Dear Members,
I am extremely pleased to announce that we have
finalized our decision to name our much anticipated museum for Bradford
Washburn. Brad is both a long-time, venerated member of our Club and a
deeply respected figure in the museum world. Activity in recent weeks
marks the beginning of museum planning and fundraising in earnest. The
museum will open in December, 2007.
Our new committee chairs are hard at work. Read below
for news of the recent, successful conservation summit led by new
conservation chair and board member Ellen Lapham of the Sierra Nevada
Section. I understand that the Grand Teton Climber’s Ranch committee will
be gathering during work week (June 1-5) at the Ranch to review the
mission of that committee. The section chairs are gathering with their
leader, Charlotte Fox, here in Golden on May 19 to share ideas work with
the staff to improve coordination and our ability to support them in their
work.
You may have heard that legal action has been brought
against the club by Canadian Byron Smith over the details of his record in
the Himalayan Database. The following statement has been approved
by our legal team on this issue:
“The American Alpine Club
is America’s leading organization for climbers. The Club’s library and
published works are repositories of information, by a diversity of
authors, meant to benefit climbers and historians. The Himalayan
Database, published in 2004, is the repository for information about
climbs in the Nepal Himalaya since 1905. The database records Byron Smith
as successful in his attempt on Mount Everest in 2000. The database also
records disputes, made by other climbers, to Mr. Smith’s ascent.”
Finally, I report the bittersweet news that Lloyd
Athearn will be leaving his role as deputy director for a wonderful
opportunity with the Colorado Conservation Trust. Lloyd has served the
Club with diligence and grace for almost a decade. His contributions—most
notable in the policy, conservation and publication arenas—are lasting. I
know I speak for many when I say that his work, his perspective and his
institutional memory will be missed. His last day will be May 24.
Please join us on May 20, 6:30 p.m., at the AAC
offices in Golden for a fun little party to meet the board and bid Lloyd
farewell.
Happy climbing,
Phil Powers
ppowers@americanalpineclub.org
MUSEUM TO BE NAMED FOR
BRADFORD WASHBURN
[Photo] Brad Washburn surveying |
Over lunch at the Washburn home near
Boston, Mark Richey, former president of the AAC, and his wife,
Teresa, informed Bradford and Barbara Washburn that the American
Mountaineering Museum will be named for Mr. Washburn. The Bradford
Washburn American Mountaineering Museum, a joint venture of the AAC
and the Colorado Mountain Club, will open in Golden, Colorado, in the
winter of 2008. The museum, an affiliate site of the National
Geographic Society, will detail the history of mountaineering and the
role that Americans have played in it, as well as current achievements
and issues facing climbers. |
“It is a terrific honor to have the museum named after me, and I’m very
grateful to all the people who brought that about,” said Washburn. “The
AAC is doing a superb job representing the interests of mountain climbers,
and everyone who cares about mountains should be a member and support the
club!”
Washburn, 95, a pioneering mountain photographer and cartographer, is
an honorary member of the AAC and was for many years the director of the
prestigious Boston Museum of Science. Washburn’s scale model of Mt.
Everest, which measures 14 feet square, will be a centerpiece of the new
museum. The Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum is being
designed by Quatrefoil Associates and Andrews & Anderson Architects, and
will occupy 3,000 square feet in the American Mountaineering Center. Past
President Mark Richey chairs the Museum Fundraising Committee with
Honorary Chair Bob Bates.
FOUR SPITZER GRANTS ANNOUNCED
Four teams of climbers have won the AAC’s Lyman Spitzer Climbing Grants
for cutting-edge climbing. The expeditions will split $12,000 in cash and
$10,000 worth of equipment donated by Cascade Designs, makers of MSR,
SealLine and Therm-a-Rest.
• Mike Schaefer, Micah Dash and Eric Decaria will make an
alpine-style attempt on the direct east face of Uli Biaho in Pakistan,
after pioneering a 2,000-foot wall just to reach the base of their main
objective.
• Josh Wharton and Kelly Cordes will tackle the 5,000-foot north
ridge of Pakistan’s Shingu Charpa, a stunning line that has seen several
attempts in recent years.
• Mike and Andy Libecki will explore and climb in remote valleys of
Uzbekistan, where photos of the unclimbed granite walls and pyramids
caused Libecki to exclaim, “God must have created this part of the
planet just for obsessed climbers.
• Will Mayo and Canadian Maxime Turgeon will attempt an unclimbed
line on the south face of Mt. Foraker in Alaska.
To get more information or to apply for the annual Spitzer grants,
visit
http://www.americanalpineclub.org/knowledge/grants.asp.
BREAKING
BARRIERS GRANT FUNDS PERUVIAN EXPEDITION
The 2006 Zack Martin Breaking Barriers Award is going to Adam French to
support a climb and humanitarian objectives in Peru. French and his team
will attempt the second ascent of the East Ridge of 20,976-foot Huantsan
in the southern Cordillera Blanca. The team’s humanitarian mission is
titled “Water Is Life.” French and team will install effective composting
toilets in Huascaran National Park, where they will immediately improve
water quality, not only in the park but also in the streams and rivers
below the park. The Breaking Barriers Award was established in honor of
Zack Martin, a young climber who tragically killed in a car accident in
2002. The grant aims to further Martin’s vision of making a positive
impact on the communities that climbers frequent. For more info on the
program, visit
http://www.americanalpineclub.org/knowledge/grants.asp.
CONSERVATION SUMMIT
As was reported in earlier issues of this
e-news, the board asked that interested members of the club convene to
discuss our
conservation mission. It was thought that the current mission—“…the
conservation and preservation of the mountain environment…”—was too
broad.
Our goal is to write a more focused mission statement
for the conservation committee. The first step was the Conservation
Summit held here in Golden on April 21, the day before Earth Day,
2006.
In attendance were seventeen members of the club
including the new chair of the conservation committee, Ellen Lapham of the
Sierra Nevada Section.
We were mindful that the club does work or has
committees that initiate activity in several, often closely related
arenas: conservation, public and governmental policy, research and
sections. We limited our discussion narrowly to conservation.
Process
Ellen will be working to further populate the
committee and develop the thinking around a mission statement. She will
deliver a progress report to the board at the May 20 meeting here in
Golden.
LIBRARY ARCHIVES PHOTO
COLLECTIONS
Photo of shoulder
stand by Howard Palmer
The AAC’s
Henry S. Hall Jr. Library has completed work, funded by a grant from
the National Endowment for the Humanities, to assess and preserve its
photo collections. The project identified dozens of discrete
Collections—Bradford Washburn, Howard Palmer, Hassler Whitney and Allan
Carpé are all represented, as are photographers Ansel Adams, Vittorio
Sella and Elizabeth Cowles. In addition, more than 3,000 historical images
of mountain regions were organized and housed in archival containers. An
inventory of the portrait collection is complete, with others to follow.
The project was managed by Library Director Bridget Burke and Museum
Collections Coordinator Kath Pyke, with enormous contributions from
volunteers Pat Wallace and Bill Jackson. The next step is to secure funds
to digitize these collections. The new AAC website, slated to premier in
May, will feature some samples.
DIRECT BECKEY UPDATE
Fred Beckey departed for China on April 26th where he
and a small team will attempt to climb an unclimbed peak which Fred has
had his eye on for many years. This expedition will be filmed and
included in a feature length documentary about Fred’s extraordinary life.
Thank you to all of the American Alpine Club members who have supported
the initial phase of the documentary film on the life of Fred Beckey.
Tax-deductible donations will continue to be
collected through the AAC towards the total production costs of this film
project, please visit:
www.americanalpineclub.org and click on “Make a Donation” to
contribute to the project. Thank you for your continued support in
documenting the life of one of the world’s true great mountaineers.
RANGER MIKE’S RAINIER BLOG
Mike Gauthier, the Mt. Rainier National Park supervisory
climbing ranger and guidebook author, has launched an informative blog
covering his office—the highest peak in the Pacific Northwest. Gauthier
packs his web pages with the latest route conditions, accident and trip
reports, permit info, and updates from the National Park Service, plus
lots of great photos. Check it out at
http://mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com.
AAC TO HELP WITH PYRAMID
PEAK TRAILWORK
The Central Rockies Section of the AAC is seeking six
hearty volunteers for high-altitude trail and restoration work on
14,018-foot Pyramid Peak in Colorado’s Elk Mountains. The project runs
Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon, August 25–27. The Colorado
Fourteeners Initiative will provide food, water, instruction, safety
equipment, and tools for the project; volunteers provide their own
backpacking and camping gear. Each AAC volunteer will get a club T-shirt
and embroidered zip shirt. Contact Del Rae Heiser at 303-996-2755 for more
info or to volunteer.
REVISIT VINSON ON 40TH
ANNIVERSARY
| The 40th anniversary of the
first ascent of Vinson Massif, the highest peak in Antarctica, is
December 18, and Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions is organizing a
special trip to celebrate. The 16,050-foot peak was pioneered by an
American Alpine Club-sponsored team led by Nick Clinch. Antarctic
Logistics (owner of Adventure Network International) has invited
several veterans of that expedition to revisit the mountain, and is
extending a discount of about 15 percent on its normal fee for a
Vinson expedition to all AAC members. Proposed dates for the AAC trip
are December 19–29, 2006. For details, visit
http://www.adventure-network.com/display.asp?navid=1&id=51.
[Right] The original Mt. Vinson summit register. |
|
INFO SOUGHT FOR
TORRES DEL PAINE GUIDEBOOK
Steve Schneider is gathering information for a guidebook
to the striking rock formations of the Torres del Paine area of Chile. If
you have new-route information or access to info about undocumented
climbs, contact Schneider at
blondeshipoopi@yahoo.com.
YOSEMITE CLIMBING
RANGER MOVING ON
Lincoln Else, seasonal climbing ranger in Yosemite
National Park for the past five summers, will not be returning to
full-time work in the park this year. Whether it was serving up free
Sunday morning coffee in Camp 4 (sponsored by the AAC) or working on
dangerous big-wall rescues, Else earned the respect of climbers for his
ability to walk the talk at the same time he gently but firmly enforced
Yosemite’s wilderness rules. He will spend this spring and early summer
training the new climbing ranger, Jesse McGahey (also a highly experienced
and well-liked climber), and doing other work in the park. “After that,
I’ve got a handful of writing/photo/film projects I’d like to finally
tackle, as well as a handful of unfinished climbing goals to deal with,”
he said in an email. “I haven’t written off Yosemite (or the NPS)
entirely; I just need to take a break and explore some other things.”
SKIING THE
COLORADO 14’ERS IN A SINGLE SEASON
Fans of ski mountaineering and Colorado’s high peaks
should check out Chris Davenport’s Ski the Fourteeners website. Davenport,
an extreme skier from Aspen, is attempting to ski from the summit of all
54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks in a single season. Only one person,
Lou Dawson, author of the AAC historical guide to North American ski
mountaineering, Wild Snow, has skied all of these peaks from their
summits, and he needed more than a decade to do it. As of April 26,
Davenport had skied 28 of the 54 peaks and had made some wild first
descents and rare repeats. The website is packed with photos and
compelling trip reports; check it out at
www.skithe14ers.com.
YOUTH CLIMBING CAMP IN
ROMANIA
The Romanian Mountain Club invites climbers age 17 to 25
to a week-long international camp at Bicaz Gorges National Park in the
Carpathian Mountains, August 5–12. More than 200 routes up to 15 pitches
long ascend these limestone walls. Room, board, local transportation, and
all events cost only 200 euros. Contact Constantin Lacatusu,
office@mountain.ro or
011-40-744-913-941.
SAVE THE DATE FOR WILDERNESS
RISK CONFERENCE
High-altitude research pioneer Dr. Charles Houston will be
the keynote speaker at the 13th annual Wilderness Risk Management
Conference in Killington, Vermont, October 27–29. The conference will
feature more than 40 presentations and workshops on training, risk
management and other issues facing outdoor educators and adventure
professionals. More information and registration forms at
http://www.nols.edu/wrmc/index.shtml.
SKI MOUNTAINEERING AMERICA’S
CUP
The first America’s Cup of ski mountaineering sent racers
up and down Jackson Hole resort in late March. Pete Swenson of Boulder,
Colorado, finished the 6,100-vertical-foot climb and 4,000-foot descent in
just over two hours for the men’s victory, less than three minutes ahead
of second-place Cary Smith of Jackson Hole. The women’s race was even
closer, as Jeannie Wall of Bozeman, Utah, out-fought Monique Merrill of
Breckenridge, Colorado, to win by less than two minutes. The uphill
section of the course climbed up the famed Corbett’s Couloir at Jackson
Hole, finishing on a vertical ladder that breached the cornice. The
Mountain Hardwear Life-Link/Dynafit Ski Mountaineering America’s Cup was
the seventh and final race in the 2006 Randonee Rally series, which
spanned North America.
MEMBERS HEADED TO BMC MEET
IN WALES
David Lew and Chris Weidner will represent the AAC at the
British Mountaineering Council’s International Summer Rock Climbing Meet
in North Wales, May 7–14. Lew, 25, is a meteorological engineer and
owner/guide of The Outdoor Company in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Weidner, 31,
is a climbing guide and personal trainer from Colorado who has done a
number of first ascents in the Bugaboos. Watch for a report from the BMC
meet in June.
SAVE THE DATE FOR 2007
MOUNTAIN FEST
The 2007 AAC Mountain Fest and annual meeting will be
March 30–April 1 in Bend, Oregon, close to the superb rock climbs of Smith
Rock and the backcountry skiing and climbing in the Cascades. Reserve a
room at the Riverhouse hotel and request an AAC rate as low as $72 a
night: 1-800-547-3928.
COMING EVENTS
May 5
Colorado
The Colorado Fourteneers Initiative hosts its annual Fiesta for the Peaks
fund-raiser at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden. Feature
presentation by Eric Alexander, silent auction, food, drink and live
music. Info or tickets: 303-996-2757.
May 6
West Virginia
Cinco de Mayo Festival at Seneca Rocks, featuring the “Salsa Showdown,” at
the Gendarme climbing store. Info:
www.seneca-rocks.com/website/article.asp?id=441.
May 11
Colorado
AAC Spring Bash at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden, featuring
a slideshow by Corey Rich with photos from his new book My Favorite
Places, plus music, food, and self-rescue clinics. RSVP to 303-384-0110,
ext. 11.
May 12-14
Oregon
HERA Ovarian Cancer Climb for Life will hold a fund-raising climbing
festival over Mother’s Day weekend at Smith Rock. Info and registration at
www.climb4lifesmith.kintera.org.
May 20
Colorado
AAC Board of Directors meeting at the American Mountaineering Center in
Golden. All are welcome at the meeting (8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and informal
social hour immediately afterward.
May 26–29
Colorado
The 28th annual Mountain Film festival in Telluride. Info:
www.mountainfilm.org.
May 31–June 4
Colorado
The Teva Mountain Games at Vail features climbing, kayaking, trail running
and many other competitions, clinics and events.
www.tevamountaingames.com.
July 5–9
Wyoming
13th annual International Climbers Festival in Lander: slideshows,
clinics, parties and climbing.
www.climbersfestival.org.
E-NEWS POLICIES
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the following E-News policies.
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