In February our section helped the International Mountain Climbing School sponsor the 19th annual Mt. Washington Valley Ice Fest in North Conway, New Hampshire. On Friday night, Will Gadd showed his short film, “Ice Revolution.” Saturday’s apre?s-climbing party at IME found Rick Merritt and Nancy Savickas passing out wine and AAC information, and a silent auction benefited both the Ice Fest and the AAC’s Live Your Dream Grants for Northeast climbers.

In March the section’s 16th annual benefit dinner in Boston included one slideshow by Kurt Diemberger and another by AAC members Freddie Wilkinson, Mark Richey, and Steve Swenson about their first ascent of Saser Kangri II in the Indian Karakoram.

For the first time, we held our annual summer BBQ at the base of Cathedral Ledge, where climbers joined the fun after climbing on North Conway’s legendary granite. At the fall BBQ, a 90 percent chance of rain kept some away, but a hardy few showed up at the soggy base of Cathedral and enjoyed the grill and good company.

During the summer, Boston-area members held a couple of Bouldering and BBQ after-work evenings at Hammond Pond, organized by volunteers including Justin Walsh, Sarah Arsenault, Michael Coote, and Sam Streibert. We also joined forces with the Rumney Climbers Association, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Access Fund to support several “Coffee with a Ranger” programs in the parking lot at Rumney, New Hampshire, during busy summer weekends. This gave climbers a chance to talk to rangers and local climbing activists about land stewardship issues at these popular cliffs. Finally, Chad Hussey hosted our fifth annual “It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over” cragging day in Connecticut in early November.