Who are the Mazamas?

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Who are the Mazamas?

The Mazamas, founded in 1894 on the summit of Mt. Hood, is a nonprofit mountaineering education organization located in Portland, Oregon. Mazamas offers over 700 hikes and 350 climbs annually. A variety of classes and activities are offered for every skill and fitness level and are open to both members and non-members.

LEARN TO CLIMB MOUNTAINS WITH THE MAZAMAS
The Mazamas are a mountaineering and outdoors organization with a proud tradition of leadership, safety, conservation, and climbing education for over a century. We offer a Basic Climbing Education Program (BCEP) classes starting in March every year.. Join the class and meet interesting people, learn to climb mountains and have an adventure! The mountains await you!

The objective of BCEP is to prepare students physically and mentally to be safe team members on Mazama climbs, and to provide a foundation for continuing mountaineering education and experience.

The six-week program will expose you to the rigors of conditioning hikes in the Columbia Gorge and elsewhere, which are designed to make you fit enough for the physical challenges awaiting you in climbing mountains. You'll participate in field sessions that will provide instruction in snow and rock climbing techniques. Lectures will provide the foundation for participation in the field sessions, and enable you to learn from some of the Mazamas most experienced climbers.

Mazamas offer more than 300 climbs a year of varying difficulty. Anyone, members and non-members, can apply for these climbs. Mazamas leaders select their climb party from those who have the skills and training for that particular climb. BCEP graduates will typically have acquired the skills required for many Mazamas climbs, including peaks such as Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, South and Middle Sister, Three Fingered Jack and Mt. Washington, among others.

After over one hundred years of renting various locations in the Portland area, the Mazamas have committed to owning a permanent home at SE 43rd and Stark.
This commitment is the culmination of several years of consideration and search. At the initial request of then President Chris Mackert and Executive Director Keith Mischke, committee chairs came together to identify our needs for the next hundred years, and a search committee reviewed over one hundred potential properties. Both Mazamas Council and Mazamas Foundation worked together to secure the interim financing to enable us to run a 5-year capital campaign to fund the purchase and remodel.

The previous Mt. Hood Masonic Lodge at SE 43rd and Stark was selected as the perfect mix of location, off-street parking, and potential in the existing building.

The Mazamas Mountaineering Center has become much more than a replacement of the existing Mazamas Office. As our permanent headquarters, it enables us to fulfill our role as the region’s premier mountaineering organization, and to share our love of the alpine world with our urban community.

How do I participate as a Member or as a Guest?
Here is a current list of climbing opportunities for both Members and Guests and a description of how to find climbs that fit you: http://www.mazamas.org/your/adventure/starts-here/C87/

--Robert Speik, a Mazama Member for many years

WARNING - *DISCLAIMER!*
Mountain climbing has inherent dangers that can in part, be mitigated

About Alpine Mountaineering:
The Sport of Alpine Mountaineering
Climbing Together
Following the Leader
The Mountaineers' Rope
Basic Responsibilities
The Ten Essentials