Saturday, February 13, 2010

Catskills Winter Outing : February 26-28th

Catskills Winter Outing: February 26-28, 2010
Deer Mountain Inn
Tannersville, NY
www.deermountaininn.com

Here is the long awaited announcement of NY Section AAC’s 2nd Winter Outing! After a
challenging search, we discovered the Deer Mountain Inn located in the woods two miles north of Tannersville, NY on Route 25. It features beautiful rooms with fireplaces, an excellent restaurant, full bar, ample congregation space, peaceful quiet and very convenient proximity to Hunter, Windham and Belleayre for downhill skiing, and to Stony, Platte, and Kaaterskill Cloves for ice climbing. Plus we will have the entire inn to ourselves. There is every indication that Catskills ice is having a super season.

While the focus is on ice and downhill, there are opportunities for back-country, cross country (Mountain Trails Cross Country Ski Center), winter hiking and snowshoeing. The LP (Long Path) is nearby, along with many moderate and difficult summits. And after a hard day in the cold, there’s nothing quite like socializing by the large fireplace followed by an excellent dinner. Or just plain loafing.

If you wish to climb guideless please arrange for your own partner as we won’t “fix”
people up with leaders or seconds. If you want to climb with a guide, you need to
arrange that yourself. Alpine Endeavors (marty@alpineendeavors.com) know the area
well, Mountain-Skills at www.meetup.com/Mountain-Skills-Climbing-Guides, or
HighXposure Adventures at info@high-xposure.com.

As usual, there shall be no more than one guest per member. You may email Andréa at
andreasalerno66@gmail.com or fax in your reservation to 917.210.3788 but a check
and release for each member of your party must immediately follow. Please be
aware that we have mostly rooms with several large beds, so that judicious choices and sacrifices may be necessary in assigning them. But then, we’re mountaineers ….

A signed release from all participants, included and returned with the registration
form and payment is required.

Any questions should be directed to Andréa Salerno at andreasalerno66@gmail.com or
917.531.3796 or Vic Benes at vabenes@earthlink.net or 973.467.8460. For detailed
travel instructions, visit www.deermountaininn.com.

American Alpine Club New York Section 2009 Annual Report

NEW YORK SECTION 2009 REVIEW

The beginning of any new decade brings with it a moment of reflection and analysis. During the 2000’s the New York Section Alpine Club Community almost doubled in size. Perhaps more important than membership growth , however, was a heightened spirit of community and brotherhood, manifested in consistently sold out events and a high degree of volunteerism. We reached several milestones: Our January Adirondack winter outing, where good conditions seem to be the norm, is a year short of its 20th Anniversary while the June Ausable Club weekend is close to celebrating its 30th anniversary. Meanwhile an active program of slide shows, films and other indoor events continues as in the past.

Of note, our Annual Black Tie Dinner in November is now known throughout the climbing world, gathers members from the far reaches of the country, consistently sells out and makes a meaningful contribution to the Club’s financial well being. Since its start 30 years ago, the Dinner has raised over $250,000 for the Library and Journal. It is also a family reunion, with old faces celebrating their friendships and newcomers being welcomed to the Brotherhood of the Rope, to paraphrase Charley Houston.

Some of the highlights of 2009 were the launch of Olaf Soot’s new book, Alpine Americas, with page after page of the most beautiful and inspired photographs of peaks from Barrow to Cape Horn. Also Fritz Selby published a fine memoir of his postings and adventures in Nepal in the 1960’s in his “Postcards from Kathmandu”. Once again the Section furnished guides in June for the Rubin Museum’s annual “Peak Experience” simulated climb of Everest for 11-14 year olds.

As the first Section to have its own website, we took a major step forward took with the creation of a Section blog where members are invited to post trip reports, photos and videos. Our thanks go to Vic Benes for years of dedicated editorship and to Conor Moran for revamping the site and creating http://nysaac.blogspot.com. The main Section website is http://nysalpineclub.org

At the Dinner our two Mikes, Michael Lederer and Mike Barker, returned the Section flag from a winter exploratory mountaineering expedition to the English mountains of Labrador. The main event, however, was our special guest speaker, Stephen Venables, who, in his droll, witty and Oxonian accent, took the audience back to the 1988 Kangshung Face Everest Expedition with a small, lightweight team, to Sarmiento with Roskelley and South Georgia with Messner and Anker.

Just a month before, however, the Section suffered a tragic loss. Clif Maloney, after summiting Cho Oyu and thus becoming, at age 71, the oldest American to climb an 8000 meter peak, perished on the descent. Present at the Dinner and accepting our tribute, were Clif’s widow Carolyn and their two daughters. Two weeks later about 30 of Clif’s close friends and family gathered for a memorial hike in the Hudson Highlands where he had spent so many hours training. Later that day we gathered for a sumptuous reception at the Galligan home in Garrison to reminisce and tell stories about our dear friend and brother.

In her memorable review of the Annual Dinner in Rock and Ice, Susan Schwartz penned the following response to the inevitable question of “why”, not only relative to Clif’s demise but also to Venables’ own loss when his young son died of cancer:
“Some of us climb, I believe, as a way to bring order and control to our personal universe. But climbing has a way of yanking hard on our chain to remind us that there is a limit to how much we can control. At some point, no matter how stubborn, talented or hard working we are, we step out of our world of personal control and one of cosmic caprice, whether it be Everest, Cho Oyu or cancer.”

Philip Erard
NY Section Chair

February, 2010

New AAC Video Trailer Available

The new AAC Video is out - check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxNI17-bjZg&feature=youtube_gdata

More Photos from Winter Outing No.1















Thursday, February 4, 2010

Where Awe Dwells

Gallery Exhibit


Where Awe Dwells
Journeys In The Great Ranges


February 12, 2010 through March 13, 2010
Gallery on the Green
Dowd Avenue
Canton, CT 06019
860-693-4102


www.galleryongreen.org


Opening Reception


Saturday, February 13, 2010
6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

If you're interested in attending, please contact Walt at walt@hamptonphoto.com