A.A.C., New England Section. The New England Section started 1983 invigorated by the highly successful annual dinner in December 1982. The teamwork involved in producing that affair did a great deal to bring many of us together, while our share of the proceeds was a welcome addition to our treasury.

At a March business meeting Sam Streibert stepped down after a decade as Section chairman. I was elected to succeed him, and Alan Long was chosen vice-chairman. John Imbrie remains as treasurer and Lois Malone as editor of our newsletter, The Crux.

Once again we had a winter get-together at Ted and Earlyn Church’s in Vermont. While the weather was far from cooperative, the good companionship and fine food made up for the climatological deficiencies. Bad weather also failed to dent the good spirits at the fall meeting in New Hampshire hosted by Rick and Brenda Wilcox. This gathering featured Mark Richey’s slides of his recent climbs in the Andes.

Our members have been working hard with the Appalachian Mountain Club and other local climbers on the various access problems which are unfortunately on the increase here as elsewhere. Our principal efforts have been directed to the still unresolved situation with Quincy Quarries and the Echo Bridges, both popular with Boston climbers. As the year ended, a new problem arose with the closing by a private landowner of the Winter Wall in Connecticut.

And, of course, our members have been climbing actively in a wide variety of places. Most notable was new member Dave Breashears’ filming effort in Nepal, which just happened to take him to the summit of Mount Everest. In addition to his filming tasks, Dave played a crucial role in the summit climb and safe descent of the whole party. Members of the Everest East Face Expedition included Dave Coombs and Geoff Tabin. Others in the Section climbed in South America, Alaska, Europe, and throughout the United States and Canada.

Alan Rubin, Chairman