This Issue

Dear Members:

    One of the American Alpine Club’s most exciting conservation partnerships is making great strides toward restoring the environment of the Mount Everest area. In May 2003, the AAC provided $21,600 in seed money to launch the five-year Everest Alpine Zone restoration project. Orchestrated by The Mountain Institute, the project aims to protect native juniper shrubs in the Khumbu’s fragile alpine areas by reducing harvesting, providing financial incentives for use of alternate fuels, building shelters for porters in the major trekking villages, constructing fences to shield priority areas, and educating tourists about the need to protect and restore fragile alpine zones. In May of this year, the National Geographic Society's Conservation Trust awarded the project another $19,505. In addition, individual trekkers in the Khumbu have provided generous support.

    Under the leadership of Ang Rita Sherpa and the newly formed Khumbu Alpine Conservation Council, workshops in the Khumbu region have created a strategic plan for the area. Already, the harvesting of shrub juniper for fuel, agriculture, and incense has been banned, preserving entire hillsides of alpine shrubs. All lodges are now burning kerosene instead of wood, and a kerosene depot has made fuel and rental stoves available to porters and trekking groups. A porter shelter in Lobuche is providing a warm, dry cooking facility for 40 porters.

    Plans for 2005 include testing alternatives to kerosene, constructing a porter shelter in Chukung, constructing cattle-proof exclosures to protect vegetation on the hills above Dingboche, and developing educational programs for both tourists and local people. Learn more about this program or make a donation at http://www.mountain.org/work/resedu/resedu02.cfm.

Of all the AAC’s many activities, its leadership in mountain conservation is one of those I treasure most, and it’s rewarding to see the Club’s money put to such good use in one of the world’s precious mountain environments.

[Photo] Eroded alpine slopes near Chukung village, Nepal.
Courtesy The Mountain Institute

WAYS TO THE SKY
The newest book from the American Alpine Club Press has won two prestigious awards. Ways to the Sky: A Historical Guide to North American Mountaineering, by Andy Selters, won the James Monroe Thorington Award for Best Work in Mountaineering History at the 2004 Banff Mountain Book Festival, as well as the History/Biography Category at the 2004 National Outdoor Book Awards.

“We are elated at the unanimous critical acclaim for Ways to the Sky,” said AAC Deputy Director Lloyd Athearn, who spearheaded the book’s publication. “Andy devoted several years of his life to researching the significant events in North American mountaineering history, locating many unpublished photographs, and then pulling it all together in a unique way to create a very beautiful and readable book.”

Ways to the Sky combines historical narrative with copious photographs and route information for 47 historically significant climbing routes. It was published in May 2004 in partnership with the Alpine Club of Canada, and is distributed by The Mountaineers Books (www.mountaineersbooks.org), where AAC members get a 20 percent discount on all titles.

GREAT GEAR AT GREAT PRICES!
The AAC’s annual gear auction this year is available to all members and not just those who attend the annual meeting. Just in time for the holidays, the AAC will hold an online auction with dozens of great items to bid upon, including clothing and gear from sponsors such as Patagonia, LEKI, Montrail, Mountain Hardwear, JetBoil, Asolo, Lowe Alpine, and The North Face, along with beautiful photography, guided trips, and more! All proceeds support core member services like the American Alpine Journal, the AAC Library, rescue insurance, and mountain conservation.

How does it work? Between Dec. 3 and Dec. 19, simply log on to www.blacktie-colorado.com/silent-auction and choose “American Alpine Club Annual Auction.” From there, follow the easy instructions to bid, and don’t forget to keep checking back to see if you’ve been outbid! Bids will be accepted until midnight (MST) on Dec. 19. Winners will be notified via email on Dec. 20. Blacktie is a Colorado-based organization that provides services to nonprofits, including secure, reliable online auctions.

Bookmark this address now: www.blacktie-colorado.com/silent-auction. The auction starts Dec. 3!

SPEAKERS SET FOR MOUNTAIN FEST
All of the slideshow presentations have been finalized for the 2005 AAC Mountain Fest and annual meeting in Ouray, Colorado. In addition to featured speaker Reinhold Messner on Saturday night, the weekend’s presenters include: Kevin Mahoney, who has done new routes on Denali, the Moose’s Tooth, and other major peaks in the past few years; Steve Swenson, whose alpine career for the past 20 years is nearly unrivaled among American climbers; Louise Thomas, a Briton who has climbed alpine rock faces around the globe; and John Varco, who climbed two major new routes in the Himalayas this year alone. In addition, registered attendees at the Mountain Fest can sign up for free ice climbing and backcountry skiing clinics with Jim Donini, Mark Wilford, Kim Reynolds, and other top climbers. Watch for registration materials for the 2005 Mountain Fest by mid-December, and check back at www.americanalpineclub.org for updates.

“THANK YOU FOR BREAKING YOUR ARM”
Life’s path takes weird twists, and you never know where a fork may lead. This fall, American Alpine Journal Editor John Harlin and Outside magazine columnist Mark Jenkins, along with photographer Jimmy Chin, planned to climb in the Chengdu area of China. Shortly before their departure, Jenkins was dropped while teaching some magazine staffers to climb and suffered a badly broken arm. The trip was scuttled. Not long after their scheduled departure, Jenkins received an email from Chin entitled, “Thank you for breaking your arm.” Turns out, Chin had suffered an acute appendicitis attack seven days after they were to head for Tibet. He required two surgeries to correct the problem. If Jenkins hadn’t had his accident, the trio would have been in the mountains when Chin had his attack. “I’m guessing if you hadn’t broken your arm, I would have been curled up in the fetal position inside a yak-hair tent, staring at a well-meaning Tibetan with a big, dull knife,” Chin wrote to Jenkins. “I just thought you’d appreciate knowing that your broken arm probably saved my life.”

NEW GUIDEBOOKS IN LIBRARY
The AAC Library has recently received new climbing guides for Singapore, Thailand, and the Moroccan Anti-Atlas. Closer to home, revised or new guides to the Uintas, Hueco Tanks, and Red Rocks, plus New England bouldering, Los Angeles buildering, and ice climbing in Wyoming and Montana, are now on the shelves. New trekking guides to Bhutan, Uzbekistan, the Dolomites, and selected U.S. national parks are now available, along with up-to-date manuals on map-and-compass work and food for trekking. For the visually oriented, new DVDs include Splitter, Pilgrimage, and Lisa Rand’s Hit List, plus a recent documentary on wilderness advocate David Brower and video guides to knot-tying and clean-climbing technique. Contact library@americanalpineclub.org to request books or DVDs though the mail. Remember that the web catalog runs just a little behind on current material, so if you don’t see something, ask. We may have it.

LIBRARY ASSISTANT WANTED
The Henry S. Hall, Jr. American Alpine Club Library is looking for a full-time assistant. Contact the library director at bburke@americanalpineclub.org for more information. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated research experience, knowledge of or interest in the literature of mountaineering, and a commitment to providing excellent library service to AAC members and the public. B.A. required; library experience helpful.

DENALI FEE GOES UP
Denali National Park has raised the special-use fee for climbers on Mount McKinley and Mount Foraker to $200, effective for the 2005 season. The mountaineering fee, first charged in 1995, had been $150.

With the fee increase, $210,000 to $220,000 will be collected annually through Denali’s mountaineering fee. Denali National Park says the number of fatalities on Denali and Foraker has decreased significantly since the fee began funding new educational programs for climbers and a 60-day pre-registration rule was implemented. No fee or pre-registration is required for Mount Hunter or other peaks in the park.

MAJOR NEW GRANT PROGRAM
The Rowell Legacy Committee has begun accepting nominations for the Rowell Award for the Art of Adventure, created in honor of the late Galen and Barbara Rowell. The new award will honor a single adventurer “whose artistic passion illuminates the wild places of the world, and whose accomplishments significantly benefit both the environment and the people who inhabit these lands.” The $15,000 cash award will be presented May 15. Nominations will be accepted until Jan. 17. For more information or to get a nomination form, visit www.rowellaward.com.

DREAM CLIMBS
This month’s featured AAC member is David Micklo, an Air Force pilot and chair of the Explorers Club of Pittsburgh Mountaineering School Committee. Micklo achieved one of his dream climbs this year on his third attempt: the classic Regular Route on the Northwest Face of Half Dome. Micklo had tried the big wall once in 2001 but dropped a haul bag from five pitches up, then had to retreat from a couple of pitches higher in 2002 when a partner backed down. This year, with partner Tom Prigg, the climb went even better than planned. Micklo, “a solid 5.8 climber,” and Prigg fixed three long ropes to the top of the sixth pitch, rested for a day, and then climbed the rest of the route over two days. “No matter with style points was our motto,” Micklo wrote. “I’ve got a kid, a wife, a job. I can’t climb enough to become confident enough on a wall this size to do it ground up.” However, Micklo added, “You can, with enough tenacity, do anything you put your mind to. I wanted that route. It was worth every year it took to get it.”

For photos of Micklo and Prigg’s climb, see http://www.pittecp.org/schools/mountaineering/site/half_dome.htm.

David Micklo starting up the Double Cracks on Half Dome’s
Northwest Face, with the camera just a wee bit tilted!
Courtesy David Micklo

Been climbing? The E-News features a different AAC member’s interesting climb each edition. Send a short report (250 words or less) on your latest dream climb, and you could be featured in the next E-News. Digital photos also are welcome. Contact: dmacdonald@americanalpineclub.org.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Ever-humble AAC Past President Glenn Porzak called to set the record straight after last month’s E-News: Porzak has climbed four 8,000-meter peaks, including Everest, Makalu, Shishapangma, and, most recently, Cho Oyu in late September. We reported last month that he had climbed five.

COMING EVENTS
December 2
Washington
Steve Swenson will give a slideshow on his expedition to Pakistan last summer to benefit the Central Asia Institute. The show is at 7:30 p.m. at the HUB Auditorium of the University of Washington, Seattle. Tickets available at the door.

December 17-18
Nevada
The second annual Lake Tahoe Adventure Film Festival. Keynote speaker: Royal Robbins. Info: www.laketahoefilmfestival.com.

January 14-16
New York
The 9th annual Adirondack International Mountaineering Festival will be held in Keene Valley, with clinics, demos, and slideshows. See www.mountaineer.com.

March 4-6
Colorado
The 2005 American Alpine Club Mountain Fest and annual meeting in Ouray. Ice climbing and backcountry skiing clinics, Reinhold Messner and four other shows, dinners, dancing, and more! Info and registration materials coming soon at www.americanalpineclub.org.

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