers Books, our independent, mission-focused publisher. Through support of Mountaineers Books you allow us to reach new communities; support high-quality and diverse books that may otherwise not be published; champion emerging authors; support community events, partnerships, and exhibits; and produce books in an environmentally sustainable way. Read more…

Below is an excerpt from the 10th Anniversary Edition of The Adventure Gap by James Mills published by Mountaineers Books (reprinted with permission). This excerpt comes from the afterword - a reflection on the decade following the first all-Black summit attempt on Denali, North America’s highest mountain. Read more…

To celebrate the launch of the 10th Edition of Mountaineers Books flagship title, Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, we hosted two events – a Kickoff Party and Deep Dive – that brought together 230 members, volunteers, and staff, along with Freedom fans and contributors of the latest edition.  Read more…

When I joined The Mountaineers nearly two and a half decades ago, I was motivated - in no small way - by the biggest criticism I had heard about the organization: "They are too safety conscious." I became a Mountaineers member shortly after a guided climb up Rainier, involving many unfamiliar skills and techniques. In my first Mountaineers course, safety was the opening topic. If you can’t be safe, you can’t have fun. That’s the heritage of The Mountaineers. Read more…

Excerpted from the preface to Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, 10th Edition (Mountaineers Books, September 2024). Read more…

Ten is both large and small. Ten feet into an alpine climb is just the beginning, but for a book to endure for a tenth edition, it must have enormous staying power. Of the twenty-five million books in the Library of Congress catalog, only about 1,640 are tenth editions.  Read more…

In 1974, the third edition of Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills was released and with it, a safety and packing system named The Ten Essentials. This year, we’re happily celebrating 50 years of The Ten Essentials minimizing risks outdoors. Read more…

With nearly one million copies sold, Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills remains the premier guidebook for mountaineers all over the world. Join us for our two upcoming events to celebrate the release of the 10th edition of this acclaimed guidebook. Read more…

In Paddling the Salish Sea, professional kayaker and paddling coach Rob Casey guides paddlers to the most rewarding destinations across the region. This updated, comprehensive guide covers everything from the quiet inlets of the South Sound to an entirely new section featuring the fjords, waterfalls, and local waterways around Vancouver, B.C. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced paddlers can find beautiful, rewarding routes for their skill levels. Read more…

I took my final dose of prednisone last March after being on the corticosteroid for three years. Excited and relieved, I also felt apprehensive. Would my symptoms return? Two months later and so far, so good. My condition is in remission. Read more…

With the recent release of our annual impact report, we're celebrating all that donors and volunteers made possible through The Mountaineers in 2023.  Read more…

With the recent release of our annual impact report, we're celebrating all that donors and volunteers made possible through The Mountaineers in 2023.  Read more…

With the recent release of our annual impact report, we're celebrating all that donors and volunteers made possible through The Mountaineers in 2023.  Read more…

Summoning my life’s longest, most formative journey, I sometimes put the maps of my arctic traverse end to end. When I do, all the wilderness I could ever want spreads across my living room floor, a smorgasbord of possibilities. “You must walk like a camel,” Thoreau counseled, “which is said to be the only beast which ruminates when walking.” And I did. Read more…

I wasn’t born into a family of hikers or a lineage of outdoorspeople. I was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut — a largely industrial, multi-ethnic city on Long Island Sound in the greater New York City Metropolitan Area. My neighborhood consisted of two and three family homes in the city’s Little Italy north end. Bridgeport, which had once attracted waves of immigrants, began its decline in the late 60s, prompting thousands to leave for the suburbs. We would eventually leave too, and to a place less disconnected from nature; but living in a dense metropolis didn’t stop me from discovering my love for wild places. Read more…

On the morning of January 15, Mingma G, Mingma David, Mingma Tenzi, and Sona began fixing lines up toward Camp 4. Read more…

Books give power to our personal stories. Whether you want to discover a new place, learn a new skill, make a lifestyle change, or feel a sense of connection with the natural world or a fellow adventurer, Mountaineers Books are there to educate and inspire.  Read more…

 The Mountaineers BeWild Speaker Series puts passion and adventure on center stage. Join us at BeWild with Bernadette McDonald on March 14 to learn more about the history and legacy of mountaineering in the Greater Ranges. Read more…

The only thing constant in life is change. You can never go home again. All things must pass. These thoughts continuously run through my mind as I progress further along my life journey. I’ve always had a strong sense of time and place, which leaves me melancholically longing for the past and lamenting the passing of moments which I perceive as being more favorable than the present. The world is changing rapidly, and often not in ways I welcome. Constant change can be exciting or, if you’re wired like me, a source of anxiety. To counter the barrage of forces I can’t control, I often seek the solace of wilderness, where I expect insulation from the rapid transformations of the outside world. Read more…

For the past four years, I have held the awesome and humbling responsibility to steward one of The Mountaineers most revered treasures: Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills. As the volunteer editor for the forthcoming 10th Edition, I’m excited to share with you an opportunity to demonstrate your commitment and keep mission-based publishing thriving, by adding your name alongside the dedicated outdoor educators and world-renowned climbers who make this work possible. Read more…