The American Alpine Club Announces 2025 McNeill-Nott Winners

March 2025

The American Alpine Club (AAC) and Mountain Hardwear are excited to announce the 2025 McNeill-Nott recipients. With the untimely death of Sue Nott and her climbing partner Karen McNeill on Sultana (Mt. Foraker) in 2006, the AAC partnered with Mountain Hardwear to establish the McNeill-Nott Award in their memory. This award seeks to preserve the spirit of these two talented and courageous climbers by giving grants to amateur female climbers exploring new routes or unclimbed peaks with small teams.

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Heather Smallpage

Heather Smallpage will receive $2,000 to attempt big wall and alpine-style first ascents in a little-climbed region of Baffin Island: Arviqtujuq Kangiqtua (formerly Eglinton Fjord). Natalie Afonina, Shira Biner, Char Tomlinson, and Kaylan Worsnop will all join the expedition, which will be almost entirely human-powered. The expedition team will travel over 250 km by skiing, climbing, packrafting, and walking. The team hopes that this expedition will not only inspire people to see what is possible for female and nonbinary alpinism but also emphasize how increasingly essential and joyous these spaces are in this sport and will tell a story that includes voices that are often quieted or left out of the climbing media.

Char Tomlinson

Shira Biner

Natalie Afonina

Kaylan Worsnop

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Allie Oaks (left) and Angela VanWiemeersch (right).

Angela VanWiemeersch will receive $4,000 to attempt to establish a technical line in alpine style on a 5,000-meter peak in the Pamir Alai mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Allie Oaks will join VanWiemeersch on this expedition. Oaks and VanWiemeersch have been growing a long-distance partnership over the last four years and will be doing a training trip in the Canadian Rockies this April. This will be their first big expedition together. 

PC: Robert Taylor

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Brooke Maushund will receive $1,000 to attempt to climb and ski unclimbed peaks on the Southern Patagonian Icefield (Hielo Continental) with a primarily female team. Since avalanche forecasting in the U.S. during austral summers, Maushund was driven to extend her winters in the Southern Hemisphere. After spending close to four months skiing in Patagonia last year, starting to learn terrain, snowpacks, and weather patterns, she is excited to continue learning through exploratory skiing in this dynamic, wild environment. 

Brooke skiing outside of El Chaltén, Argentina.

Brooke enjoying the full experience of the mountains near the Cerro Chaltén Massif, Argentina. PC: Matthew Tufts

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Applications for the McNeill-Nott Award are accepted each year from October 1 through November 30.

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Contact:

Berkeley Anderson, Foundation and Grants Coordinator: [email protected]

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About Mountain Hardwear

Mountain Hardwear, Inc., was founded in 1993 and is based in Richmond, CA. We exist to encourage and equip people to seek a wilder path in life. For 30 years, we’ve built essential equipment for climbers, mountaineers, and outdoor athletes and have supported expeditions on the world’s highest peaks. Relentless precision continues to inspire everything we do — our designers sweat every stitch and detail to continuously improve function, durability, and comfort. Mountain Hardwear is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Columbia Sportswear Company that distributes its products through specialty outdoor retailers in the United States and 34 countries worldwide. www.mountainhardwear.com

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Measuring Success in the Mountains

PC: Lindsey Hamm

A Story from the Cutting Edge Grant and the McNeill-Nott Award

By: Sierra McGivney

In July of 2023, Lindsey Hamm, Rhiannon Williams, Stephanie Williams, and Thomas Bukowski traveled to the Charakusa Valley in the Karakoram to attempt routes on Naisa Brakk (~5,200m) and Farhod Brakk (~5,300m). To attempt these objectives, Hamm received the American Alpine Club's McNeill-Nott Award and $6,000 from the Cutting Edge Grant. This was Hamm’s second trip to the Charakusa Valley. In 2022, she, Dakota Walz, and Lane Mathis established a first ascent on a formation between Spansar Brakk and Naisa Brakk (which they named Ishaq Brakk): Pull Down the Sky (15 pitches, 5.11 R). In 2023, she defined success a little differently. 

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“I think there were a lot of lessons learned,” remarked Lindsey Hamm from a coffee shop in Moab. She's been enjoying climbing in the desert; today is her rest day. 

She had returned from the Charakusa Valley a couple of months ago without accomplishing the FAs she had dreamed up. This year, her crew went in with two objectives, and they split up in two teams to make their respective attempts. But ultimately, the weather was against them, and it rained 22 of the 30 days they were in the valley. 

PC: Lindsey Hamm

The team desperately wanted to climb, but the weather was a big factor. When they did attempt a line, they would climb for an hour, bivy, wait out the rain, and then climb. They were in this constant mode of stop-and-go that was not sustainable. 

Hamm and Bukowski attempted a route on the Northeast Spur on Farhod Brakk. They were shut down due to objective hazard and need for potable water. The two had only planned for two or three days and ended up being out for about four days. Then bad weather moved in.

“I think it was a bad season for rock climbing,” said Hamm.

This was another lesson learned: Big-wall climbing is better later in the season. She chose to go in July because she wanted to attempt both alpine and rock objectives. The environment is so different from one peak to the next that you could attempt both alpine and rock objectives during this time of the year. 

PC: Lindsey Hamm

“I'm really learning the place,” said Hamm. Hamm is an AMGA Cer­ti­fied Rock and Alpine Guide, and an Appren­tice Ski Guide, but she believes there is always more to learn, especially in alpinism. 

In addition, Hamm and another teammate dealt with altitude sickness. This was something new for Hamm. She had never experienced it to the extent she did on this trip. On one of the climbs, she was breathing heavily. She had to take a moment to feel everything and then “get her shit together.” According to Hamm, her group’s effort to help each other out when they were sick was a highlight of their climbing. 

Hamm’s team wasn't the only group stifled by the rain. Base camp, which sits at 14,321 feet, became a hub of climbers waiting for good weather windows. Groups played volleyball together, hosted movie nights, and played Settlers of Catan. Hamm was very social; she went to other campsites, hung out with different people, and got to know everyone. She read, worked out, and cooked with the porters. 

Hamm took it in stride—the trip wasn't a negative experience; things just weren't aligning. With each passing season, she is becoming more and more dialed. Last year, Hamm and Dakota Walz started a line, but they didn’t get to finish putting it up or cleaning it—they only completed one pitch. This year, Hamm got back on that first pitch with S. Williams, R. Williams, and Bukowski, and climbed five more pitches to link into the Southwest Ridge, first put up by Steve House, Marko Prezelj, and Vince Anderson in the early 2000. Their “sit-start” to the Southwest Ridge is called Stop Talking (six pitches, 5.12-). Their plan was to link into the Southwest Ridge and then break off into the west face and put up a new route, but once again, rain and thunder turned them around. Later, S. Williams and R. Williams attempted Stop Talking ground up, but were again foiled by rain.

On expeditions, climbing isn't the only focus for Hamm. She believes in having a positive impact on the local community. The team brought over school supplies for the Hushe Valley, which they distributed among three schools in the area. In addition, Hamm set up a GoFundMe that goes towards the Iqra Fund, which helps Pakistani women achieve their master’s degrees. Hamm and the team met some of the women who benefited from the fund. The team got to see their faces, hear their voices, and see how they lived. Facilitating and helping with these women’s education meant so much to Hamm. 

“I think one of the biggest highlights was meeting those women,” said Hamm.  

PC: Lindsey Hamm

She got to see many of the same porters and guides she worked with last year. They were as happy to see her as she was to see them. Despite the language barrier, the experience was like reuniting with old friends. She gave away a lot of her Rab equipment, including sleeping bags, to her porters and guides. It’s important for her to give back to the community that is helping her achieve her goals in the mountains. 

“It [provided] so much validation about how much of the connection I built with people,” said Hamm. 

Since returning to the United States, Hamm has been looking toward the future, analyzing what she can do better next time.

“I'm going back next summer,” said Hamm, with a big smile on her face. “I already told Jack Tackle.” Tackle chairs the AAC’s Cutting Edge Grant committee, which decides the fate of grant applications.

She will train hard and try her best to get funding without forcing anything. She has 170 lbs. of stashed gear waiting for her return. She's definitely going back. Right now, she is focusing on the next couple of months. Hamm is going through the IFMGA guide certification process—this season, she will take her final exam. She’s still processing this summer’s trip and reflecting on what she can do better next time. Most importantly, she’s living for today.

A Second Chance: A Story from the McNeill Nott Award

"We established a camp at 4600m and decided our best ascent option would be to use a gully on the west side of the peak to gain access to the south ridge. Leaving camp at 3 am, the gully proved to be reasonably pleasant second and easy third-class terrain. Unfortunately, by the time we reached the base of the south ridge at 9 am, a storm had moved in.

Not having access to weather forecasts at base camp, we were limited to a forecast we had received just before leaving the village several days ago, thanks to a cell phone tower constructed there two years ago. Based on that, clear skies were expected for the next two days, so we decided to dig in under a boulder and see what happened.”

Tess Smith and Alan Goldbetter set out to summit Mount Starikatchan, an unclimbed peak in India in 2022 after attempting it in 2019. Smith received the McNeill Nott award, this past year, helping to make their trip possible. Immerse yourself in Smith’s trip report and these stunning photos of India’s Zanskar Range.

Together We Expand: A Story from the McNeill-Nott Grant

Jewell Lund and Chantel Astorga are known for their impressive ascent of the Denali Diamond (7,800’, WI5+ 5.9 A3 or M6 A1/ M7) on the southwest face of Denali in 2015. According to the AAJ, this was the seventh reported ascent of the route and the first time it had been climbed by an all-female team.

A look into the vault of AAC-grant-funded trip reports reveals that Jewell and Chantel’s partnership was truly cemented in 2014, a year prior to the Denali Diamond, thanks to the AAC’s McNeill-Nott Award and their ascent of Polarchrome (5.7 A1) on Mt. Huntington in the Alaska Range.

This is the story of their Polarchrome adventure.

*This story is best told with the help of vibrant and dynamic photography. Dive into this Spark Exhibit to see these photos come alive alongside this story.

Congrats to our 2019 McNeill-Nott Award Winners!

Rebecca Ross. Photo courtesy Rebecca Ross.

Lindsey Hamm. Photo by Dan Gambino.

Congratulations to our 2019 McNeill-Nott awardees, Rebecca Ross and Lindsey Hamm! This grant, supported by Mountain Hardwear, honors Sue Nott and her partner Karen McNeill by funding amateur climbers exploring new routes or unclimbed peaks with small and lightweight teams.

Rebecca and her team plan to summit the three highest peaks in Mongolia, located specifically in the Mongol Altai Range, including Khuiten Peak (4,374m). the highest point in Mongolia. The Altai Tavan Bogd National Park, where these three peaks are accessed, is pristine with a variety of interesting flora and fauna. Rebecca chose these particular peaks because of its remoteness, untouched beauty, and strong cultural presence with the Mongolian Nomadic Eagle Hunters.

Lindsey and her team will travel to Zanskar, India in search of big wall style climbing and maybe some mixed climbing routes. Last year, weather prevented her from completing her full objective in the region, and she remains amped to explore and learn even more about the local, culture, community, and climbing opportunities.

Inspired? Find out more about our grants.

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