Dartmouth Mountaineering Club. The Club activities for the year included all the perennial club events: conducting week-day rock-climbing classes for the Physical Education Department during the fall and spring; carrying out rock-climbing trips nearly every weekend during the ice-free seasons to the classic climbing areas in the Northeast; several winter ascents, including some ski-mountaineering; the traditional ascent of the Winter Carnival center-of-campus giant ice sculpture, which unfortunately overhung on all sides; infiltrating between closely spaced “no trespassing” signs in order to climb a magnificent cliff owned by the stubbornest farmer in New England; publishing our Journal; sponsoring several outstanding lectures; and, of course, holding a few “colorful” social events.

In addition to the usual activities, two innovations have entered into our way of life. The first was the establishment here last fall, by the Army, of a Mountain and Cold Weather Training Program, for Army ROTC students as an extra-curricular activity. The Army supplies all equipment, including ropes, hardware, and skis, and excellent instruction in both rock- and snow- mountaineering. There are at present 50 students enrolled in the program with plans for expansion to 100 next year. Cooperation between the Club and the Army personnel has been exceptionally good, and this program has done much to boost interest in climbing among Dartmouth students.

Our second and most recent innovation is the conducting of a unique winter program during the winter of 1957-58. This program consists of one night of lecture and one afternoon of practice a week, plus several weekend trips to Mount Washington and Mount Katahdin. While the course begins with the instruction in basic technique, the focus of the program will be on expeditionary training, in which we simulate as much as possible the problems encountered by an expedition.

During the summer of 1957 DMC members climbed in various places, including the Alps and major ranges in Canada and the U. S. The Club sponsored an expedition to the Bugaboos in British Columbia. The expedition members, Sam Silverstein, Sterling Neale, George Fisher, and Charles Plummer, packed into the Bugaboo Group of the Purcell Range in late August. After using a day of good weather for a practice climb, they were forced by bad weather to wait in vain for two weeks in the hope of good climbing weather.

In the Tetons Barry Corbet and Jake Breitenbach, who were working as guides, made the first ascent of the North Ridge of Teewinot. Also, in the Tetons, Sam Silverstein, Sterling Neale, and Charles Plummer put in a variation on the Lower Exum Ridge of the Grand Teton on September 4. The variation avoids traversing onto the west face of the ridge after the second step and instead goes straight up the crest of the ridge.

Charles C. Plummer, President