Colorado Mountain Club

Publication Year: 1976.

Colorado Mountain Club. Our membership is 4606, compared with 4892 a year ago. Early in the year our Los Alamos, New Mexico, group voted to disaffiliate with our club. The distance between us has never encouraged a truly close relationship, but we have nevertheless valued their friendship and counsel over the years.

The year included the usual busy schedule of hikes and climbs on a year-round basis. Our winter schedule, particularly, has grown steadily. Major outings were taken to Scotland and the Salmon River in Idaho, with two major ones in Colorado as well.

Education and conservation remain as two activities given special emphasis. The former is highlighted by group (chapter) activity in mountaineering schools and first-aid courses conducted by several of our local groups. In all, there are perhaps 500 students involved in these efforts. Conservation is still a growing concern in our state. Another trail-improvement outing was held in the summer. Our club is also a chief sponsor of efforts to expand Rocky Mountain National Park to include some other priceless alpine wilderness areas, particularly the Indian Peaks area at the south of the Park. Our effort has an interesting historical parallel in that the formation of this Park involved people who were also involved in the founding of the club.

Our future activities will undoubtedly include, to an ever greater degree, conservation and wilderness preservation. The impact of the “civilized” multitudes on Colorado’s mountains becomes more noticeable each year, and our most resourceful people are needed to implement ways in which we and our mountains can live in harmony.

John L. Devitt, President