New Exhibit in the Mountaineering Museum

THIN AIR: An Exhibit on Altitude and Oxygen

November 2009 – May 2010
Official Opening Reception December 3rd, 2010
6:00 Reception
7:00 Mallory Expedition presentation by Jake Norton
$3 CMC/AAC members, $5 non-members, Free to Friends of the Museum and AAC Library
RSVP here.
MOUNTAINEERING takes grit. It takes tenacity. It takes energy.
And, it also takes another fuel – OXYGEN.
For [...]

Snow Days and Ski DVDs!

The library will be open today with regular hours, noon to 5pm.
Don’t forget to check out our Skiing DVDs!

av F 912 .M2 W47
Wilcox, Rick. West buttress, Mt. McKinley ski ascent. [United States]: Rick
Wilcox, [199u].
av GV 706.4 .K56 1992
Strassman, Michael A. Know limits : the extreme in sports. [S.l.]: Range of
Light Productions, [...]

From the Archives: They Thought Smoking Helped at High Altitude!

We’re busy getting ready for the next exhibit at the Mountaineering Museum – Thin Air: An Exhibit on Altitude and Oxygen, November 3-May30, 2009.  “Getting ready” means combing through the library and archives looking for supporting material and images.  Here is one treasure from the John M. Boyle Himalayan Library:
Apparently, cutting-edge high altitude science as [...]

From the Archives: by “Georgia” David Michael: Henry Skagway Pinkham in front of Mt. St. Elias

Georgia” David Michael, Henry Skagway Pinkham in front of Mt. St. Elias
Originally uploaded by American Alpine Club Photo Library
The AAC has a paintings collection, and, for the past year, we’ve been working on gathering information about some of them.
When Dee Molenaar was in Golden for the 2008 Annual Dinner, he stopped by to look at [...]

Ricardo Cassin

A_2005.044.001_Cassin_Ridge_Album034
Originally uploaded by American Alpine Club Photo Library

There is a thread on supertopo today about the passing of Ricardo Cassin.
In 2005, Bradford Washburn gave the AAC a photo album given to him by Ricardo Cassin in thanks for Washburn’s assistance “in the solution of the many problems of the South Face of Mount McKinley”.
You can [...]

Bid Now! Help Pick the Next Set of Washburns for Exhibit!

BE a part of the Mountaineering Museum’s Bradford Washburn Photographs: From the Favorites exhibit!
On August 18th the Mountaineering Museum and American Alpine Club Library will be displaying the second round of Bradford Washburn photographic prints and YOU get the special opportunity to pick which prints go into the exhibit!
Gene, Ken and Laura Karstens won the [...]

What is in the John M. Boyle Himalayan Library?

In 1997, the American Alpine Club Library received a generous donation from John M. Boyle: The John M. Boyle Himalayan Library. This collection contains more than 2500 books in 36 different languages/dialects (approximately half of these autographed by expedition members), 400 expedition reports, and 100 videos/films and 35 boxes of ephemera.
Library staff has now [...]

New Guidebook Collection to Track Climbing History

In the near future, the AAC library is scheduled to receive a collection of rare and unusual climbing guidebooks from Armando Menocal, a longtime climber and advocate of climbing. We asked Armando to give us some background about the collection, why he started it, and the significance of the collection. The following post was written [...]

From the Archives: Finding Whymper in a Book

One of our incredible volunteers, Tom Halicki, has been helping us get the first 5,000 books of the Central Asia Library on the shelves, and to advise on grant-writing.  His love of books is also evident in this essay he wrote about a discovery he made in the rare book room.  He also highlights one [...]

And Now A Word From The Library Geek…

Bradford Washburn photographs on permanent loan to the AAC
Originally uploaded by American Alpine Club Library

We couldn’t afford manufactured compact art storage, so we designed and built it ourselves…I like to call it the Miracle of the Storage Room.
Check out this flickr set to see the transformation from unbelievably disorganized and out of control to nicely [...]