Annual Benefit Gala

2024 Annual Benefit Gala Awards

MEET THE AWARDEES

Discover their incredible stories, then join us for the 2024 Annual Benefit Gala to hear more!


The Climb of the Year Award

For pushing the limits of climbing, whether that is the grade or the most epic story—the redemption arc, the new frontier, or defying the odds. This award is determined by public voting.

The 2024 nominees include:

  • Round Trip Ticket (M7 AI5+ A0 2700M), Jannu (7710m), Matt Cornell, Jackson Marvell, and Alan Rousseau

  • B.I.G. (5.15d), Jakob Schubert

  • Aletheia (D16), Kevin Lindlau

  • Box Therapy (V16, contested), Katie Lamb.


The Community Changemaker Award

For the movers and shakers, the innovators, the loud voices and the doers. The people who, no matter the size of their platform, are making an outsized difference in shaping the future of our climbing community.

The 2024 nominees include:

  • Tommy Caldwell

  • Adaptive Climber's Festival

  • Marcus Garcia


The Robert Hicks Bates Award: Matt Cornell

For an Outstanding Accomplishment by a Young Climber

Matt Cornell grew up in Michigan, where he began climbing at the age of 13. Once he turned 18, he headed west to climb full-time, following the seasons from Bozeman to Yosemite, and then on to Patagonia and the Himalayas. In 2021, after steadily building his skills and experience, he and Jackson Marvell (Robert Hicks Bates Award recipient in 2020) established two new routes on Pyramid Peak in Alaska's Revelation Range, Techno Terror (AI6 M7+ R A0) and Smoke' Em If You Got 'Em (AI5+ A2+); Austin Schmitz and Jack Cramer joined the latter ascent. Cornell received the American Alpine Club's Cutting Edge Grant for this trip.

In late March 2023, with Marvell and Rousseau, the three climbed a new route on the east face of Mt. Dickey in Alaska's Ruth Gorge over three days, Aim For the Bushes (AI6 M6 X). Then, in early October, roping up with Marvell and Rousseau over seven days, they climbed a new route on the north face of Jannu, 7,710m, in alpine style. They called their line Round Trip Ticket (M7 AI5+ A0).


Angelo Heilprin Citation: Alison Osius

For Exemplary Service to the Club

"We chose [Alison] from a list of candidates we've carefully curated over the years. As many can attest, she's shown exemplary service to the Club by devoting countless hours in various recent and past roles, including as the Club's first woman president, from 1998 to 1999." -Selection Committee.

Alison Osius has been devoted to the Club for decades. She attends board meetings, annual dinners, panel discussions, and Club events. She's a trusted authority, a keeper of institutional knowledge, and vital to the community. Osisus is known for her engagement and mentoring of younger climbers and writers in their careers and her ability to relate to people from all walks of life who enjoy different climbing styles. 

As the Club's first female president (1998-1999), Alison led the AAC’s first extended public outreach campaign and continued the effort into rule-making on fixed anchors in Wilderness. Her many years of elegant writing and superb editing for prominent publications have delighted climbing and outdoor audiences. She is a senior editor at Outside and a former editor at Climbing and Rock and Ice. Osius has written for CNN.com, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal

Her strengths as a storyteller, communicator, and role model build on her many years of climbing experience, including her previous work as a climbing guide in the U.S. and U.K. and becoming a three-time national champion in sport climbing, X Games finalist, and top-10 World Cup finisher. Rooted in her love of climbing, her abiding curiosity and exploration of our world, and her empathetic and inclusive approach to others, Alison's exemplary service to the Club has dramatically strengthened the AAC. 


Honorary Membership: Kitty Calhoun and Geoff Tabin

Honorary Membership is one of the highest awards the AAC offers. It is given to those individuals who have had a lasting and highly significant impact on the advancement of the climbing craft.

The Honorary Membership Committee has selected Kitty Calhoun and Geoff Tabin as our 2024 nominees. Both are well known and recognized for their amazing climbing achievements, exemplary service to their communities, and lifetimes of noteworthy activities which reflect well on climbing—Tabin in medical outreach to underserved peoples often in mountain regions and Calhoun in her leadership actively supporting the development of women in climbing during the last 30 years.

Kitty Calhoun is honored to receive this award and happy to share her most proud accomplishments. She received an MBA from the University of Vermont, where she found her passion for ice and alpine climbing. This led to a 40+ year career as a guide for the NC and CO Outward Bound Schools, American Alpine Institute, and Chicks Climbing and Skiing. Calhoun founded Exum Utah Mountain Guides and later became co-owner of Chicks Climbing and Skiing. She is also an ambassador for Patagonia, SCARPA, PMI ropes, POW, and Lion Energy. Additionally, Kitty has been a member of the American Alpine Club since she can remember, has served on the Board of Directors, was Chairperson of the Expeditions Committee, and has received the AAC's Pinnacle Award. 

Calhoun's mountaineering achievements include a rare ascent of the Diamond Couloir on Mt Kenya, the first American female ascent of Dhaulagiri, three new Grade VI rock routes in Kyrgyzstan, and a new route on Middle Triple Peak in Alaska. She attributes her successes to applying the power of teamwork, which she learned through alpine climbing.

Geoffrey Tabin began climbing at Devil's Lake, Wisconsin. He went to college at Yale University, where he explored the rock and ice climbs of the Northeast from New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont, in addition to trips out West. He joined the American Alpine Club in 1977. He then went to Oxford University in England, where he and his climbing partner climbed the classic hard routes of the Alps. He received grants from the American Alpine Club and Oxford University to climb in Africa and Irian Jaya, Indonesia. They climbed the Ice Window route on Mt. Kenya and the first ascents of three long rock routes on the Mt. Kenya Massif, including the first free ascent of the Diamond Buttress on Mt. Kenya (V 5.11). In Indonesia, they climbed all five of the highest peaks in the Carstenz range, including the first ascent of the North Face of Puncak Jaya (Carstenz Pyramid). In 1983, Tabin was part of the American team that made the first ascent of the Kangshung East Face of Mt. Everest. In 1990, he became the 4th person to reach the top of all seven continents. Along the way, he also completed first ascents of rock or ice routes on all seven continents, including the first ascents of five 6,000-meter peaks. Tabin attended Harvard Medical School, trained as an ophthalmologist, and then worked as an eye surgeon in Nepal. He established the Himalayan Cataract Project, which is dedicated to overcoming needless blindness through education, training, and establishing a sustaining infrastructure. After returning to the United States, Tabin taught at both the University of Vermont and the University of Utah while spending three to four months per year working in Asia and Africa. He is currently the Fairweather Foundation Chair and Professor of ophthalmology and global medicine at Stanford University.


The H. Adams Carter Literary Award: James Edward Mills

For Excellence in Climbing Literature

James Edward Mills is a National Geographic Explorer and a contributor to National Geographic Magazine, a Fellow of the Banff Center Mountain & Wilderness Writing Program in Alberta, Canada, and a recipient of the Paul K. Petzoldt Award For Environmental Education. He has worked in the outdoor industry since 1989 as a guide, outfitter, independent sales representative, writer, and photographer. He is the author of the book The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors and the co-writer/co-producer of the documentary film An American Ascent. Mills is a contributor to several outdoor-focused print and online publications such as National Geographic, Outside, Rock & Ice, Alpinist, SUP, Elevation Outdoors, Women's Adventure, the Clymb, Park Advocate, High Country News, Appalachia Journal, The Guardian, The New York Times, Sierra, and Land & People. 

In recognition of his work sharing the important history and legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers and their efforts at the dawn of the National Park Service, James was named a Yosemite National Park Centennial Ambassador in 2016. Currently, Mills is a faculty assistant at the University of Wisconsin Nelson Institute For Environmental Studies and teaches a summer course for undergraduate students on diversity, equity, and inclusion in outdoor recreation and public land management called Outdoors For All. His climbing accomplishments include two ascents, one solo, of the mountaineers' route on California's Mount Whitney, sport climbing routes on the Gheralta Massif of Ethiopia, a team ascent of Mt. Baker, and a trek to Everest Base Camp.

The committee believes it's hard to overstate the importance of The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors in shaping the discourse around justice and equity in mountaineering since it was published in 2014, which is why James Edward Mills absolutely deserves to be celebrated with the H. Adams Carter Literary Award for this year.


The Pinnacle Award: Steph Davis

For Outstanding Mountaineering and Climbing Achievements

Steph Davis is a rock climber, BASE jumper, and wingsuit flier. She began climbing as a freshman at the University of Maryland in 1991. After receiving a master's in Literature, she moved out to Moab, living in her grandmother's Oldsmobile. Some of her notable ascents are the First Female Ascent of Freerider, the First Female Ascent of the Salathe Wall, free solo of the Pervertical Sanctuary on the Diamond of Longs Peak, and the first American woman to summit Fitzroy. Davis started skydiving and BASE jumping in 2008; human flight is her second passion. She is one of just a few people in the world, and the only woman, to combine free solo climbing with base jumping and wingsuit flight. She is the author of High Infatuation and Learning to Fly.


The David A. Sowles Memorial Award: Roger Schaeli, Matteo Della Bordella, Thomas Huber, and Roberto Treu

For Unselfish Devotion to Imperiled Climbers

The Cerro Torre Rescue

Patagonia is considered by the world’s best climbers to be one of the most difficult and dangerous climbing areas in the world. Climbers who attempt Cerro Torre, Fitz Roy, and other notable climbs understand an accident here requires self-rescue, as an organized rescue is unlikely or uncertain at best. Two teams established two new routes on Cerro Torre on January 27, 2022. The teams had climbed the last 1,000 feet with each other, summiting together. The Italian team, Matteo Della Bordella, David Bacci, and Matteo De Zaicomo, decided to bivy up on the summit of Cerro Torre and descend the next morning while the other team, climbing guides Tomás Aguiló, 36 (Argentina), and Korra Pesce, 41 (Italy) decided to descend in the dark to mitigate the danger of rock and icefall. 

As Aguiló and Pesce descended, on the morning of January 28, they were hit by an avalanche of ice and rock. Pesce was paralyzed, while Aguiló was seriously injured, but able to move. Aguilo continued to descend, eventually finding his satellite device and calling for help. 

Unaware of Aguiló's satellite device message for help, someone had seen a headlamp's SOS signal high on the mountain and got together a group of ten to hike the two hours to the glacier's base and investigate. Some of the group continued on to the base of the east face, where they saw Aguiló slowly descending to a triangular snowfield about 1,000 feet of technical climbing above the glacier. A drone was used to pinpoint Aguiló's location, and a rescue operation was formed. 

By 5 p.m. on Friday, Della Bordella's team had finished rappelling 30 pitches from their summit bivy and met up with the rescue party. Upon learning the news, Della Bordella, alongside Thomas Huber (Germany), Roger Schaeli (Switzerland), and Roberto Treu (Argentina), climbed the first seven pitches of the Maestri Route in three hours to reach Agulió. Around midnight, Treu and Huber descended with Aguiló, while Della Bordella and Schaeli waited for any sign of Pesce. A storm was approaching, and the two only had one rope between them. As the weather worsened and exhaustion set in, the two decided to descend for their own safety around 3 a.m. Unfortunately, Pesce perished. Rescuers carried Aguiló down to the bottom of the glacier, where he was helicoptered to a hospital.  

The American Alpine Club is honored to recognize Matteo Della Bordella, Roger Schaeli, Thomas Huber, and Roberto Treu with the David A. Sowles Memorial Award for their voluntary actions to rescue Tomy Aguiló and Korra Pesce on Cerro Torre. The David A. Sowles Memorial Award is the American Alpine Club’s highest award for valor, bestowed at irregular intervals on climbers who have "distinguished themselves, with unselfish devotion at personal risk or sacrifice of a major objective, in going to the assistance of fellow climbers imperiled in the mountains.” The recipients’ voluntary actions to rescue Aguiló and Pesce at great personal risk is the embodiment of why this award was created. 

About the Rescuers

As soon as Roger Schaeli began walking, the mountains became his fate. For Roger, climbing is passion, a sentiment, a strong emotional confrontation with the mountain, life, and himself. Schaeli is an IFMGA(UIAGM/IVBV) Mountain guide and Swiss Alpinist. Schaeli has many notable ascents all over the world, including more than 56 ascents on the North Face of the Eiger, the first ascent of Odyssee (5.14 1,400m), and the linkup of the six most prominent North Faces of the Alps (Eiger, Matterhorn, Grandes Jorasses, Grosse Zinne, Piz Badile, and Dru) in a non-stop, unsupported trek over 45 days. 

Matteo Della Bordella began climbing at 12 years old, thanks to his dad. In 2006, he joined the group of Ragni di Lecco and had the opportunity to grow both as a mountaineer and a person. He likes to climb technically difficult big walls in the most remote places on earth. Bordella's proudest achievements as an alpinist are the first ascent of the route Brothers in Arms on Cerro Torre's east and north face, the first ascent of the west face of Bhagirathi IV (6192 m) in the Indian Himalaya, the "by fair means" expedition to Greenland which involved 200 km of kayaks and the first ascent of Shark Tooth north face, the first ascent of Torre Egger West face in Patagonia, summiting the Cerro Torre three times, and Cerro Fitz Roy four times. 

Thomas Huber is a German climber and mountaineer. Huber is known for his speed records and first ascents. Of his most notable climbs are the FA of the direct north pillar of the Shivling (6543m) with Iwan Wolf, which won them the Piolet d'Or, and the first ascent of El Niño and the first free ascent of Zodiac on El Capitan in Yosemite. 

Roberto Treu "Indio" is originally from the province of San Juan, where he found his passion for the mountains. He is an IFMGA Mountain Guide at Patagonia Ascent and the director of the technical committee of the AAGM (Asociación Argentina de Guías de Montaña). Some of his most important achievements have been the Cerro Standhardt, Herron, Egger traverse, and the Directa Huarpe, a new route on the West Face of Cerro Torre. In addition to these climbs, Treu has climbed Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy numerous times.


The President's Award: Steven Swenson 

For Extraordinary Accomplishments in the Climbing World

Steve Swenson grew up in Seattle and started climbing in the nearby Cascade Mountains at age14. He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Civil Engineering. He has been climbing for over a half-century with over twenty expeditions to South Asia, including ascents of K2 and Everest without supplemental oxygen. He was part of a team that won the 2012 Piolet d'Or award for the first ascent of Saser Kangri II (7518 meters), and a team that won the 2020 Piolet d'Or for the first ascent of Link Sar (7041m). He is married with two sons. He is retired after a 35-year consulting engineering career in project management, design, policy-making, finance, and communications consulting related to water and wastewater infrastructure projects. Since his retirement, he has served on several nonprofit boards and has expertise in governance, fundraising, and strategic planning. His book titled Karakoram: Climbing Through the Kashmir Conflict was published by Mountaineers Books in 2017. 


American Alpine Club award winners will be honored with bespoke, sustainable, custom-made awards by metal artist Lisa Issenberg. Lisa is the owner and founder of the Ridgway, Colorado studio, Kiitellä, named after a Finnish word meaning to "thank, applaud, or praise." Lisa has been providing custom awards for the American Alpine Club since 2013. Kiitellä's process includes a mix of both handcraft and industrial techniques. To learn more, visit kiitella.com


To hear more from these awardees, join us for the 2024 Annual Benefit Gala in Los Angeles, CA, on April 27, 2024.

Transforming the Conditions for the Send

Saturday Session panelists Kareemah Batts, Roshni Brahmbhatt, Lyndon Cudlitz, Ady Wright, and Tommy Caldwell.

The 2023 Annual Benefit Gala

Together we laughed, cried, and celebrated this incredible community.

At this year's AAC Gala, the energy for advocacy was unprecedented. You could feel it in the room, the energy to transform the conditions for the send. At the AAC, we know there are a mess of things impacting the send, not just the weather! Bigger picture—climate change, equitable climbing access and inclusive community, the conservation of public lands, ever evolving climbing management plans, and education for climbers—are all impacting our climbing. At the AAC, we're fighting to transform those conditions in order to protect the heart of climbing—the people and places who make climbing so special. At this year's Gala, the climbing community turned out in force to support and celebrate this transformation.

Climbers near and far came together to celebrate the boldness that is crucial for our climbing endeavors and advocacy. We were joined by Former Vice President Al Gore, the Full Circle Everest Team, and a room full of AAC members, industry leaders, and climbing stars.

Dive deep into an unforgettable night in climbing, below!

Transforming the Conditions for the Send

Mountain Goat Movement

An AAC member gives back to his community after receiving the Live Your Dream Grant.

PC: AAC Member Greg Morrisey

Grassroots: Unearthing the Future of Climbing

By: Sierra McGivney

There is nothing like watching the sunrise over the mountains, the whole world still sleeping. Pinks and deep oranges color the sky. On clear and quiet days, the temperature is coldest near or slightly after sunrise. Warm coffee, hot chocolate, or tea is always welcome during this time. 

After years inside, these moments feel more special. All the lives lost and time stolen because of the pandemic make time spent outside invaluable to begin healing. At Mountain Goat Movement (MGM), explorers and teachers show students moments like these and the value of nature through outdoor adventures. 

Morrisey speaking at the AAC’s Annual Benefit Gala in 2018.

For ten years, Greg Morrisey was a high school teacher at Saint Peter’s Preparatory in Jersey City, NJ. He spent the school year building an outdoor education program and the summer going on expeditions. In 2017 Morrisey won the American Alpine Club’s Live Your Dream Grant and completed an unsupported 1,800-mile cycling trip with one of his fellow teachers. In addition, that expedition raised $40,000 for low-income students to come on trips with Morrisey’s outdoor education program.

“That funded about 15 kids, and it was kind of crazy,” says Morrisey.  

Morrisey was asked to speak at the AAC’s Annual Gala alongside Vanessa O'Brien that year. The grant changed his life. 


In June of 2022, Morrisey quit teaching. He took the model he created at Saint Peter’s Preparatory and turned it into Mountain Goat Movement, a program that reaches out to schools primarily in populated cities or suburban areas in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland, to get students into the outdoors. 

Two MGM participants in the Adirondacks, New York. PC: AAC Member Greg Morrisey

“It's easy in Colorado, Wyoming, and Upstate New York to just walk out your backyard, and go for a beautiful hike, but it's difficult in the greater New York City area so we're trying to rally a community to get in the outdoors and provide resources for anyone and everyone who wants to experience the beauty of nature,” says Morrisey. 

After teaching during COVID-19, Morrisey realized how fractured life was for young people. Students have been on an island these past couple of years and reintegrating into school and society has been a shock to their system. 

Like the true literature teacher he is, Morrisey explains that outdoor adventures are much like the hero’s tale in Western Literature. A young person goes out on an epic quest, leaving their comfort zone, to battle figurative monsters and demons and comes home transformed. Morrisey gives presentations at school about the mental health benefits that can be derived from spending time in nature. He compares it to the hero's journey: Wherever you are, high school or college, you are not that much different than the characters you are reading about. 

A MGM group on the summit of Kilimanjaro.

Unlike Outward Bound or NOLS where participants rarely see their guides again, MGM brings the student’s teachers on the trip. The idea behind MGM is to build connections outdoors and be able to bring that back to the classroom instead of having a one-off trip. In addition, Morrisey hopes that this can also start a conversation about mental health in the classroom and how venturing into the outdoors can benefit mental health for people of all ages. Morrisey goes on every trip to train the student’s teachers with the hope that they can lead their own trips using this model. 

“I think when you're on an expedition or a multi-day experience, and you break bread with people, share tents, hike, and do everything together, it's inevitable that you're going to become close,” says Morrisey. “So taking that experience and then coming back home and building off that is the most beautiful part of all this.”

PC: AAC Member Greg Morrisey

Students who might not have ever talked or met suddenly have bonded with one another and become lifelong friends. 

Last July, Morrisey took a group to Kilimanjaro. His whole group summited and watched the sunrise from the top. Everyone cried. Evidently, the softer moments in the outdoors allow for meaningful relationships to form. 

“It's been a very rewarding process of working with young people in the outdoors and teaching kids how to climb, hike, ski, and get outside,” says Morrisey. 

Participants don’t have to travel out of the country to have these experiences. Mountain Goat Movement offers domestic trips like climbing the Grand Teton or hiking all 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks. They do also offer an extensive amount of international trips to Kilimajaro, Costa Rica, and the Himalayas. 

The name behind MGM is intentional. Mountain goats are always trying to seek higher ground to survive. And just like mountain goats, whenever MGM takes participants outside, they try to achieve something higher within themselves while also respecting and protecting the land they tread on. Movement relates to being present outside, off your phone, and also moving as a community. 

PC: AAC Member Greg Morrisey

The positive effects of this type of program are evident. Morrisey has seen participants who came up through his program become ice climbers, environmental scientists, and AAC members, but most of all more confident explorers and adventurers in the outdoors and in life.  

“[the AAC] has always been super supportive and one of the reasons why we're able to start the foundation was because of the Live Your Dream grant, so I feel like the AAC has just done absolute wonders for a lot of kids in New York City without them actually realizing it,” says Morrisey. 

He is excited to expand and watch MGM grow. John Barnhardt, a filmmaker known for the Amazon Prime TV Show Born to Explore is joining MGM. He will be documenting their experiences on all seven continents for the next year. Morrisey is looking forward to having him join the team and help get the word out. 

PC: AAC Member Greg Morrisey

Just like mountain goats, we too can learn and adapt to our environment, mentally and physically. Movement in the outdoors has immense benefits. If you want to get involved or go on a trip with MGM visit their website here.