Book Sale and Other February News

Annual Book Sale! February 20th, 2-6pm, Inverness Hotel

In conjunction with the 2010 Annual Dinner.  Go HERE to register for the dinner.  Jim Collins is the Keynote Speaker.  There will also be a presentation, Wild in the Sierra, by Literary Award Winner Doug Robinson.  All are welcome

Stop by to see what we’ve got! We’ll have about 200-300 collectible books for sale, ranging from $20-$500. All proceeds benefit the library and the Armando Menocal Guidebook Collection. Read more about our ongoing book sales here.

Royal Robbins Booksigning! We are pleased to have Royal Robbins as our guest at our Annual Book Sale! Robbins, one of climbing’s great figures, has a new book called To Be Brave, which we will have for sale for $19.95. Robbins’ climbing resume is staggering: First ascents on Yosemite’s Half Dome, El Capitan, as well as the Aiguille du Dru in Europe. Robbins is also the author of two seminal works on climbing, Basic Rockcraft and Advanced Rockcraft.  Here is the Wall Street Journal’s review. So, stop by to say hello. Royal will be available to make yours a signed copy!

AAC Book Club
The AAC Book Club is celebrating its one-year anniversary! And what a year it’s been. We’ve had Tom Hornbein, Stephen Venables, Mark Obmascik, and other authors join us for book discussions.

For March, we’ll be featuring Beyond the Mountain, by Steve House. House is currently one of the world’s best alpinists. He and Vince Anderson forged a new direct line on Nanga Parbat’s Rupal Face in 2006.  The book was the 2009 Boardman-Tasker winner.

You can find out what’s coming up if you click here!

Free Download:: Poudre Canyon Route Climbing

Poudre Canyon Route Climbing by Craig Luebben, Cameron Cross & Bennett Scott Submitted By: Cameron Cross on Feb 2, 2010

Hi All, The Northern Colorado Climbers Coaltion has just released a new guidebook for the Poudre Canyon.  The book, Poudre Canyon Route Climbing, features over 375 routes (of all grades) and 100+ pages, including full color maps, topos, action shots, detailed descriptions, and historic info that exhibit the canyon in a way never before seen.

Building on the Poudre Canyon guidebook by Rodney Ley & Steve Allen (1972), the Greyrock guides of Pat McGrane (1985) and Craig Luebben (1991), and the Palace guide by Sam Shannon and Tim Wilhelmi (2004), our book combines past historical resources with countless interviews from first ascentionists and local climbers.  Our goal with the project is to provide accurate and well researched information so climbers may experience the outstanding climbing and history the Poudre Canyon has to offer.  As always, it is a free download, so be sure to check it out and let us know what you think! The guide is dedicated to the late Craig Luebben, who helped get the project rolling and provided countless resources prior to passing away last summer.

Poudre Canyon Routes Guidebook By Craig Luebben, Cameron Cross & Bennett Scott

Take A Look At the AAC’s New Trailer!

The AAC is excited to announce our brand new trailer to help share the message and heartbeat of the AAC with the climbing community. Many thanks to Scott Neel for creating the video, with help from climbers Alex Honnold, Beth Rodden, Conrad Anker, Dave Graham, Heidi Wirtz, Kevin Jorgeson, Lynn Hill, Naomi Guy, Pete Takeda, Phil Powers, Renan Ozturk, and Timmy O’Neill.

Mountaineering Museum Events!

The Mountaineering Museum and the American Alpine Club presents:

North Face feature film premiere!

January 29th 2010 @ 6:00PM (Museum Reception @ 5:00)

Admission: Free!

Based on a true story, NORTH FACE is a gripping adventure drama about a competition to climb the most dangerous rock face in the Alps. In July of 1936 – less than a year after the most recent and fatal attempt, two top German mountaineers, Toni Kurz (BENNO FÜRMANN) and Andi Hinterstoisser (FLORIAN LUKAS), take up the challenge to become the first to scale the infamous rock face, the so-called Murder Wall.

View the trailer here!

Opens in area theaters:

Feb 5th Esquire Theater – Denver

Feb 12th Wheeler Opera House – Aspen

Feb 18th CU – Boulder

Serac Adventure Film School

Feb 1st 2010 @ 7:00PM

Admission: Free!

Boulder-based Serac Adventure Film School (founded by Emmy-award winner, Michael Brown) will host a free screening of freshly-made films from their 2010 Colorado Backcountry Film School on Monday, February 1st at the American Mountaineering Center in Foss Auditorium. Recently featured in Skiing Magazine (“How To Make Your Own Adventure Ski Film” ), Serac teaches artistic aspects of outdoor filmmaking as well as avalanche safety, backcountry skills and how to keep the camera (and filmmaker fingers) from freezing. For the first time, Serac is opening up their student “graduation” film festivals to the public.

The Mountaineering Museum and LOWA presents:
“You Want to Go Where?”

February 3rd 2010 @ 7:00PM (Museum Reception @ 5:30)

Lowa Boots presents Jeff Blumenfeld’s talk, “You Want to Go Where?” based upon his new book from Skyhorse Publishing that covers some of the world’s most historic expeditions and adventures with an eye towards how people can gain funding for their own travels.

The talk includes illustrations of such noteworthy adventures as:

Norman Vaughan – climbed Antarctic mountain named after himself
Will Steger – first confirmed dog sled trek to the North Pole
Reid Stowe – currently engaged in his quest to be at sea for 1,000 days
Mike Haugen – climbed tallest U.S. peaks in record time
Paul Schurke – dogsled expedition across the Bering Strait
Barbara Hillary – went to the North Pole; now wants to go to the South at 77
Andre Tolme – adventure golf? Yes indeed. He hit a golf ball across Mongolia

Blumenfeld then explains that companies are not there to pay for your vacation. However, if you have a project that is bigger than yourself – a trip with a purpose – it is possible to generate cash or in-kind (gear) support. His talk is illustrated with over 40 photographs taken all over the world.

Jeff Blumenfeld is editor of Expedition News, a 16-year-old monthly newsletter that covers the adventure marketing world. A resident of New Canaan, Conn., he is a member of The Explorers Club, the American Alpine Club, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Sponsored by: LOWA Boots

$3 CMC/AAC Members, $5 Non-Members – FREE to Friends of the Museum and Friends of the AAC Library.

February 9 Book Club: Forever on the Mountain, James Tabor

Forever on the Mountain: The truth behind one of mountaineering’s most controversial and mysterious disasters.

Book club member, travel writer and Mountaineering Museum gift shop manager Martha Perantoni sends in the following description:

“Tabor’s exhaustive look at the doomed 1967 expedition to scale Alaska’s Mt. McKinley is an often gripping detailed account of the infamous climb that remains controversial.  Only five of the 12-man team survived the ascent to the 20,320-foot summit, making it one of the deadliest mountaineering disasters in North America.”

Book  Club meets from 6-7:30pm in the American Mountaineering Center, 10th and Washington, Golden, Colorado.  Stop by the library to find out which room, and check out our sale books!

Join the book club discussion group here!

Also, here’s what Book Club facilitator Jim Moss has to say about the upcoming books:

February 9: Forever on the Mountain by James M. Tabor
an exhilarating story about a Denali climb in
the 60’s resulting in a seven fatalities.  The book won the Banff Book
Festival and 2007 NOBA award for History/Biography.  Two other books were
written about the expedition early, one by both of the expedition leaders.  Joe Wilcox, one of the leaders of the expedition wrote his account in 1981 WHITE WINDS: AMERICA’S MOST TRAGIC MOUNTAINEERING EXPEDITION. The other expedition leader Howard Snyder wrote his account of what happened in 1973 THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING. All three books are written so differently that it is hard to tell the stories are from the same disaster.

March 9: Beyond the Mountain by Steve House.  See Patagonia’s page too.
This is getting great reviews and Steve might join us by phone – it’s in the works!

April 13: K2, the Savage Mountain
by Charlie Houston and Bob Bates. This is one of the all time great mountaineering stories. This is a must read for anyone in the mountaineering community.

Also for those of you who missed Mark Obmascik Halfway to Heaven it was another great night. Besides beer and mixed nuts!!! Mark gave a great presentation, when we finally let him. The book club of course jumped all over this great story of climbing, growing, meeting new people and raising a family. We also got to meet one of the real life people that Mark wrote about in his book. If you have not read Halfway to Heaven it is a great story and it is very well written.   I also love his previous book the Big Year, a story about three birders attempting to set a record in seeing the most birds in one year. Hard to believe that a book about birding could be exiting, but it is.!  Thanks Mark! (Mark was so impressed (?) with us that he joined the book club!)

Thirsty 3rd Thursday: January 21st, 5:30-8:30pm

Come down to the Mountaineering Center for our monthly music and  $2 beer night!

In other news, the Speaker Series Avalanche Clinic was postponed due to weather. The new date is January 27th.  Click here for more details.

sPEAKer Series at the Mountaineering Museum: Jan.6, Feb. 3rd events

The Mountaineering Museum and Colorado Mountain School presents:
Avalanche Awareness Clinic

January 6th 2010 @ 7:00PM (Museum Reception @ 5:30)

Welcome back to the new year with an avalanche awareness clinic presented by the Colorado Mountain School!

Every year, avalanches are one of the leading causes of death among backcountry enthusiasts. Our home turf, Colorado, consistently leads the nation in avalanche fatalities.

If you plan on spending time in high, snowy country, be prepared.

In this one hour clinic our expert guides give an introduction to how avalanches happen, what they look like, and how to avoid them.

Our guides are American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education (AIARE) trained to teach avalanche courses, and they also spend some 300 days a year in the field-they know snow from an academic and practical perspective, and they share their knowledge with you.

Topics covered include:
Types of avalanches
Avalanche terrain
Snowpack analysis
Weather considerations
Avalanche decision-making
Trip planning and preparation
Travel techniques

Sponsored by: KEEN Footwear, and The Colorado Mountain School

$3 CMC/AAC Members, $5 Non-Members – FREE to Friends of the Museum and Friends of the AAC Library.

February 3rd: Mountaineering Museum sPEAKer Series: LOWA Boots presents Jeff Blumenfeld’s talk, You Want to Go Where? based upon his new book from Skyhorse Publishing that covers some of the world’s most historic expeditions and adventures with an eye towards how people can gain funding for their own travels. Museum reception: 5:30PM meet Jeff and explore the museum, 7:00 Presentation in Foss Auditorium. $5 non-members, $3 CMC/AAC members, FREE to Friends of the Museum and AAC Library. Visit http://www.mountaineeringmuseum.org for details.

Holiday Library Hours

The AAC Library will be closed starting Thursday, December 24th and will reopen on Tuesday, January 5th, so please make sure to get your bookmail requests in today or tomorrow so we can mail them out to you before we go!

Happy Holidays and we’ll see you in the New Year!

Thirsty 3rd Thursday at the Museum on Dec. 17th, 5:30-8

Join us for our December Thirsty 3rd Thursday and holiday party! Great music by Atomic Prado! Special discounts in Base Camp gift shop, $1 beer, Holiday Cheer, and prizes! Win a FREE pair of KEEN Footwear!

New Himalayan Database Update

The Spring 2009 Update to the Himalayan Database has now been posted on the Himalayan Database web site at http://www.himalayandatabase.com

The update adds new records for expeditions in the Spring/Summer 2009 climbing seasons and provides corrections and additions to the records for the previous seasons from 1905-2008.

The update package includes:

Spring 2009 update file for Himalayan Database

The updates are free, but are not readable as stand-alone documents without an existing database. You must have a copy of the Himalayan Database installed on your computer to apply and view the update.

The complete instructions for updating the Himalayan Database are given in Appendix E of the Himalayan Database Program Guide that came with the original Himalayan Database CD. A brief summary of these instructions are given in the Update Readme file posted on the web site.

All 2004 through 2008 updates should be applied to the original Himalayan Database before this update is applied. If you have not applied these earlier updates, you may apply instead the Combined 2004-2008 update to the original Himalayan Database before applying the Spring 2009 update.

The update for the Autumn/Winter 2009 climbing seasons will be posted in May 2010.

In addition to the Spring 2009 Update, the summit and death lists for the Spring/Summer 2009 seasons have been posted on the web site.

Note the Spring 2009 Update will update over 20,000 member records. Many member records have been modified for the years since 1990 to include member high points, dates and oxygen use for those who did not attain the expedition high point; and many Sherpa records have been added for those who did not summit, but accompanied summit bidders.