Trail & Timberline, Issue #1007

beyond snapshots 14 • How'd they do that? 18 • from alaska to outer space 40

Trail & timberline The Colorado Mountain Club • Summer 2010 • Issue 1007 • www.cmc.org

photo issue Trail & Timberline

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Timeless

Colorado's Mountains are

By designating the CMC or the CMC Foundation in your will, your investment in them lives on.

Join the 21st Century Circle today. Contact our Development Director at 303-996-2752 to learn more about planned giving.

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Letter from the CEO Let's Work Together

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t has always been a belief of mine that nonprofits should partner with each other. Many of us have similar missions and goals, so why not work together with one big voice to make great things happen?

The Front Range alone—not to mention the rest of Colorado—has one of the largest concentrations of nonprofits in the country.

I’m positive we all work towards similar ends—imagine how much more we could do if we teamed up?

So we’ve done just that.

Something that I’m very proud of here at the CMC is the numerous partnerships we have with other like-minded organizations.

Both our Youth Education Program and conservation department work with some of the most well-known and well-respected nonprofits in Colorado to produce bigger successes and impacts. The newly formed partnership we have with other mountain clubs around the country has been well received by members across the United States; I’ve been told there are some exciting summer vacations being planned because of our member benefit sharing.

Our corporate partnerships with WhiteWave Foods and the outdoor industry have brought the benefits of the club to many who may never have thought about the CMC before. These alliances build our brand and strengthen our organization immeasurably.

And these partnerships aren’t only made at the state level; and they aren’t always so grand in scale. Think of why many of us belong to the CMC. We want partners with which to experience the outdoors; we want partners with which to share our knowledge

and passion for the Colorado landscape.

Our hundreds of volunteers put in many hours of work because they believe in sharing knowledge with recreationalists and stewards of the land—their future partners in the mountains.

Of course, the CMC will continue to grow its partnerships, to ensure our mission is being shared with as many people as we can reach.

Sharing: It’s what friends do.

Katie Blackett Chief Executive Officer

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18 From the Inside Ever wondered what it’s like to be a professional photographer?

The glory, the fame; the pain, the suffering. Learn a little something about the craft of making images from six Colorado photographers.

Stories and photography by Chris Case, Corey Rich, John Fielder, Pete Takeda, Jim Wark, and Chris Stark

34 Snapshot: The New Media of Photography in the Early Years of the Colorado Mountain Club From its earliest days, the Colorado Mountain Club has embraced photography: for art, science, and entertainment.

Some things never change.

By Woody Smith

photo issue

Summer 2010 Trail & Timberline • Issue 1007 • www.cmc.org

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Departments 01 Letter from the CEO 04 Editor's Note 06 On the Outside 08 Mission Accomplishments

Learn the latest from the conservation and education departments, as well as the Mountaineering Museum.

14 The Clinic

Go beyond snapping photos. Start telling stories with your photography.

By Chris Case

40 From the Archives

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Who would have thought that a camera could survive an Alaskan epic and a jaunt to outer space?

Brad Washburn would have believed it.

By Chris Case

42 CMC Adventure Travel

Want to get away? Join classic CMC trips to Alaska, the Grand Canyon, Mount Elbrus, Nepal, and more.

On the Cover

Four mountaineers cross the velvety glacial snows that give way to precipitous crevasses and, finally, the jagged black rock of the Mont Blanc Massif in France.

Chris Case

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Editor’s Note Editor’s Note

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Chris Case

ow do they do that?

How can I do that?

A compelling photograph has a way of making us curious. Even the best photographer finds questions to ask in the work of others; many of us discover something new each time we view our own work. As with the best prose, poetry, art— even science—the best images are the ones that make us wonder, provoke us to learn more, and lead us to take action.

How do they do that?

The right photograph might lead you to challenge yourself to climb a new peak, or to slither along a new ridge; maybe it will encourage you to pause more in the wild and look for wildlife, plant life, or simply study a new ecosystem. And, hopefully, the learning and challenging doesn’t stop there.

Trail & timberline

The official publication of the Colorado Mountain Club since 1918.

Editor, Director of Photography & Design Chris Case editor@cmc.org

Advertising Sales Robin Commons

advertising@cmc.org

The Colorado Mountain Club 710 10th Street, Suite 200 Golden, Colorado 80401

The CMC is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization.

www.cmc.org The Colorado Mountain Club is organized to ▶ unite the energy, interest, and knowledge of the students, explorers, and lovers of the mountains of Colorado;

I think of a great photograph like a bird in flight—elegant, seemingly effortless in its mechanics, yet ever so thought provoking. Hidden within the pixels—or behind the feathers—are a hundred moving parts all working in unison.

How do they do that?

The best photographs ask something of the viewer. Dig deeper, consider the subject matter, consider the context. But consider the choices made by the photographer, as well. Try to imagine yourself in their position, behind the camera but immersed in the moment.

How do they do that?

Hopefully, this issue will help answer that question. It might also inspire you to ask more questions—and make more photographs. Let’s step inside the realm of photography—and learn.

Chris Case editor@cmc.org

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▶ collect and disseminate information regarding the Rocky Mountains on behalf of science, literature, art, and recreation; ▶ stimulate public interest in our mountain areas; ▶ encourage the preservation of forests, flowers, fauna, and natural scenery; and ▶ render readily accessible the alpine attractions of this region. © 2010 Colorado Mountain Club

All Rights Reserved

Trail & Timberline (ISSN 0041-0756) is published quarterly by the Colorado Mountain Club located at 710 10th Street, Suite 200, Golden, Colorado 80401.

Periodicals postage paid at Golden, Colorado, and additional offices. Subscriptions are $20 per year; single copies are $5. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Trail & Timberline, 710 10th Street, Suite 200, Golden, Colorado 80401. Advertisements in Trail & Timberline do not constitute an endorsement by the Colorado Mountain Club.

Please recycle this magazine.

Printed on 10% post-consumer waste recycled paper.

For Members member benefits → Join us on over 3,000 annual trips, hikes, and activities in the state’s premiere mountain-adventure organization. → Expand your knowledge and learn new skills with our schools, seminars, and events. → Support our award-winning Youth Education Program for mountain leadership. → Protect Colorado’s wild lands and backcountry recreation experiences. → Enjoy exclusive discounts to the American Mountaineering Museum and Base Camp gift shop. → Travel the world with your friends through CMC Adventure Travel. → Receive a 20% discount on all CMC Press purchases and start your next adventure today. → It pays to be a member. Enjoy discounts of up to 25% from retailers and corporate partners. See www.cmc.org/benefits for details.

opportunities to get more involved Charitable Donations

Join our select donors who give back to the club every month by using electronic funds transfer (EFT). It is easy and convenient, you can discontinue anytime, and you’ll provide support for critical programs. Sign up at www.cmc.org/support.

By naming the Colorado Mountain Club in your will, you will be able to count yourself among the proud members of the 21st Century Circle. Read more at www.cmc.org/legacy. Please consult your financial advisor about gift language.

If you have any questions about donations, please contact Sarah Gorecki, Development Director, at 303.996.2752 or sarahgorecki@cmc.org.

Volunteer Efforts

If you want to share your time and expertise, give back to the club by volunteering on a variety of projects, from trail restoration to stuffing envelopes. Visit www.cmc.org/volunteer for a complete listing.

Contact Us

Our Membership Services team can answer general questions every weekday at 303.279.3080, or by email at cmcoffice@cmc.org.

SCFD

The Colorado Mountain Club thanks the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District and its citizens for their continuing support. www.scfd.org

The Colorado Mountain Club is a proud member of Community Shares of Colorado.

It PAYS to be a member!

SCFD

SCFD

SCFD

▶ 50% off admission at the American Mountaineering Museum

▶ 25% off titles from The Mountaineers Books

▶ 20% at Base Camp, the CMC's adventure gift shop

▶ 10% at Neptune Mountaineering, Boulder

▶ 10% at Bent Gate Mountaineering, Golden

▶ 10% at Wilderness Exchange Unlimited, Denver

Not a member?

▶ 10% at Mountain Chalet, Colorado Springs ▶ 10% at The Trailhead, Buena Vista

Visit www.cmc.org/join ▶ 10% at Rock'n and Jam'n, Thornton Trail & Timberline

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On the Outside Every Photograph Tells A Story The Hayman Fire started 95 miles southwest of Denver on June 8, 2002, and became the largest fire in the state's recorded history. Hundreds of forestry officials and firefighters fought the fast-moving inferno, which caused nearly $40 million in damages, burned 133 homes, and forced the evacuation of 5,340 people. The wildfire was found to be human caused.

Its devastating effects are still clearly visible along the Colorado Trail near Raleigh Peak, as illustrated in this photograph from May 2010. Photo by Chris Case Trail & Timberline

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Mission Accomplishments Our Corporate Partners Helping to Make it Happen

By Sarah Gorecki, Development Director

Last month, I tagged along on one of our Youth Education Program (YEP) outings to the foothills above Golden. The class consisted of fifty 10-year olds from Monroe Elementary, and they were headed out for a first-time snowshoe experience with some altitude physiology lessons thrown in for good measure. On this snowy spring day, it was great to witness these fifth graders enjoying the mountains and learning about altitude; knowing that our diligence in building relationships with corporate partners had a hand in making our mission come to life made it all the better.

tain Hardware and Columbia. It’s also filled with climbing gear from Black Diamond, avalanche beacons for our Avalanche Science classes from Ortovox, sunscreen from Beyond Coastal, and tons more.

Our YEP instructors demonstrated to the kids, indoors, what happens to the density of air molecules as we go up in altitude.

The kids learned how there are fewer oxygen molecules when you go higher in the mountains, and how having less oxygen in the air affects their bodies. They went into the American Mountaineering Museum to learn more about mountains, and conducted an

In early March, there can still be quite a bit of snow on the ground—and a chill in the air. So, when the kids gathered in the classroom space at our facility in Golden, we asked how many of them had a warm jacket, hat, or gloves. Only about half of them raised their hands. Luckily, we’ve been working to put together a “closet” of gear donated by our corporate sponsors. This gear bank is filled with kid-sized jackets, hats, and gloves from brands like Moun-

experiment where they learned how their lungs function at Golden’s altitude.

Then, we took it outside. The kids got suited up and we drove into the foothills.

For many of them, this was their first-ever trip to the mountains. They huffed and puffed up the mountain trail, and clomped around in snowshoes for the first time. They spent some time sledding down a hill. They stayed dry and warm, got some great exercise, learned about altitude physiology, and

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soaked up the sun and mountain views.

Seeing the kids playing innocently in the snow was refreshing and reminded me why we work hard to build rapport with donors large and small. In fact, everything we do in youth education, conservation, and at the American Mountaineering Museum happens because of the funding we receive from generous individuals, foundations, and corporations. The CMC relies on the support of our donors and sponsors of every size to take our vision and make it a reality.

And every donor wants to see something come to life as a result of their donation—to take pride in some tangible program benefit that they helped make happen. “REI is proud of our long-standing partnership with the Colorado Mountain Club, whose efforts greatly benefit Colorado’s outdoor community,” said Mark Guebert-Steward, Outreach Administrator at REI Denver. “CMC’s efforts on behalf of outdoor recreation align with REI's mission to help protect and restore the environment, increase access to outdoor activities, and encourage involvement in responsible outdoor recreation.”

Putting together a gear bank for the Youth Education Program is just one of the innovative ways we work with our corporate partners. If you look around, you’ll see our partners making the mission come alive all over the CMC. La Sportiva recently outfitted our Wilderness Trekking School volunteer instructors with twenty pairs of new boots. “The Colorado Mountain Club members represent a broad base of trail users, from the folks we see on evening hikes in their favorite front-country trail, to individuals on multi-day explorations in the high peaks,” says Laura Fryer, Marketing Manager at La Sportiva. “Supporting the Wilderness Trekking School was a perfect fit…it’s a comprehensive course on mountain hiking, and it is for all levels of participants.”

Osprey Packs provided backpacks as giveaway items for our conservation stewardship projects; the incentive helps us get more of our members to give back to the

the package, the CMC also heads to their offices to do brownbag lunches and organizes hikes and family climbing events (If your company would be interested in offering CMC memberships as a corporate benefit, please let us know).

We can’t thank our corporate partners enough for helping to take the CMC’s mission and turn it into experiences, moments, and memories. The list of in-kind donors and sponsors for our many events and programs would fill this entire page. We hope you’ll join us in thanking them, too. Support the CMC by supporting our sponsors. △

Chris Case

lands they recreate on. REI puts on the twonight Banff Mountain Film Festival at the Paramount Theatre every year to provide visibility for the CMC, and donates all of the proceeds to the club. Eddie Bauer First Ascent has become an integral part of our museum circle. And, the list goes on.

But receiving from corporations isn’t the only way that the CMC engages with partners. WhiteWave Foods in Broomfield has been a corporate member of the CMC for several years. They offer free club memberships to their employees, providing a fantastic health and wellness benefit. As part of

Mountain Studies Institute

San Juan-Based organization to Host 2010 In-State Outing

By Brenda Porter, Education Director

High-pitched squeaks reverberating across alpine talus slopes are familiar sounds to Colorado peak climbers. Newcomers may be surprised to realize that a small brown rabbit-like mammal, the American pika, is responsible for the chorus.

Intriguingly, the animal is thought to be an indicator of more significant environmental issues. Pikas live in the extreme alpine environment year-round and scientists believe that their population trends may be important to climate change research.

Research on pika populations is one of the new initiatives at the Mountain Studies Institute (MSI) in the San Juan Mountains.

The program is called PikaNET and trained hikers will be able to record their observations of pikas and enter them on an interactive website.

MSI executive director, Koren Nydick, believes that PikaNET will provide opportunities for the public to get involved in scientific research. “It is very exciting to combine volunteer monitoring with recreation to collect valuable scientific information throughout the state,” Nydick says. “This is a wonderful way for CMC members to get involved while they participate in their alpine adventures.” Volunteer monitoring

trainings will be hosted in June and July.

This is one of many MSI-led research projects that focus on ecosystems and biodiversity. Their scientists also work on a broad range of issues important to Colorado’s mountains including air quality, water and snow, climate variability and change, and community and land use transitions. In fact, several years ago the Colorado Mountain Club Foundation awarded a graduate

fellowship to Julie Crawford, who is now working with MSI on alpine vegetation research in the San Juan Mountains.

In addition to participating in citizen science research this summer, CMC members and guests will have an opportunity to learn more about the Mountain Studies Institute during the CMC's annual In-State Outing. The MSI field station, on the edge of Silverton, will be the CMC base camp.

The field station’s campground and cabins are typically home to visiting scientists and college students who have traveled to the San Juans to conduct mountain field research.

However, during the last week of July and the first week of August, CMC members will be out hiking and climbing during the day and returning to the field station for meals and evening programs. And, of course, there will be opportunities to learn more about the important research taking place at the Mountain Studies Institute. △ For more information about the CMC In-State Outing visit www.cmc.org/ISO.

For Mountain Studies Institute and PikaNET trainings, see www.mountainstudies.org.

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Fourteeners, the Front Range, Comanche Peak and Flowers Four New Titles from the CMC Press

By Alan Stark, CMC Press

group members, through an occasionally establishing new wilderness areas in the Summer is for climbing peaks, wandering through fields of flowers, explor- contentious process. The selection criteria state—and throughout the country. were agreed upon, and then the members Finally, at the peak of the mountain ing your own backyard. This summer, the voted on their favorite hikes. After some wildflower season in July, the CMC Press will Colorado Mountain Club Press will help heated arguments, quiet horse trading, and publish Colorado Wildflowers: Montane Zone you plan your next adventure with the uproarious laughter, members of the oldest by watercolor artist Anne Kurz Chambers. release of four new titles.

During the late spring, summer, and early

What better time to head for the high and largest Colorado hiking and climbing country than during the warm, long summer club decided on their favorites—so these re- fall, Ann lives at “The Cabin” on 35 acres that she owns in the mountains of western Colodays? Our new title, The Colorado 14ers: The ally are the best hikes in the Front Range.

Standard Routes, is a “must have” basic guide- While the group’s Pack Guides have pri- rado. Over the past 10 years, she has identified book to all the standard routes (organized by marily sold in their towns, this compilation more than 160 wildflowers on her property mountain range) with color maps and stun- book is designed to sell nationally, as well as and painted them for this book. ning color photographs by Todd Caudle, along the Front Range. Royalties from the Each plant is identified by family, genus, and species, followed who also produces the CMC 14er Calendar. group’s Pack Guides and from Best Front by the common name or Written in clear, concise, non-technical lan- Range Hikes go to the innames that the flower is DO guage with a certain amount of wit, The Col- dividual groups.

RA LO THE CO N CLUB MOUNTAI

known by in Colorado. orado 14ers also includes OOK GUIDEB notes by LORADO h i s t o - THOE UCNOTAIN CLUB THE COLORADO M B LORADO MOUNTAIN CLU rian Walt G U I D E B O O K THE CO B LU C IN PA CK GU IDE MOUNTA BorneBOOK GUIDE man on how each peak was OLORADO C named and The WILDERNESS who made AREA E N ZO E N M O N TA HIKING & the first asSNOWSHOEING GUIDE cent. Each route detes dard Rou scription inThe Stan RS CH AM BE AN N KU RZ cludes precise ue Grim Joe and Frédériq directions for Each painting driving to the n Foundatio ntain Club is accompanied by a description of the rado Mou trailhead and lo Co e Th C Groups, CM kes Peak Pi flower, the location where it is found, the d tips on where an , rt Collins Denver, Fo Boulder, physical characteristics of the plant, when to park.

The Coman- the flower blooms, and what the plant’s

Containing more detailed and revised che Peak Wilderness Area Hiking fruit, if any, looks like. information from The Colorado 14er Pack This summer, you’re sure to get into the Guide that was published four years ago, and Snowshoeing Guide by Joe and Fré- royalties from the sale of the book will be dérique Grim is the first of our wilderness mountains to climb, wander, or learn. Let the shared by the CMC Foundation and Colo- area guides. The Comanche Peak Wilder- CMC Press help you make the most of each ness is located 35 miles west of Fort Collins of your adventures. △ rado Fourteeners Initiative.

For the past two years, the CMC Press and abuts the northern boundary of Rocky has had success with the four pack guides Mountain National Park. It is characterized If your group hasn't produced we’ve produced. The Best Fort Collins, Boul- by rolling tundra hills, vast evergreen fora pack guide for your area, der, Denver and Colorado Springs Hikes have ests, tumbling mountain streams, and miles contact CMC Press publisher Alan Stark at bear@cmc.org for sold a combined 12,000 copies; we’ve sold of quite, peaceful trails. help getting started. over 5,500 copies of the guide compiled by These Colorado wilderness area guides

If you are a writer/photographer, the are being researched, written, photographed the Pikes Peak group in the last year.

CMC Press is interested in talking to you

The Best Front Range Hikes is a compila- and published in the belief that the more about publishing a book about your favorite tion of the best foothills and mountain hikes hikers who explore Colorado’s wilderness wilderness area. Contact Alan Stark for more from these four books. The hikes found in areas, the more advocates there will be information. the four original guides were selected by for enlarging those areas, and maybe even

Colorado

14ers

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THE BEST

FRONTE RANG

HIKES

manche o s C r e w o l f d l Wi Peak

A Long Time Coming

Staunton Becomes Colorado’s Newest State Park

By Bryan Martin, Conservation Director Chad Herd (2)

park’s major destinations including the Lions Head overlook, the Pike National Forest, and Elk Falls; and finally, approximately seven miles of hiking-only trails that will provide access to some of the park’s climbing areas and Elk Falls. Eventually, the park will boast about 100 campsites, potentially 10 to 20 sleeper cabins or yurts, and an education center for youth camps and school groups to visit and learn about the park’s natural and cultural history.

The CMC looks forward to continuing our close partnership with Colorado State Parks as they fully realize Francis Staunton’s dream almost 50 years later. We plan to schedule many volunteer projects in the park over the next few years to build trails and identify climbing areas. We also stand ready to maintain this landscape in perpetuity: This is a park and a project with which the CMC can become fully engaged. Hiking, biking, skiing, climbing, environmental education, and conservation are all beautifully blended into Staunton State Park.

It’s been a long time coming, but we can’t wait to author part of the story, be involved in its telling, and share it with the state for years to come. △

LandWorks Design, Inc.

The story of Colorado’s newest state park began in 1961 when Francis Staunton declared in her will that the Staunton Ranch be “given to the State of Colorado for use as a State Park to be known as ‘Staunton State Park’ and to be preserved essentially as a wilderness area…and that this property be preserved, in perpetuity, for public benefit, as a natural wilderness-type park.”

Over the years, Colorado State Parks has added a few neighboring parcels of land to bolster the size of the park and improve access for visitors. Today, what will be Staunton State Park bisects both Jefferson and Park counties, spans about 3,600 acres, and lies adjacent to the Pike National Forest. The landscape is home to impressive scenic overlooks, riparian and wildlife corridors, expansive rock outcroppings, and other significant natural features. Located just 45 minutes southwest of Denver, Staunton State Park will undoubtedly be one of the crown jewels of the state park system when it opens to the public.

From the fall of 2008 to the spring of 2010, the Colorado Mountain Club participated in a master plan advisory group, comprised of 15 local, regional, and statewide stakeholders assembled to supplement the information provided in public meetings and assist professional staff and contractors in refining the park’s final vision.

Together, the Staunton State Park Planning Team proposed a plan that balances physical site characteristics and overall carrying capacity with the Colorado State Parks’ mission.

The completion and approval of the master plan was instrumental in Colorado State Parks receiving $5 million from Great Outdoors Colorado this spring for construction— the first of four phases.

Implementation of phase one, which includes opening the park to day-use visitors, will begin in 2010.

Of highest priority will be the construction of the visitor center; a 1.5mile interpretive trail that connects the visitor center to a picnic area and fishing ponds; an 11-mile multi-use trail that will provide access to the

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With One Lone Lightning Bolt The first 60 years of the CMC’s Western Slope Group

By Bob Beverly, 60-year Western Slope group member

In the midst of an early fall snow- couraged me to pursue the endeavor.

CMC Board of Directors, Malcolm Lindsey storm on the top of Castle Peak on Septem- It was 60 years ago on the night of May made a resolution that the Western Slope ber 10, 1949, four climbers—all of us from 26, 1950, that about 20 persons met at the group be recognized as an organized group Rifle, Colorado—were examining the peak old Rifle city hall, in a room above the fire of the CMC; and so it officially came into register left in 1914. Without warning, a station, with the purpose of forming a group being. sudden lightning strike startled us; it was of the Colorado Mountain Club. There was Charter members were Eloise Amivery close. Luckily, we were on the high- considerable discussion about the group’s chaux, Bonnie Knutzen, and Roger Green of est point within miles; there were no other interest in climbing and the purposes and Glenwood Springs; Harry Durham, Gilbert strikes before or after. objectives of the CMC. Plans were made for Mull, and me of Rifle; and Harold Porter of

Just the one lone lightning bolt. a few climbs during the summer of 1950. Grand Junction. I was elected to serve as the

Putting away the register we started our The nucleus of the group was made up of first chairman. descent at once. “Somebody was looking af- engineers from the Bureau of Mines oil shale With the anticipated closing of the Buter us up there,” I said. operation and local outdoor enthusiasts. reau’s oil shale plant and my move to Grand

What better sign from nature could The name Elk Mountain Group was Junction in 1954, the headquarters of the there be to get us thinking about starting a proposed, but Boyd Guthrie, then chief of Western Slope group were also moved to mountain climbing group? And that was just the oil shale plant, suggested it be called the Grand Junction, where they have remained what Harry Harris, ever since. The leadmy neighbor, and I ership of the group started talking about over the years has on our descent. been unique in that I had grown all of the chairperup in Steamboat sons for the first 30 Springs and started years (with one exhiking and climbing ception), as well as in the Park Range many of the active with ascents of members, were geMount Zirkel, Big ologists, engineers, Agnes, Dome Peak, chemists, and perMount Ethel, and sons associated with others in the area the field of energy when I was a teenagdevelopment. This is er. After starting colthe result of Grand lege, a hitch in the Junction being the Navy, receiving an western Colorado engineering degree energy center and a at the University of large number of the Denver in 1947, and Denver and Western Slope members on top of Mount Sopris, 1950. Bob Beverly group’s members working a couple of being employed in years in the East, I had moved to Rifle to Western Slope group—there might be mem- oil, gas, uranium, coal, or oil shale activities. work at the Bureau of Mines Oil Shale Dem- bers from other locations in the area who Although wilderness protection and conseronstration Plant. I had been familiar with would like to participate. The first climb that vation have always been on the agenda, the the Colorado Mountain Club for some time the group made was in July of that year, a Western Slope’s leadership may have had, and had joined the Denver group in 1949. joint trip of Mount Sopris with the Denver over time, a somewhat different and more As it was impractical to frequently join the group; Fred Ruckhous of Denver was the development-oriented view of certain conDenver group trips, which took place mostly leader. Only a few climbs were made that servation matters than the club’s conservain the Front Range, I thought about starting summer, but the 1951 schedule was a more tion department. Still, our enthusiasm for a group on the Western Slope. ambitious one, including hikes to Hang- the mountains was no less fervent.

That winter I ran into Evelyn Runnette ing Lake, Cathedral Lake, and the Marble Members have since scattered, new while skiing at Aspen. Evelyn was the execu- quarries, and climbs of Notch Mountain, an members have joined, and new CMC tive secretary of the club from 1938 to 1951 exploratory climb on North Maroon, and a groups have been formed: Aspen, San Juan, and business manager of Trail & Timberline. climb of Grizzly Peak south of Independence Routt, and Gore Range. Thus, the Western We discussed the possibilities of forming a Pass, considered a fourteener at the time.

Slope group no longer covers all of western group in western Colorado and Evelyn en- At the August 10, 1951, meeting of the Colorado. Currently there are some 112 12

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members. The group meets monthly with a wide variety of programs; has a monthly publication, Canyon Call; schedules weekly trips; and participates in numerous trail maintenance and observation programs with several government agencies.

Grand Junction’s location and weather permit early spring and late fall trips to the canyon country of western Mesa County and eastern Utah. The Colorado National Monument, adjacent to Grand Junction, and surrounding canyon country are favorite areas to visit, as well as 11,000-foot Grand Mesa, only an hours drive away, for both summer hikes and winter ski trips. Come summer, the relatively close Elk, West Elk,

and San Juan ranges find members frequenting the high peaks.

In 1981, the group began a project to give name to a peak between Precipice and Redcliff peaks on the ridge between the West and Middle Fork of the Cimarron River in the San Juan Mountains. This is an area which frequently saw the last fall trip of the group. The proposed name of Fortress Peak is representative of its shape. Although still not official, it is now shown in Robert Ormes’ ninth edition of Guide to the Colorado Mountains. “For Peak 13,241’ (Fortress Peak) leave the West Fork Trail…” Maybe the name will stick.

In 1998, then-chairman Mark Schmalz started the David Lavender Award to honor

a member of the group who had contributed in some unique way to the CMC or the Western Slope group. David Lavender was one of the members of the San Juan Mountaineers and noted author who joined the group in 2000 for their 50th anniversary celebration. He has since passed away.

Over the past 60 years, numerous Western Slopers have gathered to hike, climb, ski, explore, and enjoy the adjacent mountains, canyons, and mesas. The Western Slope group of the CMC welcomes other club members to join them in their activities and is proud to be a part of the state organization which will in another two years be celebrating its centennial. △

Our First Ascent

Hall of Mountaineering Excellence Debuts at Museum

By Sarah Wood, Museum Operations Manager

great ascents and work off the mountains.

“Tom would be among the inductees tonight,” noted Phil Powers, Executive Director of the American Alpine Club, “if he weren’t a member of the museum advisory board.”

It was a legendary evening. In attendance were Robert Craig, Yvon and Melinda Chouinard, and the family of Bob Bates. Ed Viesturs, the first American to climb all 14

of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks without supplemental oxygen, capped off the night with an inspiring presentation of his accomplishments. It was a spectacular event, generating great enthusiasm for the museum, honoring worthy inductees, and helping to raise over $13,000 for the museum.

Only one question remains: who will be inducted next year? △ Chris Case

Over two years ago, the American Mountaineering Museum opened its doors as the nation’s only museum of mountaineering history. It continues to build recognition around the world as the center of American climbing. Helping that cause was the first induction ceremony of the Hall of Mountaineering Excellence on April 10, 2010.

Inducted were true legends: Robert Craig, Robert Bates, Charles Houston, and Yvon Chouinard.

In addition to being a pioneering ice and big-wall climber, Chouinard has been one of the most important outdoor equipment and clothing innovators of modern times and a leading voice of environmental activism. Bates, Craig, and Houston are perhaps best known as climbers for their roles in the dramatic K2 expedition of 1953, but each has had profound impacts outside mountaineering: Bates as a beloved educator, Craig as founder and longtime president of the Keystone Center, and Houston as a doctor and medical researcher.

Tom Hornbein—famous for his first ascent of the West Ridge of Mount Everest in 1963—and historian Nick Clinch presented the awards to the four inductees and offered memories and stories about the inductees’

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The Clinic Beyond the Single Image Telling compelling stories through photography Article and photography by Chris Case

A great story takes us places.

Maybe we’re led to a world we’ve never been to before—an expedition across Antarctica, up Mount Everest, or into Utah's White Canyon. Maybe we peer into the fascinating life of someone (or some thing) we may never get to meet—the Maasai herder, the emperor penguin, a roving wolverine.

Whatever the case—and whether we travel through words, images, film, or a combination of all three— great stories are the vehicle upon which we ride. And great stories are everywhere, if we look around.

With a little creativity and a foundation in the basics of photography, we can all start telling better stories in our own backyards.

Perhaps we want to show what it’s like to traverse Ellingwood Ridge, tell the story of elk in Rocky Mountain National Park, or showcase the magnificent but unprotected wilderness of Utah's White Canyon (as I've tried to do with the images that accompany this article).

But to tell a more compelling story, we have to go beyond the single image; we need to place the story in a context, give it a perspective, and capture the essence of the subject.

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Like any good piece of writing, compelling visual stories introduce characters, illustrate actions, and make us feel strong emotions like joy, suffering, and wanderlust—and everything in between. With even a single photograph, however, unlike with words, you can do all of these things simultaneously, if you choose. Striking the right balance between composition and emotion is paramount to enabling viewers to “read” the image, so that the photographs can be understood, digested, and thought critically about—just like a good piece of writing.

Though the camera is arguably more intimidating than the pen, it remains a simple tool to engage an audience—to tell great stories, small and large. As with any creative process, there are guidelines, not rules. You can’t tell the story unless you know what that story is. You won’t know the story until you start seeing what’s real. Let the story come to you; don’t force preconceived notions onto the canvas. And regardless of your method or style, the most important step is to release the shutter—then release it again, and again, exploring as you go.

Know your subject

Getting to know a place takes more than regular visits. Getting to know a species takes more than reading about it in a field guide. Good research will illuminate the hallmark elements of a particular subject, be it animal, place, person, or thing. If you know the animal—its behavior, traits, feeding habits, migration routes, seasonal adaptations, habitat, range, differences in gender—you will have a better chance of capturing the essence of that animal through your photographs. Look for charismatic individuals that can help you illustrate the archetype—look for characters. ◀ Utah's White Canyon makes a gorgeous, serpentine cut through Cedar Mesa, near Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. But it remains unprotected. It lies at the heart of the proposed Glen Canyon Wilderness, where the vast expanse of Paleozoic-era sandstone known as Nokai Dome eases its way to the upper reaches of Lake Powell.

“Shoot Lots”

When it came to being the greatest cyclist in history, Eddie Merckx claimed it had to do with his training method: “Ride lots.”

The same can be said of photography. The more photographs you make, the more photographs you’ve made. This amounts to great experience, increases one’s comfort with experimentation, and allows you to distill the best images from the pool of hundreds you might take. Even a photographer from National Geographic (often thought of as the most skilled and best supported photographer because of the time and money allowed for each assignment) will create thousands of images for a story. The end result is the few remarkable photographs that we see in print.

By making more images, you stand to make better stories. Still, this doesn’t mean you can just hold the shutter open and capture it all. It has to be thoughtful. ◀▼ The canyon sits at the heart of the San Juan-Canyonlands region of Southeastern Utah, one of the most iconic landscapes recommended for protection in America's Red Rock Wilderness Act. It is home to abstract geologic formations wrought by elemental forces, as well as internationally significant cultural sites of the Ancestral Puebloans and the Mormon Pioneers. Adorned with buttes and arches, vast stretches of slickrock deposited over 250 million years ago, ancient pinyon-juniper forests, and an artist's pallet of red-hued sandstone, the region has inspired explorers since the days of John Wesley Powell, and its wonders represent some of the greatest unprotected wilderness in the country.

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Make images

Shooting images. Taking photos. These are the common ways in which most people refer to the act of photography.

Ideally, however, you want to be making photographs, or crafting them.

Every image is a distortion of reality: You choose what to include in the frame; what to exclude from the frame; what to accentuate through the use of depth of field, for example; what to alter through stop motion or time elapse.

No image is really the truth. Thus, you have the power to make every photograph your own. See the entire frame and choose what goes in it. Know how to use the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, focal length, and proximity to play with the image, emphasizing scale, time, and the juxtaposition of key elements within the frame. See the photograph as a paragraph: a distinct frame consisting of one or more elements, but which deals with a single idea or topic.

Photography can be extremely powerful; you have the ability to manipulate a number of parameters to craft the image you want. Climb high, crouch low, vary your vantage point, vary your perspective. See the grand panoramas, and the soil beneath your feet. Look for the wildlife, and the signs of their travel.

▲▼ White Canyon starts in the foothills of the Abajo Mountains, passes through Natural Bridges National Monument, then joins the north end of Lake Powell near the town of Hite after some 50 miles. The upper stretches are quite shallow but the gorge soon becomes wide and deep, with crumbling red and white cliffs at either side.

▼▶ A narrow ravine cuts into the middle of the main valley floor, several hundred feet deep in places. Something unique and beautiful greets you at every turn, including the eerie "Black Hole." Here the walls grow closer, the waters rise higher, and a permanently flooded pool is formed—500 feet of frigid, red soup. The smooth white Cedar Mesa sandstone walls are just a few feet apart.

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Make stories

Single images stand alone. Stories, however, are most powerful and compelling when—like the most fascinating art—they operate on synchronous and synergistic channels, when they awaken our aesthetic, intellect, and emotion. This can result in a series of images that complement one another. Each of the photos captures a part of the essence of the whole.

How do you do this? It takes time to see the story unfold. You can start with a shot list—a list of images you’d like to make during the course of your project—but be ready to improvise, be flexible, and see more than what’s written on the page. If you’re hoping to tell the story of elk migration through Rocky Mountain National Park, you’ll have to know where the animals start their journey, what course they take to get from their summer habitat to their winter grounds, what threats these migration routes may face, and how the hordes of fall tourists influence their behavior. And then you’ll have to make images that capture each of these elements, and connect the threads between them. But the story will inevitably evolve; be on the lookout for other compelling images and poignant moments.

Edit Lots

When it comes time to assemble the story, be ruthless. In fact, if you are working over time, edit between trips or visits. Be sure to use this editing time to focus the story. Ask yourself, “What is it that I’ve seen?” so you can avoid bringing your own desires for what you’d like the story to be into the process.

The saying goes: Your story is only as good as your worst image. So, make sure that each of your images is compelling and contributing to the story as a whole, while remaining technically sound. If not, perhaps you need to consider eliminating that image altogether. Or, consider making another attempt at capturing what you need.

Show your work to others. The story may be a reflection of your sense of style, objectives, and perspective (your bias, even), but a story is by nature intended to be shared with an audience. How others respond to the images, and the visual whole, will tell you a lot about what you’ve done well, what may need more work, and what may be missing altogether. Collaboration in this way always produces the best product.

Of course, the critique is a form of art in itself. Allow people to be open and give constructive feedback. Keep in mind that their critical analysis now will only make the final story that much better. But don’t let them get away with saying “I don’t like it”; challenge them to give their reasons and engage them to learn more.

Think about a great novel you’ve read. Think about that first chapter: establishing the lay of the land, building characters, setting a tone. The body of the novel might explore a number of minor storylines while continuing to develop the major theme. It might introduce elements which further build characters; it could offer a climax and a resolution. Then, you’ll reach the final chapter and, hopefully, a lasting impression.

There might be a formula for certain types of stories, but I wouldn’t necessarily follow it. Especially when it comes to visual stories, you have to find your own method. Craft your own images. Shoot lots. The story you create will be far more compelling than the cumulative impact of the single images. △

La Sportiva FC ECO 3.0

By Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan

Everybody loves green gear in theory—it’s green gear in practice that trips up some hikers. Even the most environmentally conscious among us is unlikely to shell out for earth-friendly footwear if it can’t handle the rigors of the trail. Luckily, the La Sportiva FC ECO 3.0 proves you can have the best of both worlds: hardworking boots and a lighter environmental footprint. This rugged but light-feeling midcut sports plenty of eco-cred: 100-percent-recycled laces and nylon mesh, plus partially recycled outsoles, DRILex Bristol lining, and EVA midsoles. And La Sportiva put as much energy into the FC ECO’s on-trail performance as they did into the green design. Thoughtful details deliver on the trail: The company’s Impact Brake System outsoles held fast on everything from snowpack to ice-covered rocks to steep, gritty trails, and the Gore-Tex membrane kept socks blissfully dry and muck-free. A roomy toebox leaves space for swelling tootsies, while the uppers lock feet snugly in place. (There’s little to no heel slip, even though the FC ECO has only one set of metal lace hooks for cinching the fit.) A higher cut keeps ankles supported, but the flexible midsole and leather/mesh uppers feel more like a trail runner than a clunky work boot. Caution: The FC ECOs are billed as midweight boots, and it’s best not to push them farther—they’re not beefy enough for stability under big loads or on burly terrain. And testers’ feet were left aching after some particularly punishing hikes, making an aftermarket insole a good bet for hikers who want additional cushion. $160; www.lasportiva.com Trail & Timberline

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From the Inside What does it take to make great photographs?

Inside the minds of outdoor photographers

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Dwarfed by the crevasses and peaks of the Mont Blanc Massif, four climbers snake their way across the glaciers atop the Alps between Courmayeur, Italy, and Chamonix, France.

Photo by Chris Case

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by chris case › › › › › › › › www.chriscasephoto.com I had everything I needed in my pack, except my Leica M6.

The camera—as it was for every second of this trip—was slung around my neck, ready to be used at any moment. Thought of as the traditionalist’s choice for inconspicuous photojournalism, this compact, quiet camera with incredible optics is great for street photography. But it’s not known as the landscape photographer’s tool of choice.

And here I was about to travel across the top of the Alps. What would I be able to capture on film? Sometimes traveling light means making sacrifices—and conjuring your skills of improvisation.

I was at the tail end of a solo backpacking wander through Italy, heading from the small, rustic ski village of Courmayeur towards the relatively glamorous alpine-adventure epicenter of Chamonix, France, and the train that would take me to Barcelona. The most direct route between these two Alpine resorts? A thrilling route over the Alps and across the Mont Blanc massif through a series of big téléphérique and small télécabine.

With unsafe winds postponing departures of the tram from Courmayeur, I roamed the streets, occasionally checking in with the ticket counter. What ensued were a series of charming encounters where broken English met nearly nonexistent Italian.

Hours passed as I wished for nothing more than to travel over the top of Europe. Then, finally, through the language gap (er, crevasse) I was told that my plan to travel that day via glorified ski lift was on.

After ascending from Courmayeur to Italy's Helbronner Point via the large tram, a unique three-pod gondola ride awaited.

I hadn’t researched this leg of the trip— this was also improvisation. What awaited me was beyond belief: a 40-minute, 3-mile traverse of the entire Mont Blanc Massif, without a single solid tower, inside a time capsule from the 1950s.

And this excitement was what nearly killed me.

The view below me was just about incomprehensible, with the velvety snows stretching to the edges of sinister crevasses, the color of mint toothpaste. On either side 20

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of this plateau of frosting-covered glaciers stood the crumbling fortresses of the ancient Alps. Black, splintering rock and ice.

I was drifting alone in this gondola, suspended between two other empty cars, dangling in the frigid air seemingly miles above and beyond everything. This was flying.

Then, far below, I saw four lonely wanderers. They were like me, drifting humans, though still miles away. It was a group of mountaineers heading for a field of crevasses along a fine ribbon of footsteps.

I was giddy, bouncing off the walls of this tiny cage. I wanted to be out there on the snow, marching across the glaciers and peering up at exquisite mountainscapes. There were small windows in the gondola doors and so I leaned into one, resting my elbows on the sill.

My heart stopped. I was pushing the pressure-activated doors open with my weight and I was about to fall into the void to land in what I’m sure would prove to be the most dense and painful of frostings.

My heart beat again only as I was able to lean back somehow—I’ll never know how—and realize that to die would be awful, but to die without anyone to witness it would be ever more so.

Did I almost just fall to my death from a gondola over the Alps? Am I alive right now? Did I honestly almost fall from a pod in the sky?

And then I started making more photographs.

A vertical environment introduces a unique set of challenges—both for Jeff Lowe and for photographers like me. When shooting, one’s feet are dangling in space, not planted firmly on the ground. There are ropes, climbing hardware, heights, and exposure to deal with. I’ve probably spent close to a year of my life hanging on ropes shooting climbers, and I’ve gathered a few techniques to make the experience less painful and more efficient.

A good climbing harness is key. All of my body weight, plus the weight of my camera gear, climbing equipment, water, and food, rest on my harness. There is no way to make being in a harness for days at a time feel good—it just plain hurts. That said, I use a Black Diamond big-wall harness. It is as comfortable as possible, it’s well padded, and it has a lot of reinforced gear loops. Yes, it’s on the expensive side, but three hours into a two-day trip, the extra thirty bucks will be worth it.

Once I’m off the ground, my equipment is always attached to either my harness, the rope above me, or the wall. It makes no difference whether I am working ten or a thousand feet up; any equipment and film I drop will either be destroyed on impact or will never be seen again. Often I am hanging directly over the climber that I am shooting, so if I drop a four-pound lens on them from thirty feet up, it will get ugly.

I get in the habit of adding tie-offs to all my equipment, and I use them whenever there’s even a possibility of dropping anything.

Camera bag selection is key. I find that the Lowepro Orion AW is the ideal big-wall bag. The over-the-shoulder harness system combined with a waist strap lets me secure the bag very close to my body, or simply hang the bag over a shoulder when I need more range of motion at my waist.

To prevent losing my camera, I don’t use the stock strap. Instead, I replace it with thin,

full-strength climbing webbing, tied to the camera body with water knots. I find the webbing to be very easy to handle, soft on my neck and strong enough to support the weight of the camera and a long lens. Also, in an emergency, I can use my camera strap as a piece of climbing equipment. (This has actually happened!)

If I’m shooting from a fixed rope, I use my top ascender as the power point for hanging equipment. As soon as I get to a location from which I’m going to shoot, I take my camera bag off over my shoulder and clip it into my top ascender, keeping it clipped to my waist until it’s secure. I then unzip the bag and clip the camera strap into the same point. This places the bag at waist level, where it acts like a net on which I can safely change lenses and film.

The high power point also acts as a support for the camera’s weight and keeps me in a very stable position.

Finally, less is more. This is truly the case when shooting rock climbing or ice climbing, because I have to haul every ounce up the wall, potentially thousands of feet. I almost never carry more than a 16-35mm lens, a 70-200mm lens, one camera body, a light meter, and film.

But, the most important thing I can say is, be careful! I have taken the time to get comfortable with the rope systems, my gear, and the vertical environment. Then I concentrate on what I love most: taking photos.

by corey rich › › › › › › › › › › › › › › › www.coreyrich.com This story first appeared in the book My Favorite Place: Great Athletes in the Great Outdoors, published by Chronicle Books.

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Š Corey Rich/Aurora Photos

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Š John Fielder. This photo first appeared in Mountain Ranges of Colorado, winner in the category "Best Book - Mountain Image" at the 2005 Banff Mountain Book Festival.

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Though I’ve been around dozens of mild-mannered mountain goats in the wild, I could never have dreamed of having a confrontation with a 250-pound male. The 24 hours spent with this creature in August 1999 rank as the most remarkable wildlife encounter of my life.

The plan for the third day of a nine-day backpack along the eastern flank of the Needle Mountains in the Weminuche Wilderness was to camp on a finger-shaped ridge at 13,100 feet that I had studied on my topographic maps— and coveted as a photography location—for many years. I had always suspected that from the ridge two of Colorado’s most beautiful peaks, Vestal and Arrow—both just a few feet below fourteener status—would be “in my face” a half-mile to the south and only separated from me by the Vestal Creek drainage.

As soon as our tents were pitched, the most beautiful mountain goat I have ever seen approached me and my companions.

Mountain goats are naturally curious animals and not intimidated by people. This was not the first time in my life that goats had arrived soon after me (often looking for the salt in our just-released urine), but it was the first time that a solitary male—and most likely the dominant male in the Needle Mountains herd—showed up. I had never seen a goat so beautiful. Summer coat, massive cranium, huge thorax, tiny waist. He stood still and stared at us with a complacency that could only have derived from his knowing that he was the baddest dude in the wilderness. I decided it was time to experiment with a wild goat. With my friends behind me as witnesses, I would ascertain who was baddest, me or him.

I stood 10 feet from the motionless goat with the two of us staring into each other’s eyes. I looked back over my shoulder at my friends, smiled, then walked two steps towards the goat. He did not move except to shake his head from side to side about three times and become still again. I looked back at my crew once more and smiled, then stepped deliberately within five feet of the goat. Continuing to stay put, he shook his head and snorted loudly for a few seconds, then became still again. Clearly, these gestures had been warnings. Staying put, I turned my shoulders slowly and smiled back at my friends. They did not smile back. I think they were imagining how difficult it would be to carry my injured body from this most remote of Colorado places to the nearest hospital. Of course, I then took another step closer to the goat. As soon as my right foot landed on tundra three feet in front

of him, he raised his body upright, acrobatically balancing on his hind legs with front legs towering above all 6 feet 3 inches of me. As quickly as I could, I turned and retreated to the group, by which time the goat was back on all fours, motionless and staring at me as before.

The next morning I climbed 200 yards from camp to the south edge of the ridge in order to photograph Vestal and Arrow peaks. My companion, Byron, and I had arisen, as I always do, before dawn, in order to be in position to progressively photograph our remarkable venue during the various color stages of sunrise. At about the predicted time, clouds behind Arrow and Vestal turned pink—so far so good—and with the telephoto lens I isolated peak silhouettes against the colorful sky. I knew it was likely that the next photograph would be of sun-lit tundra immediately in front of me with the Trinity Alps, to the east of Vestal and Arrow, in the background. As I began to replace the telephoto lens with a wide angle one on my large format 4” x 5” view camera, I heard the sound behind me: clomp, clomp, clomp. I turned to see my favorite Needle Mountains’ adversary, the Billy goat, walking slowly behind me on his way to the edge of the ridge. When he was 10 feet in front of me, he laid down in the middle of the exact place that was to be the foreground of my photograph.

I couldn’t believe it—the goat was back and about to ruin the most desirable image of the place I’d not only backpacked many miles to reach, but dreamed about for years! I reconsidered the situation. “This day I will be a ‘large format’ wildlife photographer,” I said to Byron. The goat was snoozing with his eyes closed. The sun then crested the ridge behind me highlighting the fur on his back and neck with warm yellow. He remained motionless for the next 10 minutes as I exposed a dozen sheets of film at f45 for ¼ second of a finely focused goat with the Trinity Alps in the background.

After making images of the goat, now standing, from a couple of different angles, Byron and I descended to camp and breakfast. Then, as I wandered over the top of a nearby hill, I spied the goat 50 yards away, snoozing in the soft tundra. I decided that it was time to find out just how genuine was our developing friendship. I approached him slowly but deliberately. Trying to show no fear, I stopped five feet away from him. He did not move; he didn’t even look up at me. Was there now a bond between us, two male denizens (albeit disparate species) of the wilderness? I dropped to my knees and crawled next to him. I laid prone and parallel to his body with my head propped on my hand. I was only two feet away, yet he continued to ignore me. I began to talk to him. For the next 25 minutes I enjoyed the most remarkable wildlife encounter of my life. I spoke to him, all the while making statements and asking him questions (I never received any answers). The entire time he slumbered by my side; this 250-pound miracle of a creature, didn't once look at me. I can only assume that my voice soothed him and that my presence and proximity was acceptable. I left the goat and headed back to camp. He returned just as we departed for our next evening’s location and followed us for a ways. We took a right to traverse the next drainage to the south. For whatever reason, he’d had enough of us and took a left.

John Fielder's wilderness mishaps, self-rescues, and benign episodes number in the hundreds. He hopes to chronicle them in a book some day. In the meantime, visit www.johnfielder.com to learn about his galleries, photography workshops, and books, the latest being Ranches of Colorado.

by john fielder › › › › › › › › › › www.johnfielder.com 26

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by pete takeda › › › › › › › › › www.petetakeda.com

▲ Jonny Copp on the lower gendarmes of the South Ridge of Nanda Devi East. Old fixed lines, some consisting of ancient manila rope attached to fixed pitons dating back to the 1930s, can be seen dangling from the rock. ◀ Copp at a bivy at 23,500 feet. In the background is Nanda Kot. A week prior, Jonny, Chuck Bird, Sarah Bird, and I had extricated ourselves from avalanche debris after taking shelter in a crevasse.

These images were taken of Jonny Copp in 2005.

Jonny and I were attempting Nanda Devi East (7,434 m/24,390 ft), alpine style. The peak—first climbed by the Poles in 1939 and subsequently the target of several expeditions through the 1970s—is a satellite to the main summit of Nanda Devi.

Jonny loved the Colorado Rockies as much as the exotic ranges he frequented. It didn’t matter if he was climbing, skiing, hiking or biking—Jonny was always up for the challenge of moving through the Rockies.

On this climb Jonny and I missed the summit by a few hundred feet. It was a great adventure and I always assumed that we’d try another big mountain, though as fate would have it, that wasn’t the case. Jonny died in an avalanche in 2009 in the mountains of Sichuan, China. He was only 35 years old, but packed several lifetimes into a world-class climbing career. He is sorely missed.

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In June 1993, Jim Wark was camped for three nights at a bush landing strip at the conf luence of Glacier Creek and the Chitistone River, near Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska. On the third night, a bear came into camp and began rummaging through his food cache. How does that relate to the gorgeous photo of the Cassiar Mountains? Read on. by jim wark › › › › › › › › › › › www.airphotona.com 28

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It’s about midnight and a black bear is circling the tent. In two earlier Alaska trips, locals had warned it was foolish to be camping in the bush without a gun for bear defense. So, this time I was armed with a 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun. I had also taken the advice of an oldtime bush pilot whose bear trick was to save his urine each day, mix it with a good dash of household ammonia, and sprinkle a wide ring around the tent each night. Most bears, he said, would respect this territory. True enough, the bear was showing respect, but both the fabric covered airplane and my provisions were fair game.

I could see the bear even in the dim northern twilight of midnight. He would circle and

sit, circle and sit, circle and sit. Banging on pans and shouting had no effect. “I know you’re out there, Bear, beat it!”

He pays no attention, so it’s time to get dressed, get the gun, step outside and fire a shot over his head.

Gun’s jammed, can’t chamber a shell. After convincing myself this is not just a bad dream, I spend about 20 minutes holding a small flashlight in my teeth working on the gun when, for no apparent reason, it suddenly works. By this time the bear is into the provisions and is sitting down eating a can of Pringles. I approach to about 50 feet and fire well over his head. The blast reverberates and echoes off the canyon walls. The bear does not so much as look up.

Thinking this is one fearless bear, and not wanting to become the main course, I keep closing with the intention of shooting to kill if he charges. At about 50 feet, he looks up, drops the food (now a loaf of Wonder Bread) and bolts for the bush. I laid awake the rest of the night and departed at dawn.

Deciding it was time to leave Alaska, I spent the day getting photos and stopped at Skagway for gas and to set up my tent for the night. But the airport had new rules since I was last there and camping was no longer permitted. Not wanting to camp another night in the bush, I decided (unwisely) to make a night flight over the Cassiar Mountains between Skagway and Watson Lake, Yukon.

The flight had no problems, but I did encounter one of the most serendipitous photo opportunities in my 22 years

of aerial photography. I was shooting and bracketing as fast as I could to catch the light of the rainbow; it was almost midnight.

Two weeks later, recounting the incident with the bear, I realized I had not chambered a second round.

With six books in print (and another scheduled for 2011 on wilderness aerial photography), it’s safe to assume that Jim knows a few things about f lying and photographing. A few questions for the man.

Are you f lying and photographing at the same time? Yes, I couldn’t do it any other way.

I know Brad Washburn used a specially equipped plane that had an optical glass window for greater clarity. Do you have anything like that on your plane? My airplane has a clamshell door which opens in f light at my right side to give a three feet by four feet clear opening to shoot from. It's bitter cold in winter, but again, I would have it no other way.

How many hours have you spent f lying above the Earth? More than 13,000 hours; not a lot for some airline folks. I began in 1954 as a Navy pilot. I didn’t f ly from 1967 to 1976. Then, I began Airphoto in 1990.

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Š Chris Stark

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As I made my way up Little Bear Peak, much more was weighing on me than a heavy pack and 30 pounds of camera gear. I lockstepped my way across shifting scree for what seemed like miles.

The burden of the events to come loomed larger on my mind than the false summit of the 14,037-foot peak. None of us climbing this peak were doing it for pleasure; some in the group were here in search of a body. I was here to tell the story.

We had made camp the night before just below treeline, then rested up for the next day's push to the ridge that sits just below the summit. Earlier this day, our five-person group continued to climb while a man named Nick Stevens waited behind.

He waited for a reporter, Pamela Dickman, who would help me document the recovery of the body of his daughter, Lygon Stevens, who had been killed in an avalanche on January 10, 2008.

Now, five months later, I was asked to document the recovery by the Loveland Reporter-Herald, the Stevens’ hometown newspaper. The family had visited the avalanche field several times since the tragic day; they hoped to find Lygon’s body before the snow

melted and exposed it to scavengers. Now they were returning with the help of a search and rescue team from Alamosa—and to transport the body off of the mountain.

I was filled with a mix of excitement and dread: I knew the story had the potential to yield powerful emotional photos, but they would come while witnessing traumatic personal events.

As we sat around the camp that afternoon, the radio crackled with the voice of Mick Scarpella, a friend of Nick’s who accompanied him and Pamela up the trail. “Nick had a fall,” said

Mick. Two members of my group, Jim Doenges, of Climbing for Christ, and Marcos Collazo, a Stevens family friend and backcountry first responder, grabbed their first-aid packs and bolted down the mountain to help their friend.

Nick is a deeply spiritual man who takes his faith in God seriously. Five months ago, his faith was tested when his daughter and son were involved in the avalanche while making a summit attempt. His son made it; Lygon did not. Now, Nick had fallen and broken his collar bone while praying his way up the trail.

I thought about his fall as I picked my way across the scree toward the ridge where we would watch the recovery team search for Lygon’s body. A sense of guilt washed over me because he insisted on carrying my 10-pound, 400mm telephoto lens. I didn’t feel right about letting him carry it for me—as a photojournalist you try not to influence the story. But Nick and his group had been so hospitable that I didn’t want to offend them by forcing my ethics. I also felt weird about eating their gorp and drinking their water. But in each case I let my ethics slide in the face of the daunting task of scaling Little Bear Peak while documenting the recovery.

I was no alpinist but I was reasonably fit and could handle the climb. And I was no stranger to difficult, emotional situations: I had photographed fatal car wrecks, house fires, and a gang funeral.

But I had never combined the physical and emotional difficulties that I currently faced. Now I carried the guilt of Nick’s fall with me up the mountain.

I moved ahead of the group to make photos of the ascent to the ridge. I remember a point when I turned around to see Michael Dalton, a documentarian who filmed the recovery, and Jim Doenges. I leaned on my hiking poles in an effort to rest. My eyes traced a line from my feet down the rocky slope to Michael and Jim and beyond to the shadow cast by Little Bear Peak on the valley below. The sight might have taken my breath away if there were any air left to breathe. I straightened up and soaked

by chris stark › › › › › www.starkphotojournalist.com 32

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in the vision and forgot why I was there for a while. Again, I rested the pack’s weight on my hiking poles. The Nikon hanging around my neck dangled between them, swaying back and forth in the constant breeze. I snapped out of my daze and lifted the viewfinder to my eye and recorded the moment.

The morning dragged on but we finally made it to our perch near 13,000 feet. From there we would have a good view of the avalanche field where Lygon’s body was thought to be. The sun warmed us as we waited for the Flight for Life helicopter to make a test pass. When it finally came and went, the radio crackled yet again: The wind was too much for the helicopter and there would be no recovery attempt today. Our group, having just made an early push for the ridge to arrive in time for the search, was disappointed.

But we understood that landing in unfavorable conditions put the whole operation at risk.

We had no choice but to head back down the mountain and try another day.

The story wasn’t progressing as I had hoped. But documenting life is not about what I want to happen—it’s about what actually happens. We made our way down the scree slopes, this time with a new foe—the wind.

I've never been in a hurricane, but I don’t have to stretch my imagination much now that I have experienced that descent. I looked down the slopes on either side of the ridge I was on; they stretched for over a thousand feet in each direction. I carefully picked my way down as I thought about my own daughter and the risks I was taking to tell this story. More guilt piled on as I descended toward the safety of treeline.

Two weeks passed before I found myself at the foot of Little Bear Peak again. This time the group was confident that the recovery would go well. The approaching spring made conditions more favorable for the recovery. Today, I would stay at the trailhead with the Stevens family as they waited for Lygon’s body to be brought down by helicopter. Nick had slightly recovered from his collar bone injury and I found out that he hadn’t fallen while carrying my lens. This eased the guilt—just a bit.

We stood around for hours, waiting for the helicopter and any news from the search team. When word finally came that Lygon's body was found intact, with no evidence that scavengers had harmed her, a sense of relief came over the group. Within minutes she would be back with her family.

I couldn’t help feeling that same relief—for a family I had come to know. As a photojournalist, you are trained to detach from the situation. But to allow myself to withdraw from such a heartwrenching scene felt wrong. My eyes welled with emotion and filled with dust as the helicopter’s prop wash blasted us. My heart went out to this family who lost a daughter, a sister, and a friend. I put myself in their shoes and knew I would do anything it took to get my daughter home again. I also knew that I had to tell their story with photographs. This family had trusted me to come into the most difficult and intimate time of their lives—to tell not just the heartbreak and misery, but the triumph and compassion of the human spirit.

I was moved by the emotion of the moment as I had been by the beauty on the mountain two weeks earlier, but this time there was no hesitation. Perhaps now, without the fatigue and mental haze that comes with climbing at altitude, I was able to simultaneously live the moment as I documented it. Seamlessly, I made photographs while feeling the collective grief and relief that came with the closure of getting Lygon Stevens off the mountain. △ Trail & Timberline

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Snapshot The New Media

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of Photography in the Early Years of the Colorado Mountain Club

By Woody Smith

In an age of instant information and split-second imagery, it may be hard to appreciate the relative lack of media available when the Colorado Mountain Club was founded nearly 100 years ago. Before there was radio, movies, or television, stage shows and lectures provided most of the opportunities for temporary escapism. The written word generally served as a more enduring form of entertainment and information. Photography—in its various forms—was the newest media, but one whose importance was not lost on the club's founders.

◀ In 1915, the club published an elegant series of photographs accompanied by extended captions (above) in Trail and Timberline: An Annual Mountaineering Review in Picture. it included George Barnard's "Inside a Glacial Crevasse."

Though the technology emerged in the 1840s, the first truly affordable and portable camera—the Kodak Brownie— was not introduced until 1900. Amateur photography boomed as a result.

Members documented club activities with photos from the very start. They also formed a Pictorial Committee just one month into the club’s existence. The committee was charged with “organizing and supervising... the photographing of scenery, birds, animals and other outdoor subjects… [Also] to conduct one or more photographic competitions…each year, and to make and preserve for the Club a collection of useful outdoor views.”

The Pictorial Committee was notable for its first members. Charles Partridge Adams was a prominent western landscape painter; he also served on the CMC’s Board of Directors. Dr. William Smedley was the son of a pioneer dentist. Clark Blickensderfer, a civil engineer and real estate investor, was the son of a pioneer physician. Blickensderfer’s involvement was probably not a coincidence: From 1884 to 1890, his father, Dr. J. C. Blickensderfer, was in private

practice with Dr. Edmund Rogers, father of James Grafton Rogers, the CMC’s founder.

By July the committee reported that it already possessed “many good photographs….” It also began sponsoring “Pictorial Contests,” the first of which took place in August and September of 1912. The two winners were each “awarded the prize of five dollars….” The next summer, two competitions were held. The first subject of focus was “Mountain Ranges and Individual Peaks in Colorado.” The second contest concentrated on “Streams and Lakes in Colorado’s Mountains.” First prize had been increased to $10; second prize was $5.

While encouraging the CMC’s budding photographers, much of the committee’s effort went to supplying the Program Committee with suitable lantern slides for club-sponsored lectures. Indicative of these lectures was a February 1913 presentation on “Mountains and Mountain Life of the State.” Speakers included Enos Mills, James Grafton Rogers, and Dr. J. Raymond Brackett. The lecture was “illustrated by stereoptician.” Proceeds went to build mountain shelters. Another was “The Colorado Wild

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Flowers,” with lecture by Ellsworth Bethel and lantern slides by Albert Haanstad.

When C. P. Adams resigned from the committee in June 1913, he was replaced by Albert Haanstad, who was a Denver “photographic dealer.” Haanstad helped promote photography—and his business—by teaching technique to club members.

That summer the Third Annual Photo Contest had the themes “Mountain Roads and Trails” and “Cloud Effects in Colorado’s Mountains.” But the club’s photographers would soon have another avenue to display their work: a book.

In the fall of 1914, CMC president Rogers was “empowered to proceed with the compilation of material and pictures for a club publication for the end of the year.” However, despite good intentions and an allotment of $200, actual publication would take over a year.

Meanwhile the committee quietly continued its work.

In January 1915, they reported “The Club’s collection of lantern slides now includes more than 300 views of the state, including full records of our annual outings, and the slides have been loaned extensively and used throughout the state and in the East.”

In late 1915, Trail and Timberline – An Annual Mountaineering Review in Picture was finally published. It contained 10 mountainscapes as photographed by various club members. On the facing page was text related to the human and natural history of the locales shown. Among the photographers were George Barnard, Robert Rockwell, George Harvey, and Ruth Londoner. Although not credited, the text bears the touch of president Rogers.

The project was received well enough to be repeated. The following October a leaflet appeared: The 1916 Edition of ‘Trail & Timberline,’ the club illustrated Annual, must go to press this month so that it may be ready for the holidays. It will contain about ten reproductions of photographs, preferably taken by club members this year, and will be given wide circulation. If the club members will IMMEDIATELY send or leave at the President’s 36

Trail & Timberline

Office…a few of their best mountain photographs, the committee will appreciate the opportunity to consider and select from them for use in the book. Write your name on the backs.

PUBLISHING COMMITTEE. But this was just the beginning. Catering to the growing photo frenzy, on December 8, 1916, the Program Committee staged a lecture on Natural Color Photography: …Messrs. Mainland and Haanstad will exhibit 150 autochrome slides depicting scenes, flowers, and subjects that will be interesting to

portunity to learn more of the great possibilities of direct color photography and its application to club work. Come and bring your friends.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE. In the fall of 1917 discussions began over the next club publication. In January 1918 director Robert Rockwell suggested a “monthly bulletin” take the place of the annual. The other directors agreed, and $300 was allocated for a monthly publication to be called Trail and Timberline.

Meanwhile, America’s entry into World

all. There has been a great deal of work and considerable expense attached to the assembling of this beautiful collection. …This is an op-

War I was beginning to be felt locally with several club members enlisting or volunteering for service. The club’s Photographic and

Help us GREEN to stay Your donation will help us to protect Colorado’s wild places, connect young people to the outdoors, and preserve access to your favorite mountains.

Support the CMC beyond your regular membership dues.

www.cmc.org/support

Trail & Timberline

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Publishing committees did their part by sending lantern slides to Europe for troop entertainment. Amazingly, the U.S. Navy found itself short of “binoculars, telescopes, and spy-glasses.” The resulting CMC “Binocular Drive” was commended by the Navy Department.

In April 1918, the first monthly Trail and Timberline rolled off the presses. Ironically, for a publication that began as a photo gallery, the first year offered virtually no outlet for the club’s photographers. Images graced the cover on few occasions: In the September/October 1918 issue, a photo

cious waffle supper.” They also reported a total of 175 lantern slides of various mountain subjects.

In June 1924 the Fort Collins group reported: Our program committee has given us two treats this last month. Mr. Haanstad showed us his beautiful auto-chromes of flowers of Colorado, and gave a talk on amateur photography…. Added to an interesting evening with Mr. Haanstad is an awakened interest in kodaking of late. Mr. Geo. H. Harvey, Jr., took us on a trip to Yellowstone National Park May 6, and a splendid trip it was. We were especially fortunate in having the opportunity

showed the club’s annual camp; a portrait appeared in January 1919 with an obituary for Theodore Bushnell who was killed in France; in February 1919 the cover carried a photo of a crouched “President (George) Barnard Photographing a Ptarmigan.”

The spring of 1918 also marked the beginning of another CMC tradition, the Annual Photographic Exhibition. The twoweek event was usually held at the Denver Public Library and offered photographers a welcome public showcase. Awards in both professional and amateur competitions culminated the proceedings.

During the 1920s, photography’s popularity grew so rapidly that local CMC groups found they could have their own exhibitions. In January 1924, a three-day exhibit held by the Boulder group “was seen by four hundred persons…. More than five hundred pictures were received and more than four hundred fifty displayed…. From pictures exhibited, illustrations for the Recreation Bulletin for the Summer Quarter have been chosen.” The next year, Boulder held their exhibit “following a most deli-

to see the slides loaned to Mr. Harvey by Mr. Albright, superintendent of the park. Now that we know when to go, how to go and what to see, we are on the tiptoe to be off.

In March 1926, the Boulder group re-

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Trail & Timberline

ported their Third Annual Photo Exhibit, featuring its delicious waffles. “It has become a custom to have a waffle supper during the week of the photographic exhibit, with subsequent adjournment to view the pictures.

This year the affair was held at the home of Chairman and Mrs. Waldrop, with eighteen present.” Suspiciously, “…First place in the amateur class went to Chairman A. Gayle Waldrop….”

The spring 1928 photographic exhibit in Denver was well attended, but there were clouds on the horizon. Photo committee chairman Arthur Menter reported: A free moving picture demonstrating the Cine-Kodak and a chance to see the interior of one of our leading hotels at the same time proved to be fierce competition for our ‘stills’ at the Chamber of Commerce the night that Miss Gilpin gave a discussion of the merits of our Annual Photographic Exhibit. The little handful of the faithful who came on time and those who came later because they could not get into the movie were repaid with a very interesting two hours…. Next year, however, we are going to revert to a custom of former years and advertise free refreshments the night of the reception. By this means we will pack ‘em in—and how!

Despite the competition, the January 1929 Trail and Timberline claimed, “Our lense and library collections have become considerable and valuable. Our best examples from the photographic exhibit have become desired by the newspapers.”

Perhaps to illustrate the point, the February 1929 issue sported the first cover photo in nearly a decade. And on it went, as editor Alice Rawson reported in the 30th Anniversary issue in April 1948:

For the first eleven years of its life, the T&T cover page looked much as it does in this issue, with the familiar masthead cut across the top. Below it was an editorial, as in the first issue; a story with an illustration; or a poem, as in this issue.

The [February] 1929 number was the last to use the familiar masthead cut of the timberline tree, and is also remembered for the picture it used instead of a poem—the unsigned classic entitled “Glacier Gorge from the Keyhole,” the keyhole being the legs of a skier in full kick turn.

The next month, March 1929, Earl Davis, editor, changed the format of T&T. The cover page looked practically the same as it has ever since, with a large picture, and the masthead cut shrunk to one column on the inner page.

The first “bled off” cover picture came in 1934, and the first color was used in May 1946. △

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39 4/16/10 11:28 AM

From the Archives The Final Photo

Bradford Washburn's Camera Goes to Outer Space for One Last Image

By Chris Case

In 1929, famed mountaineer and photographer Brad Washburn bought a camera: a Zeiss-Ikon Maximar “B” with a Zeiss Tessar 13.5-centimeter lens and Compur shutter. He used it over the course of many years and many expeditions, finally retiring the workhorse in 1942 after it wore out on his first ascent of Mount McKinley. Before that, however, it would become a part of mountaineering legend.

On June 18, 1937, Alaskan bush pilot Bob Reeve landed Washburn and climbing partner Bob Bates at the base of Mount Lucania in Canada’s Saint Elias Range. At the time, the peak was the highest unclimbed summit in North America, and one of its most isolated. Little did they know that they had just begun what would become one of the more legendary sagas of North American mountaineering history.

Because of thunderstorms and rising temperatures, there could be no bringing in of two other team members—nor would there be any flying out with the men aboard. Reeve took off knowing that the only way out for the two climbers was up the unclimbed west face of Mount Steele, down the east ridge, and out the other side to the small village of Burwash Landing, in the Yukon Territory.

The climbers abandoned nearly all of their camera and survey equipment the Zeiss; they packed up 50 days worth of food, a tent, and minimal climbing gear

and set out. Soon, they would dump even more gear, though they ended up with more food than they estimated they would need for the descent down Steele. So, they decided to climb Lucania. Two days later they stood on the summit.

Sixty miles of mountain, glacier, and tundra—and back over the summit of Steele—were all that remained. Or so they thought. Paring down their loads yet again, they descended the east ridge only to be forced back up the Donjek River 20 miles to find a safe crossing.

One month, eleven days, and 100 miles later, the young men staggered into a pack train. The 35-mile ride out that followed “will always linger in my memory as the most excruciating torture that I have ever endured,” wrote Washburn.

Luckily, after each trimming of their gear, Washburn kept his Zeiss-Ikon by his side. His photographs of their epic trudge were published in the 1938 American Alpine Journal.

And it would be enough to end the story there, if only this same camera didn’t make it to outer space.

In 2009, American Alpine Club member John Grunsfeld—a Brad Washburn fan and NASA astronaut—worked diligently to convince NASA that the camera should be allowed on the space shuttle for one last photograph from space. And so it was—Brad’s camera would begin another expedition.

“I can’t help but reflect on the role of exploration in modern society, when it seems as if all of the frontiers of the earth have been studied,” Washburn wrote in 2005. “Current explorations must extend beyond the earth’s boundaries. They use the Hubble Telescope to look millions of miles away: maybe if I had come along later, that’s what I would have worked on.”

It could be no coincidence that Grunsfeld was traveling to space, with Brad’s camera, to service the Hubble Telescope one last time. In fact, Grunsfeld was the lead spacewalker in charge of the spacewalking and Hubble activities.

And he took not one, but many last photographs with Brad’s camera.

He brought it back to the American Mountaineering Museum, too, where, somewhat sadly, it now leads a less adventurous life. △ ▲ Grunsfeld and the legendary Washburn camera. ◀ One of the camera's last photographs, taken over the Southwest U.S. and Mexico.

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Trail & Timberline

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CMC Adventure Travel For your benefit and enjoyment, the following trips have been reviewed and approved by the Adventure Travel Committee and are officially sanctioned by the Colorado Mountain Club.

Visit www.cmc.org/at for more detailed itineraries and registration forms.

Russia: Climb Mount Elbrus

Hiking & Exploring in Ecuador

For the seventh time, the CMC’s High Altitude Mountaineering Section will lead a trip to Russia and the spectacular Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia, between the Black and Caspian Seas. Mount Elbrus (18,510 feet) is one of the fabled Seven Summits and offers strenuous, but not overly difficult, climbing. Required are a basic knowledge of ice axe, crampons and roped travel.

Transit is through Moscow and will include a daylong city tour at the end of the trip. The cost of the trip includes domestic airfare within Russia, all lodging and most meals, ground transportation, guide fees in the valley, a Russian visa and permit fees, leader expenses and CMC fee. The final cost may vary slightly depending on airfare and currency exchange issues. For application requirements, please see www.cmc.org/AT. To obtain the trip itinerary and application, contact Steve Bonowski at climbersteveb@gmail.com or P.O. Box 280286, Lakewood CO 80228-0286.

Trip packet is available only by regular mail. No phone calls please.

This trip will give you an opportunity to travel to a private preserve nestled in a rustic mountain setting in the Pichincha Foothills near the Quito Airport, offering peace and tranquility. You will experience the bird and animal life and will hike in the same footsteps as ancient Incas on the Last Inca Emperor’s Trails. Throughout the circuit, take in incredible views of the mountains and volcanoes and enjoy superb photo opportunities with a new adventure around every corner. After arriving in Quito we will explore the capital of Ecuador, learning about colonial art, history, archaeology, and folklore. One day we will trek to the Highland Rainforest, visiting up to five sacred waterfalls, and will learn about some of the 250 varieties of native medicinal plants in the region. We will visit a wild virgin cloud forest around Pichincha Mountain and trek on great jungle trails inside a natural paradise, all the while observing a variety of birds, including hummingbirds. The area is considered a paradise, with about 450 bird species, majestic waterfalls, and 300 varieties of orchids. On most days there will be guided, moderate- to easy-level hikes, including after-dark walks to hear wild sounds in the night jungle. A visit to the world famous Otavala Indian Market will give you a chance to shop for local handmade products. An optional four or seven night cruise to the Galapagos Islands is available before the trip. If you would like more information please contact Betsy Weitkamp at elaw@q.com.

August 17 – 29, 2010 $3,097 (does not include airfare)

Yellowstone Backpack August 20 – 29, 2010 $483

Join us for this seven-day, 62-mile backpacking trip through Yellowstone's most remote corner—the Two Ocean Plateau. This southeast corner of Yellowstone National Park is the most remote wilderness in our lower 48 states. Hikers will enjoy some of the most scenic hiking in the park with opportunities to see buffalo, elk, bears, wolves, bald eagles, moose, and deer.

We will hike several days along the shore of Yellowstone Lake, the Thorofare River, and the Yellowstone River so there will be ample time for fishing as well. There will be a required pre-trip meeting on August 11. Contact Janet Martel at jmartel55@comcast.net for more information.

Or complete and send the form below and the leader will contact you.

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Trail & Timberline

September 6 – 17, 2010 $2,501 (does not include airfare)

Trekking in Nepal

September 25 – October 10, 2010 $2526 (does not include airfare) Join Pemba Sherpa, a native of the Khumbu region of the Nepal Himalayas, on this spectacular trek through the foothills of some of the world’s highest peaks. Pemba has been guiding visitors to his homeland since 1986, and in 2010 will lead us into the heart of the world’s majestic

Himalayan Mountains and into the rarely visited Lumding Valley. Very few Westerners have ever ventured into this unspoiled valley. We will be surrounded by striking scenery as we trek through virgin terrain, all the while marveling at views of Mount Everest and its neighbors. We will also spend time with Pemba’s family in the small Sherpa village of Sengma and will relax for a couple of days in Nepal’s colorful capital city of Kathmandu. For more information, please contact Pemba Sherpa at (303) 525-6508 or pemba@sherpaascent.com.

New Zealand Great Walks Trek & Tramp February 16 – March 3, 2011 $1999 (does not include airfare)

Join us for another great CMC outing to New Zealand. We will hike two of the nine “Great Walks” in that beautiful country. Plan early. New Zealand’s national parks require that we make reservations for the popular Milford Track by July 1, 2010 for our trip in 2011. The trip will feature backpacking in both Abel Tasman and Fiordlands National Parks. Both are on the south island. We will explore the Abel Tasman Coastal Track and the Milford Track. The Abel Tasman Track is the best beach hiking in New Zealand and the Milford Track has been called “the best hike in the world.” Both tracks are four days and three nights. Participants should be in condition to pack 35 pound loads on occasionally moderately steep grades at CMC level B. Tents and stoves are not needed as we will be staying in “huts.” Off days are scheduled for Nelson, Queenstown and Te Anau. Queenstown is the adventure sports capital of the world and we will find plenty to do! All three towns are on the south island and were filming sites for “Lord of the Rings.” All lodging, domestic flights, bus, track fees, and boat rides are included. Dates may vary a little because the reservations cannot be made until July and there is limited availability on the popular Milford Track. Group size is limited to 10. For a trip packet please email Brent at brent3306@gmail.com.

Kilimanjaro 19,340'

March 11 – 25, 2011 $3,730 (does not include airfare, est. at $1,800-2,000) Here's another great outing sponsored by the High Altitude Mountaineering Section. Kilimanjaro is the world's largest free-standing mountain and is one of the fabled Seven Summits.

The CMC uses the Machame Route. The trip includes a four day budget safari to Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. Nights are a mixture of a comfortable and rustic hotel; traveler's camps; and tents. Trip size is limited to 18 persons, plus the trip leaders Steve Bonowski and Roger Wendell. To join, you must be in excellent physical condition and be comfortable with Third World travel. Recent graduation from a CMC entry level hiking school is desirable. Final cost may vary slightly depending on airfare and currency exchange rates. Posted price includes lodging at double occupancy, ground transport, climb and park fees, most meals, Tanzanian visa, gratuities, leader expenses, and CMC fee. Not included in the $3,730 is airfare to Tanzania, shots and medication, a few meals, trip insurance, souvenirs, airline baggage fees, single supplement for lodging, and bar tab. Leaders will hold a mandatory planning meeting in early October to answer questions. Trip packets are available electronically beginning Memorial Day weekend from the senior trip leader, Steve Bonowski (climbersteveb@gmail.com). No phone calls please. Climb Kilimanjaro with the CMC and save thousands.

Best of the Grand Canyon: Colorado River Raft & Hike April 23 – May 5, 2011 $4,140 (Limit 18)

Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, this unique trip to the Grand Canyon offers participants the opportunity to experience this World Heritage Site on a motorized raft for 188 miles through the best of the canyon, departing from the historic Lee’s Ferry and ending with a helicopter ride from Whitmore Wash and a plane flight back to the start. It is especially ideal for those who would like to hike in areas which can be reached only from the river, and those who have always wanted to experience the canyon but who do not wish to make the 7 mile, 4,500’ backpack in and out. Our outfitter, Hatch River Expeditions, has been guiding river trips through the canyon for over 70 years. We will have four guides and 20 participants on two

35-foot S-rig boats running fuel-efficient and quiet 4-stroke outboard engines. The average motorized raft trip through the Grand Canyon runs seven days, so this 12 day trip will have plenty of opportunities for hiking. Hatch offers us daily guided hikes at different hiking levels, or one may choose to rest in camp. There are several opportunities for point-to-point hikes where we may hike from one drainage to the next and the raft will pick us up later in the day.

The deposit is $300. Please visit www.cmc.org/ AT for cancellation policy, payment schedule, and additional information, and to call leaders for availability. Register with leaders Blake Clark or Rosemary Burbank at (303) 871-0379 or blakerosemary@cs.com

Trekking in Transylvania July 21 – August 1, 2011 Cost TBD

Thrills, chills, and old-world romance abound in Count Dracula’s homeland. You will trek 60 miles (8-12 miles per day) in the breathtakingly beautiful and rugged Carpathian Mountains, and climb Romania’s highpoint (Moldoveanu Peak at 8,347 feet). Carry only what you need for a day hike on this fully supported trek, which includes excursions to Dracula’s castle, Peles Castle (a Neo-Renaissance Castle built between 18731914), an Orthodox monetary, and Sibiu�the wealthiest citadel of the Transylvanian Saxons.

Price includes six nights accommodation in 3-star hotels or guesthouses, two nights in a mountain hut, and two nights in restored Saxon houses in a village. Most meals are included (except for a few meals on travel days and in cities with a variety of great dining alternatives). Includes guided hiking and site-seeing tour guide, ground transfers from/to Bucharest airport and to cities/sites within the program, admission to the mentioned cultural sites, CMC fee, and partial leader reimbursement. Price does not include airfare to Bucharest, Romania, but the

leader will assist participants with scheduling.

For more information, contact Linda at lvditchkus@hotmail.com. No phone calls please.

Exploring Kamchatka: Land of Fire and Ice

August 18 – September 3, 2011 $1,900 - $2,900 (does not include airfare; based on double occupancy; final cost dependent on number of participants and Euro conversion rate at time of final payment) Kamchatka is a stunning mountain paradise and one of the most isolated regions in the world.

The Kamchatka Peninsula is a 1,250-kilometer long peninsula in the far east of Russia. There are more than 160 volcanoes on the peninsula, 29 of which are active. The main attractions of Kamchatka are volcanic calderas, geysers, and mineral springs, all in pristine condition. Supported by 4/6WD bus, this tour passes through the most active volcanic zone of the peninsula and along a high mountain plateau, surrounded by nine of Kamchatka’s highest volcanoes. We will climb three volcanoes, all of which are still active. There will be plenty of wildlife to see, including the legendary Kamchatka Brown Bear. We will have opportunities to meet and learn about the local and indigenous peoples of Kamchatka. Lodging will be in hotels, cabins, and tents. The trip cost includes all Kamchatka lodging and meals (except extra beverages), ground transportation, guide fees, and CMC fee. Not included in the price: Round trip airfare to Petropavlovsk, Russian visa, beverages, rented equipment, tips, and personal spending money. Travel insurance is not included but highly recommended. Hiking level: Participants should be capable of Difficult B/Easy C hikes.

The volcano climbs are non-technical; however, participants should have adequate stamina to do multiple climbs on consecutive days of up to 2,900 feet in elevation gain. For a trip packet, contact the leader at miller866@comcast.net.

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The Colorado Mountain Club presents

BlancaFest Hikes • Bison Tours Cultural Tours Food & Brews • Live Music

Cole Park in Alamosa, CO August 21, 2010

www.cmc.org/blancafest

YOUR MOUNTAINEERING LIBRARY NEEDS THIS BOOK “I

N FALL 2008, the Colorado Mountain Club published a guidebook that was riddled with typos and 70 years out of date, at a time when online competition has put the future of even the most current printed guidebooks in question. And it charged $185 per copy. “‘It sounds crazy,’ Alan Stark, the club’s publisher, said recently as he cracked open a new, hardbound copy of the guide. ‘Obviously, this is not a typical guidebook. It’s a collector’s piece. People will buy it not to use it, but to have it.’

“The book is called The San Juan Mountaineers’ Climber’s Guide to Southwestern Colorado. It was first published in 1933—hand-typed and hard-bound in less than a half-dozen copies. It was the first modern guidebook in Colorado, and with its maps, photos, and route descriptions, it set the template for the hundreds that have followed.

“Climbers have passed around photocopied and stapled versions for The San Juan Mountaineers’ generations, making it an almost mythic book. The club reproduced it Climber’s Guide to Southwestern Colorado exactly, down to the crossed-out letters and handwritten notes in the margins of the typed pages.

L I M I T E D E D I T I O N AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE COLORADO MOUNTAIN CLUB PRESS “In one sense, the Guide to Southwestern Colorado is a history book.

ORDERS: 303-996-2743 In another, it is still a living guidebook.” —Dave Philipps, The Gazette, Colorado Springs

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Trail & Timberline

WINTER 2010 ORDER FORM order form S E N D O R D E R F O R M A N D PAY M E N T T O :

Colorado Mountain Club Press, 710 10th Street, Suite 200, Golden, CO 80401 1-800-633-4417, ext. 103

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FAX 303-279-9690

or order online at cmc.org BILL TO:____________________________________________________

SHIP TO: ___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

PHONE ____________________________ E-MAIL __________________________________________________________________________________

SHIPPING AND HANDLING

CMC MEMBERS: Please fill in your name, address, phone and email, Visa or MasterCard number and expiration date. Total your order, compute the tax at 7.6%, and add shipping and handling. Checks made out to The Colorado Mountain Club for the total are fine, too.

$ 1 – $19.99. . . . . . . . . . . $5.00 $20 – $49.99. . . . . . . . . . . $7.00 $50 – $75.99. . . . . . . . . . . $9.00 $76 – $99.99. . . . . . . . . . $11.00 $100+ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12.00

DISCOUNTED BOOK PRICING FOR MEMBERS OF THE COLORADO MOUNTAIN CLUB ___ Best Boulder Hikes, ISBN 978-0-9799663-4-7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10.36 ___ Best Colorado Springs Hikes, ISBN 978-0-9799663-6-1 . . . . . . . . . $10.36 ___ Best Denver Hikes, ISBN 978-0-9799663-5-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12.76 ___ Best Fort Collins Hikes, ISBN 978-0-9799663-0-9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11.96 ___ Best Front Range Hikes, ISBN 978-0-9799663-9-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19.96 ___ Colorado 14ers Pack Guide, ISBN 978-0-9760525-3-1 . . . . . . . . . . . $9.56 ___ Colorado 14ers Standard Routes, ISBN 978-0-9799663-8-5 . . . . . $17.56 ___ Colorado Lake Hikes, ISBN 978-0-9799663-1-6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19.96 ___ Colorado’s Quiet Winter Trails, ISBN 978-0-9760525-1-7. . . . . . . . . $17.56 ___ Colorado Scrambles, 2e, ISBN 978-0-9799663-3-0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $18.36 ___ Colorado Snow Climbs, ISBN 978-0-9760525-9-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $18.36 ___ Colorado Summit Hikes, ISBN 0-9724413-3-6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15.16 ___ Colorado Trail, ISBN 978-0-9760525-2-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19.96 ___ Colorado Trail Databook, 4e, ISBN 978-0-9799663-7-8 . . . . . . . . . . $7.96 ___ Colorado Wildflowers, ISBN 978-0-9842213-0-1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $18.36 ___ Colorado Year Round, ISBN 0-9724413-2-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15.16

□ VISA OR □ MASTERCARD

___ Comanche Peak Wilderness Area, ISBN 978-0-9842213-1-8 . . . . . $10.36 ___ Essential Guide to Black Canyon, ISBN 0-9724413-4-4 . . . . . . . . . $15.96 ___ Essential Guide to Sand Dunes, ISBN 0-9724413-1-X. . . . . . . . . . . $15.96 ___ Flatiron Classics, ISBN 978-0-9799663-2-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $15.16 ___ Guide to the Colorado Mountains, ISBN 0-9671466-0-7 . . . . . . . . $15.16 ___ Hiking Colorado’s Roadless Trails, ISBN 978-0-9760525-7-9 . . . . . . $10.36 ___ Morpha: A Rain Forest Story, 0-9671466-8-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11.96 ___ Peaceful Canyon, Golden River, ISBN 0-9671466-5-8 . . . . . . . . . . . $11.96 ___ Playing for Real, ISBN 978-0-9760525-6-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $9.56 ___ Rocks Above the Clouds, ISBN 978-0-9760525-8-6 . . . . . . . . . . . . $11.96 ___ Rocky Mountain Flora, ISBN 978-0-9760525-4-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $18.36 ___ Roof of the Rockies, ISBN 0-9671466-1-5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $13.56 ___ Run the Rockies, ISBN 0-9724413-5-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $14.36 ___ San Juan Mountaineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $185.00 ___ Stettner Way, ISBN 0-9724413-0-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11.96 ___ Trad Guide to Joshua Tree, ISBN 0-9724413-9-5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $17.56

EXPIRATION DATE: ____________

PRETAX TOTAL $__________________

CARD NUMBER__________________________________________________________________

ADD 7.6% TAX $__________________

SIGNATURE _____________________________________________________________________

SHIPPING & HANDLING $__________________

DATE ORDERED __________________

TOTAL $__________________

Trail & Timberline

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Weekdays 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Weekends 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

633 South Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305 Table Mesa Shopping Center 303-499-8866 NEPTUNEMOUNTAINEERING.COM Slide Shows most Thursday evenings.

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Locally owned for 37 years by Gary Neptune, CMC member since 1964.

We rent crash pads, rock shoes, mountaineering and technical ice gear, and alpine touring skis.

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Trail & Timberline