I recently had the chance to spend the day with guidebook author and climbing pioneer Armando Menocal. As a founding member of the Access Fund and climbing guide, Armando has climbed all over the world and has been deeply involved in the climbing community for decades. He stopped by the … Read more…
AH McCarthy leading on Mt. Naiset, 1920s Originally uploaded by American Alpine Club Photo Library We’ve got about 4,000 Lantern Slides from the 1890s to the 1950s and volunteer Adam McFarren has been scanning them. He’s up to about 400, so it should take him another few years, which is … Read more…
Today, in 1838, Scottish-American Conservationist—and Past AAC President—John Muir was born. As Muir’s biographer Steven J. Holmes puts it, Muir was “one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity.” Muir was integral in the preservation of one of our most storied and iconic National Parks, Yosemite. He founded … Read more…
So, we had NaNoWriMo in November, and now it’s National Poetry Month, with lots of different ways to participate. Mountain Poems. Climbing Poems. Odes to Fear and the joy of being up high. I found a grand total of 47 books about poetry by searching our library catalog. Have any of you … Read more…
—An unguided tour through the AAC’s Himalayan Library— Longtime AAC member and 1983 Everest Expedition Team Member John M. Boyle is fascinated by mountains, the men and women who devote themselves to scaling them, and the significant literary contributions they have made. He has spent years collecting books, autographs, maps, photographs, … Read more…
“The Ascent of Mount St. Elias (Alaska)”, by HRH Prince Luigi Amedeo di Savoia, Duke of the Abruzzi. Narrated by Filippo de Filippi. Illustrated by Vittorio Sella and translated by Signora Linda Villari with the Author’s Supervision. Westminster, Archibald Constable and Co., 1900. Butler and Tanner, The Selwood Printing … Read more…
—An unguided tour through the Himalayan Library— John M. Boyle The Himalyan Region stretches 1,500 miles across Asia, containing 15,000 glaciers, the source of many of the world’s major rivers, and is the home of the 14 8,000 meter peaks—as well as hundreds of peaks above 5,000 meters—many as yet unclimbed. With … Read more…
In July 2009, Clayton Laramie gave a presentation at the Mountaineering Museum’s sPeaker Series about his expedition to Cochamo, Chile. Clayton and friends set off to establish a new route at El Monstruo but circumstances led them to the Cirque of La Paloma, on Pared de las Profetas, the first … Read more…
Coming to a theater near you this August, THE WILDEST DREAM: CONQUEST OF EVEREST is a documentary by National Geographic that tells the story of Conrad Anker’s dramatic discovery of the body of George Mallory in 1999. Accompany Conrad (AAC board member) as he recreates the 1924 ascent of Mallory … Read more…
“This method of approaching McKinley directly from the south is so continually steep and difficult, and so exposed to the full force of the southwesterly storms that none but the most uniformly experienced and powerful team of climbers should even think of attempting it. But I mention it here in … Read more…
Twenty years ago today, the American Everest-Lhotse expedition team, led by AAC Past President Glenn Porzak, stood on the summit of Mt. Everest. Shut down by weather in both 1981 and 1989, this was Glenn’s third and successful attempt. He and team members gathered last night at AAC HQ in … Read more…
One of the many things that makes the AAC Library special are the unique archives and personal papers donated by our members. The library is much obliged to Bob and Jenny French for the donation of slides and supporting documents about his pioneering trip and for their hard work in … Read more…
A lot of different kinds of research happens in the AAC Library: short trips and expeditions, historic research to support books and articles, school projects, graduate studies…we get all kinds of requests for information and do our best to help. Recently, volunteer Adam McFarren has been working to find resources … Read more…
Bradford Washburn will be inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame on February 25. Washburn, who died in 2007 at the age of 96, was the pioneering mountaineer, photographer, mapmaker, and museum director for whom the American Mountaineering Museum in Colorado is named. During his many expeditions to Alaska, … Read more…
Japanese explorer and AAC Honorary Member Tamotsu Nakamura and companions have just returned from an extraordinary photographic expedition to the Nyainqentanglha East and Kangri Garpo regions of eastern Tibet. Starting from the town of Qamdo, the team covered 4,800 kilometers in a vast counterclockwise loop over five weeks in October … Read more…
Just wanted to remind everyone that the library has what you need to plan your trip over turkey day. Search the library catalog or give us an email or phone call to pick up or mail order your books now! We’ll be closed on November 26th, 27th and 28th. Hmmm … Read more…
THIN AIR: An Exhibit on Altitude and Oxygen November 2009 – May 2010 Official Opening Reception December 3rd, 2010 6:00 Reception 7:00 Mallory Expedition presentation by Jake Norton $3 CMC/AAC members, $5 non-members, Free to Friends of the Museum and AAC Library RSVP here. MOUNTAINEERING takes grit. It takes tenacity. … Read more…
The library will be open today with regular hours, noon to 5pm. Don’t forget to check out our Skiing DVDs! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca1CyxpkKS4] av F 912 .M2 W47 Wilcox, Rick. West buttress, Mt. McKinley ski ascent. [United States]: Rick Wilcox, [199u]. av GV 706.4 .K56 1992 Strassman, Michael A. Know limits : … Read more…
We’re busy getting ready for the next exhibit at the Mountaineering Museum – Thin Air: An Exhibit on Altitude and Oxygen, November 3-May30, 2009. “Getting ready” means combing through the library and archives looking for supporting material and images. Here is one treasure from the John M. Boyle Himalayan Library: … Read more…
In 1961, after the historic first ascent of the striking rib splitting Denali’s south face, perhaps America’s finest alpine climb, the Italian expedition led by Riccardo Cassin sent an album of photos to Bradford Washburn, who had helped the climbers plot their route with his super-detailed aerial photos. Washburn, in … Read more…
A presentation by Astronaut John Grunsfeld, “The Hubble Repairman” September 30, 2009 American Mountaineering Center 710 10th Street, Golden, CO VIP Reception: 6:00pm-7:15pm $35 for AAC/CMC members and Friends of the Library/Museum $50 for non-members Includes admission to the presentation, appetizers and drinks RSVP by September 25 to Dana Richardson … Read more…
A Presentation by Astronaut John Grunsfeld, “The Hubble Repairman” September 30, 2009 American Mountaineering Center 710 10th Street, Golden, CO VIP Reception: 6:00pm-7:15pm $35 for AAC members and Friends of the Library/Museum $50 for non-members Includes admission to the presentation, appetizers and drinks RSVP by September 25 to Dana Richardson … Read more…
Photographer and AAC member Jody Langford has created a wonderful online gallery of historical Teton photos of and by his father, Jim Langford, a climbing ranger in Grand Teton National Park during the 1950s. John Gill, the famed boulderer who frequently climbed in the Tetons at the time, wrote of … Read more…
Georgia” David Michael, Henry Skagway Pinkham in front of Mt. St. Elias Originally uploaded by American Alpine Club Photo Library The AAC has a paintings collection, and, for the past year, we’ve been working on gathering information about some of them. When Dee Molenaar was in Golden for the 2008 … Read more…
