Big City Mountaineers

At Big City Mountaineers, we work alongside the transformative powers of nature to leave a lasting impact on the lives of youth from disinvested communities. By providing free, fully-outfitted, and professionally-led backcountry trips, we’re able to give young people ages 8-18 the opportunity to connect with nature and more fully develop their strengths, skills, and resilience. A powerful experience and education that is rooted in nature challenges the students to go beyond what they thought possible and explore different parts of themselves. Big City Mountaineers engages youth in 7 cities across the country including Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, Portland (OR), San Francisco, and Seattle. We operate on the ancestral territories of the Ute, Cheyenne, Arapaho & Shoshone (Colorado/Wyoming), the Sioux and Anishinibawaki (Minnesota), the Ohlone, Ramaytush, Chochenyo, and Muwekma (San Francisco Bay Area), the Duwamish (Seattle), the Cowlitz and Chinook (Portland), and the Massachusett and Pawtucket (Boston). Over thirty years young, the BCM idea and organization has shown staying power beyond the norm, and has a stable operating budget to match. Headquartered in Golden, CO, Big City Mountaineers is an organization with a dedicated team of full-time staff, seasonal trip instructors, and volunteers.