Books

Welcome to 2019, everyone! It’s that time of the year when ambitions are high, and confidence is running even higher. It’s really time to carpe that diem! And if you are not already cranking your music playlist to loop “Eye of the Tiger” ad nauseam because you are not sure what to do this year, hey – we got a few suggestions for you. Veni, vidi, vici! (Guess who just checked “learning Latin” off this year’s list?) Read more…

Artist Jeremy Collins roams the globe with sketchbooks in hand, dumping his soul into their pages. In the folds of those pages  his particular worldview was born—from authentic travel and adventures as an exploratory rock climber to award-winning filmmaker and author. Read more…

The following is excerpted from Urban Trails: Everett by Craig Romano, and features three great hikes on Whidbey Island: Ebey's Landing National Historic Reserve, Trillium Community Forest, and Dugualla State Park. Edited for space and clarity. Read more…

We’re officially in December! We have books to read, eggs to nog, and all the joy and celebration of a year – sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating – coming to an end. To dive into the final push of 2018, we are happy to present to you: The 12 Days of Mountaineers Books.

(Feel free to hum along in your head.) Read more…

The following is excerpted from Caribou Rainforest: From Heartbreak to Hope by David Moskowitz. This is from Chapter Four, "Mountain Caribou: Ghosts of the Rainforest."  Read more…

For five years, The Mountaineers has been proud to present our BeWild Speaker Series, putting passion and adventure on the stage! Come to these talks to unlock inspiration to seek adventure, connect with nature, and work to protect the wild places we cherish. This year we welcome an arctic explorer, Caribou photographer, record-setting thru hiker, and barrier-breaking rock climber. Read more…

The following is excerpted from Walking to the End of the World:  A Thousand Miles on the Camino De Santiago, Beth Jusino.

I climbed the narrow stairs to the upper level of the train, my backpack strapped over my shoulders, a bag of sandwiches clutched in my hand, and my husband a few steps behind me. The car was empty as I settled into a forward-facing seat, feeling smug. Everything was going exactly as planned. Read more…

We asked our staff for their recommendations from this season's new books. It was hard to play favorites, but here's what we're really excited about!  Read more…

The following is excerpted from  Gym Climbing: Improve Technique, Movement, and Performance, 2nd Ed., by Matt Burbach. The excerpt is a small piece taken from the "Lead Climbing" chapter and was further edited down for space. As November begins, climbing gyms will fill up with both beginning and experienced climbers looking for indoor challenges. This excerpt is for those who have learned to top-rope and feel ready to start gaining lead-climbing skills.  Read more…

The leaves are changing, the temps are dropping, and the days are getting shorter. It’s time to get outside before we enter the long dark of another Northwest winter. Grab your boots, a jacket and your favorite warm, pumpkin-spiced beverage and go. Here are five great fall walks around Portland. Read more…

The trick to staying alive in avalanche terrain is to stay away from dangerous conditions. Here are Bruce Tremper's "10 Commandments of Low-Risk Travel". The following is excerpted from the new  Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain, 3rd Edition and has been edited for space. Read more…

The Mountaineers endorses Washington State ballot Initiative 1631 because we believe that a healthy environment is essential to the future of outdoor recreation and public lands. Read more…

The wilderness was vast and seemingly empty, but as I motored along I was nestled in a glowing cocoon of technological magic. Not one but two Garmin GPS chart plotters silently communed with the satellites overhead. My radar system could penetrate the thickest of fogs, though the day’s clear skies and sunshine made the prospect unlikely. My depth-sounder pinged sonar pulses off the rocks below, and I even carried something called, in bureaucratese, an Emergency Position Indicating Rescue Beacon, or, more jauntily, an EPIRB. Supposedly it would, at the panicked touch of a button, supply my coordinates and credit card information to the nearest helicopter rescue service. Read more…

Scraps, Peels and Stems: Recipes and Tips for Rethinking Food Waste at Home, by Jill Lightner, is a new book about how to waste less food. As a nation, Americans waste "between 35 and 40 percent of our food supply," according to Jill's research. And, "Nobody likes it," she adds. But while we might not be able to change everyone else, we each can work on minimizing our own food waste. Scraps, Peels and Stems offers scores of tips and more than 70 recipes.  Read more…

Forget the long lines and expensive tickets of traditional European tourist sites. There’s a better way to explore Europe—on foot. Here are 5 reasons to pack your backpack, lace up your boots, and hit the trail across the pond. Read more…

Thanks to an incredible landscape, the foresight of early city planners to build a world class park system, a government that values trails, and an active population engaged in a healthy outdoors lifestyle, when it comes to urban trails, Seattle is topnotch. The city’s park system contains a wide array of trails that traverse nature preserves, old-growth forests, historic districts, lake and Puget Sound shoreline, and vibrant neighborhoods. There are hundreds of miles of them, giving you many reasons to never leave the city when it comes to seeking excellent outdoor adventures.  Read more…

A book I worked on for the Fall 2018 season, Jill Lightner’s Scraps, Peels, and Stems, will have a lasting impact on me. The recipe for Spaghetti with Crumbs (we call it “that crumby spaghetti” at my house) is so simple—and I’ve made it so frequently—that I pretty much have it memorized by now, but I definitely turned to  Jill’s book (page 111) to see how to tell a truly fresh egg from a slightly more vintage one: Read more…

After the 2018 calendar by Jeremy Collins sold out in two months, the artist and Mountaineers Books decided to publish one for 2019 too (The Wild Lines of Jeremy Collins, 2019 Wall Calendar). Following are questions we asked Jeremy about how his climbing pursuits and his personal philosophy are reflected in his art. Read more…

The following is excerpted from Paul Souders' new book, Arctic Solitaire: A Boat, A Bay, and the Quest for the Perfect Bear. This is from Chapter Five: A Hole in the Water. Read more…

When I suffered a bicycle injury recently, Mountaineers Books Senior Editor Mary Metz sent me an excerpt from Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage, by the late, great Austrian alpinist Hermann Buhl, the first person to solo an 8,000-meter peak. It was a reminder that even our heroes get injured. (Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage is a classic of mountaineering lore and is being reissued in Mountaineers Books "Legends & Lore" series in September 2018.) Read more…

Gym climbing is a great way to engage your body, mind, and get vertical. With the accessibility of gyms in nearly every state and a high concentration of them in urban areas, you’re never far from crimps, slopers, or jugs. Whether you’re a first-time climber or advanced competitor, these tips will help you stay on the wall. Read more…

In Wildfire: On the Front Lines with Station 8, journalist and author Heather Hansen embeds with Boulder, Colorado's Station 8 fire crew and follows them through an entire season. From these professionals, she learns what it takes to protect us from these ever more frequent conflagrations. She also interviews those who study these fires to report the reasons for them and how we can do a better job of mitigating their destruction. Following is an excerpt from Heather's book. Read more…

What could be better than sitting around a campfire with friends and family, telling stories and making s'mores? In the spirit of National S'mores Day, we caught up with Dave and Ilyssa Kyu, the editors behind Campfire Stories: Tales from America's National Parks, to ask them a few questions.  Read more…

If you spend the time and money to visit one of our nation’s amazing national parks, you will want your time there to be fun for your kids and make lasting memories that your family can recount for years to come.  Here are some of our best ideas to make that desire a reality: Read more…

Following is an excerpt from It Happened Like This: A Life in Alaska, by Adrienne Lindholm. Adrienne's memoir recounts her two decades in Alaska, arriving as a young woman raised on the East Coast, and finding her way in the 49th state, where she has worked for the National Park Service for more than 16 years. It Happened Like This is published by Mountaineers Books. Read more…

We love exploring, especially the wild places that offer a serene tranquility away from it all. Sometimes, though, we get too far away. And that's when tranquility turns into bewilderment. So pack a map and take some tips from Wilderness Navigation by Mike and Robert Burns. Read more…

We sat down with Susan Elderkin to find out her favorite area hikes for young children from her new book Best Hikes with Kids: Western Washington. The following are kid-tested and kid-approved, to help you get your kids out and exploring nature at any age! Read more…

Join us September 20, 2018 to hear from Andrew Mclean, the first person to summit and ski the 'Alaska Family' of peaks Father Denali, Mother Sultanan, and child Mt. Hunter. Read more…

Much to my surprise, upon leaving park headquarters the other day, I walked to my car and discovered an envelope tucked beneath its windshield wipers. Scrawled upon it was the note: “Elk study.” Read more…

Other than for the sailors among us, strong winds are generally annoying. Camping, paddling, skiing, cycling – all better enjoyed without 30+ mile-an-hour gusts. We can layer up for cold and down for the heat. We’ve got Gortex to defeat the rain and snow. But wind often feels relentless in spite of our best efforts to cope with it. Read more…