The Cascade Section held numerous festivals, clinics, and social events throughout the year. Highlights included our Send & Social events at the Seattle Bouldering Project, where climbers could compete in events such as crash-pad stacking and a Nerf gun obstacle course. We ended the year there with our holiday party in December.

The Rockfest Climbing Festival, presented by the AAC, Northwest Mountain School, and Leavenworth Mountain Sports, featured Audrey Sniezek as guest instructor and presenter. This annual gathering in Leavenworth also hosted its first bouldering competition and rallied 150 Northwest climbers to celebrate the start of climbing season. Ueli Steck stopped by Seattle on his national tour and sold out the University of Washington’s Kane Hall with over 700 people. AAC President Mark Kroese emceed and helped host a VIP event that included such noted climbers as the Freds (Beckey, Dunham, and Stanley), Melissa Arnot, Kate Rutherford, Audrey Sniezek, and Brent Bishop, among others.

Other events included the Reel Rock Film Tour at Vertical World, hosted by Second Ascent, which raised $2,000 for the AAC and brought in 52 new members. Steve House and Scott Johnston provided an advanced training clinic, based on their new book Training for the New Alpinism, at Seattle Bouldering Project. At the annual section dinner at Salty’s in Alki, over 100 members enjoyed a Blake Herrington slideshow about rarely climbed routes in Washington. The Cascade Section also has partnered with local nonprofits in a regional Outdoor Alliance to help inform land managers about climber-related policy and planning decisions.