The American Alpine Club

113 EAST 90TH STREET NEW YORK 28, N. Y.

To All Lovers of Mountains:

No mountaineer, looking back on the 1947 climbing season, can fail to be impressed and saddened by the shocking number of fatal and near-fatal accidents which have cast a shadow on the ever- broadening enthusiasm for our sport. Nor can he content himself— if he be a true mountaineer—to sit back and assuage his conscience with the vague hope that something will be done by someone to foster a balanced understanding of mountaineering principles. Yet, with reason, he can ask, “What can the individual do?”

To stimulate the thinking of all mountaineers and lovers of mountainous regions, the Safety Committee of the American Alpine Club has prepared a survey of accidents which occurred in the summer of 1947, broadly analyzing the factors which caused or contributed to tragedy. To this survey the Committee has appended recommendations, implementations of which, it believes, will succeed in fostering national respect for the high places, wider understanding of established techniques, and a saner philosophical approach to the benefits which accrue to those who would know the mountains.

I commend to you this survey, not as a finished product, but as food for thought; not as a localized effort but as a challenge to national action. Only through the cooperation of all who love the mountains can ignorance be replaced by experience, sound discretion and mature judgment. Safe climbing means more enjoyment.

May your individual and collective thoughts be translated into action, and your views conveyed to the Chairman of the Safety Committee of the American Alpine Club, and with such dispatch that future climbing seasons may reflect credit upon the mountaineering fraternity.

Walter A. Wood, President