Idaho Alpine Club. 1990 marked the 30th anniversary of the I.A.C. and Idaho’s Centennial. Members organized a “Spuds on Denali” expedition to commemorate both events. Mike Obleness, Chris Averill, Dave Fields and Paul Henslee attempted the South Buttress, but were repelled by the unusually severe crevasse conditions on the ramp leading to the ridge crest. Chuck Odette, Jed Flannigan and Mark Fogarty made an epic ascent of the Cassin Ridge in very severe blizzard conditions which took the lives of others on the mountain. As a training climb the teams made the first ascent of the decade of Mount Borah in the Idaho Sawtooths in a January blizzard. The team leaders, Obleness and Odette, followed up with a winter ascent of the Grand Teton.

Other notable climbs in the Tetons: Tom Ballard did a winter solo ascent of the east ridge of the Grand Teton and in July a solo of the Direct Exum with two other soloists. Chuck Denure and Steven Reiser climbed the Grand Teton’s north ridge via the Valhalla traverse, finding it to be an enjoyable climb, with the wet, icy chockstone chimney being most memorable. Leon Wolfram took a long leader fall on Mount Moran, putting him in the hospital with broken ribs and a collapsed lung and reminding the rest of us how fragile and vulnerable we are.

The Access Fund assisted financially in creating Friends of City of Rocks, which is staffed primarily by I.A.C. members. The group’s main concern is voicing the interests of the climbing community in the development of a general management plan with the National Park Service for City of Rocks National Reserve. Friends of City of Rocks may be contacted through R O. Box 2053, Idaho Falls, ID 83403.

The club continued its annual schedule of classes on avalanche awareness, knot school, snow school, ice climbing and basic rock techniques. In Idaho’s Pocatello Pump competition, Chuck Odette, Mike Schreck, Mary Stephens and Brenda Boyle placed high in several categories. Richard Stephens was a member of a post-monsoon expedition to Shisha Pangma which ascended the Chinese route to 7200 meters before being forced off the mountain by severe weather.

To contact us, write to: Idaho Alpine Club, P. O. Box 2885, Idaho Falls, ID 83403.

Steven Reiser