The Mountaineers
Enjoy access to our quarterly Mountaineer magazine, keeping you up-to-date with everything our organization and community have been up to. Hear from regular contributors on topics from training exercises to trail tips, and read features from our members sharing stories from the outdoors. We encourage you to access all of our updates, stories, tips, and more in the tree free online magazine today.
Learning to do something new as an adult is a humbling experience. Last fall, I decided it was finally time to teach myself how to ride a bike – a somewhat embarrassing thing to admit when you’re over the age of eight. Thanks to the generosity of a coworker, I was the new and proud owner of an 80s aluminum Trek road bike. The blackberry-lined bike lanes of the Burke Gilman Trail were at my handlebar-gripping fingertips.
-Skye Michel, Editor
Creating physically and emotionally safe environments is at the core of The Mountaineers mission, and the stories in this edition exemplify the various ways we show up to and navigate safety in our outdoor activities. This edition is (blackberry-)jam-packed with stories that offer insight on how to minimize risk outdoors, from swimming safely in the Salish Sea to planning a trip during fire season to packing accessible first aid kits, and more. We also celebrate 50 years of The Ten Essentials keeping us prepared in the backcountry, as well as the long-awaited tenth edition of the book aspiring alpinists turn to when learning how to recreate safely: Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills.
Whether you’re trying something new, re-trying something familiar, or curious about enhancing your sense of safety outdoors, I hope these stories inspire you to continue learning about safety so you can enter your backcountry adventures with less risk and more confidence.
