Read more about Everest's tragic spring at Mounteverest.net

All this snow is gone now. Time to climb! Photo by Dougald MacDonald

The AAC’s Grand Teton Climbers’ Ranch opens June 6, following the annual workweek at the Ranch (June 1–5). AAC member rates remain just $8 a night for a bed, shower, and all the camaraderie of the cooking pavilion; nonmember rates go up this year to $12 per night. To kick off the 2006 climbing season, Black Diamond is hosting a party at the Ranch on June 22.

The first annual section heads summit was held May 19 at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden. Attending were half (seven) of the heads of regional AAC sections around the country, as well as several board members, new AAC President Jim Donini, and Jason Manke, the club’s membership coordinator. The AAC is making revitalization of its 14 sections one of its highest priorities. Participants explored how to make sections more effective and successful on a grass-roots level. (It was strongly felt that dovetailing with other like-minded organizations was important.) Also discussed were planning for succession of section chairs, subsection opportunities for large geographic areas, keeping section goals consistent with the AAC’s values, and the next steps necessary for the sections to move forward. Less glamorous but equally important items discussed included accounting procedures, fund-raising protocols, event planning, website management, and financial matters.

All club members, and in particular all section heads, are invited to attend next year’s summit—date and place to be announced. Until then, direct all ideas for energizing regional sections to Jason Manke at jmanke@americanalpineclub.org or Section Committee Chair Charlotte Fox at cfoxalpine@ear thlink.net.

Eleven proposals have been selected for funding through AAC Research Grants in 2006. The Research Grants support modest requests to assist scientific projects that fall within the scope of the AAC’s charter. Among this year’s winners are:

• AAC member Tana Beus, for a study on the decline of mountain goats in their historic range in the North Cascades.
• AAC members Keith Bosak and Laura Caplins, for their proposal titled, “A Woman’s Place? Mountain Tourism, Information Technologies and Women’s Empowerment in the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Garhwal Himalaya , India.”
• Monica Bruckner, for her proposal to gain a better understanding of deglaciation on downstream systems and processes in the Yukon Territory.
• Teresa Chuang, for research on the shift of species ranges as a result of climate change in the Sierra Nevada.
• AAC member Adam French, for analyzing local livelihood needs and crafting strategies for community-managed protected areas in the Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru.
• Koren Nydick, for his study of alpine plants in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado and their response to climate change.
• Clint Rogers, for his research related to the persistence of subsistence trade in the borderlands of Nepal-Tibet.

For more information on these proposals, or to obtain information on AAC grants programs, contact Jason Manke at jmanke@americanalpineclub.org

This month will see the launch of the new AAC website, its first overhaul in five years.

This will be the first in a series of changes that will lend the Club a new look, improve access to information, and help develop the community of climbers. This launch will give better access to events and news and will lead to discussion groups, galleries, podcasts and the full gamut of modern website technology. Now you'll be able to join, renew and donate online, as well as have a better window into the Club with more information and interactive content.

Email us with comments, send in your galleries and have fun.

Editor’s Note: Some versions of the April E-News contained the incorrect web address for this trip, so we are reprinting this notice.
The 40th anniversary of the first ascent of Vinson Massif, the highest peak in Antarctica, is December 18, and Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions is organizing a special trip to celebrate. The 16,050-foot peak was pioneered by an American Alpine Club-sponsored team led by Nick Clinch. Antarctic Logistics (owner of Adventure Network International) has invited several veterans of that expedition to revisit the mountain, and is extending a discount of about 15 percent on its normal fee for an unguided Vinson expedition to all AAC members. Proposed dates for the AAC trip are December 16–29, 2006.

The Rowell Legacy Committee is accepting nominationsfor 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 through June 30. The $15,000 annual cash award is presented in memory of famed adventurers, writers, and photographers Galen and Barbara Rowell, who died in a plane crash in 2002.

The American Alpine Club’s Henry S. Hall Jr. Library celebrated its 90th birthday in May with an exhibit that features gifts from members. “Built by Members: Ninety Years of Collecting” highlights the discernment and generosity of past and present AAC bibliophiles. On display at the library in Golden, Colorado, are books from Henry Montagnier and J. Monroe Thorington, whose personal collections formed the core of the early AAC library. Also on view is a selection from the John Boyle Himalayan Library and material donated by Nick Clinch, Howard Palmer, Harrington Putnam, William Ladd, Henry Hall, and Margaret Prouty.

Al Schumer, a resident of Redmond, Washington, and an AAC member, will take over for Peter Ackroyd as the new chair of the Cascade Section. Al has been a member of the Mountaineers for many years and looks forward to improving communications between the clubs and providing opportunities for section members to get together. The AAC is committed to reinvigorating the sections under the direction new President Jim Donini, and Al is a good person to lead that effort in the Cascade Section. If you would like to take a more active role in developing ideas and planning section activities, please contact Al at als@vtablet.com

If you would like to take a more active role in developing ideas and planning section activities please contact Al at als@vtablet.com.

The AAC owes many thanks to Peter Ackroyd for his dedication and service to the Cascade Section and International Conservation Committee over the years.

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