Yale Mountaineering Club. The past year has been spent in providing instruction for new members in the various phases of rock climbing and snow and ice technique, and in enlarging and strengthening the Club’s safety program. A new system has been adopted in which certain members, termed Trip Leaders, are directly responsible for safety on Club climbs. These men, the most responsible members, are chosen on the basis of judgment, experience, ability, and knowledge of the local climbs and the climber’s abilities. A trip leader designates the rope leaders prior to each climb. It is hoped that this system will further strengthen the safety element in club climbing and keep the Y. M. C. safety record in its unblemished state.

With the closing of the Connecticut State Parks to climbers, as a result of several recent fatalities (not Y. M. C. climbers) on the Sleeping Giant, the Club has had to seek new localities for practice climbing. In spite of the fact that there is no climbing permitted on the Sleeping Giant at present, the Club is hopeful that the cliff will be reopened soon and is in the process of formulating a Climber’s Guide to Mt. Carmel. This guide will list and briefly describe the 84 known routes on the main face, many of which are yet unclimbed. This guide will be included in the contents of a bound journal which the Club hopes to publish during the next year.

Last May, the Y. M. C. took a leading part in the Safety Conference sponsored by the A. M. C., demonstrating rescue techniques to the assembled climbers from Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and the A. M. C.

In June of 1953, a party of three made an attempt on the Devil’s Tower by the Weissner Route. Several others were later successful on the Durrance Route.

In August, a group met in the Tetons and in the three weeks spent there made ten ascents, including Teepee’s Pillar, the Grand Teton, Mt. Owen, and Mt. Moran. Members also climbed in the Yosemite, the High Sierra, the Cascades, the Alps, and in Canada.

Stephen C. Porter