The Arizona Mountaineering Club. During the year 2000, the Arizona Mountaineering Club’s membership base reached 596. The club continued its traditional role as trainer of local rock climbers, as well as building its base in broader alpine pursuits. The AzMC has had a reputation for holding rock climbing schools in which it focuses on safety and self-rescue. This year, the AzMC graduated 83 students through its Basic Rock Climbing School, 55 climbers through its Anchors and Advanced Rope Safety School, and 33 potential leaders through Lead School. A haven of hard-pulling sport climbers, the AzMC offered numerous outings to local crags as well.

Reflecting its growing numbers and the increasing attraction of mountaineering among its current and potential membership base, the AzMC also offered a Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue seminar, and, through a professional guide service in Durango, Colorado, the AzMC offered training in basic and multipitch ice climbing to 29 students.

In 2000, club members traveled to Canada, Alaska, Europe, South America, and Asia in mountaineering climbs and expeditions. While most of the trips were private, they provided an opportunity for club members to gain alpine experience that can be brought back and incorporated within future club activities.

The club also met members’ needs and requests by sponsoring seminars and activities on topics ranging from map and compass to backcountry medicine to rock-climbing photography to trail building. In view of the continued expansion of its activities, the club continues to weigh risk-management considerations with the potential benefits of those activities.

Access issues continue throughout the state, as development encroaches the close-in crags. Near Phoenix, the north McDowells, including Pinnacle Peak, continue to be the center of controversy, though it appears that the long-awaited reopening of Pinnacle Peak for climbing is foreseeable, due to the resolution of an acquisition plan related to land for parking.

Erik Filsinger, President