AAC_Ascent_March18_AW.pdf 1 3/13/18 6:19 PM I REMEMBER GETTING EXCITED WHEN, ON REALLY RARE OCCASIONS, I’D SEE OTHER ASIAN CLIMBERS. I FELT COMPELLED TO MEET THEM, LEARN WHERE THEY CAME FROM, AND UNDERSTAND HOW THEY GOT INTO CLIMBING. My best friend introduced Me to cliMbing during My sophoMore Eastern cultures is one of pragmatism, locked deeply in traditional and year in high school. I remember looking up at the towering climbs of societal molds. I’m also sure my mother didn’t envision climbing when the New River Gorge’s Endless Wall like it were just last weekend. I she was enduring nightmarish hardships escaping concentration camps WHAT’S INSIDE also remember the sweltering heat and oppressive humidity of the West and fleeing 10,000 miles around the world with a toddler. Virginia summer, the ominous sensation of remoteness, and how small With reason, it’s taken some time, but I think she’s come to terms with I felt walking in the shadows of the five-mile-long cliff. I stared up into my life choices. Even at 75 years of age, she still tries to get me involved Who We Are ..................................................3 the forest canopy searching for the top of the climbs and wondered in her global business ventures—but she’s also pretty proud of her three- how, or even if, I’d explain the experience to my year-old grandson who climbs. mother. I mean, how would a first generation In 1994, I moved to Arizona with dreams Vietnamese immigrant parent react to stories of climbing 365 days a year. Living in Tempe Rescue Benefit ...............................................4 BRANDING IN ACTION of her son doing anything other than chasing and then Flagstaff, I sought out a life among the proverbial American Dream? climbers and only climbers. I traveled through I came to the States with my mother in 1980 the Southwest and the Four Corners for almost Gear Discounts .............................................5 after spending years in communist and refugee a decade, climbing six or seven days a week. I camps following the Vietnam War. With only remember getting excited when, on really rare the clothes on her back and $50, my mother occasions, I’d see other Asian climbers. I felt invested in a little peanut roaster and started compelled to meet them, learn where they came Publications ..................................................7 selling packets of candied peanuts for 50 cents from, and understand how they got into climb- apiece. After some time, she began making egg ing. It was a different experience to be sharing Here are some examples of good AAC branding rolls, and I’d take to the streets of Roanoke, a sport that, at that time, was predominately Lodging .........................................................9 Virginia to sell them. Soon enough, she began white. So white that I’d usually forget that I CHANGING FACES a small Vietnamese food kiosk, which expanded was Asian. There was a time when one of my into a restaurant, followed by multiple similar friends and I were talking about cultures, and Grants..........................................................10 reflecting on 30 years of climbing businesses over the years. I guess you could say, they jokingly made the comment, “....wait, quite literally, we started from peanuts. you’re Asian?” As I grew up in America, the one thing I a Truc and his family lost everything when Today, I live in Seattle, a culturally diverse as seen in print ads, spreads from the Guidebook Story and Photos by Truc Allen wanted to do was fit in. I wanted to speak the Saigon fell in 1975 and he, his mother, and three city with one of the largest Vietnamese popu- Education ....................................................13 language perfectly, wear the same clothes as siblings were forced to relocate to a communist lations in the country. For the last 10 years, prison camp. Truc and his mom eventually everyone else, and eat the same food. I even escaped into Malaysia, pictured above, but were I’ve been fortunate to see climbing grow and went to my mother’s friend who was baking forced to leave the rest of the family behind. flourish here, from the local gyms to national my birthday cake and asked her to write my They were fostered into America two years later. outdoor climbing destinations. On a recent trip Policy & Advocacy ......................................14 to Membership, and other graphic assets. These name in icing as “Michael.” I grew up playing team sports, and my best to the Cascades, my partners and I were descending a trail when I looked friend was one of the most popular kids in school. That day of climbing across one of the busier sections of the crag. The stone was speckled in West Virginia, almost 30 years ago, changed my whole outlook. After with a diverse palette of climbers and belayers. I felt a sense of pride just Local Community .......................................16 a hellish 45-minute single-pitch battle up my first climb, I felt emancipa- thinking about how much has changed and evolved in our community. tion—from the pressure of succeeding, from wanting to be like everyone Climbing has always been for everyone—it just took me awhile to see it. else, from expectations other than my own. designs, when taken with other information Roanoke wasn’t known for its cultural diversity. I was usually the only Truc Allen is a long-time AAC member, volunteer, former Cascade Section Asian person among my friends, in the sports I played, and definitely at Chair, and current National Volunteer Coordinator for the Club. He lives in the crag. My family saw climbing as frivolous, a phase at best, and too Seattle, WA with his wife, Heidi, and son, Luc. dangerous. A person's journey in life as seen from the perspective of Far 2 THE AMERICAN ALPINE CLUB BENEFITS FIELD GUIDE 1 found in this brand guide, will help lead your AAC member John Glassberg 20 21 AAC_FieldGuide_18_20p.indd 2-1 8/21/18 11:00 AM aesthetic for AAC communications. AAC_GTM_18_V2.indd 20-21 8/21/18 11:16 AM C AAC_FieldGuide_18_20p.indd 1 8/21/18 11:01 AM M Y CM ClimbingZine_Feb18.pdf 3 2/12/18 9:38 AM MY CY 2017 ANNUAL REPORT CMY When I took the helm at the AAC in 2005, we looked inward us deepen our commitment to change. Our Craggin’ Classic TOGETHER, WE: ADDITIONALLY, WE: MEMBERSHIP GROWTH: and asked: Who do we represent? Who do we want to be in the events are meant to connect local climbing communities across ཀྵ Hosted a panel discussion with K future? The answer came back consistently: we want to be the the nation. This attention to grassroots needs and changing 50 x 50 Paiute leaders at our Bishop 20,000 Club for all climbers. community creates a platform for conversation, learning, and Convened in Washington, D.C. Craggin’ Classic event conservationthatnowvieswithourAnnualBenefitDinnerfor with 50 climbers to attend 50 ཀྵ Worked to increase visual 18,000 We had long been associated with expedition climbers and financialresults.Theseeventsareemblematicofthebalance meetings with legislators and representation of all climbers alpinists. We talked of reaching summits—often by new and we strive for: honoring our heritage as a Club while welcoming agency leaders across digital channels 16,000 difficultroutes—astheculminationofadedicationtoclimbing. fresh outlooks and continuing to proactively evolve. ཀྵ Developedwomen-specificclinics AAC member Austin Siadak We spent decades honoring achievement within the narrow 23,000 at each of our Craggin' Classic 14,000 mountaineering community, while the sport of climbing was Ifirmlybelievethatthefiscalhealth,membershipgrowth,and Series events subdividing into a multitude of specialties, each with its own the array of other successes listed below has been made possible Comments submitted for ཀྵ Featuredthefirstfemaleonthe culture. by the changing complexion of our volunteers across the nation the protection of Bears Ears AAJ cover 12,000 andtheconcertedeffortbyourboardtodevelopvarietywithin National Monument ཀྵ Appointed Deanne Buck as our 10,000 Looking back, it may not have seemed momentous for us to its ranks. $50,000 new—and second—female board GRANTS give our Underhill award for climbing achievement to John Gill in president 2008foradvancingbouldering,butfortheAAC,itwasasignifi- So much of what we have done seems inconsequential by itself. Dollars awarded in Cornerstone ཀྵ Featuredourfirstfemalekeynote 8,000 cant nod to the evolving and multifaceted nature of our identity. Together, small moves create change, and today, the AAC is more and Research grants for attheAnnualBenefitDinner Coin for climbing. The AAC has a Popular Club grant programs include: open, more inviting and more capable of taking even bolder conservation projects and ཀྵ Developed a member composition 6,000 In2011,wereaffirmedthisdirectionandtheorganization’s steps in the years ahead. We’ve been able to bring our traditional forscientificendeavorsin task force 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 growth accelerated. Mountaineering became just one of many membership and leadership along on this path. There have mountains and crags around C storied legacy of funding climbing o Live Your Dream o Cornerstone Conservation the world ཀྵ Began developing an education- MEMBERSHIP AGE: ways for people to engage with the Club. We changed the name been debates, hiccups, and missteps—and there will be more, specificgranttocultivatethe M related projects–from expeditions to Supports every-day adventurers Empowers healthy climbing of Accidents in North American Mountaineering to Accidents in North buttheAACisaverydifferentplacethanitwasadecadeago. leaders and role models of 9.8% 0.4% American Climbing.Oureffortstokeepupwiththislandscape We must continue to forge ahead in these new directions. We 2,660 tomorrow 14.18% Y research–in support of our mission. looking to take their abilities to landscapes by underwriting local demandedaboard,staff,andvolunteerswhocouldrepresent have begun the journey, and I am proud of how far we’ve come. Climbers gathered across the THE NUMBERS: 10.11% CM the next level, regardless of age, crag conservation, infrastructure andreflectthenewdynamicsinclimbing.Werevisedourmission country at our local Craggin’ With more than $175,000 in annual andvisiontoreflectwhowestrivedtobe. Thank you each for the role you play in where we’ve been and Classic Series events 3% MY experience level, or discipline. and stewardship projects. where we’re heading. 44% 12.3% awards, Club grants encourage thou- Our most popular grant. Weactivelysoughtwomentoleadandfoundhowdifficultit 144 Contributions/Grants CY LEARN MORE o Scientific Research Programs 24.54% sands of climbers to dream big and canbetochangeaculture—likethatofourboardorstaff—and Live Your Dream grant projects 37% REVENUE CMY americanalpineclub.org/ o Cutting Edge Aids scientific endeavors that make those changes stick. funded with over $70,000 $4,035,873 Membership awarded in 2017 Other grants push their limits: for pioneering Funds advanced, seasoned contribute vital knowledge 28.68% K The results of our steps towards inclusion have brought nothing 16% 18 or Younger 19 - 25 26 - 30 cutting-edge new routes around the climbers undertaking expedi- of our climbing environment, but good news. Our 20,000 members bring a diversity of thought, Phil Powers 25,844 31 - 40 41 - 50 51 - 60 61+ world; for improving infrastructure at tions to remote areas featuring enrich our understanding of location, climbing interest and political point of view that helps CEO Nights spent under the stars at 26% unexplored mountain ranges, global climber impacts and theAAC’sfivecampgrounds General/Admin climbing crags across the country; for 54% EXPENSES Membership unclimbed peaks, difficult new support and improve the health $3,809,029 Fundraising funding scientific research expeditions routes, first free ascents, or simi- and sustainability of mountain 10% Programs that contribute invaluable informa- 9% lar world-class pursuits. environments and habitats. tion to our understanding of mountain Other grant offerings include the Jones Backcountry Adventure Grant, ecosystems. Mountaineering Fellowship Fund grant, Anchor Replacement Fund, and more. 10 THE AMERICAN ALPINE CLUB BENEFITS FIELD GUIDE 11 a Liuyong Bang (aka Abond) climbs Spicy Dumpling (9a) at White 4646 Mountain in Yangshuo, China. AAC member Jon Glassberg @jonglassberg AAC_FieldGuide_18_20p.indd 10-11 8/21/18 10:58 AM AAC_GTM_18_V2.indd 46-47 8/21/18 11:15 AM CCS_18_FullPageAd.pdf 1 4/20/18 10:29 AM LODGING Sleep well, send well. The AAC is committed to building and maintain- CCS_18_NewRiverGorge.pdf 1 8/21/18 10:54 AM OR_BotB_18_Poster.pdf 1 6/29/18 12:31 PM ing facilities for climbers in popu- ’ lar climbing destinations across the THE AMERICAN ALPINE CLUBS country. Members enjoy access to a THE LEGACY OF BETSY WHITE worldwide network of lodging options, LEARN MORE including reduced rates at both Club a conversation with an AAC legend and trailblazer americanalpineclub.org/ owned and partner-owned facilities. lodging Interview by Anna Kramer | Photos from the Betsy White Collection C Current Club facilities include: Longtime AAC member Elizabeth “Betsy” White nows a thing or two abot the Clb he an her hsban ­ene M o GrandTetonClimber’sRanch Y became members in €‚ƒ„ bac when newcomers ha to be nominate to secre a s…ot Betsy has travele the worl CM o GunksCampground Community Climbing Festivals in search of new e†…eriences climbing an learning In trn we’re lcy to have the o……ortnity to learn from her MY CY o HuecoRockRanch Betsy has serve the Clb as ierra ˆevaa ection Chair ‰along with her hsban ­eneŠ on the Clb’s Boar of CMY o NewRiverGorgeCampground ‹irectors on the Œonorary Žembershi… Committee an as or re…resentative to the ‘IAA E†…eitions Committee K Betsy also receive the ‹avi A owles Žemorial Awar in €‚’’ for rescing her teammate Žie Warbrton o Snowbird Hut, Talkeetna AK ring a €‚’“ attem…t on Žaal the fifth•highest montain in the worl he s…oe to s from her home in Bereley C C M M California abot the …rogression of climbing the history of the AAC an why she loves the montains o RumneyRattlesnakeCampground Y Y CM CM MY MY CY CY CMY I was born in New York City in 1938. I grew up in Denver, Colorado When we came back to America, I got a master’s at the University of CMY K Additional lodging options include K 8 and started skiing when I was 13. I soon discovered the cool people— Colorado and a PhD at the University of Denver in international stud- 1 0 largely boys—who were skiing in the winter were climbing in the summer. ies. The Peace Corps experience changed our lives, leading us to pursue er 21 23 2 mb e pt Classic Chattanooga’s The Crash Pad, the e S agginʼ the moon: the Cr al wl at festiv So I joined the Colorado Mountain Club when I was 17, took their development issues from then forward. We moved to California in ‘73, ttle, and ho 3-day y bo special e This ! a the whisk rgini i essional V ass of P est y pr W b to rock-climbing course, and started climbing the Fourteeners in Colorado. and after several years teaching at San Francisco State University, I joined back clinics taught Mazama Lodge at Mt. Hood, Refugio coming ilms, is with f Series eries, w climbing e all things om local br ates fr affles, the Asia Foundation, a nonprofit based in San Francisco with offices all celebr guides, beer music, food, r tes and local esentations, and Cochamo in Chile, huts in Austria, athle pr ojects, and games, dship pr After teaching in Colorado for a year and a half, my husband and over Asia. I headed their office in Jakarta for three years in the 1980s, ps ar w ws, com ag ste cr climbers. slidesho y endor villages, b v ent for climbers, I joined the Peace Corps and went to Pakistan. All our friends were and in Pakistan in the ‘90s, working with Afghan refugees. silent auctions, v , a climbing e inally Canada, France, New Zealand, es a'plenty! F high-fiv going to Nepal, and they said, “Oh, you know all these climbers are T going to Nepal in the Peace Corps—you’ve got to sign up.” Well, we All this time we were always climbing, whenever we could. I started TURING MUSICAL GUES FEA oint string band Germany, Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein, Long p signed up, but it was Pakistan that wanted engineers, and my husband, climbing in Colorado, then spent a year in Europe climbing in the Alps. THLETES T GOODMAN, Spain, Switzerland, and more! SIONAL A A , P TT Gene, was an engineer. So we went to Pakistan. We were lucky to be In 1961 Gene and I made a grand foray of skiing in the Alps for a couple O AND PROFES Y SC , KERR AN MIRSKY , D CK, SHANE MESSER, & MORE! JESSE HUEY U MA assigned to Peshawar: We could see a 22,000-foot peak from our little of months, then drove down to the Middle East and eventually to East A GOEBEL, DR JESS two-room apartment. We stayed on for another three and a half years Africa, where we climbed Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya. We climbed all after our two years as volunteers. the time in Pakistan, and since we also lived for five years in Indonesia, , olv oga, Ev Presented By es Ashtanga Y C., AAC member Ben Ditto eat Lak ces LL 8 THE AMERICAN ALPINE CLUB BENEFITS FIELD GUIDE 9 esour er Alliance of Climbers, Gr fee, S.C. R w Riv er Joe Cof e w o ock Candy Holds, N tone T R ain, Organic Climbing, S edbudsuds 43 ynchburg, R Misty Mount or Christ: L ock Climbers f Solid R cahses. et pur n At k o its ati agginʼ Classic tic str i g ther member benef Re , e discounts on Cr n v o ecie i at he Club and o orm C members r e about t icanalpineclub.org Inf AA n mor at amer Lear AAC_FieldGuide_18_20p.indd 8-9 8/21/18 10:59 AM AAC_GTM_18_V2.indd 42-43 8/21/18 11:15 AM AAC BRAND GUIDE 10