Alaska Alpine Club

Publication Year: 1973.

Alaska Alpine Club. The club continued its weekly luncheon business meetings and monthly slide shows. We have added whitewater canoe and kayak skills into our activities, making it possible to get into some very remote spots. We hope to see a number of new ascents and new areas opened up by “kayak climbing” that otherwise could not be done.

Enrollment in the club’s climbing class set records despite a limitation on numbers. Our publication, Descent, has survived another year and was distributed to members and exchanged with other climbing organizations. The annual Glacier Stampede, which is open to everyone, serves as an introduction to the club, glacier travel, huts, and the mountains of Alaska. In 1972, 237 people from all over Alaska turned out. Dog teams supported the overnight cross-country skiing event. The club may be contacted for assistance in locating dog team support for expeditions to the Brooks and Alaska Ranges.

The club persuaded the Bureau of Land Management to spare “our” practice climbing rocks from a pump station on the Trans-Alaska Pipe Line. We are currently working with the state on a park which would include a large number of granite tors.

Plans to climb Mount McKinley by a new route fell through, but a new route was made on Mount Russell by two members.

Daniel L. Osborne, Vice-President