The Mountaineers. The Mountaineers’ Seattle climbing program, under the leadership of Ron Eng, has maintained its traditional focus on alpine climbing in the Pacific Northwest. The Basic and Intermediate Climbing courses, which compose the core of the program, continue to command high demand from club members. However, the program has now expanded to match continuing growth and diversification of “climbing.”

Mixed climbing is now an integral part of waterfall ice climbing. Curriculum for the Waterfall Ice Climbing Course includes coverage of drytooling techniques. This program has initiated an effort to develop an area dedicated specifically to dry tooling. Although the area is close to a popular, heavily used sport-climbing area, it utilizes exposures that would not be suitable for traditional sport climbing. Negotiations with the governing land-management agency led to an agreement, before any route-setting work began. Establishment of such specific drytooling areas will serve to lessen the possibility of conflict with other classes of climbing users. The climbing program continues to include a Crag Climbing Course.

Administration of the climbing program continues to incorporate increasing electronic technology. A majority of climb leaders are making use of the climb-leader Web page trip-registration system. Therefore, more and more information is included on the climbing-program general Web page. An electronic bulletin board facilitates the exchange of information regarding routes and conditions. The climbing program Web page URL is http://www.eskimo.com/-pc22/CC/cc.html.

Four of our members—Mike Maude, Gretchen Lentz, Rich Karstens, and Charlene Hallstaff—received the Denali Pro 2000 award from the National Park Service in recognition of rescue efforts in the spring. They were from two separate climbing parties that successfully reached the summit of Denali via the West Buttress route. While at the 17,200-foot high camp, members of both parties assisted with the rescue, evaluation, and treatment of a hypoxic, exhausted, and dehydrated Australian climber who was having difficulty descending from Denali Pass. The climber was escorted by one team down the West Buttress and turned over to Park Service rescuers below Washburn’s Thumb. In addition, the four climbers evaluated a HACE case for the Park Service.

This year, The Mountaineers Books introduced Climbing: From Gym to Crag, the first title in The Mountaineers Outdoor Expert Series. New titles focused on building outdoor skills will be added to the series each year. Bradford Washburn: Mountain Photography was published in February, winning both the Grand Prize and Mountain Image Award at the 2000 Banff Mountain Book Festival. The Wildest Dream: The Biography of George Mallory received this year’s Boardman-Tasker Award for Mountain Literature. The Mountaineers Books is now the exclusive distributor for Colorado Mountain Club Press, whose notable titles include Guide to the Colorado Mountains, The Colorado Trail, and Roof of the Rockies. A free catalog of over 600 titles is available by calling 800-553-4453.

Donna Price, Trustee