Cheryl Talbert
Occasionally, Mountaineers leaders are interested in leading a multi-day trip outside the Pacific Northwest. If you want to lead a backpacking trip to Hawaii, a volcano climb in Canada, a sea kayak trip in Mexico, or, perhaps even farther afield like a sailing trip in Greece, a climb in Peru, or a trek in the Dolomites, we have different ways to get involved.
Some multi-day Mountaineers activities within North America and Hawaii can be sponsored by branch activity committees, while other North American and all international Mountaineers trips should be run as Global Adventures.
By Board of Directors Policy, qualified leaders for Mountaineers activity committees may lead multi-day activities in North America as long as the leader and the participants pay their own expenses to service providers (hotels, transport, food, etc) and the leader isn't committing more than nominal funds in advance (for a group permit, etc). The leader must be certified as a leader for all activities they plan to organize for participants during the trip.
Any international Mountaineers trip (outside of North America or Hawaii), or any multi-day trip in North America or Hawaii that involves the leader booking and participants pre-paying for many or most of the support services on the trip (lodging, transport, tours, permits, equipment, guides, etc), should be led through the Global Adventures Committee (GAC). Since its creation in 1969, the GAC has sponsored over 200 Mountaineers adventures in North America (New England, Alaska, the Wind Rivers, Canada, Colorado) and abroad (from the British Isles and Alps to Turkey and Portugal, Patagonia, Peru, New Zealand and the Himalaya, and more).
Who can lead a Global Adventures trip?
Because Global Adventures are usually longer and involve more complicated logistics, as well as additional group dynamics and risk factors, and can involve significant sums of money committed in advance, more structured procedures are involved and leaders must be qualified as Global Adventure Leaders. These leaders are expected to not only be an active and experienced leader for the relevant activity committee(s), but also to have planned and led similar group trips in the past and to exhibit strong group leadership skills based on references from their committee or others.
Leading a Global Adventure is an incredible experience, one that develops leadership and people skills in ways few other experiences can, and allows a leader to experience exciting far-flung places in the company of fellow Mountaineers.
Want to get involved?
Do you think you might be interested in leading a Global Adventure? We're expanding the program and are very excited to get more leaders involved! Find out about the program here or submit an application OR plan on attending our leader clinic on October 7-8 , 2017.
