Impact Stories

Today our National Parks celebrate their 100th birthday! We're lucky to have three parks to explore in our own backyard. Whether climbing to Camp Muir on Rainer, paddling across Ross Lake in the North Cascades, or hiking the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympics, these breathtaking places are a gift to all of us every day. Read more…

Meet Our Parks | Your Adventure's Tom Vogl. Together with his oldest son, James, he will do a one day climb of Mt. Shuksan's Fisher Chimneys.  Read more…

The Mountaineers offers the Basic Alpine Climbing Course in five of our seven branches. In this course, students learn the basic skills needed to climb peaks in the Cascade and Olympic ranges. In addition to learning skills, students become part of a climbing community and often connect with lifelong climbing partners. As we near the end of May, our courses are wrapping up their skills sessions, and the climbing season is beginning! Check out the experience that Seattle student, Cody Golden, wanted to share: Read more…

After going through a difficult time in my life, I knew I wanted to challenge myself by trying something I've always wanted to do — climbing! In 2013, I signed up for my first climbing course with The Mountaineers. Read more…

How can we ensure the iconic lands “made for you and me” continue to be the gateway for falling in love with and protecting the natural world? Can our national parks be more inviting and better reflect the rich diversity of America? Will they remain world-class destinations? Can our parks become models for sustainability? Read more…

Anyone who has put together a fundraising gala is likely to agree — the planning phase is type-two fun — enjoyed best in retrospect. Planning this sort of thing is stressful. Ideas, people, logistics. and all the other little details must fall into place. Every step becomes a mini leap of faith. When it all comes together – and the stars align – you’ve created a memorable evening for your guests, while achieving your fundraising goals. The stars definitely aligned for The Mountaineers special event, BREAKTHROUGH: expect the unexpected in April, and we unexpectedly shattered all goals. Read more…

The best part of my job is visiting with donors. It’s satisfying to see a donor’s reaction to the stories I share about the various ways that she has made an impact on the community with her contributions. But it’s even more gratifying to hear how donors began their love affair with the outdoors and what inspired them to make their first gift to The Mountaineers. Read more…

I’m often filled with a sense of gratitude when I start the process of selecting, interviewing and featuring a donor for this column. It the week of Thanksgiving when I wrote this piece, so that feeling of gratitude was amplified and got me thinking about things for which I am thankful. Of course, I’m grateful for the many donors who generously give to the Mountaineers, but I’m also grateful to have a wonderful family. My parents instilled in us a strong work ethic, the value of giving back, and the practices of being thankful, kind and mindful. We belonged to a church so folks modeled many of these qualities, but the concept of giving “time, talent and treasures” was taken to a whole new level when I started working at The Mountaineers. Read more…

Mountaineers members are active people, and we have the numbers to show it! Simply by looking at the trips our leaders have posted online, our membership has done some serious human-powered travel so far in 2015 - over 72k miles and 22 MILLION feet of elevation gain (and we've got plenty of time for more)!  Read more…

When I arrived in June 2011, The Mountaineers had recently achieved 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and fundraising was in its infancy. With the exception of dedicated campaigns to raise funds for capital projects, like the basalt columns in the courtyard of the Seattle Program Center, efforts to raise unrestricted dollars for budding youth, conservation and yet-to-be-developed volunteer programs were just getting off the ground. The concept of inviting members and volunteers – who already give a significant amount of time – to make an additional investment of dollars in these programs was new and risky. Read more…

Thank you! We asked you to GiveBIG on May 5^th, and you DID. Because of you, we raised over $10,000 for The Mountaineers Programs with The Seattle Foundation! Read more…

Do you ever marvel at how beautiful our state is? From lush forests, to magnificent glaciated peaks to the shores of Puget Sound, we live in an awe-inspiring place. Read more…

You’d be hard pressed to miss the invitations and communications over the past couple of months about our Mountaineers BREAKTHROUGH fundraising event on April 11. With an all-star lineup of climbers in the program, you’re probably wondering why we’re writing about it in relationship to conservation. Well, underlying the climbing theme of the evening is the impact story about why anyone should care about The Mountaineers efforts to get people outside – conservation is a primary driver of that story. Read more…

fric·tion
/'frikSH(e)n/
The resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over another
slab
/slab/
A large, thick, flat piece of stone, concrete, or wood Read more…

We're teaming up with AmazonSmile to support the mission of The Mountaineers - to get more people outside enjoying the lands and waters of our beautiful Pacific Northwest. Read more…

Those of us who work in the nonprofit sector believe what we do for a living supports a mission to make a difference in the world. In the nine years I’ve spent working in development for nonprofits, I’ve come to appreciate that it’s actually partnerships with donors that truly advance an organization’s vision to make the world a better place. Read more…

In the three years I’ve been with The Mountaineers, I’ve discovered our members live long and rich lives.  Read more…

I was 13 when I climbed Boulder Peak in the Olympic Mountains by myself—and I guess you can say that I never stopped climbing after that. Read more…

The summer that I was three years old, my family went backpacking for three days, hiking three miles a day. At four years old, it was four days, four miles. You get the idea. This was part of my parents’ system for introducing us to the outdoors. Read more…

Volunteers often spend 1-2 days a week training course participants in skills to ensure safe and responsible enjoyment of our natural world. Others also help coordinate and administer course offerings. This is the core of what defines us - The Mountaineers - as a community.  Read more…

The Mountaineers has hundreds of volunteers who make our programs possible, and thanks to super volunteers like Chris Chapin and Deling Ren, who both work for Microsoft, their volunteerism is going even further in the form of  cash donations to The Mountaineers from Microsoft's matching gift program. Read more…

Anyone walking by the Seattle Program Center on a sunny day would be hard-pressed to miss climbers ascending the trio of rock columns in the courtyard, one of which is aptly named Ohlson Peak, in recognition of a major donor to the basalt columns fundraising effort, John Ohlson. Read more…

It's 8pm on a rainy Monday night. The perfect time to be indoors for a Basic Navigation Workshop. A record 90 students have shown up to learn navigation skills from 34 volunteers. And overseeing it all is Peter Hendrickson, Navigation Committee Chair. Walking between tables, quietly observing and stopping to course correct a student, or provide words of encouragement, Hendrickson is in his element. Read more…

Like your typical Mountaineers member, Bill Hecker counts alpine climbing, skiing and rock climbing among his favorite outdoor activities. But thanks to his exposure to the natural world, he also includes gardening and bird watching. Read more…