The Nepalese government has announced lower mountaineering peak fees for the fall and winter climbing seasons. The royalties for all climbs in the fall season average 50 percent lower than in the spring, and in winter they are 75 percent lower. In addition, according to Ang Tshering Sherpa, the government is waiving all permit fees for the next five years, beginning July 16, 2008, for peaks in the middle west and far west of Nepal.

The American Alpine Club has announced the 2008 winners of its two major expedition grants: the Lyman Spitzer Cutting-Edge Award and the McNeill-Nott Award. Seven grants totaling $19,500 will help American climbers attempt new routes from Alaska to Pakistan.

The five winners of the Lyman Spitzer Award are:

• Vince Anderson, for an alpine-style attempt on the west face of Makalu in Nepal, with Steve House and Marko Prezelj.

• Micah Dash, who will journey to southeastern Tibet with Jonny Copp for an attempt on unclimbed Dojitsenga (ca. 5,700m).

• Ben Gilmore, for an attempt on the 11,400-foot Rabbit’s Ears, possibly the highest unclimbed peak in the Alaska Range, with Maxime Turgeon and Freddie Wilkinson.

• Chad Kellogg, who will travel to Sichuan, China, to attempt the southwest ridge of Siguniang with Dylan Johnson.

• Josh Wharton, for an attempt on the giant north face of Latok I with Whit Magro.

In addition, the AAC announced two winners of the second annual McNeill-Nott Award. This grant, backed by Mountain Hardwear, was created in honor of Karen McNeill and Sue Nott, who disappeared while climbing Mt. Foraker in Alaska.

The 2008 winners of the McNeill-Nott Award are:

• Alex Alexiades, for exploration and new routes in the Suches Valley of the remote Cordillera Apolobamba, on the border of Bolivia and Peru, as part of a team of six climbers.

• Althea Rogers, for an expedition to attempt new free climbs on the granite domes of southeast Alaska’s Wood River Range, with Kate Rutherford, Madaleine Sorkin, and Emily Stifler.

Each year, the AAC provides $40,000 in grant money for cutting-edge expeditions, mountain fellowships for young climbers, conservation and humanitarian projects, and scientific research.

The annual REEL ROCK Film Tour is gearing up for it's third season, with 100 or more screenings of the world's best climbing films coming to a city near you this fall. If you have a camera, a computer, and a fresh idea, one of the featured films could be yours!

The first ever REEL ROCK Filmmaking Competition is accepting submissions of short films (3 minutes max) in two categories: Action/Adventure, and Humor/Spoof, through July 15. Judges at Big UP Productions and Sender Films will select the top entries in each category and post them for online voting. The two winners will have their films featured on the REEL ROCK Tour, and will rake in grand prize packages worth $5,000 from Windstopper, The North Face, Petzl, Osprey Packs, Climbing and Urban Climber magazines.

AAC members now have access to two new online features of the American Alpine Journal (AAJ), the club’s annual publication documenting significant climbs worldwide.

In 2006 AAC member Thom Pollard of Eyes Open Productions put together this trailer for the AAC Annual Meeting in North Conway, NH. We thought you might get a kick out of it. YouTube is amazing.

AAC grant recipients have scored two of the biggest successes in memory in Patagonia.

Mountaineering Fellowship recipient Colin Haley completed the coveted Torre Traverse—an alpine-style link-up of Cerro Standhardt, Punta Herron, Torre Egger, and Cerro Standhardt in Argentina—with Rolando Garibotti. The two men climbed for four days in less than ideal conditions to make the traverse, which has been a goal of climbers in Patagonia for nearly two decades. Haley had made two previous trips to Patagonia, one of which was also funded by a Mountain Fellowship.

In Chilean Patagonia, meanwhile, Dave Turner is reported to have finished a 34-day solo first ascent on the 4,000-foot east face of Cerro Escudo. Turner continued to the summit of the peak, thus making the first complete ascent of the east face. Turner won a Lyman Spitzer Cutting-Edge Award to support his climb in the Paine region of Patagonia. He also is a past recipient of an AAC Mountain Fellowship.

Recent climbs made possible in part by the AAC Grant Program:

• Colin Haley received a Mountain Fellowship for his successful link-up of the much-coveted Torre Traverse.

• Dave Turner received a Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge Award for his solo new route on Cerro Escudo.

• Jonny Copp and Micah Dash received a Spitzer Award for their successful first ascent of the Shafat Fortress in the Zanskar Mountains in India.

The deadline for the 2008 grants is coming up fast!

The latest round of AAC Mountain Fellowships for climbers 25 and under has been announced. The award recipients are:

• Crystal Davis-Robbins (25), $400 for a new route on the west face of Aguja de la Silla in the Fitz Roy Massif of Patagonia.

• Colin Haley (23), $400 for the Torre Traverse in Patagonia.

• Ian Nicholson (24) and Graham Zimmerman (21), $800 each from the REI Challenge Fund to attempt the first ascent of the west face of Kichatna Spire in Alaska.

• Clint Helander (23), $800 from the John R. Hudson Fund to attempt the first ascent of Peak 9304 in the Revelation Mountains.

• Sevve Stember (23), $1,000 from the REI Challenge Fund for first ascents in the Cochamo Valley of Chile.

In all, $4,200 was awarded to six recipients, with an average age of 23.

The recipients of the 2008 Mugs Stump Award were announced at the Ouray Ice Festival in mid-January. The awards, sponsored by Black Diamond Equipment, Climbing Magazine, Mountain Gear, Patagonia, PrimaLoft, and W.L. Gore, were created in 1992 in memory of Mugs Stump, one of North America’s most visionary climbers. The award annually grants $30,000 to small teams pursuing climbing objectives that exemplify light, fast, and clean alpinism.

This year, seven teams of climbers (mostly AAC members) received awards ranging from $1,000 to $9,000:

• Ryan Johnson, Mendenhall Towers, Alaska; with Sam Magro, Kyler Pallister, Erik Pallister, and AAC member Mike Thompson. The climbers seek 800- to 1,000-meter ice and mixed lines on the north walls of these seldom-visited peaks, in the Coastal Range of southeast Alaska.

• Craig McGee and Brad White. The 3,000-meter unclimbed Southeast Rib of Mount Logan, Canada's highest peak.

• AAC members Eric Decaria and Zack Smith. Bid for a complete alpine-style first ascent of the Central Spur of Kedar Dome, India, then up an unclimbed snow ridge to the summit (6,831 meters), for 6,000 to 7,000 feet of rock, mixed, and snow climbing.

• AAC members Jonny Copp and Micah Dash. First ascent of the 5,800-meter Tibetan rock peak Dojitsenga via the continuously steep East Ridge (1,500 meters). The mountain lies between Rawu and Lhagu in the Kangri Garpo range of southeastern Tibet.

• Kevin Mahoney and AAC members Ben Gilmore and Freddie Wilkinson. Direct route on the North Face of Kantega, a 6,799-meter peak in the Khumbu Valley, Nepal.

• AAC members Vince Anderson, Steve House, and Marko Prezelj. The climbers propose an alpine-style bid on the West Face of Makalu, the planet’s fifth-highest peak, an objective unclimbed in its entirety and described by Messner as one of the greatest high-mountain walls in the world.

• AAC member Dave Turner, South Tower of Paine, Chilean Patagonia, solo. The virgin south face of the South Tower of Paine: an 800-meter Grade VI+ alpine wall capped by 350 meters of steep, difficult mixed climbing.

By JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press Writer

The first time a climber lays eyes on Everest, it's hard not to imagine what it was like when Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay topped out on the world's highest peak shortly before noon on May 29, 1953.

For almost everyone who studied the pictures of his epic first ascent with Tenzing, Hillary stood for adventure. The collective sense of triumph that seized the world with their success was etched into Hillary's famous photograph of Tenzing on Everest's summit. I stared at it as a child and dreamed.

That Hillary would become a national hero _ without revealing until years after Tenzing's death that it was Hillary who stepped first onto the summit _ said a lot about him. For them both, it was about the adventure, and the brotherhood of the rope.

"My destiny was to climb this mountain," Tenzing's son, Jamling, told me in 2003, having followed in his father's footsteps to the summit of Everest. "I knew I was going to climb this mountain one day."

The Hillary Step, the 40-foot cliff that is the last great obstacle before the summit, was a struggle even for Hillary, a master of cutting steps in the snow. Only after he got past that did he believe the summit was within his grasp. It remains a test piece for climbers _ who now ascend fixed ropes _ and a recurring image in my own Everest dreams.

Years later, after I'd had my first career as an Outward Bound mountaineering and backcountry skiing instructor based in Colorado, I would visit a National Geographic exhibit and stare at the padded boots, oxygen apparatus and skimpy goggles Hillary and Tenzing wore. It drove home the true adventure of their first ascent, and how much has changed since then.

I used double plastic boots, a 40-below-zero sleeping bag, crampons with "anti-bollant" snow plates and other high-tech equipment on an American expedition attempting the seldom-climbed North Face of K2, from the Chinese side in the Karakoram range, and later in Alaska on Denali. Looking at Hillary's equipment made my gear seem like cheating.

For climbers, it's liberating to be outside, drawn out, tested, changed.

Hillary was no stranger to change, and became determined to give something back to the high places that shaped him. He "gave profound meaning to the concepts of courage and exploration," said U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and "not only climbed to one of the purest victories known to humankind, thereby championing and pioneering an awareness of the treasures of our earth _ he also worked to build health and education in the communities around him."

Heading up the valleys of the Khumbu region toward Everest, along the wide dirt path that is the Sherpas' Interstate 95, it was obvious that villagers revered Hillary. I had gone there with three other climbers in the hopes of putting up some modest new Himalayan routes. A blizzard stopped most of our plans and we wound up carrying Nepali children on our backs to rescue them from being trapped in the snow.

In the Buddhist monasteries at Thyangboche and Thame, some of the locals we met talked about the good works of Hillary's family. I could see for myself the healthy-looking kids gathered for class and playing at the newly built schools, and the new hospitals and electricity lines that lit up the teahouses. Hillary's photo was everywhere. His foundation raised money for most of the projects, to protect forests and to rebuild Thyangboche after it burned to the ground in a fire.

"He inspired people to climb, but he also inspired people to do more than just climb," said Francis Slakey, a physics professor at Georgetown University who reached the summit of Everest in 2000 and was married at the Thyangboche monastery. "He used his world stage to actually improve the lives of people throughout the Khumbu. It's impressive."

For the Sherpas, and the trekkers and climbers they cater to, the change that Hillary ushered in now seems inevitable. The Everest gold rush brought to the Khumbu the frequent sight of Westerners sipping milk tea and dahl bat _ steamed rice smothered in curried potatoes and lentil soup _ and grabbing a bunk bed, all for less than $1.

Hillary was a model for other climbers to try to follow. It took decades for others to catch up to his class act. Where many climbers left behind trash, Hillary left a legacy of education, health care and bonds of friendship.

He always projected humility, not particularly impressed with himself, always sensing that climbers should seek new challenges, new adventures, rather than necessarily repeating something done before. In his day, he was out there. And he passed on his passion for being in the mountains.

"To me, it's a bit like falling in love," his son, Peter, told me, having become a famous climber like his father and reached the summit with Jamling. Peter Hillary also helps raise funds for the trust that runs more than 40 schools and hospitals for the villages at the foot of Everest. "There's some special chemistry. And I think some of us go to the mountains _ and it is just a wondrous thing. We like the people, we like the experiences, we like the mountains, we like the uncertainty."

John Heilprin, an AP reporter covering the United Nations, is a former mountaineering and backcountry skiing instructor who has been on climbing expeditions to Nepal's Everest region, the north ridge of K2, and Alaska's Denali.

Please see the following article in the Denver Post about the museum:

• All Inventory Lost
• Subscriptions and Company Operations to Continue Without Interruption

Jackson, Wyoming - December 11, 2007 – On December 5, at approximately 11 a.m. CST, an Oregon, Illinois, warehouse that contained all of Alpinist Magazine’s inventory—back issues, hats, shirts, water bottles, stickers, coffee mugs—burned to the ground. Nothing was salvaged.

One of climbing’s most historic artifacts has moved into the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum. The wooden ice axe that the late Pete Schoening used to save five falling climbers on K2 in 1953 will be displayed at the museum in Golden, Colorado, when it opens February 16, 2008.

Schoening was a member of the American expedition that reached 25,000 feet on K2 before team member Art Gilkey developed a life-threatening blood clot during a severe storm. The six other climbers at high camp began to lower Gilkey in a sleeping bag. But as they descended the stormy peak, one man slipped and pulled off four other climbers in a tangle of ropes. As the falling climbers gained speed, Schoening quickly improvised a belay, jamming his axe behind a boulder and wrapping the rope around it and his hip. Amazingly, he was able to stop the slide of all five climbers.

Schoening’s axe is on loan to the American Mountaineering Museum from the Washington State Historical Society. It is displayed in a special case, along with the story of the “The Belay” and photos of Schoening and more than 30 descendents of the five climbers who were saved—the “Children of the Belay.”

The Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum has announced its grand opening to the public in Golden, Colorado, on February 16, 2008. The new museum will detail the history of mountaineering and highlight the role that Americans have played in its evolution. In addition, the topics of climate change, conservation, mountain cultures, and weather will be explored. The Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum is a joint venture of the AAC, the Colorado Mountain Club (CMC), and the National Geographic Society (NGS).

For grand opening tickets, contact Chris Case at (303) 996-2764.

The American Mountaineering Center in Golden has also announced that its new gift store will open on November 23, 2007. The store will feature items from the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum and the world of mountaineering, including official products from the AAC, CMC, and the NGS. They will include:

• National Geographic Society maps and other publications.

• Photographic prints from the museum exhibits and other mountain art.

• CMC Press books and books related to the missions of the museum and the AAC.

• Gift items such as calendars, note cards, and jewelry, as well as unique holiday items.

The Rowell Legacy Committee is currently accepting nominations for The Rowell Award for the Art of Adventure which will honor that adventurer whose artistic passion illuminates the wild places of the world, and whose accomplishments significantly benefit both the environment and the people who inhabit these lands and regions. Nominations will be accepted from July 16, 2007 through November 15, 2007 and can be sent via email, fax or regular mail.

The $15,000 annual cash award will be presented at the annual Rowell Lecture Series in spring 2008 at an event in San Francisco to an individual selected by a panel of active and influential members of the outdoor adventure world. This event is co-presented by The Yosemite Fund and the Commonwealth Club of California.

Robert Hicks Bates, the Honorary President of the AAC and a pioneer of American climbing in the Yukon and the Himalaya, died on September 13 at age 96.

Bates was one of the “Harvard Five,” the outstanding Harvard Mountaineering Club climbers who came of age in the 1930s. (The other four were Adams Carter, Charles Houston, Terris Moore, and Bradford Washburn.) Along with Washburn, Bates made an epic ascent of Mt. Lucania and Mt. Steele in the Yukon in 1935, walking more than 70 miles after their successful climb when the plane that dropped them off could not return. Bates and others made the first ascents of Mt. Walsh, Mt. Alverstone, and Mt. Hubbard, all major peaks in the St. Elias Range.

During World War II, Bates helped develop climbing gear for the U.S. military, part of a revolution in clothing and equipment that spurred major advances in postwar mountaineering. He also orchestrated an Army expedition that made the third ascent of Denali in 1942. Bates was a member of the American expeditions to K2 in both 1938 and 1953. His book K2: The Savage Mountain about the epic retreat from K2 during the ’53 expedition, coauthored with Charles Houston, is one of the classics of American climbing literature. He also wrote or edited several other books about his climbs and exploration.

Bob Bates served as president of the AAC from 1959 through 1961, and he has been Honorary President since 1988. The AAC’s annual award for outstanding accomplishments by young American climbers (25 and under) is given in his name.

Bates was a much-loved teacher of English at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire for more than 35 years; he retired in 1976. During leaves from his teaching job in the 1960s, Bates served as the first director of the Peace Corps in Nepal and as assistant director of the Outward Bound School. He lived in Exeter, New Hampshire, and is survived by his wife, Gail Oberlin Bates.

The AAC’s leadership role in managing human waste at the crags and in alpine environments has grown significantly in recent weeks:

The latest round of AAC Mountain Fellowship Fund grants has been announced. Brad Cabot (23), Althea Rogers (22), and Kelly Ryan (23) each received $850 for an extended exploratory kayak trip to reach unclimbed peaks in West Greenland. Rogers and Ryan’s funding came from the REI Challenge Fund. Ian Nicholson (23) received $800 from the Rick Mosher Fund to attempt a new route on the southwest face of the Blade in British Columbia’s Waddington Range. Matt Othmer (22) received $850 from the John R. Hudson Fund to attempt the first ascent of the east face of Cerro Aratitiyopa in Venezuela.

The AAC is helping an all-star cast of American women travel to Pakistan in July to teach Pakistani women how to climb. The Pakistani Women’s Climbing Camp will instruct up to 100 women in the basics of mountaineering and glacier travel, culminating in an attempt on 19,619-foot Kusheikh Peak. The camp is a joint initiative of the AAC and the Alpine Club of Pakistan, which sought the Americans’ help because cultural concerns prevented Pakistan’s male climbers from introducing women to mountaineering.

“Pakistan is one of the only countries of the Greater Ranges that has seen no significant ascent by one of its own countrywomen,” said AAC Director Charlotte Fox. “This is a socially acceptable attempt between our two countries to change that. The implications have the potential to be far-reaching for women of vastly differing cultural circumstances.”

All in-country expenses are being covered by the Alpine Club of Pakistan, but donations are needed to cover the women’s travel costs. The AAC already has collected around $1,200 in donations, and the club will match all donations made after May 23, up to a total of $2,500.

Climbers and officials in Nepal are worried that global warming is making the glacial environment unsafe for humans in the Himalaya.

See the article on the BBC news page.

Fabrizio Zangrilli has won the AAC’s annual Zack Martin Breaking Barriers Grant to support a climb and humanitarian project in Pakistan. Zangrilli, from Boulder, Colorado, will attempt a new route on the south face of K2 with Billy Pierson from Seattle. The two climbed 1,800 meters of the new line during an attempt in 2005.

CLEARFIELD, Utah (May 7th, 2007) – Petzl America, a leading manufacturer of quality climbing gear, today announced that their annual Roc Trip will join forces with Rocktoberfest, an annual fundraising event held by the Red River Gorge Climbers Coalition to preserve climbing access in Eastern Kentucky. This year, Petzl Roc Trip will present Rocktoberfest, to be held October 12th – 14th, 2007, drawing an international crowd of climbers gathering for a weekend of clinics, competitions, and celebration, while raising awareness and funds for the RRGCC. By combining the two events, Petzl hopes to help increase Rocktoberfest’s stature, attendance, and fundraising power in 2007 and for years to come.

The Red River Gorge Climber’s Coalition is a unified group of climbers advocating responsible climbing and preserving access to climbing in the Gorge and surrounding areas. Each year, the RRGCC pays an annual mortgage payment totaling nearly $29,000 for ownership of the Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve, a 750-acre plot of undeveloped land purchased by the RRGCC for preservation and climbing access purposes in 2004. Due to the RRGCC’s efforts and funding, the Pendergrass-Murray Preserve is currently being responsibly and sustainably developed for hiking, mountain biking, and many forms of human-powered recreation. Without funding for the annual mortgage payments due through year 2013, the Preserve faces potential acquisition by interested oil developers. The Pendergrass-Murray Preserve is just one of the RRGCC’s conservation and access projects.

The upcoming 2007 Petzl Roc Trip / Rocktoberfest features an action-packed line-up, including:

• clinics for all levels with climbing’s elite, including Sonnie Trotter, and AMGA professionals
• opening ceremony and climber’s roast hosted by climber/funnyman Timmy O’Neill
• unveiling of Sender Films’ latest release, “King Lines”, presented by filmmaker Peter Mortimer
• flash rally comp featuring athletes at the top of the sport
• first ascent bounty placed on two long standing climbing projects yet to be climbed
• Saturday night party serving a diverse palette of musical tastes, with DJ Lafouche and a live local bluegrass band
• American and European athletes competing and providing clinics, including, Chris Sharma, Dave Graham, Emily Harrington, Lisa Rands, Joe Kinder, Chris Lindner, Danny Andrada, Steve McClure, Tony Lamiche, Said Belhaj, and many others
• An overall goal of raising $10,000 - $15,000 for the Red River Gorge Climber’s Coalition, a healthy increase over previous years

Lara-Karena Bitenieks Kellogg Memorial Conservation Grant

A fund has been established in Lara Kellog’s honor at the American Alpine Club. Kellogg, an AAC member, died during an attempt on the the Northeast Buttress of Mt. Wake in the Alaska Range.

The federal Bureau of Land Management has released its final nationwide policy on the use of fixed anchors in designated wilderness areas. The policy formalizes the BLM’s position that “climbing is a legitimate and appropriate use of BLM Wilderness Areas. Climbing, including the use of fixed anchors, has a history that predates the Wilderness Act.”