Heartland Section

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Seriously? There are climbers in the Heartland?

Of course! Some of the most dedicated, obsessed, and inspired climbers live the farthest from the biggest mountains. Every weekend of the year, rain or shine, heat or cold, these inspired climbers hike across golden plateaus, dry river beds, and narrow hollers seeking to meet their vertical addiction on Oklahoma granite, Arkansas sandstone, and Missouri limestone.

You will often note a current or previous Heartland climber by an overwhelming psyche, big smiles, genuineness, and their overalls and corncob pipes.

Interested in becoming an AAC Ambassador for this section? Community Ambassadors are climbers who live and are active in their local climbing communities. Like Section Chairs, they promote the AAC in their area. Local communities consist of climbing locales, population centers with significant numbers of climbers, and special interest groups like ice climbers, women or boulderers. Communities are best served by multiple ambassadors, those with time and energy to coordinate with Section Chairs and rally climbers in the area. Interested? Contact Dana at drichardson [at] americanalpineclub [dot] org for more information.

Section Chair - Jeremy Collins

Jeremy Collins cut his teeth climbing in the Heartland (yes, BOTH teeth)– along the steep limestone walls of Missouri waterways, the sculpted sandstone of Arkansas, and the golden granite domes of Oklahoma. With over 200 first ascents in the Heartland, he ran out of fresh rock(choss) to climb, and has thus climbed virgin routes(really big, pretty choss) in The Black Canyon, Mt Evans, Mt Warren, Red Rocks, RMNP, Yosemite, and Chilean Patagonia.

As an artist, Jeremy's work can be seen in every issue of Rock & Ice, and Alpinist, as well as for fundraising at many AAC and Access Fund events. He has also co-authored or illustrated five different how-to books on gym climbing, rock climbing, big wall climbing, sport climbing, and climbing anchors.

Jeremy lives in Kansas City, (Missouri, NOT Kansas!) with his lovely wife Tricia and their son, Zion.

If you are passing through Missouri on I-70- drop him a line, he may be able to give you a good tour of the local flavors (as long as he's in town, which is increasingly rare.)