Sierra Club. Ever since the Sierra Club was founded in 1892 by John Muir (later a charter member of the A.A.C.) and others, its principal purpose has been to encourage conservation of our natural scenic and mountain resources.* Thus, in the last year or so, the club has been extremely active in the defence of the San Gorgonio Primitive Area of California, the Cloud Peak Primitive Area of Wyoming, Jackson Hole National Monument, Glacier National Park and the great rain forests of the Olympic National Park —to name some of the major problems that relate particularly to the interests of the A.A.C.

John Muir early realized that, to obtain effective conservation, the club should arrange trips and publications which would acquaint as many people as possible with the beauty of the mountains and with the facts concerning the need for protection. At his request, Will Colby (A.A.C.) organized in 1901 the first of the annual “High Trips.” These trips, which took 200 people on a roving pack trip through the high mountains each summer, continued under Colby’s direction every year (except 1918) until the end of 1936, when he turned the leadership over to me. In 1948 the 44th High Trip, led by Dave Brower (A.A.C.), covered the central portion of Kings Canyon National Park and the N.E. portion of Sequoia National Park.

In order that more people may be able to enjoy the mountains without placing too heavy a load on the mountain meadows, the size of the High Trip has been cut from 200 to 125, and a “Base Camp” trip was started in 1940 under the leadership of Oliver Kehrlein. The 1948 camp was at Vidette Meadows, at the base of the Kings-Kern Divide in Kings Canyon National Park. Packing in about ten miles and then having the pack stock return to the roadhead made possible over 3000 man-days of enjoyment without a single animal-day of grazing.

A saddle trip enabled about 20 people to enjoy high mountain country with all the pleasure that use of animals brings. Four burro trips—20 people and 10 burros on each—made a circuit from Piute Pass in Inyo National Forest through fine country of the Sierra National Forest and the northern portion of Kings Canyon National Park and back by Bishop Pass into Inyo National Forest. These trips are to teach participants how to handle animals in small parties of their own.

The more rugged knapsack trips teach the technique of lightweight travel. The Sierra trip covered the Cathedral Range of Yosemite National Park and the Minaret region of Sierra National Forest. In accordance with the club’s policy to have another knapsack trip in the more remote wildernesses of the continent, a second party in 1948 spent two weeks in the Olympic National Park.

Apart from trips officially sponsored by the Sierra Club, a large group of expert climbers organized their own expedition into the Purcell Range of British Columbia. Bugaboo Spire was ascended on August 3rd; Pigeon Spire, the lower summit of Marmolata and several peaks of the Crescent Spires on the 4th. On the latter day a second party on Bugaboo Spire encountered an extremely severe and sudden lightning storm, the consequences of which are described elsewhere.*

R. M. Leonard

*The rapidly growing Sierra Club, with 6622 members on 1 March 1949, has become the largest organization of its kind in the United States. Next in point of numbers is the Appalachian Mountain Club, with 4884 members on April 1st.—H. S. H., Jr.