The Mazamas

Publication Year: 1988.

The Mazamas. The Mazamas of Portland, Oregon, ended their fiscal year with 2718 members. Climbing activities of the year included 157 climbs for the May-through-September summer season, four of which were cancelled because of bad weather. Twenty-seven ascents were unsuccessful, leaving 130 Mazama parties which actually reached their intended summits, a total of 1,240 individual ascents. About 20 climbs were scheduled for the winter season, and as usual, most were stormed off.

Dick Weisbaum led a winter ski outing of 28 people to Austria and Italy in February. Martin Snoey joined a successful ascent of Alpamayo in Peru in June. Nate Rathbone led a hiking group to Machu Picchu in Peru and Chimborazo in Ecuador. Jim Miller and Jack Samper took a group over the Chilkoot Trail in Alaska. Jack Grauer led a climbing group through the North Cascades. Two expeditions found disappointment on Mount McKinley in Alaska. Bob Breivogel, Richard Denker, Scott South, Barry Bell, and Don Cosgro attempted the South Buttress. Dennis Olmstead, Chris and Barry Evenson, Tom Gordon, Evan Jones, and Ed Strohmaier gave the West Rib a good try. Cosmo Palomba and Gary Barnes led a hiking group to Havasu Canyon, Arizona, in March. Ray Mosser led a party of nine down the Main Fork of Idaho’s Salmon River, and John McAnulty took another nine down the Green River in Utah. George and Sue Stonecliffe took a group of nine climbers into the Goat Rocks area in Washington.

The Trail Trips Committee scheduled 198 hikes, with four cancelled. Almost all were within easy driving distance of Portland. This amounted to 2,525 individual trips. Hikes varied through a range of easy “A” grade trips to difficult “C” trips. Snowshoe hikes and overnight snow bivouacs were included.

Don Burnet yielded his position of presidency in October to the new president, Paula Beers-Klee. The club has continued with an active conservation program under chairmanship of Greg Parsons. The Research Committee awarded six grants for mountain-oriented scientific study during the past year. Mountain-book expert, John Pollock of Seattle, evaluated the Mazama library, and computerized control of the Mazama book collection has been instituted.

Jack Grauer