Virtual Education Center
Welcome to The Mountaineers Virtual Education Center, your home base for accessing all of our great virtual learning tools. Find activities, events, and classes held online and browse our educational resources for skills and more. If you're a leader looking to create content, visit our Content Creation Tools, and if you're just looking to escape reality for a few minutes, check out our new Just For Fun page!
Virtual Events & Activities Online Classes
Educational Resources
- Conservation & Advocacy
- Fitness & Performance
- Gear Tips
- Leadership Skills
- Preparedness & Planning
- Technical Skills
Conservation & Advocacy
Conservation 101
- Online Course! Public Lands 101
- Conservation 101: What are public lands?
- Conservation 101: What is advocacy, and why is it important?
- Conservation 101: Mountaineers Conservation History
- Conservation 101: Mountaineers Conservation Education
- Conservation 101: Mountaineers Stewardship
- Conservation 101: What We Advocate For and How We Choose Our Issues
- Advocacy 101 from the Outdoor Alliance
- National Monuments 101 from Outdoor Alliance
Native Lands
- Announcing The Mountaineers Land Acknowledgment Statement
- The Mountaineers Land Acknowledgment
- Going Beyond Land Acknowledgments
- Understanding & respecting native lands
Responsible Recreation
- Online Course! Low impact recreation skills
- Leave No Trace tips for new hikers
- Bring Leave No Trace home
- How to cut your own Christmas tree in our National Forests
reduce your carbon footprint
- Announcing our net zero vision
- Reduce the carbon footprint of your food
- Reduce the carbon footprint of your transportation
- Learn about electric vehicles
- New! Learn about eBikes
- Learn about carbon offsets
- Webinar: LED retrofits for your home
- Webinar: Learn about solar panels
- Webinar: Learn about electric vehicles
- Webinar: Eat for the planet
Climate change
- Introducing The Mountaineers statement on climate change
- Webinar: Introduction to the Climate Crisis
- Presentation: Climate Reality 2021
- Presentation: The Big Thaw
- Presentation: Climate Change in the PNW: What's Happening, What's Going to Happen, and What You Can Do About It
- New! Environmental and cultural importance of glaciers
- Climate change impacts: smoky summers and shorter ski seasons
Citizen Science
Fitness & Performance
Overall Fitness
- How to create your own fitness routine
- Seven steps to vibrant health
- Hike healthy as you age
- How to train for your next hike
- Train for overnight trips
- Learn how to taper to be fit and fresh for your next adventure
- Master sleep for optimal performance
- Off-season training
- Gamify your hikes to create fun for everyone
- Increasing mindfulness
- PE class for parents and kids
- Strength training at home and full body workout
- Time tested tapering
- Getting yourself and your human in shape
- How to create your own training program
- Increasing flexibility (via an indirect path)
- New! Enlisting help from an accountability partner
- New! Training for overnight outings
- New! Moving through mountains at 67: tips for older athletes
Lower Body
- Single leg deadlift
- Reducing knee pain
- Ankle mobility for agility
- Triple-rep squats
- Better knees through ankle and hip mobility
Core
Upper Body
Gear Tips
General
- How to remember your gear
- How to pick out a stove
- Deal with a smash and grab
- How to wash and store gear for the season
- Nikon photography school
- How to clean and waterproof your Gore-Tex
- Packing snacks
- Backcountry Hygiene 101: you don't have to smell bad to smell better
- Gear love
- 5am is the best adventure time
- How to put together a layering system - from the skin-side out
- New! Zippers 101: Get the most out of your gear
- New! The best plus size outdoor apparel
Nature & Navigation
Hiking & Backpacking
- Hiking hacks
- What you need to know about trekking poles
- How to pick a sleeping bag
- How to care for your sleeping bag
- How to pick a tent
- Trail running shoes
- PCT gear list
- New! Non-trekking uses for trekking poles
- New! How to make an efficient DIY boot dryer
Climbing & Glacier
- How to coil a rope
- How & when to put on crampons
- Ski equipment of the 1930s
- New! How to make an efficient DIY boot dryer
Leadership Skills
General Leadership
- Create inclusive experiences for all participants
- Giving and receiving feedback
- Screen participants for safety
- Run effective volunteer meetings
- Online Course! Public Lands 101
- Understanding & respecting native lands
- Everyone has a place in the mountains
- NOLS Leadership Model
- Running a course in the middle of a pandemic
Mountaineers LEADERSHIP
- Online Course! Becoming a Mountaineers Leader
- Online Course! Branch/Committee Chair Training
- Overcoming student stress with empowerment & control
- New! Uplifting future Mountaineers leaders
Equity & Inclusion
- 3 simple steps to get started on your equity & inclusion journey
- The Melanin Base Camp guide to outdoor allyship
- Stop using the slang word for carabiner
- What are pronouns?
- Through the crux: mastering difficult conversations
- eLesson in Unconcious Bias
- What implicit bias means and how it affects behavior
- Connecting The Dots: COVID-19, JEDI, and Conservation/the Outdoors
- Allyship, intersectionality, and more E&I resources on our committee page
Climbing Leadership
- Follow the climbing code
- Evaluate self-arrest skills without snow
- Online Course! Safe Travel at High Altitude
Leadership Development
In the past, we hosted a 1-day leadership conference for 300+ of our volunteer leaders. Today, we offer year-round leadership development seminars. You can access all of the resources from past events and discover upcoming events in our Mountaineers Leadership Development page.
Preparedness & Planning
Preparation
- Making Safe Decisions in the Backcountry
- How to prepare for an overnight trip
- Train for your next hike
- Hiking hacks
- Train for overnight trips
- Prepare for variable weather conditions
- Get ready for winter
- Prepare for the unexpected
- How to bow out of a trip gracefully
- How to plan a backpacking trip with Andrew Skurka
- 5am is the best adventure time
- Fun snow facts
- Adjusting for conditions: lessons from an unexpected year
- New! How to pack for a backpacking trip requiring air travel
- New! Trip planning tools for the weekend warrior
Snacks & Food
- Packing snacks
- New!
Planning
- PCT gear list
- Menu planning for lightweight backpacking
- Online Course! Public Lands 101
- Video! Trip Planning: Goal Setting and Growth
- What's in my pack? Mamba's thru-hiking gear list
- Backcountry Hygiene 101: you don't have to smell bad to smell better
- Video! CalTopo For Trip Planning
- New! Trip planning tools for the weekend warrior
While you're out
- How to layer in the backcountry
- How to protect from the sun on the snow
- Preventing descent accidents
- So, you suffered a smash and grab
- Leave No Trace tips for new hikers
- How to start a nature journal
- How to start birding
- Rainy season tips for the summer hiker
Trauma & Resilience
- Video! Mental Health, Trauma Response, & Coping
- Preparing for the Worst
- How to start a nature journal
- Surviving a cougar attack at Cooper Lake
- New! Daily Debrief practice for mental health
- New! Treating trauma in nature
Technical (& Fun!) Skills
Everyone should know these
- Online Course! Public Lands 101
- Online Course! Low impact recreation skills
- Celebrating the 10 Essentials
- How to read topographical maps
- Backcountry hygiene 101
- How to put together a layering system - from the skin-side out
- How to layer in the backcountry
- Tips for navigating slippery descents
- 5am is the best adventure time
- New! Zippers 101: Get the most out of your gear
- New! The social life of trees
- New! Wildfire-resilient plants
- New! Navigating snow bridge hazards
Backpacking & Camping
- How to hang a bear bag
- Snow camping 101: an ode to the cold
- How to wash a backpack
- How to build an indoor debris shelter
- How to pick a sleeping bag
- How to care for your sleeping bag
- New! How to pick a backpacking trip
- New! How to make an efficient DIY boot dryer
Climbing
- Navigate on loose rock
- Know your knots
- Setting top rope anchors
- How to extend a rappel
- Extend a rappel with an autoblock
- Belaying on a friction system
- Escape a belay
- Preventing descent accidents
- Video! Beta & Brews - Bacon-Hagan-Blum North Cascades Traverse
- Video! Beta & Brews - Climbing Washington's Second Hundred Highest
- Video! Beta & Brews - Kilimanjaro's Western Breach
- Video! Beta & Brews - Ama Dablam, Southwest Ridge
- Video! Beta & Brews - Summer Survival Skiing - How to Enjoy Turns All Year
- Video! Beta & Brews - Ptarmigan Travers and Tooth Fairy
- Video! Beta & Brews - Multi-pitch Classics in Wyoming
- Video! Beta & Brews - Canmore Ice Ambassador Program
- Video! Beta & Brews - East Ridge of Forbidden Peak
- Video! Beta & Brews - Mt. Rainier's Liberty Ridge
- Video! Beta & Brews - Less Traveled Basic Routes 2020
- Video! Beta & Brews - Less Traveled Basic Routes 2021
- Video! Beta & Brews - Ptarmigan Traverse
- Video! Beta & Brews - Snoqualmie Corridor Climbs
- Video! Beta & Brews - Yosemite Big Walls 1970-2000
- Video! Beta & Brews - Denali's West Buttress
- Video! Beta & Brews - Mt Sir Donald and Rescue on Mt. Baker's Colman Headwall
- Video! Anchor Basics
- Climbing through anxiety
Cooking for the Outdoors
First Aid
- Recognize and treat a concussion
- Recognize and prevent altitude sickness
- Reduce a dislocated shoulder
Hiking
- Train for your next hike
- Hike healthy as you age
- Hiking hacks
- So you want to hike a 14'er
- Packing snacks
- Washington's wildflowers
- Leave No Trace tips for new hikers
- Rainy season tips for the summer hiker
- New! How to buy a compass
- New! Non-trekking uses for trekking poles
- New! The hidden history of the PCT
- New! How to make an efficient DIY boot dryer
Snow sports
- Five Favorite Backcountry Ski & Snowboard Routes
- How to protect from the sun on the snow
- Safe snowshoeing tips
- How & when to put on crampons
- Preventing descent accidents
- Glissading safely
- How to set up a crevasse rescue system
- Ski equipment of the 1930s
- Online Course! Safe Travel at High Altitude
- Video! Beta & Brews - Summer Survival Skiing for Turns All Year
- Finding fun as a first time skier
- Snow camping 101: an ode to the cold
- New! Know before you go: dehydration & hypothermia