AAC, Cascade Section. In 2002 the Cascade Section hosted one main event and supported two others. On December 13 we had a reception and slideshow for members and guests with Carlos Buhler as our speaker. With over 160 people attending, the reception allowed members old and young to catch up with one another and tell tall tales. Outdoor Research provided the beer, always popular and drunk to the last drop, and Cascade Designs and Helly Hansen donated some excellent gear for the raffle. The slideshow and talk was inspirational and entertaining, with beautiful mountain images from Alaska, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Tibet, and Peru. Carlos selected only a few climbs from his impressive resumé to show the joy and challenge of climbing at all altitudes as low as 3,000m to the unique problems of 8,000m peaks.

On November 17 a benefit was held for Göran Kropp, organized by Helly Hansen and sponsored by the AAC and The Mountaineers. Over $1,400 was raised for charity with the showing of the late climber's epic documentary I Made It: Göran Kropp’s Incredible Solo Journey to the Top of the World. Kropp died in a climbing accident near Vantage, Washington, on September 30. Ed Viesturs represented the AAC at this benefit, sharing a few of his favorite Kropp stories from the time he spent with him on Everest. The proceeds from the benefit were donated to the Göran Kropp Bishwa Darshan Primary School in Taptin, Chyangba, Solukhumbu, Nepal, which Kropp founded in 1996.

On November 14, Dr. Charles Houston gave a talk organized by Tom Hornbein and attended by many AAC members. Dr. Houston, one of our country’s great gurus of the golden age of exploratory mountaineering, narrated the premier of a video he has created recounting his nearly lifelong love affair with two closely related mistresses. Introduced to mountaineering in the Alps in 1925, his first explorations occurred while a Harvard student in the '30s, notably in the remote, unexplored wilderness of Alaska and the Yukon. His film, created from still and movie footage, depicted his four great Himalayan journeys: Nanda Devi in 1936, K2 in 1938 and 1953, and the first visit to see Everest’s Icefall in Nepal with Bill Tilman in 1950.

Among 2002 climbing activities reported to me by Section members are several new routes: Ade Miller with Forrest Murphy and Don Serl climbed the Passport Couloir

(TD-) on Mt. Winstone in the Tchaikazan Valley, B.C., on September 22. On September 14 Mike Layton and Jordan Peters made the first ascent of Back of Beyond Buttress on the north face/buttress of Unnamed Peak 6,800 in the Kookipi Creek area near Boston Bar, British Columbia. Carlton Swan reported climbing Mt. Elbrus in Russia and Orizaba in Mexico. Daniel Mazur was very busy leading expeditions to Nojin Kansa, a 7,000m peak near Lhasa, Tibet; the Northwest face of Kangchenjunga; twice to Ama Dablam, including an attempt on the North ridge. Jim Frush and Peter Ackroyd made the first ascent of Gaugiri (6,110m) in Upper Mustang, Nepal, using the first permit issued under the new climbing regulations. Others were kept very busy on the great routes available here in the Cascades, and many other activities go unreported.

To give us all hope as we grow older, I am happy to report that on November 21 Stim Bullitt, now in his 83rd year, climbed Illusion Dweller (5.10b), a 5-star climb at Joshua Tree National Park in California. I am sure this was only one of his many hard climbs, and I know there will be many more to come!

Please visit our Web site at http://cas.alpineclub.org, and if you have questions about the Section, contact me at pdack1@attbi.com.

Peter Ackroyd, Chair