When Ted Eliason fell on Longs Peak’s classic Kieners Route last August, he and his then-fiancée, Kendra Thompson-Eliason (the two have since married), weren’t sure how they were going to pay for his helicopter evacuation, which totaled around $17,000. Fortunately, the Eliasons had become AAC members in March 2011—they wanted … Read more…
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…
The American Alpine Club has over 9,000 members worldwide and each of those members approaches climbing and time in the outdoors differently. For some it’s a career, for some a diversion, for others, an obsession. The Club’s membership spans boulderers, sport-climbers, hikers, skiers, trad-rats, scientists, big-wall aficionados, adventurers, ice-climbers, peak-baggers, … Read more…
Kyle Dempster. The 2012 Robert Hicks Bates Award goes to 28 year old Kyle Dempster of Salt Lake City. He practices every discipline in climbing, from big alpine routes in the Himalaya, to single pushes on El Cap, to big wall climbing on Baffin Island, to bouldering. He is best … Read more…
The American Alpine Club has over 9,000 members worldwide and each of those members approaches climbing and time in the outdoors differently. For some it’s a career, for some a diversion, for others, an obsession. The Club’s membership spans boulderers, sport-climbers, hikers, skiers, trad-rats, scientists, big-wall aficionados, adventurers, ice-climbers, peak-baggers, … Read more…
The American Alpine Club has over 9,000 members worldwide and each of those members approaches climbing and time in the outdoors differently. For some it’s a career, for some a diversion, for others, an obsession. The Club’s membership spans boulderers, sport-climbers, hikers, skiers, trad-rats, scientists, big-wall aficionados, adventurers, ice-climbers, peak-baggers, … Read more…
Longtime AAC Member and multiple Research Grant awardee Jon Kedrowski spoke with us about alpine research in the American West, what climbing goals mean to him, and his most recent project—bivying on the summit of each of Colorado’s 14,000′ peaks over the span of 95 days. Patience is truly a … Read more…
The American Alpine Club’s BMC Winter Meet Selection Committee selected its delegates for the upcoming Winter Meet and it must be said that it was difficult. The last meet—the BMC’s Summer Meet in Wales—was an easy choice, as only a couple of people applied (by the way, thanks Jay Hack, … Read more…
AAC Member David Falt and his partner Helen Manancourt recently completed a bold repeat of the Swiss Route on Cima Ovest. This peak, part of the Tre Cime trio, features a handful of routes up its north face. David and Helen climbed until dark, and then spent an unplanned bivy … 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…
Last week we posted some snippets from Steve Swenson’s blog posts on the first ascent of Saser Kangri II. The team consisted of Swenson (the current AAC President), past club President Mark Richey, and renowned alpine climber Freddie Wilkinson. Mark recently provided the AAC a full write-up, complete with pictures! … Read more…
AAC President Steve Swenson was evacuated from Advanced Base Camp after difficulty breathing. He has recovered quickly and completely and sent us a number of reports on his, Mark Richey’s, and Freddie Wilkinson’s successful ascent of Saser Kangri II. We’ve reposted parts of these reports here. After I had a … Read more…
AAC President Steve Swenson was evacuated from Advanced Base Camp after difficulty breathing. He has recovered quickly and completely and sent us a number of reports on his, Mark Richey’s, and Freddie Wilkinson’s successful ascent of Saser Kangri II. We’ve reposted parts of these reports here. August 24. We only … Read more…
AAC President Steve Swenson was evacuated from Advanced Base Camp after difficulty breathing. He has recovered quickly and completely and sent us a number of reports on his, Mark Richey’s, and Freddie Wilkinson’s successful ascent of Saser Kangri II. We’ve reposted parts of these reports here. On the morning of … Read more…
AAC President Steve Swenson was evacuated from Advanced Base Camp after difficulty breathing. He has recovered quickly and completely and sent us a number of reports on his, Mark Richey’s, and Freddie Wilkinson’s successful ascent of Saser Kangri II. We’ve reposted parts of these reports here. We knew that achieving our goals on … Read more…
AAC President Steve Swenson was evacuated from Advanced Base Camp after difficulty breathing. He has recovered quickly and completely and sent us a number of reports on his, Mark Richey’s, and Freddie Wilkinson’s successful ascent of Saser Kangri II. We’ve reposted parts of these reports here. I was uncertain still … Read more…
This project, created by AAC Northeast Regional Coordinator Sarah Garlick, tells the story of her 2010 expedition to southern Greenland, where she and teammates Jim Surette, Danika Gilbert, and Dave Nettle established a new route on a remote, 600-meter granite wall. Reflections of Greenland is supported in part by the … Read more…
The American Alpine Club Awarded Hayden Kennedy a Mountain Fellowship Grant last fall. This is his account of his trip to Nepal. Thanks Hayden! A lot of people ask me why I go alpine climbing. All you do is suffer, get scared, get cold, get sick, and most of the … Read more…
Here is a blog post by AAC member Andrew Szalay from his site, The Suburban Mountaineer. Andrew started climbing in 1991. Regrettably, he was stuck in Peaklessburg while writing this post. Day dreaming of alpine mountains that are rarely seen and trampled by Westerners can be difficult these days. The … Read more…
Thanks to American Alpine Club President Steve Swenson for this latest post. It is a re-post from his own blog, steveswensonsblog.blogspot.com. Welcome back to my blog after a period of inactivity. I’m going to get back into it with some stories of my latest alpine adventure – our second attempt to … Read more…
The 2011 International Climbers’ Meet is seeking applicants for the September event. This is a repost from the British Mountaineering Council website. Recently, the American Alpine Club posted a report from Member Jay Hack about his trip to Wales for the BMC Summer Meet. The American Alpine Club held their … Read more…
The American Alpine Club loves to provide all kinds of opportunities to its members. Jay took off to Wales last month for the British Mountaineering Council’s Summer Meet, after being selected from a number of applicants. See more of Jay’s Photos on the Great Lakes Section site. Abseiling, kits, tie-offs, … Read more…
As mentioned last week on Inclined, Club members are off to Iran this week to climb with the Alpine Club of Iran. Team member Mary Ann Dornfeld shared her thoughts on the exchange with us just before leaving. We wish Mary and all the other team members the best of … Read more…
Last week we introduced American Alpine Club member Erden Eruç, who is traveling the globe via human powered circumnavigation. His “Six Summits Expedition” will bring him to the highest peaks in six continents and allow him to help impoverished communities along the way. Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator Eddie Espinosa will be … Read more…