By Tom Prigg Meet Barry Rusnock, the new Co-Chair of the AAC’s Mid-Atlantic Section. Barry, from Hackettstown, New Jersey, has been a climber since the 1970s. He prefers alpine climbing, multi-pitch trad, and ice. He was introduced to the American Alpine Club a few decades ago via Accidents in … Read more…
Connecticut boulderer Gary Sorcher was awarded a Live Your Dream grant to help cover his travel costs to Hueco Tanks this past winter so he could work on his dream project: Baby Face (V7). Below is Gary’s report from the field. When I found out that I had … Read more…
Steve Schwartz is president of Chockstone Pictures, a production company he started with his wife, Paula Mae. He is a producer on such films as Killing Them Softly starring Brad Pitt; Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen; and the upcoming Ridley Scott film, The Counselor. Steve served as a … Read more…
The sold-out 2013 Annual Mountaineering Gala was an unforgettable evening hosted by the American Mountaineering Museum and Eddie Bauer First Ascent. The event began with a reception in the American Mountaineering Museum, where guests were surrounded in mountaineering history and lore. There’s no doubt that the Everest Exhibit (sponsored by … Read more…
by Erin DeMarco, AAC Conservation and Advocacy Intern If you’re looking for inspiration, look no further. Ellen Lapham sets the bar high and she loves sharing the view with anyone who can keep up. From broadening awareness of the importance of alpine conservation to pioneering high tech solutions and leading … Read more…
by Erin DeMarco, AAC Conservation and Advocacy Intern Rumbling Bald, a mountain in Western North Carolina’s Hickory Nut Gorge area has something for every type of climber, but its clusters of metamorphic gneiss boulders, some of them over 30 feet tall, have drawn more and more boulderers to the area in … Read more…
By Asa Firestone, AAC As I jump onto the back of Andrew Lenz’s motorcycle, the Rio de Janeiro traffic morphs from a mechanism of stress and tried patience into an exhilarating game of life and death. He weaves in and out of the anti-lanes that compose Rio’s hectic transit to … Read more…
By Jordan Campbell, AAC Flying over South Sudan’s vast and desolate landscape, brush fires blaze thousands of feet below us, wafting smoke over the wings of our eight-person aircraft. The fires are lit intentionally by indigenous tribes to fertilize the parched, unforgiving soil. But the sight of smoke plumes rising … Read more…
By Front Range Member Melissa Alcorn The first phase of the cultural exchange between the AAC and the Alpine Club of Iran had highlighted rock climbing and hiking at Rocky Mountain National Park with operations based out of the hostel at the Colorado Mountain School in Estes Park. The bunk … Read more…
Alaska Section Co-Chair Cindi Squire wrote to us about her experiences climbing in Alaska. From the belay, I smile and look back over my shoulder at the immense, sweeping view of the mountains around me. It is amazing to think that some people never get to see this view or … Read more…
Mount Everest isn’t supposed to be a difficult mountain to climb. “Climbing” is often not even used to describe the act of reaching the summit of the world’s tallest peak. “It’s just walking. It’s not hard.” was something I’d often heard through the years. Growing up in the climbing community … Read more…
After just five days, the women participating in the American Alpine Club and Iranian Alpine Club Climber Exchange Program have already accomplished a lot of climbing and significant bonding as women with a common passion for the mountains and mountain sports. After spending a day getting acquainted in the Boulder … Read more…
Like tiny bees swarming a honeycomb, Boulder’s Team ABC has been attacking local and national competitions and world class climbing areas with frightening strength, intuitive movement and absolute enjoyment. Their queen bee, the renowned climber Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou has fine-tuned her methods over two decades and developed a complex curriculum that’s … Read more…
The “Live Your Dream” Climbing Grants are developed and administered locally with community support—each Region of the American Alpine Club has it’s own grant program. In the Northeast Region, the “Live Your Dream” Climbing Grant seeks to support climbers from a range of ages and experience levels, as well as a … Read more…
Congratulations to our grant-winning teams from the Southeast Region! The five teams from the Southeast Region plan trips to California, the Tetons, Smith Rock, New Hampshire, West Virginia, and Kentucky with goals of testing themselves on classic routes, climbing alpine rock with family members, and reconnecting with friends over classic Sierra … Read more…
Congratulations to our Rockies Region Live Your Dream Grant Winners! The five grant winning teams from the Rockies Region plan trips to Africa, British Columbia, Patagonia, and Italy with goals of tackling difficult alpine rock climbs and hard Euro sport-climbs. Rockies Regional Coordinator Jenn Flemming said, “This award was incredibly fulfilling to … Read more…
Climbing rocks is a bizarre and obscure passion. We fall in love with a piece of stone, suffer incredible physical pain and psychological torment, and risk our hearts and lives for the beauty and purity of the rock, the environment, the moment, and ourselves. It’s not an easy task to … Read more…
The “Live Your Dream” Climbing Grants are developed and administered locally with community support—each Region of the American Alpine Club has it’s own grant program. In the Northeast Region, the “Live Your Dream” Climbing Grant seeks to support climbers from a range of ages and experience levels, as well as a … Read more…
Author Olivia Hsu-Richards—AAC Member and Yoga Journal cover-girl—lives, climbs and teaches yoga in Boulder, CO. The wind picks up making it even harder to breathe as I come over the last pass. I can see the tent village, which will act as my home for a week. I have arrived … Read more…
AAC member Ross Trainor sent us this post about his recent bear and mosquito-plagued climbing and canoeing trip in Alaska. It was curiosity that brought me into commercial fishing. Curiosity got me to Alaska, and it again made me want to venture up the Naknek River and lake to the … Read more…