Last week there was an American Alpine Club(AAC) survey e-mailed out asking members their opinions about the current state of the organization and how they would like to see the club evolve. Being a member since 2004, I dutifully filled it out and sent it in, but it got me thinking about how I would really like to see the organization evolve. What are your thoughts? How would those of you who are members or past members do things differently if you were put in charge? My initial thoughts are below:
Rescue Insurance: I would like to see a much better insurance offering. It seems like the Club could take its member rolls and negotiate a similar deal with a national/international carrier as The Alpine Club (UK) has. I would gladly increase my dues if it meant that I wouldn’t have to worry about the uninsured cost of toting my carcass off a mountain and its affect on family finances (I get to keep living in that scenario).
American Alpine Journal: I would like to see quality writing and editing to kick it up a notch or three and include: fantastic trip reports, relevant historical climbing/mountaineering articles and bios of great climbers. In addition to the lower writing standards, I have also noticed the last few years that the binding has gotten cheaper and cheaper. My 2008 and 2007 editions both have cracked bindings after just one read through and ’08 let go of some pages as I was reading. I would pay more for quality and it would warm the cockles of my dark soul it a hard cover edition was offered.
Accidents in North Am. Mountaineering: Is a sad, sad little pamphlet. I 100% agree with its mission, but the execution of that goal is wanting. How many people took falls in Eldo or in J-Tree that were not documented last year? Seven accidents that required a hospital trip that I know of and I live in Seattle! Yes, I understand that they can’t go asking hospitals because of patient confidentiality, but how hard would it be to have an e-mail address for accident reporting and for a staffer to do a little follow up? What about pinging the climbing community on SummitPost, mountainproject, and super topo? If you are going to go through the trouble and expense (my dues!) to produce something, then make it the best possible book you can.
Local events: The AAC does a poor job of hosting local events and getting climbers in the same region together. Find a hall (or better rent a Pub’s back room) in Golden/Co Springs/New Paltz/Vegas/J-Tree/Bay Area/Seattle/Portland/Salt Lake City/Orange County/etc… give a talk by a local than a national or international climber, put up some posters, sell back copies of the AAJ, raffle something off for a climbing charity (Himalayan Trust, Central Asia Institute, et al…) have snacks, advertize well and charge at the door to cover costs. Again, the idea is to get local climbers together. While $200 a plate dinners can be nice, I prefer to attend one only if I can deduct the evening as a charitable donation OR if it happens to be in Paris or Venice and my wife is there sipping wine in a flowing dress. I only personally know two climbers that could afford such an event, well that and the airfare+ hotel to attend. The others could stretch those funds into a 6-week long trip food budget. Local events, for local climbers, less than $25 to get in.
