The volunteer trail crew.

The AAC’s Sierra Nevada Section hosted its annual Fall Highball on the East Side over the weekend of November 7-8, and it was a rockin’ good time. A collaboration between the AAC, Friends of the Inyo, the Access Fund, the Eastern Sierra Cimbers’ Coalition, and local land managers from Inyo National Forest, the weekend kicked off with a morning of volunteer work at Peabody Boulders in the Buttermilks. With coffee and breakfast (provided by the Access Fund) to fuel them, volunteers spent a few hours cleaning up trash and protecting vegetation and habitat. “They kicked ass,” said Doug Robinson of the team of 70 volunteers.

On Saturday evening, Robinson gave a slide show to an SRO crowd of about 150, connecting the early days of bouldering on the East Side to modern alpinism in the Sierra. A silent auction and raffle raised more than $2,700 toward the effort to construct a permanent toilet in Buttermilk Country.

Doug Robinson, left, and Fred Glover, one of the organizers of the Fall Highball.

After a Sunday-morning informal coffee with local climbers and federal land managers back at the Peabody Boulders, the crowd spread out for a great day on the rock in perfect weather. Huge kudos to AAC member Darren Malloy of Friends of Inyo, whose efforts were vital to this event’s success. You can see a few more photos from the event at the Sierra Nevada Section’s web page.