Hikers survive rim-to-rim-to-rim

by Ken Yarcho

The 2001 Rim-to-rim-to-rim (RRR) took place on Saturday, May 19. The weather gods favored us with a pleasant high at Phantom Ranch of 89oF. A few days later it was 107o. This years participants were: (l–r) Renald Bodeux*, Dave Ditchkus, Pater Hunkar*, Victoria Duncan (TX), Diana Vasiljev*, Rhonda Weiler, Emily Porter, and Katalin Kelemen*. Kneeling Andy Miller & Ken Yarcho. Those with asterisks were successful in making the round trip. The RRR is a fifty mile distance and 10,000 foot elevation gain hike from one rim of the Grand Canyon to the other, then back.

HAMS program: East Africa

Mike Young of Renaissance Adventure Guides, Golden, Colorado, recently spent ten days climbing in the Ruwenzori mountains—in addition to Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya. The Ruwenzori have been closed for four years, but through persistence Mike was able to obtain permission to climb, with Ugandan soldiers providing protection against rebels. His climb of Kili was via the Umbwe Route and included two nights on the Arrow Glacier and a night in the crater. This enabled him and his party to explore the crater, which most of us have only seen from Uhuru Point.

Come to the American Mountain Center on September 10 at 7.00 p.m. to learn more about his adventures. Public invited—no admission charge.

Colorado Wilderness Network sponsors
hikes for wilderness

Citizens invited to explore Colorado’s wild canyon country

Denver—The Colorado Wilderness Network is organizing a series of hikes across the state to familiarize citizens with the unique lands being proposed for wilderness protection. These areas are a part of the Citizens’ Wilderness Proposal, which is comprised of over one million acres of mostly piñon-juniper forests, river canyons, and red rock mesas managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This proposal is the result of years of citizen inventories of Colorado’s federal public lands that have documented the wildest parts of the states’ most vulnerable and biologically diverse ecosystems. “The Citizens’ Wilderness Proposal would safeguard some of the state’s most spectacular lands. Through these hikes, area residents can experience firsthand the scenic and rugged landscapes local Coloradans have found to be special enough to designate as wilderness,” says Kathryn Goldman of the Colorado Environmental Coalition.

The hikes vary in length and difficulty, making them accessible to backcountry enthusiasts, families, and day hikers of all ages. On exploration and restoration weekend trips, hikers spend three days enjoying a specific area and camping out. In addition to enjoying the backcountry, restoration weekend participants also help with much needed projects to protect wilderness by removing fences, closing abandoned roads or pulling up weeds. Day hikes offer an excellent opportunity to venture into the wild lands close to home and learn about a special area of interest such as natural history, the politics of wilderness, or how to inventory wilderness. “The canyon country hikes give you an opportunity to visit areas that are off the beaten path,” says Jon Broholm, a Colorado Environmental Coalition volunteer and Durango resident who participated in the wilderness inventory hikes last summer.

Upcoming hikes include: September 8, Kings Canyon (near Grand Junction); September 29, Pinon Ridge (near Meeker); October 6, McKenna Peak, near Cortez.

For more information about the Colorado Wilderness Network, the Citizens’ Wilderness Proposal, or how you can help protect Colorado’s spectacular canyon country, visit the Colorado Environmental Coalition’s web site at: www.ourcolorado.org. To sign up for any of this year’s day hikes, contact Meghan at the Colorado Environmental Coalition at (303) 534-7066 x205, or signup online at www.ourcolorado.org.

The Colorado Wilderness Network is a coalition of more than 280 conservation, religious, civic, and recreation organizations and local governments committed to the wilderness protection of Colorado’s wild canyon country, including the Colorado Environmental Coalition, Colorado Mountain Club, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, and the Western Colorado Congress.

Denver Group annual dinner
to host photojournalist

The Denver Group’s Annual Dinner will be held the evening of November 11 at the Doubletree Hotel in Denver. It will feature photojournalist Alison Wright. She will present her slideshow, “The Spirit of Tibet: Portrait of a Culture in Exile.”

In this slideshow/lecture Alison discusses her photographs that document the Tibetan settlements throughout India and Nepal and how the refugees have managed to maintain their culture as it has evolved during forty years in exile.

These extraordinary images include intimate portraits of the Dalai Lama as well as portray the ordinary people: the elder Tibetans who have endured the harrowing journey into exile; Tibetan doctors with their herbal remedies; monks and nuns engaged in study and practice; and coming full circle, the young people born in exile but still, in their words, “with Tibetan hearts.”

Alison is a freelance photojournalist based in San Francisco specializing in documenting the traditions and changes of endangered people in remote areas around the world. She has photographed and documented the medicinal healers in the Amazon rain forests, the hill tribes of Southeast Asia, Burmese refuges in Thailand, and has followed Marco Polo’s footsteps along the Silk Road to China. In 1993 she received the Dorothea Lange Award in documentary photography for her photographs of child labor in Asia.

Alison will be autographing her recently published book, The Spirit of Tibet: Portrait of a Culture in Exile. The book will be for sale that evening. For more information on Alison and her works, please visit her website at www.alisonwright.com.

All CMC members and guests are invited to attend Denver’s annual dinner. Non-Denver members please call the CMC office for registration information.

High Altitude Mountaineering Seminar announced

The High Altitude Mountaineering Section (HAMS) of the Denver group will present its thirteenth annual seminar on high altitude mountaineering this fall. The seminar consists of six sessions on consecutive Tuesday nights from October 2 through November 6, from 7:00 to approximately 9:30 p.m.

Experienced climbers will present lectures on topics as diverse as organizing an expedition, fitness and conditioning, nutrition and menu planning, high altitude/cold weather medical issues, and group dynamics. Mountaineering slide shows from around the world will be featured to complement and expand on the lecture topics.

Attendance of the seminar is a prerequisite for admission to the High Altitude Mountaineering School beginning in January 2002. (Details for the HAMS School will be available at all seminar sessions). Interested people can also call Ken Yarcho at (303) 985-9301.

The seminar is open to all interested CMC members and the general public. It will take place at the Foss Auditorium in the American Mountaineering Center in Golden.

Tuition is as follows:

• $40 for CMC members who pre-register;
• $50 for non-CMC members and CMC members who do not pre-register;
• $10 for individual evenings, payable at the door (CMC members as well as non-CMC members).

To register, send your name, address, and check made out to “CMC” to the CMC office. Please note “HAMS Seminar” on your check.

For more information on the Seminar, contact Debby Reed at (303) 841-4295.

2002 High Altitude Mountaineering School

The High Altitude Mountaineering School will begin with the High Altitude Mountaineering Seminar on October 2, 2001, and conclude with an optional trip to Mt. Rainier in the summer of 2002. The school is open to qualified CMC members interested in extending their training to participate in expeditions to high altitude peaks around the world.

The school will train students in the basic technical skills of glacier travel, including crevasse rescue, low angle ice techniques, rope management, and expedition camping. Five field trips will be scheduled in January and February, 2002. There will be one or two additional lectures early in the new year.

Denver Group members entering the school must have successfully completed the Denver Group Basic Mountaineering School and have a Denver “D” hiking classification. Members from other CMC Groups must meet equivalent requirements. Please contact Ken Yarcho as soon as possible for information regarding equivalent requirements or application.

Tuition for the School is $100 ($110 for non-Denver members) and is in addition to tuition for the seminar. School tuition payment must be submitted with the application. Interested CMC members should sign up now for the Seminar and attend all six sessions. Information packets about the school will be available at the first seminar session. A HAMS school orientation will be held on October 10,2001. This is a must-attend meeting for all potential students. Enrollment in the school will be limited, based in part upon the number of qualified instructors.

For more information about the School, contact school director Ken Yarcho at 985-9301 before 9 p.m. or at ken.yarcho@worldnet.att.net.

Access into Holy Cross Wilderness
has temporary road closure

Minturn, Colo.— During September, visitors to Holy Cross Wilderness should expect delays and road closures if using the Tigiwon Road (FDR 707) to access Cross or Fall Creek Trailheads and Halfmoon Pass (Mount of the Holy Cross). Resurfacing and culvert replacement is planned to improve road conditions on the narrow single-lane gravel forest road. Public safety and road conditions are the primary factors that necessitate the road being closed during the workweek. During the reconstruction project, parking on the road surface will be prohibited, and violators will be towed. In an effort to minimize the inconvenience to forest visitors, work will not take place on weekends and the road will be open for travel on Saturdays and Sundays and on Labor Day.

Culvert replacement is also planned during September on the Resolution Road (FDR 702) near Camp Hale. Two hour delays should be expected throughout the entire week (including weekends).

For more information, contact the Holy Cross Ranger District, White River National Forest, at (970) 827-5715.

New manual now available for outings leaders

If you are interested in becoming an Outings leader, the CMC has a step-by-step leaders manual available to all. An “Outing” is defined as “any trip in which participants pay for some, or all, of the cost of the leader’s trip. CMC leaders are volunteers, and are never paid.” However, in appreciation for their efforts, all or a portion of their trip expenses may be compensated by the participants. Outings give CMC members opportunities to try out new skills and experience foreign cultures.” Please call the CMC office at extension 109 to request a copy of the manual. The manual summarizes the necessary procedures in leading an outing. Look into leading an outing–a world of mystery and wonder is waiting to be explored.

Library closed Saturdays in September

The American Mountaineering Center library, which ordinarily is open the first Saturday of each month, will not have Saturday hours during September. The next Saturday opening will be October 6.

Mountainfilm festival comes to Denver

Golden—Outdoor enthusiasts will be able to experience extraordinary films devoted to mountain themes when the Mountainfilm Tour makes its debut in the metro area this fall.

The tour will premier Friday and Saturday, Oct. 12 and 13, at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden. A different lineup of films will be featured each night, beginning at 7 p.m. The 350-seat theater in the American Mountaineering Center lends itself well to the homespun hospitality for which Mountainfilm in Telluride is known. Like the festival, the event will likely sell out.

Each night’s screenings will be hosted by Rick Silverman, the director of Mountainfilm in Telluride, who will introduce the films and set for the audience the broader social and environmental context of the ideas to be presented. “There is a palpable hunger in audiences for films that move them,” Silverman said. “We feel that hunger each time we bring the Mountainfilm Tour to a new venue.”

Mountainfilm began twenty-three years ago, in the historic traditions of climbing-related film events in Europe. Held annually over Memorial Day weekend, Mountainfilm in Telluride is an international rendezvous of legendary mountaineers, environmental activists, cutting-edge filmmakers, authors, scientists, and artists. The event has established a worldwide reputation for high-caliber films, unique personalities, and a commitment to social and environmental goals unmatched by any other film festival.

Tickets for the Mountainfilm Tour are available at metro Denver REI stores, the Bent Gate in Golden, Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder,33 and the Colorado Mountain Club office in the American Mountaineering Center in Golden. Prices are $12 per night; $10 to all Colorado Mountain Club and American Alpine Club members with proof of current membership. Proceeds will support the American Mountaineering Center, located at 710 Tenth St., at the corner of Tenth and Washington in Golden. For further information, contact Lee Hart at (970) 547.0033.