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AAC MEMBERS Lizzy Scully
I appreciate the AAC for helping make climbers’ dreams come true through their awesome grant program. I have received numerous grants from the AAC in the past dozen years without which I would not have been able to climb in the Karakoram or Himalayas. I also think the organization is doing a dynamite job engaging the diverse climbing community with their regional coordinators, who organize and offer support for a wide variety of events. I was especially thrilled that the AAC has been so open to the gay climbing community through their support of the annual HomoClimbtastic event held in the New River Gorge. Go AAC!
Deep South Section americanalpineclub.org/deepsouth • deepsouth@americanalpineclub.org The heart of the Deep South—Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia—may best be described as the place where the trad routes seem more like sport routes, the sport routes seem more like boulder problems, and the boulder problems seem more like a golf course... perhaps because some of them are on a golf course. > Chair Alex Rowland • Atlanta, GA Originally from Atlanta, Alex Rowland first learned to climb in Switzerland while in college, then returned to explore the climbing scene in the Southeast. Alex writes, climbs, and works toward an inclusive climbing culture. He considers this simply a piece of what makes the climbing culture wonderful—how the sport connects us, inevitably building intense trust and deep relationships with a diverse array of people. You can spot Alex working tirelessly to climb Bum Beast with fewer than eight hangs (there are fewer bolts), and you can feel free to contact him if you want to connect with someone familiar with the climbing scene around Atlanta.
Southern Appalachian Section americanalpineclub.org/southernappalachian • southernappalachian@americanalpineclub.org Drive down the spine of the Southern Appalachians and discover a lifetime of climbing. Start in West Virginia and the pump of Seneca Rocks. Head south to the new AAC Climbers’ Campground and tackle 1,600 sport and trad routes around the New River Gorge. Slip down the Blue Ridge into North Carolina for Stone Mountain’s friction. Try the wilderness experience of Linville Gorge, Grade V aid lines at Looking Glass, and the technical face, splitter cracks, and superb bouldering of Rumbling Bald. Come back in the winter to chase our ephemeral southern ice! Section Chair David Thoenen is a very active AAC member who organizes numerous events, including a new rappelling clinic to keep climbers at all levels safer. > Chair David Thoenen • Raleigh, NC A few years ago, in a chilly hut at 4,250 meters on Mt. Damavand, chatting with a dozen or so Iranian alpinists—the most hospitable folks you’ll ever meet—in a flash I realized that I had arrived at my answer to that classic question, “Why do you climb?” For the friendships I enjoy as a climber! Not the summits. They’re important. But it’s all about the new friends that I make everywhere I climb. Which leads to my next question: Why serve as Section Chair for the AAC? Same answer! Every week it’s my pleasure to rub shoulders with some of the finest people I’ll ever meet, my friends, the climbers of the southern Appalachians.
Washington D.C. Section americanalpineclub.org/washingtondc • washingtondc@americanalpineclub.org The Washington D.C. Section has roughly 300 members in D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia. We hold section meetings 3–4 times a year at the Cleveland Public Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Washington D.C. We also host local rock-climbing events at Great Falls and Carderock, and more far-flung areas such as the New River Gorge and Seneca Rocks in West Virginia. Members’ interests also include ice climbing, alpine climbing, ski touring and local gym climbing. For more information, or to get involved in section activities, please contact Simon or check out facebook.com/AmericanAlpineClubBlueRidgeSection. > Chair Simon Carr • Bethesda, MD Simon is originally from New Zealand. He moved to the U.S. in 1997 when he ran out of 3-star routes in his home country to tick. Now mostly a rock climber, he previously spent a number of nights shivering on small ledges while trying to be an alpinist, and many days skinning up glaciers carrying too much gear. He has climbed extensively in the U.S., New Zealand, and Europe, and he spent a summer in Antarctica as a field assistant carrying rocks for geologists. He is certain he has the largest collection of climbing guidebooks in Bethesda, Maryland.
Q • What’s the oldest mountain range in the U.S.?
IN YOUR BACKYARD //
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