Seattle Backpacking Committee

Seattle Backpacking Committee

The Seattle Backpacking Committee leads single-night and multi-night backpacking trips in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and other northwest destinations.  We also teach a Basic Backpacking Course each spring for those who are new to backpacking and want to join us on our overnight explorations into the northwest backcountry.

Backpacking Courses
This badge represents successful completion of our Backpacking Course, which enables you to safely enjoy overnight trips into the backcountry.

Every spring we offer a course in Basic Backpacking, which equips you with the information and skills needed to go on single-night and multi-night Mountaineers backpacking trips. Additionally, we offer seminars and clinics on specific topics of interest to backpackers.  

Backpacking Skill badgeS

We offer equivalency for the following backpacking-related skill badges.

Basic Backpacking Skills
The recipient of this badge has acquired basic backpacking skills, either through lectures/seminars or equivalent experience.

The Basic Backpacking Skills badge shows that you have the skills needed to participate in single-night and multi-night Backpack trips.   It is a recently added badge that is now awarded upon graduation from some of the introductory Backpacking courses offered by the various Mountaineers branches.

Getting this badge via equivalency might be right for you if:

  • You took a Mountaineers Backpacking course before the badge was offered, and want to "catch up" to the current badge standards.  (Note that the single-day Backpacking Seminars offered prior to 2020 do not qualify you for this badge.)
  • You are already active in another Mountaineers activity that does overnight trips, such as Climbing, Scrambling, Glacier Travel, Winter Camping, etc.
  • You already have the equivalent skills from experience outside The Mountaineers.

Backpacking Trip Leadership

The holder of this badge has been approved to lead backpacking trips for The Mountaineers.

Backpacking trips are what our program is all about, and we are always looking for new trip leaders.   If you are an experienced backpacker or already lead overnight trips for another Mountaineers program, we would love to hear from you.  Check out our page on how to become a Backpacking Trip Leader.

We also have a Roster Retention Policy for Backpacking leaders and instructors.