Mountaineer Magazine

In each issue of Mountaineer magazine, we feature two lovebirds who met through The Mountaineers and share a passion of the outdoors. This fall, we talked to Damien Scott and Dandelion Dilluvio-Scott.  Read more…

For over a century, The Mountaineers has inspired conservation and stewardship of our public lands through our outdoor education programs and books. Today, we build on this tradition by taking responsibility for protecting the places that inspire, excite, and challenge us. The Mountaineers is uniquely positioned to define and grow the modern conservation movement by providing powerful outdoor experiences that enable people to gain special connections to these places and the desire to protect them. We instill stewardship and Leave-No-Trace wilderness ethics through the educational components of our courses and provide opportunities to learn and engage in conservation issues – practices that ignite passion and action in current and future generations of conservationists.  Read more…

My generation thought it had a pretty good notion of what stewardship meant the first time we got a look at the pictures of earth taken by the astronauts.  Read more…

I heard the buzzing first. As we were placing our signatures back inside the summit canister, an unfamiliar noise tickled my eardrums. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I could see the hair on my partners’ heads rising to the sky as if to kiss an invisible balloon. I spun frantically searching for the source when it dawned on me: it was us. We were buzzing. Our ice axes and skis and the metal zipper pulls were vibrating in unison. I didn’t know what was happening, but I knew it was time to move, and fast. Read more…

John Davis’ imprint on Seattle is inspiring. In addition to being the founder of Davis, Wright, Tremaine law firm in 1944, John served on the boards of many nonprofits, including Whitman College, the Pacific Science Center, and the Seattle Symphony. The Mountaineers was also a recipient of John’s strong commitment to giving back to his community. He volunteered as a leader at The Mountaineers serving as board president in 1968, climbing committee chair in 1967, as an editor of the second edition of Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, and as a co-founder of the Mountaineers Foundation. A lifetime member since 1959, John passed away in April of 2015 at the age of 101.  Read more…

To truly care about something, it has to have impacted you intimately. It’s that personal connection that gives us the impetus to act. Read more…

“Look Mom!” I cried. “Bison!”

We were heading to the geysers [in Yellowstone National Park], but when we rounded the corner we saw a field of bison.

We could see a calf fighting its sibling, each one tumbling into the dust. We could see the bulls wallowing in the mud pits. We could even see the cows looking after the calves. It was an amazing sight seeing the bison covering that field like ants covering honey.

That’s one of the many exciting memories Samuel Tinker shared with me. Read more…

A few years ago, I took a group of Nordic skiers to the Dolomites in Italy. One couple in my group was looking forward to celebrating a significant anniversary in Florence and Rome following our ski adventures. We had been in the Dolomiti for about 10 days and, on this day, had enjoyed a rigorous mountain ski. After lunch and a ski back to a side valley where our path crossed a road, the anniversary couple decided to take the rest of the day off and bus back to the hotel.  Read more…

Ahhh, there’s nothing like heading out on your favorite trail to take in the fragrant smells of spring... only to catch the putrid stench of crap. Dog and human alike — it seems lately there’s been a proliferation of poo plopped along our trails and streams of toilet paper flowers soiling our backcountry. And this abundance of trailside turds isn’t just an affront on our visionary and olfactory senses, it’s a major affront to our health and the health of our wild places. Read more…

If you have breakfast at Thor Hanson’ home in the San Juans, you will experience the amazing variety of seeds: wheat in your pancakes, cotton for your pajamas, pepper in your bacon, jam from strawberries, and of course that most stimulating of seed brews – coffee. Read more…

In 2007, I was working for The Washington Post and Slate magazine in New York City. My role was to support the sales team in developing media plans and executing digital media campaigns across our publishing platforms: The Washington Post, Slate, Newsweek and Budget Travel. I worked for The Washington Post for about six years, during which time I watched the decline of print newspaper subscriptions as the ascendancy of online media, tablets and smartphones took hold. I experienced first-hand how digital devices altered the world of print publishing. Read more…

The converted bicycle wheel supports much of the litter’s weight, but this trail is miles of boulders and steep hairpin switchbacks, and the light is fading. In the beginning we tie a piece of webbing to the back of the litter for a tagline; four people hold the litter up and then a half-dozen other people grab onto this piece of webbing to keep the brakeless contraption from rocketing downhill with gravity. Nobody can see their feet, and this trail, like all trails, is too narrow to fit the litter in the middle with two people abreast on either side, so the people on the sides are intermittently mashed into trees, or have no footing and suddenly disappear downslope to be picked up at the next switchback. The folks on the front and back ends do not have a better time. Read more…

Prairie savannas dotted with Garry oak trees — the only native oak species in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia — used to be common throughout the Puget trough, including the San Juan Islands. As human development and Douglas fir have encroached, this unique ecosystem has shrunk to less than five percent of its historic range in this area, and birds like the Western bluebird, that need open spaces, have disappeared along with it.  Read more…

In her first class with The Mountaineers, Maiza Lima was impressed to learn that all classes were taught by volunteers, and all trips were led by volunteers. “It’s hard to believe people give so much time to be there for you.” She was so amazed she said to herself, “Next year, I will volunteer.” Read more…

This installment of Our Secret Rainier is technically a scramble as it has a portion that is off-trail. But it is a very easy scramble and most experienced hikers would be very comfortable on this route (so long as they had good route finding skills). The route goes by a lovely hidden lake and goes to the top of the Palisades where there are great views of The Big One. Along the way, one finds the mysterious Skull of Marcus.  Read more…

Some people have a defining moment in the outdoors that changed their lives. I don’t. I can recount a vague memory of camping with my dad, and him pulling me out of the tent in my pajamas to hike under a full moon. I can tell you that you couldn’t keep me out of waterfalls as a kid, that climbing for the first time as a sixth-grader blew my socks off, and that learning how to crack climb in Indian Creek, Utah 20 years later was completely humbling and inspiring. What I know is that our public lands are integral to who I am, and because of that I believe it’s imperative that we protect these places and the experiences they provide, and that we work to provide opportunities for everyone to have nature-based experiences. Read more…

I’ve been a member of The Mountaineers since 2002, when I joined to meet other outdoor enthusiasts and learn about hikes in the area. Since then I’ve explored many of our local trails year-round.  Read more…

You put in some time to train during the winter and spring to get ready for this amazing season that we have each year: summer. But what happens when it finally arrives? Do you continue to train? Ideally, yes.  Read more…

With their luxurious dark brown coats, fishers were irresistible to trappers in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. Their pelts brought a good price. By the late 20th century, none of these large members of the weasel family could be found in Washington State. Trapping and loss of their forest habitat led to their disappearance. In 1998, although fishers still could be found in neighboring states and other regions, Washington declared fishers endangered. Read more…

June 6, 2013: As the plane swooped over brown hillsides and stucco homes with tile roofs, I realized how very far from Washington State I was. I stared east, where clouds and ridges loomed faint and low on the horizon. I remembered the last time I was here, eight years younger and vastly inexperienced. I had faced the same distance, but this time I knew the extent of the land that sprawled between me and Washington, which had become my home. I already felt the pull of the mountains I knew like friends, and the people I loved.  Read more…

Glen: We met the day after Thanksgiving on a Seattle Mountaineers hike to Green Lake on the northwest side of Mount Rainier. There were 10 hikers on the trip and I struck up a conversation with the Polish American blond woman with a charming accent and dynamic smile. Tatiana was the bright spot in the crowd of hard-core hikers. We discovered that we had common interests besides hiking – other outdoor activities, travel, cultural events, dancing, serving others, and our faith. We also had similar degrees in geosciences. At the end of the hike, we exchanged cards and shortly after, scheduled our first date at Starbucks in December, 2013. If we both had not gone on this hike organized by the Mountaineers, we likely would have never met. Read more…

Nearly 33-years ago, on a balmy spring Saturday in Whitefish, Montana, my mom was 41-weeks pregnant and mowing the lawn. As I would be in life, I was stubborn in birth and had made myself quite cozy in her belly for an extra week. The doctor told my mother that being active would hurry me along and the lawn needed attention, so she was mowing when the contractions finally started on Saturday afternoon. I was born 16-hours later at 5:26 am on Sunday, May 13. It was Mother’s Day. Read more…

I often head to the backcountry to escape the madness of civilization. In nature, I see order, purpose, and reason. In cities, I often see chaos, confusion, and conflict. There’s nothing like a walk in the woods to rejuvenate a tired, tormented and tried soul. There’s nothing too like an invigorating hike to help validate my existence and place in the world. And while I need the natural world for my sanity and sanctity; the natural world very much needs me and other like-minded folks to help keep it from being compromised, abused, and lost forever. Read more…

Flying back from San Francisco recently, our route took us directly over Mount Shasta. I looked down right onto the top of the brown peak, speckled with a few snowfields. I still remember when it was the snow covered obelisk, glistening, beckoning, forbidding against a blue horizon. The snowpack is dwindling, the glaciers disappearing. The old volcano is changing. Again.  Read more…

In a recent conversation with my mom, she told me she regretted not taking my sisters and me camping and hiking more when we were little. As a single mom, it just seemed impossible at the time. Read more…

Steve Swenson, a current Mountaineers Director at Large, has been climbing for more than 45 years. He has made ascents of K2 and Everest, both without supplemental oxygen. In 2012, he and his partners made the first ascent of Saser Kangri II (7518 meters), then the second-highest unclimbed mountain in the world, a feat for which they were awarded the prestigious Piolet d’Or. Steve and his wife, Ann, divide their time between Seattle and Canmore, Alberta. Read more…

In June 2015, we launched our first ever adventure-based peer-to-peer fundraising campaign called Our Parks | Your Adventure (OPYA). The premise was simple: choose a National Park(s), pick a personal challenge, and complete it to raise money for The Mountaineers youth programs.  Read more…

We're very excited to be hosting IMG mountain guide and adventure writer Charlotte Austin again for an evening writing workshop. Whether you're an experienced author, part-time blogger, or curious novice, this class will give you a glimpse into the wide world of travel writing.  Read more…

During Junior Mountaineers Summer Camp in 2014, nine-year-old Sydney Swenson confidently announced to then Youth Programs Manager Caitlin O’Brien that she was planning to climb The Tooth in celebration of her tenth birthday. In January 2015, Sydney’s dad Matt Swenson sent an email to some of his friends in The Mountaineers climbing community asking if anyone was interested in joining him and Sydney on the celebratory Tooth climb. Read more…

Funny songs and unlimited jokes. That’s what Andre brings to the mountains according to his friends — along with his gregarious nature and enthusiasm for people. He moved from New Orleans to Seattle with his mom and sister after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, staying for college and beyond.  Read more…