Arizona Mountaineering Club

Publication Year: 1974.

Arizona Mountaineering Club. The club began 1973 with a winter survival seminar in response to the needs revealed in analyzing the events leading to the fatality that occurred on Humphreys Peak on New Year’s Day. Then came the annual leader training school in advanced rock climbing. In October the club held a basic climbing school for 105 paying students who were actively recruited for continued club membership. Also held at the end of the year was a school in self rescue, designed to help climbers avoid fatal mistakes in rappelling, placing anchors, and belaying the leader. Also, various systems and techniques are presented and practiced for dealing with short-line rappels and emergency situations which may develop from a leader’s fall. This school will be absorbed into the group rescue school, which is training for the rescue team.

The most significant mountaineering activity was the expedition to Mount McKinley June 9-July 2 which succeeded in scaling the West Buttress with a descent down the Muldrow Glacier. Seven of the nine climbers reached the summit on June 19-20, two of them twice. Also worthy of note was Chuck Parker’s new grade VI route on Keeler Needle in the Sierra Nevada in August.

During the year the club conducted various ski tours, winter ascents of Arizona mountains, and raft runs on the Green and San Juan Rivers as well as through the Grand Canyon. There were also two club outings in August to the East Face of Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada, and also outings to Joshua Tree National Monument and to Tahquitz Rock.

Suzanne Stikes