The American Alpine Club is going global this summer, hosting four international climbing events.
The events are a Chinese-American women’s climbing exchange, the club’s first international climbers’ meet, an international climbing festival called the Craggin’ Classic, and an international editors’ summit.
The goal of the Chinese-American Ladies’ Climbing Exchange is to bring together climbers from different backgrounds. The main organisers of the exchange are AAC’s Eliza Moran, who is a past president of the UIAA Mountaineering Commission, and Nancy Norris. Norris says: “The AAC has a history of crossing political boundaries to help climbers find each other in this world.”
In mid-June six Chinese and six US women climbers met at the AAC Grand Teton Climbers’ Ranch, which served as base camp. All six Chinese climbers were part of the Mount Everest Olympic torch relay team and one of them, Ciren Wangmu, was the Tibetan climber who carried the torch to the summit. On October 18, the US climbers arrive in China for the second half of the exchange.
From October 3-9, young climbers from around the world will be in Indian Creek, Utah, for the AAC’s first International Climbers’ Meet. “In addition to showing the AAC’s ability to reach climbers around the globe, I am really excited to share some of our country’s most unique climbing,” says American Alpine Club President and event founder Jim Donini. The AAC has invited two young climbers, one man and one woman, from every country to a week of climbing, guest speakers, slide shows and conservation projects.
After the meet, the participants will travel to the American Mountaineering Center in Golden, Colorado, for the federation’s first annual Craggin’ Classic, taking place between October 10-12. This is a festival open both to AAC members and non-members. On the programme is climbing with international athletes in areas like Eldorado Canyon, parties, barbeques, bands, slide shows, sumo wrestling, and the announcement of the AAC annual awards.
Starting the same weekend, the AAC’s American Alpine Journal staff is organising a six-day International Editors’ Summit based at Golden and Indian Creek. The goal of the summit is to build relationships and hold discussions that will improve reporting on climbing worldwide. The organisers are expecting approximately 20 editors of mountaineering and rock climbing magazines, journals, and websites from a dozen countries.
