American Alpine Club
The American Alpine Club is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization whose vision is a united community of competent climbers and healthy climbing landscapes. Together with our members, the AAC advocates for American climbers domestically and around the world; provides grants and volunteer opportunities to protect and conserve the places we climb; hosts local and national climbing festivals and events; publishes two of the world's most sought-after climbing annuals, the American Alpine Journal and Accidents in North American Mountaineering; cares for the world's leading climbing library and country's leading mountaineering museum; manages the Hueco Rock Ranch, New River Gorge Campground, and Grand Teton Climbers' Ranch as part of a larger lodging network for climbers; and annually gives $100,000+ toward climbing, conservation, and research grants that fund adventurers who travel the world. Learn about additional programs and become a member at americanalpineclub.org.www.americanalpineclub.org
23
MENTIONS
6
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6
PODCASTS
Search complete. 23 mentions across 6 episodes found for "American Alpine Club".
Sep 9, 2026
Alison BoyleHOST
Um, I know that I like, I've never had to use it, but I do.
Alison BoyleHOST
I always each year, um, American Alpine Club offers a membership that you pay like, I think it's like 90 or a hundred dollars a year.
Alison BoyleHOST
It's like a cause that I'm like passionate about anyway.
Alison BoyleHOST
So I'm like one to donate as well, but it gives you some, it gives you some rescue coverage as well.
Meg AtteberryGUEST
It's like a donation based card to carry.
Meg AtteberryGUEST
But typically they don't charge you if you have one.
Meg AtteberryGUEST
And yeah, I've heard of the American Alpine Club thing.
Meg AtteberryGUEST
I think this has prompted me to have a discussion about it and look into it and see what options are there.
Jim AikmanHOST
We'll hear from two of the climbers on that first 1965 expedition, Al DiMaria and Peter Geiser, with more insights on this wacky chapter in climbing history.
Jim AikmanHOST
We'll also learn about the more modern history in the Kachatnas from Conrad Anker, whose first major expedition as an alpine climber was flying into the Kachatnas on an American Alpine Club grant in 1987.
Jim AikmanHOST
As usual, we'll hear from Dougald MacDonald about the place these mountains and climbers hold in the annals of American climbing history.
Jim AikmanHOST
And of course, we'll talk to the climbers themselves, Eli Spitolnik and Michael Telstad, hearing the story of their epic and ultimately successful climb of the Kachatna Spires South Face.
8 MINS LATER
Conrad AnkerGUEST
Yeah.
Conrad AnkerGUEST
So there, any guidebook, you have the rating system and you have to, it's subjective, but that was their choice and it was good.
Jim AikmanHOST
In 1987, Conrad did the first major climbing expedition of his career, funded by an American Alpine Club grant, flying into the Kachatnas to do the first ascent of the southeast face of Gurney Peak.
Conrad AnkerGUEST
Mug Stump, who was living in Salt Lake at the time, and was my mentor, was like, oh, here's the The climber under 24 grant from the American Alpine Club, the young climber grant.
Tail DraggerHOST
That record speaks for itself.
Tail DraggerHOST
The primary source for today's segment is James Greiner's biography, Wager with the Wind, along with historical records from the American Alpine Club and the Talkeetna Historical Society.
Tail DraggerHOST
If you want to go deeper on Sheldon, start with Greiner.
Tail DraggerHOST
Find us at RadioHangar.com. I'm Tail Dragger.
Steve StocktonHOST
Next, we have Eric Lewis, Mount Rainier, Washington.
Steve StocktonHOST
On the morning of July 1, 2010, the American Alpine Club said Eric Lewis, a 57-year-old mountain climber, went missing while ascending the Gibraltar Ledges route on Washington's Mount Rainier, the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S., with a three-person team.
Steve StocktonHOST
The climbers encountered high wind and low visibility on their journey, and Eric unclipped from the climbing rope at some point, according to the American Alpine Club.
Steve StocktonHOST
Don Storm Jr. led the team and was joined by the second climber, Trevor Lane.
Steve StocktonHOST
The pair stopped to wait for Eric to catch up at 13,900 feet.
Steve StocktonHOST
However, when they reeled the rope in, the American Alpine Club said they found only a coil with a butterfly knot.
Steve StocktonHOST
They saw Eric on the rope moments before and immediately searched for him on the below slope.
Steve StocktonHOST
After a thorough local search, they proceeded to the summit ridge in case Eric had evaded them, the American Alpine Club said.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Go! Kipling, The Explorer.
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Inca Land: Exploration in the Highlands of Peru by Hiram Bingham, Director of the Peruvian Expeditions of Yale University and the National Geographic Society, Member of the American Alpine Club, Professor of Latin American History in Yale University, Author of Across South America, etcetera.
speaker_0NARRATOR
With illustrations.
speaker_0NARRATOR
Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1922.
speaker_1NARRATOR
Go." Kipling, The Explorer.
speaker_1NARRATOR
Inca Land: Exploration in the Highlands of Peru by Hiram Bingham, Director of the Peruvian Expeditions of Yale University and the National Geographic Society, Member of the American Alpine Club, Professor of Latin American History in Yale University, Author of Across South America, etc., with illustrations.
speaker_1NARRATOR
Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1922.
speaker_1NARRATOR
This volume is affectionately dedicated to the muse who inspired it, the little mother of seven sons.