Member and climber scientist John All wrote to us about an upcoming Peruvian expedition. The AAC is supporting a humanitarian expedition to Peru this summer that combines mountain conservation with science objectives to help protect the peaks that we all love. A small team of sixteen researchers, university students, and … Read more…
Today, The American Alpine Club announces that the application deadline for the prestigious Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge Award has been moved up one month. The new deadline is December 1, 2011. The Lyman Spitzer program promotes state-of-the-art, cutting-edge climbing through financial support of small, lightweight climbing teams attempting bold first … Read more…
The 2011 Copp-Dash Inspire Award, presented to 5 teams this year, allowed the completion of a stunning new route on the Burkett Needle in southeast Alaska. The Copp-Dash Award was established in 2009 to honor Jonny Copp and Micah Dash, two top-notch alpinists that were killed while pursuing a new … Read more…
Allen Higgenbotham traveled to Nepal to remove waste from Ama Dablam Basecamp. Below is his report on that expedition. He received a Scott Fisher Conservation Grant from the AAC for this trip. Learn more on our Grants page. Arriving in Katmandu for your first time I had an overwhelming feeling … Read more…
—Congratulations to 2011 Nikwax Alpine Bellwether Grant Winners— Nikwax and The American Alpine Club are proud to announce the winners of the 2011 Nikwax Alpine Bellwether Grant (NABG). The NABG winners this year plan environmental research expeditions on Denali’s West Buttress and on Glaciers near Santiago, Chile. The key objectives … Read more…
—Congratulations to 2011 Zach Martin Breaking Barriers Grant Winner: Asa Firestone— The American Alpine Club and the Zack Martin Breaking Barriers (ZMBB) committee are pleased to announce the 2011 ZMBB grant recipient, Asa Firestone. Asa and his team will work with CER “Centro da Escalada da Rocinha”—a community center in one of … Read more…
Greg Sievers—AAC Central Rockies Section Chair from 1997 to 2007—was awarded the 2010 Conservation Award by the Access Fund and CLIF Bar. This award honors Sievers’ long-standing leadership in organizing the Annual Lumpy Trails Day, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary. This year, Lumpy Trails Day produced 60 volunteers, 413 … Read more…
The American Alpine Club grants program provides resources for climbers and explorers to attempt new challenges, establish humanitarian programs, protect alpine environments, conduct scientific research, and push the envelope of human accomplishment in mountain and polar environments. The AAC awards over $50,000 annually, although the size and number of awards … Read more…
2011 McNeill-Nott Award Winners Announced: Golden, CO—The American Alpine Club is proud to announce this year’s McNeill-Nott Award recipients. With the untimely death of Sue Nott and her partner Karen McNeill on Mt. Foraker in 2006, the AAC and Mountain Hardwear decided to establish the McNeill-Nott Award in their memory. … Read more…
—2011 Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge Award Winners Announced— Golden, CO—The American Alpine Club is proud to announce this year’s Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge Award recipients. Through the generous contribution of Lyman Spitzer, Jr.—longtime Club member and lover of the mountains—the AAC initiated the Lyman Spitzer Climbing Grants Program. The program … Read more…
The American Alpine Club (AAC) is proud to announce this year’s Award recipients. Every year, during the Annual Benefit Dinner, the AAC awards outstanding achievements in conservation, climbing, and service to the climbing community. This year, five climbing greats, ages spanning from 20 to almost 90, will receive awards: Fred … Read more…
Cordillera Blanca 2011 Environmental Expedition (CBEE 2011) June 26, 2011 through the week of July 24, 2011. In June and July 2011, the Deep South Section of The American Alpine Club is spearheading an environmental mountaineering expedition to Peru’s highest mountain range. The Cordillera Blanca contains the highest concentration of mountains … Read more…
In 2010, longtime Club member Freddie Wilkinson was awarded the Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge Award, a program that supports climbing by small, lightweight teams attempting bold first ascents or difficult repeats of the most challenging routes in the world’s great mountain ranges. Below is his report on an attempt to put … Read more…
The American Alpine Club’s Mountain Fellowship Committee recently announced eight selections for Fall 2010. The biannual award, begun in 1966, encourages climbers under the age of 25 to explore uncharted territory; award winners usually target unfrequented ranges, unclimbed peaks, or difficult new routes. While grants are not large enough to … Read more…
Get your friends together. Explore. Adventure. The AAC awards more than $50,000 every year for projects ranging from worldwide exploration to local conservation. The grants support community members of all kinds: amateur rockclimbers, seasoned alpinists, and even academic researchers. The application deadline for two of the AAC’s more prominent grants, … Read more…
Prolific Alaskan and Himalayan first ascensionist, guidebook author and AAC member Joe Puryear died October 27 while climbing Labuche Kang (7367m) in Tibet. He and partner David Gottlieb were ascending a ridge when a cornice collapsed under Joe, and he fell to his death (further information in our October 28, … Read more…
We are saddened to report this morning of the death of a member and former AAC grant recipient, Joe Puryear. Joe was killed while climbing Labuche Kang (7367m) in Tibet. The preliminary report can be found on Alpinist.com. Our thoughts are with Joe’s wife, family and friends. Details of the … Read more…
The Zack Martin Breaking Barriers grant committee has announced the 2010 recipient of this major AAC grant: Jonathan Mingle from Vermont will travel to Zanskar, India, next winter with dual humanitarian and ski mountaineering objectives. Mingle and his partners will trek into the mountains on the frozen Zanskar River and … Read more…
The AAC has announced its spring round of Mountain Fellowships for young climbers: nine grants totaling $5,300, for expeditions from Canada to Patagonia. The recipients: • Jacob Anderson (24) and Bruce Mullen (24), $500 each to attempt a traverse of the Torres del Paine. • Josh Garrison (25), $700 from … Read more…
Nikwax and the AAC have announced the 2010 recipients of the Nikwax Alpine Bellwether Grant, along with an increase in funding for the grant program. The Nikwax Alpine Bellwether Grants, launched in 2009, support the study of climate change in alpine environments by active climber-scientists. In 2010, the grant pool … Read more…
Seven teams planning expeditions from Alaska to Pakistan have been chosen to receive the inaugural Copp-Dash Inspire Awards. The new climbing grant program was established in memory of American climbers Jonny Copp and Micah Dash, who were killed in an avalanche in China in May 2009 along with filmmaker Wade … Read more…
Kyle Dempster, winner of a Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge Award from the AAC, has earned a Piolet d’Or with teammates Jed Brown and Bruce Normand for their first ascent of the north face of Xuelian West in China. The American-Scottish team was one of two recipients of 2010 Piolets d’Or; … Read more…
AAC member and Mountain Fellowship recipient Walker Mackey reports on his alpine-style ascent of the Kearney-Knight Route (850m, 5.10 A3) on the Central Tower of Paine in February 2010, possibly only the second ascent of this route. Mackey has now climbed all three of the Torres del Paine. I had … Read more…
David Brower was an AAC member and vice president. An active alpinist and a member of the 10th Mountain Division, he had over 70 first ascents. Today Brower is best known as an activist and conservationist who pushed the envelope with the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, and other organizations … Read more…
Want to climb in Alaska? Argentina? Africa? If you’re 25 or younger, the AAC’s Mountain Fellowship grants can help you attempt the climbs of your dreams. Mountain Fellowships are awarded twice each year, and the next deadline is coming up fast: April 1. Recent Mountain Fellowship winners have climbed new … Read more…