January 4, 2016, Golden, CO—The American Alpine Club is excited to announce its 2016 Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge Awards. This grant, made possible by the generous support of Lyman Spitzer Jr., promotes state-of-the-art, cutting edge climbing through financial support of small, lightweight climbing teams attempting bold first ascents or difficult repeats of the most challenging routes in the world.

"The committee was especially impressed with this year's objectives and team strengths," commented committee chair Paul Gagner. “The two teams below represent the spirit and intent of the award and the AAC is very happy to support their dreams."

The two Shagrilas - Chris Wright & Tico Gangulee will travel to the Kullu Himalaya in India to fill in blanks on the map. The team has several objectives, all unclimbed. According to one US climber who saw the peak on a 2011 ski expedition, “I have no idea if this peak has a name or not but it was drop dead gorgeous. I just remember thinking the potential for rad alpine climbs up this valley would be endless."

Unclimbed, often tried Link Sar - Rob Duncan, Jesse Mease, Marcos Costa will travel to the head of the Charakusa glacier in the Pakistan Karakoram, with two objectives in mind. The first and primary objective is the still unclimbed 7,041 meter summit of Link Sar, a complex and stunning peak. After this ascent the team will move to the Choktoi Glacier to climb Ogre II via the NE ridge a route attempted and climbed this past year to just below the summit. The AAC and Spitzer committee wish both teams good luck.

The AAC offers numerous grants with differing criteria, from the locally administered Live Your Dream grants, to mountain fellowship grants for climbers under the age of 25, as well as Cornerstone Conservation grants that keep our local climbing areas healthy. For a full list of grants visit the American Alpine Club website at americanalpineclub.org/grants.