MAC Helps Members Branch Outdoors

By Jake Ten Pas

Outdoor enthusiasts should prepare themselves. There’s an actual college major called “adventure education,” and it’s probably too late for most of the people reading this to pursue it. The good news is MAC Outdoor Supervisor Jonathan Morell took one for the team and earned his master’s degree in adventure education from Prescott College, and his expertise is available to all members.

“Curiosity is my religion, and I firmly believe that wilderness is medicine,” says the lean, silver-haired instigator of awe-inspiring experiences. His background includes working at universities in three states, several of them faith-based, and Morell also has an MA in environmental theology. He knows of what he speaks.

While Morell comes from a religious family, he doesn’t describe himself as devout, and it’s clear that the only proselytizing he’s interested in doing at MAC revolves around helping the club community access the wonders of nature. Like Outdoor Manager Drew White, he is a fervent believer in an ethical approach to exploring the outdoors, including being a Leave No Trace Master Educator; they are two of less than 10 in the state of Oregon.

Wherever members want to go, Morell, White, and the rest of the Outdoor department are prepared to help them get there safely and in good spirits, while not detrimentally impacting Oregon’s jaw-dropping natural wonderlands. Outings departing this spring and summer include the culminating climbs of the Gym to Crag program, a mountaineering mission to the top of Mt. Hood, and standup paddleboarding training in the 50-meter Pool that flows naturally into nearby lakes and rivers. For a full list of Outdoor offerings, check out the Spring and Summer Program Guides. To get a taste of what might await any adventurous member, read on!

Inside-Out

MAC’s Climbing Gym is a supervised space, and as safe as any place that encourages athletes to get on the wall and elevated.

Certainly for members, it’s a hub of learning, exercise, and community, and Morell is very aware of the risks that taking any climbing practice from the Climbing Gym to the outdoor crag can entail. “Our guides are singularly focused on the safety of each member,” he says. “When members feel safe, they are more likely to make connections with the natural world, themselves, and others. Climbing might be intimidating at first, but we’ve got you.”

One family who knows how to maximize the club’s climbing possibilities is the Eddy entourage. Parents Reniera and Cory own East Side Deli, which has been serving up some of Portland’s highest stacked sandwiches since 2008. The Eddys joined MAC in 2015, and their kids, Autumn (14) and Rowan (12), have been taking full advantage of a variety of club programs ever since. While Autumn climbs occasionally, her primary passion is the Swim Team. Rowan, on the other hand, took to climbing before he was tall enough to see over the staff counter in the gym and has never looked back, or down as the case may be.

Reniera Eddy

Photo by Brandon Davis

“As soon as he was old enough to join the Climbing Team, Rowan was like, ‘Drew, I’m 6 years old, and I need to be on this team,’” Reniera recalls. “So, I’ve been volunteering, climbing with Women Who Rock, and helping out at the competitions, which involves belaying or judging, ever since. I don’t have a lot of outdoor experience, and I want to be able to take my family outdoors, belay them on a rock, and not be worried about dropping them into a chasm. That’s why I was really excited about this Gym to Crag program. I’m involved in the climbing community, and now I’m ready to get outside with confidence.”

The Eddys love to travel, and if there’s a climbing gym wherever they’re headed, the whole family is packing their climbing shoes. Whether road-tripping to Yosemite or Joshua Tree, where they’d eventually like to climb; flying to Austin; or making the leap across the pond to Chamonix, France, as they will this summer, outdoor adventure is often on their itinerary.

Cory Eddy

Photo by Brandon Davis

“When planning this trip, we asked ourselves, ‘Do we go in the winter and ski it, or do we go in the summer?’ If we go in the summer, it’d be crazy to not climb while we’re there, right? We’ll get a guide because we’re still going to be pretty novice as far as outdoor experience, but we want to have some skills to be able to really enjoy and have the confidence to do some climbing in Chamonix.”

The Gym to Crag program teaches basic to intermediate skills, as well as mitigating risk while fostering ethical considerations and community. The adventure education culminates in a day of single-pitch climbing that allows members to put their newfound skills and confidence into practice. “We teach awareness of movement and balance, as well as important skill sets, such as belaying, proper use of the harness, technique, and more,” White explains. “Participants learn about weather concerns; hazards to avoid, such as snakes and poison ivy; proper waste disposal; and how to care about the environment during the process.”

“We ensure participants are aware of how to live harmoniously with the natural world,” Morell adds.

Eddy, who served on the Outdoor Activities Program Committee before joining and eventually chairing the Climbing Committee, couldn’t have more faith in White, Morell, Climbing Gym Supervisor Isaac Shoman, and the whole Outdoor team. “Drew is fantastic. He’s super supportive. Isaac’s been doing Women Who Rock for a long time, and he’s wonderful, too,” she says.

“Jonathan instructed the women’s class for a while, and that’s when I really got to know him. He’s great and so fun to work with, so I was stoked to see that he was going to be leading that Gym to Crag class. He’s someone I know I can feel comfortable climbing with in terms of safety but also someone you can go and hang out with for a whole day of what can be hard, stressful work.”

Despite seeing climbing as a demanding sport, Eddy ultimately finds it enjoyable enough not just to pursue with her family, but to recommend to any other member who might be looking for their next athletic pursuit. “There are a lot of opportunities to climb at MAC, and it’s not intimidating. MAC’s a great place for someone who’s new to the sport to get into it. Basically, it’s really cool, and you won’t know how amazing it is until you try it out.”

Stand and Deliver

Dogs don’t tend to take to climbing, but stand-up paddleboarding is a sport into which even a woman’s best friend can dip his paws. “Our dog is really good at it. He loves it!” Eddy says of Boomer, the family’s shepherd mix. “I like to be out in nature. I like the view from the board, and just that calmness of being on the water. My dog totally rides on the back. He gets on it before it’s even in the water. We just are out there hanging out together.”

To paraphrase the movie Zoolander, “Paddleboarding is so hot right now!” and MAC is making sure members have opportunities to explore it “at their leisure,” a phrase that is unlikely to be applied to climbing. For those interested in trying out a sport that has kicked up a wake of popularity in recent years, both MAC’s 50-meter Pool and local bodies of water can serve as easy-to-access training areas.

Instructor Jana McGill first tried standup paddleboarding around 2012, and it became her primary sport when she moved from Seaside to Portland in 2017 to work for MAC. “I surfed all the time in Seaside. I worked for parks and recreation there and lifeguarded in Cannon Beach during the summer season. I always want to be around water, whatever I do. I think surfing is somewhat hard and dangerous, which is what I like about it. Stand-up paddleboarding is not an adrenaline sport.”

McGill was hired by MAC’s Outdoor department in February to lead club walks and hikes, bringing with her a history of traversing forests up and down the West Coast. She’ll also teach cross-country skiing, first aid and safety, and aquatic pursuits such as stand-up paddleboarding.

Jana McGill

Contributed photo

Her experience turning friends onto paddleboarding goes back years. “When we are swimming, we are huffing and puffing, but with stand-up paddling, you can have a conversation. You are on the water outside, and you get a good workout, but it’s social. If you hike with friends, you can stand up with friends,” she says.

“I usually bring friends to Cook Park on the Tualatin River because it’s really calm out there. The only thing we have to look out for is logs under the water. There are no gaspowered boats, and the wind is not really an issue because there are high banks and trees. It’s just amazing standing on the water and exploring waterways and nature.”

In fact, McGill is so eager to get others into SUP, as it’s known, that she sometimes loans her board and paddle to curious strangers when she comes in from an outing. “I think it’s a really healthy sport, so I offer my equipment to anyone who wants to try it!”

MAC continues to evolve its programs to meet and try to predict member needs, and that means looking for new ways to take the club’s sense of community onto the water. In addition to offering SUP training in the 50-meter Pool in the spring, and outdoors as the weather improves, the hope is to eventually offer weekly outings along the lines of what Cycling has done with its Wednesday evening rides.

Jana McGill

Contributed photo

“I sometimes think of my job as throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks,” Morell says with a smile on his face. “The great thing about this club is there are so many people with so many interests. It’s all about finding the things that bring our members together and help them find a sense of belonging, whether that’s fly-fishing, standup paddleboarding, or climbing Mt. Hood.”

Knives Out

Roughly 180 degrees away from the serene exploration of SUP is one of MAC’s most extreme offerings, a Mt. Hood climb that can push members to their physical limits in pursuit of one of Oregon’s most stunning views. After an early start, they see the sunrise on the glacier while steadily making progress up an international climbing destination.

“It also requires guidance and training. You’re basically strapping spikes to your feet and holding a knife in your hand,” Morell says of the crampons, ice axe, and other equipment necessary to reach the summit of Oregon’s preeminent peak.

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“For this reason, we require members to go through a full day of snow school to learn how and when to use the tools of the trade,” he explains. MAC Outdoor also helps participants improve their physical fitness and practice teamwork to prepare for the trek, taking every opportunity to make sure members are ready for the experience of a lifetime.

With the assistance of Kaf Adventures, climbers depart around midnight in order to ensure that they reach the summit before rising temperatures make the journey any more difficult. Kaf provides not just the hard-to-acquire climbing permit, but also a mountain range worth of experience, all the necessary certification, and the trust of Morell and the rest of MAC’s Outdoor team.

“These guides are some of the best in Oregon, and they’re experts at leading our members and helping them to put into practice the mountaineering skills we’ve taught them,” Morell says. “Their support and communication is top-notch, and we feel like our community is in the best hands with them.”

“Members need to be willing to train hard and build skills. There are definitely fitness benchmarks for something like this,” White says. “Our job is to get members outside, and along with our Gym to Crag program and Stand-Up Paddleboard offerings, we feel like we’ve found a way to create opportunities for every goal, level of fitness, and tolerance for risk. Whatever members are motivated to do, we’ll be there to support them.” WM