CMC 101

fun facts about our favorite outdoor recreation, Education, and Conservation organization CMC 101:

by amanda larrInaga, marketIng and membershIp dIreCtor

Left to right: Albert R. Ellingwood, Barton Hoag, and Eleanor Davis take a break after a successful climb. Courtesy Colorado Mountain Club Archives.

CMC founding member Mary Sabin. Courtesy Colorado Mountain Club Archives ]

I moved to Colorado a mere sIx months ago, just a few short weeks before I started my tenure wIth the Colorado mountaIn Club. as the marketIng and membershIp dIreCtor, I’ve been fortunate to work wIth dIfferent aspeCts of the organIzatIon, whICh has allowed me to learn so muCh about not only the amazIng mountaIns of the state we all Call home, but of the rICh hIstory of thIs long-standIng volunteer-run organIzatIon. wIth over 10 years of experIenCe wIth nonprofIts and volunteer-run organIzatIons, I have never seen IndIvIduals wIth the same level of passIon, CommItment, and dedICatIon as I have seen at the CmC.

durIng my fIrst week of work wIth the CmC, I was asked to help Come up wIth a ConCIse message to desCrIbe what the CmC Is all about. talk about a task! the desCrIptIon I drafted holds true now, as It dId when the CmC was founded 101 years ago: “the Colorado mountaIn Club works to ensure that Current and future generatIons have the aCCess and abIlIty to enjoy Colorado ’ s open spaCes and outdoor aCtIvItIes. as one of Colorado ’ s oldest organIzatIons, the Colorado mountaIn Club foCuses on ConservatIon, advoCaCy, youth and adult eduCatIon, and outdoor reCreatIon adventures.” wIth thIs legaCy steeped In envIronmental and outdoor reCreatIon foresIght and fortItude, I am truly proud to Call myself a Colorado mountaIn Club member and feel prIvIleged to have been IntroduCed to Colorado ’ s mountaIns through our organIzatIon.

In CommemoratIng our 101 years as a volunteer-based organIzatIon, I’ve CompIled a lIst of 101 faCts I’ve learned about and have gaIned an appreCIatIon for, regardIng the Colorado mountaIn Club ’ s hIstory and Culture. whIle It may be far from exhaustIve, It has been eye openIng and InspIrIng for thIs young mountaIneer hopeful, new to Colorado.

1. In any given year, Adventure Travel leads up to 20 trips domestically and abroad, including countries as unique and diverse as New Zealand, Nepal, Russia, and Argentina. 2. One of the legacy Adventure Travel trips includes a trip to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. On this trip, participants stay in the same lodge as they did when the outing was first offered, in part because the lodge is still owned by the same family. 3. The Colorado Mountain Club is a partner in the American Mountaineering Museum, alongside the American Alpine Club, The National Geographic Society, and Colorado Mountain School. 4. The American Mountaineering Museum is named after world-renowned explorer Henry Bradford Washburn Jr. 5. Henry Bradford Washburn Jr. was born on June 7, 1910, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He first climbed Mount Washington at the age of 11. Two years later, his mother gave him his first camera, a Kodak Brownie, the point-and-shoot of the day. He remained passionate about climbing and photography for the rest of his life. 6. The Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum (BWAMM) opened in February 2008 and is America’s first and only museum dedicated to the heroism, technology, culture, and spirit of mountaineering; it’s also one of very few mountaineering museums in the world. 7. Each year, the museum honors individuals for their accomplishments both on and off the mountain by inducting them into the Hall of Mountaineering Excellence. 8. In 2013, the inductees were Nick Clinch, Barry Corbet, Norman Dyhrenfurth, Jeff Lowe, and Peter Metcalf. 9. The Colorado Mountain Club’s first permanent home was purchased in 1974 in Denver. 10. More recently, the building that houses both the BWAMM and the CMC’s state offices is the American Mountaineering Center (AMC) in Golden. 11. The AMC is jointly owned by the American Alpine Club and the Colo-

rado Mountain Club. 12. The American Mountaineering Center was originally Golden High School. 13. The BWAMM resides in what was formerly the girls’ gym. 14. The AMC includes a climbing wall that is used for adult and youth education programs. 15. In addition, the Denver Group offers open climbing in the evenings at the AMC. 16. With such unique character, the building is also home to a number of office dogs. 17. At the CMC, this number varies, depending on the day. Some of the dogs you might meet are named Beans, Kali, Laia, Olin, Piper, Rooney, Tsuga, and Tully. 18. The building was purchased in 1993 and underwent a $4.3 million renovation prior to opening its doors as the American Mountaineering Center. 19. The American Mountaineering Center is on the National Register of Historic Places. 20. In addition to serving as the headquarters for the CMC’s state office, it is also the Denver Group’s “Clubhouse.” 21. The Boulder Group maintains office hours at its volunteer-run office in South Boulder. 22. The Boulder Group built the Brainard Cabin in 1928. 23. The Boulder Group also established and maintains snowshoe trails in the area. 24. Brainard Cabin is open on most weekend days from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm, from mid-December to mid-April, with coffee and hot chocolate for $1 per visitor. 25. The CMC has had as many as 16 Groups across the state. 26. Currently there are 14 Groups in Colorado, with Denver being the largest. 27. In the last 10 years, the CMC has provided outdoor recreation outings for close to 200,000 adults. 28. All of these trips have been led by past and current volunteer trip leaders. 29. In 2012, this number was close to 800! 30. In addition to these outings, the CMC offers intensive outdoor recreation skills schools. Last year the number of schools offered statewide was 107. 31. Of those 100+ schools offered annually, the CMC educates an average of 6,000 adult students a year. 32. These outdoor recreation skills schools range from wilderness survival to knot tying to technical rock climbing to avalanche awareness. 33. The founding members of the Colorado Mountain Club consisted of only 25 individuals in 1912. 34. This number grew to 200 less than a year later. 35. The very first trip offered was to Denver’s Cheesman Park. 36. The first hike was to the top of South Boulder Peak a little over a month later. 37. Charter members include Enos Mills, whose efforts were influential in establishing Rocky Mountain National Park; Roger Toll, who held the prestigious positions of superintendent at Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, and Mount Rainier National Parks; and Carl Blaurock, who was joined by William Ervin as the first individuals to climb all of Colorado’s known 14,000-foot peaks. 38. Around the same time the Colorado Mountain Club was being organized in Denver in 1912, mountain enthusiasts were also organizing clubs in Colorado Springs and Boulder. 39. The Colorado Springs club joined the Colorado Mountain Club in 1919 and became the CMC’s Pikes Peak Group. 40. The year following the inception of the Pikes Peak Group, the Front Range Club joined and became the Boulder Group. 41. The Fort Collins Group was formed in 1921. 42. The Western Slope Group was created in 1950. 43. The El Pueblo Group was started in 1962. 44. A Longmont area group, Longs Peak Group, was started in 1963. 45. The San Juan Group was formed in 1965. 46. The Colorado Mountain Club currently has 6,500 active members. 47. This number includes 180 40-Year members. 48. And 197 Life members. 49. The Colorado Mountain Club’s first publication, in 1915, was a series of mountain wildlife pamphlets. 50. Starting in 1918, Trail & Timberline has been published as the Club’s magazine, which used to be published on a monthly basis. 51. In 1923, Roger Toll put together the Colorado Mountain Club’s first mountaineering book—a gazetteer with all the named summits in the state, along with their elevations. 52. One of the Colorado Mountain Club’s most definitive books, Guide to the Colorado Mountains (or Ormes, as it is affectionately known), has been in continuous publication for more than 60 years, earning the title of the best-selling Colorado book of all time, with well over 250,000 copies sold to date. 53. In addition to Ormes, CMC Press has approximately 40 books in print. 54. CMC Press publishes approximately three to four new books per year. 55. Of these books, CMC Press maintains and updates The Colorado Trail: The Official Guidebook of the Colorado Trail Foundation. 56. In 2013, the press will publish The Best Vail Valley Hikes; The Best Estes Park Hikes; The Colorado Trail Databook, fifth edition; and The Best Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes. 57. Some of the CMC’s best-selling books include The Colorado Trail: The Official Guidebook, now in its eighth edition; The Colorado 14ers: The Standard Routes; The Colorado 14ers Pack Guide; and The Best Front Range Hikes. 58. As one of the first organizations devoted to the Colorado mountains, the Colorado Mountain Club is the official repository for summit registers for all of the Fourteeners. 59. In fact, the CMC also maintains a comprehensive list of each person who has climbed all 54 of the Fourteeners. 60. Many famous mountaineers have been members of the Colorado Mountain Club. 61. A charter member of the CMC, the aforementioned Carl Blaurock often stood on his head after completing a climb. 62. Another charter member, Mary Cronin, was the first woman to climb all of Colorado’s Fourteeners. 63. Albert Russell Ellingwood, CMC member and pioneering Colorado mountaineer, has three peaks named after him, including the Ellingwood Ridge of La Plata Peak, the Ellingwood Arete ascent of Crestone Needle, and the Fourteener Ellingwood Point, near Blanca Peak. 64. James Grafton Rogers, Denver lawyer and outdoorsman who drafted legislation to create Rocky Mountain National Park, was a CMC member. 65. Another founding member was Mary Sabin, who, in 1911, wrote a series of articles in the Rocky Mountain News about the prospect of forming a mountain club. 66. The Colorado Mountain Club welcomed its first Executive Director in 1994 and now has a staff of 16 dedicated employees to supplement the Club’s volunteer efforts. 67. The Colorado Mountain Club’s birthday is April 26 and in 2013, the Club celebrated 101 years. 68. As part of the 100-year anniversary celebration, CMC members summited every publicly owned Fourteener in the state, getting approximately 400 climbers up and down safely—some of them making some pretty gnarly ascents, others climbing their first-ever Fourteener. 69. In 1999, the CMC launched a Youth Education Program (YEP) to extend its mission to Colorado’s youth. 70. Since then, YEP has educated over 70,000 students. 71. With an annual reach of 7,000 students, YEP provides outdoor recreation leadership education coupled with math and science curriculum. 72. A large percentage of those 7,000 students are considered low-in come or at-risk, and may be experiencing hands-on outdoor recreation adventures for the first time. 73. YEP also manages a Gear bank that houses an inventory of outdoor recreation gear for use by nonprofit organizations with youth programs. 74. Launching this summer, the Colorado Mountain Club is developing

Climbing a Fourteeneer is always a cause for celebration. Photo courtesy of Sam Hagopian ]

The Youth Education Program (YEP) was launched in 1999 and reaches approximately 7,000 students a year. Here, A YEP student enjoys a climb on a sunny day. Photo by Brenda Porter.

programming for young adult outdoor recreation leadership. It’s to be called “Alpine Start.” 75. The historical young adult outdoor recreation program of the Colorado Mountain Club in the Front Range was called the Denver Juniors. 76. Billy Roos, Director of Safety for Outward Bound, started out as a Denver Junior at age 14. 77. The largest outdoor recreation, education, and conservation organization in the Rocky Mountains, the CMC works with some of the country’s top outdoor recreation brands, including REI, Patagonia, and The North Face. 78. The partnership with REI has led to the CMC’s founding and continued involvement in the Outdoor Recreation Information Center (ORIC), the go-to Colorado outdoor recreation kiosk located at REI’s flagship store in Denver. 79. Some of our corporate partners do more than supply us with financial support and outdoor gear, some help ensure that its employees have access to our Club’s offerings through corporate memberships. The first corporate member in Colorado to do this was WhiteWave Foods. 80. The Colorado Mountain Club receives annual funding from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Since 1989, the SCFD has distributed funds from a 1/10 of 1% sales and use tax to organizations throughout the seven-county Denver Metro area. 81. Each year the Colorado Mountain Club hosts numerous outdoor recreation and conservation film festivals, including Banff Mountain Film Festival, Backcountry Film Festival, Radical Reels Film Festival, and the Wild and Scenic Film Festival. 82. The Banff Mountain Film Festival sold out both Friday and Saturday nights at Denver’s Paramount Theater in 2013. 83. 2013 will mark the 21st anniversary of the Backcountry Bash, an annual fund-raising event for the Colorado Mountain Club’s environmental conservation and advocacy efforts. 84. 2013 was the most well-attended Mountain Fest, the Colorado Mountain Club’s annual open house, to date. 85. Each year, the Colorado Mountain Club features world-renowned conservationists and outdoor enthusiasts as guest lecturers and presenters. During the last six months, this list has included Donny Roth, Dr. Jon Kedrowski, and Andrew Skurka. 86. The Colorado Mountain Club has partner Mountain clubs, such as The Mountaineers and the Appalachian Mountain Club, across the country that honor CMC member rates for trips and activities. 87. Backcountry Snowsports Initiative (BSI) is an extension of the Colorado Mountain Club’s advocacy work to defend human-powered winter recreation, while protecting the wild lands that support these activities. 88. The Colorado Mountain Club is a founding member of Outdoor Alliance Colorado—a coalition representing voices for human-powered recreation and conservation. 89. It is well known that CMC members led the charge in helping to establish Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915, but equally important is the role they played in the park’s designation as a wilderness area in 2009. 90. The Colorado Mountain Club helped convince the Franklin Roosevelt administration to expand Dinosaur National Monument from an 80-acre bone quarry in Utah into a 200,000+-acre park protecting the canyons of the Yampa and Green rivers in Colorado. 91. The Wilderness Act of 1964 is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in 2014. The Colorado Mountain Club played a significant role in the enactment of the act, which continues to benefit our mountaineers and outdoor lovers today. 92. In 2012, Colorado Mountain Club members lobbied for and in response President Obama designated Chimney Rock a unique cultural landscape in the San Juan National Forest and a National Monument. 93. In 2013, the Colorado Mountain Club helped to push through draft legislation to protect Browns Canyon. 94. In 2012, the Colorado Mountain Club had 70 on-the-ground volunteer projects across Colorado. 95. This included over 7,500 volunteer hours, which doubled the amount of volunteer hours from the previous year. 96. Those 7,500+ hours were completed by over 600 volunteers and 40 youth volunteers. 97. The Colorado Mountain Club has countless examples of successful marriages from individuals meeting on CMC trips. 98. Some of these same couples have become avid volunteers and financial supporters of the Colorado Mountain Club. In fact in some cases, these amazing individuals leave part of their estate to the CMC. 99. Our volunteers are second to none. Many of our volunteers donate more time and financial services than an average employee. 100. The Colorado Mountain Club boasts numerous individuals who have volunteered for decades. 101. The Colorado Mountain Club would not be what it is today or be able to reach the 40,000+ adults it interacts with each year without its committed volunteers and members.