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Published since 1929, the American Alpine Journal is the premier annual record of significant mountaineering and long rock climbing ascents worldwide. American Alpine Club members receive the 400-page Journal (retail $45) free with membership.
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AMERICAN ALPINE JOURNAL
• 2012 American Alpine Journal—featuring a brand-new department—will be shipped free to members in August 2012
• We are in the process of digitizing the AAJ. Stay connected to americanalpineclub.org/news for updates on this project
• Search the AAJ
• Read recent reports at the AAJ Online or on your Member Profile (in full color to members)
• Submit A Report (guidelines below)
• Members get one free copy. Want another? Members shop the AAC Store at 20% off: shop.americanalpineclub.org
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The American Alpine Journal is now online. Visit the AAJ website.
To mark the 80th anniversary of the American Alpine Journal, we’ve launched a website to deliver reports and articles on a much more timely basis. We’re calling the AAJ Online a beta site because we’ve only begun to upload content. What you’ll find now is the site’s structure, reflecting the AAJ’s standard table of contents, as well as the first reports from 2010 and 2011. We’ve also uploaded some reports and articles from recent AAJs in order to put a little meat on our virtual bones while we’re waiting for 2012 reports.
Besides more timely reporting, the website also allows additional features, including maps, topos, occasional longer articles, and other extras.
To keep track of what’s being uploaded, please subscribe to our RSS feed by clicking on the orange RSS button on the right side of the website’s banner photo.
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Search the American Alpine Journal:
You can search the full text of every edition of the AAJ from 1929 through 2011.
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AAJ Index
The AAJ comprehensive index allows you to locate reports of climbs based on region, country, climber, and peak name. PDF versions are available by clicking on:
- AAJ Index 1929-2007 (~3MB) (.PDF): IndexAAJ1929-2007.pdf
- AAJ Book Reviews 1929-2007 (.PDF): AAJBookReviews1929-2007.pdf
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Articles and Extras
The following items are available as free downloads (PDF and JPEG format). We encourage reproduction of articles originally published in the AAJ on websites and in print, but credit must be given to the American Alpine Journal and to the authors.
- AAJ Grade Comparison Chart: This 4-page chart compares the world's rock, ice, and alpine climbing grades and is useful for traveling and for deciphering the AAJ and other international climbing publications. Sponsored by W. L. Gore/Shipton-Tilman Grants.
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Submissions and Contact Details
If you have climbed a big new route, please report it to us as soon as possible! The American Alpine Journal strives to be complete—to get ALL the big new routes—but we can only do this with your help. This year we are publishing and updating reports online prior to print publication, so we must have your reports just as soon as possible. Please have mercy on your poor editors and send us your report right now.
How to submit your new route to the 2012 American Alpine Journal’s Climbs & Expeditions section:
(Download AAJ Submissions Guidelines)
What we publish:
The AAJ tries to be the world’s “journal of record” for documenting significant new climbs. We seek reports on all new long routes worldwide (“long” typically means a full day or more on the climb itself). We sometimes report a repeat ascent if the peak or route has not been climbed in many years; if there have been major changes in conditions on the mountain; if the style is new (example: first free ascent); if the ascent was exceptionally fast; if it was the first winter ascent (but only of major routes); or if the report supplies vital information for future climbers. We do not publish reports on first “national” ascents (for example, the first American or Italian or Japanese ascent). We also don’t cover first women’s ascents, handicapped climbs, or other special recognitions. Sometimes, however, we break our own “rules.”
How to write a report:
Reports for the Climbs & Expedition section of the AAJ are typically 250-500 words long. The prime goals are to document history and to provide information that helps future climbers in this region, but we enjoy a good story, too! Here is a simple way to remember what should be included in the report:
How was it?—please tell the story of your trip … very briefly!
Be sure to include:
What?—name of peak and route.
Where?—exactly where is it? Country, mountain range, route line.
When?—dates of the expedition.
Who?—names of climbers.
Why?—why did this climb interest you?
How hard?—difficulty of the climb, using whichever grading system you prefer.
Deadlines:
URGENT! Please send your reports as soon as possible. We will post them as soon as they are edited, and we will need them in a timely manner to ensure that they can be used in the printed book. Thank you.
Other news:
Did you learn of other new routes in the region where you climbed? Please tell us about climbs and climbers we may not have heard of. YOU are our most valuable source of information!
Submitting photographs to the AAJ:
We want pictures showing the peak and the route. Good “action” shots are also welcome. If we publish a photo showing the route, we’ll need to have the route line drawn in; if possible, please include other existing routes that are visible on the photo—but only if you’re sure where they go.
Feel free to first email smaller low-resolution scans (.jpg/JPEG are best). Please draw in your line if you can.
We may later ask you to submit a higher resolution image for possible publication. Publication requires at least 300 dpi (120 pixels/cm) at the size the photo is printed. A full-page photo in the AAJ is 5×7 inches (13×18 cm). However, most photos in the Climbs & Expeditions section are smaller. If this is confusing, just ask us questions or send what you have, and we’ll let you know if we need anything different.
Where to send reports and photos:
North and South America: Kelly Cordes
Greenland, Africa, and Asia: Lindsay Griffin
Feature articles & photos, plus all things AAJ: John Harlin
FTP site: If you have FTP software and are sending big photos or many photos, please consider using our FTP site. Email us for our FTP settings.
Original slides: If you are sending an original slide or image showing the route you climbed, please include a print copy of the image (laser scans work well and are cheap) with your route line drawn in. Do not draw on the original image. If other routes are shown in the image, please indicate this. If you know with certainty where those routes go, please draw them in as well. Please contact us by email before sending anything by snail mail.
Maps:
Maps are welcome for more remote regions. We have limited space, but whenever possible we will include a map to less-known peaks. These can also be helpful to the editors even if the map is not published. Photocopies and PDFs are fine. We may publish the map on our website unless you ask us not to.
Topos:
The AAJ is building an online topo library. Please send your topos of new routes, preferably electronically.
Rights (copyrights) for photography and text in the American Alpine Journal:
The AAC copyrights the entire annual AAJ. However, authors and photographers retain all rights to re-use their individual contributions. The AAC retains the right to utilize your submitted text and photographs in AAJ-related publications in print or on the web with no compensation. (Published photographers will receive a complimentary copy of the AAJ.) Permission will be requested from authors and photographers for any publication of their work outside the AAC. Since authors and photographers retain all rights to their work, you may re-use it without permission from the AAC. The American Alpine Club is a non-profit organization devoted to mountaineering, the conservation and study of mountainous regions, and representing the interests of climbers.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Thanks from the AAJ team:
Kelly Cordes, John Harlin III, Lindsay Griffin