New York Section
2003 Annual Report

The New York Section, with membership now exceeding 700 in the Tri State Area, tries to appeal to a broad cross section of members with a variety of both outdoor climbing as well indoor social events.

Activities invariably commence in late January with our Annual Adirondack Winter Outing, now entering its second decade. The winter of 2002-03 will be long remembered here in the East as one of the coldest and snowiest on record. As a result a capacity gathering of around 35 members and guests, both old and new members, was on hand to ice climb, snowshoe and ski in almost ideal conditions in Keene, New York. For many, the chance to be with friends in an isolated, beautiful environment sharing intense experiences followed by a well-deserved cocktail hour and dinner, makes it an annual ritual, not to be missed. It also provides the opportunity for members to pair up and seek adventures farther afield. Such was the case of Todd Fairbairn and Howard Sebold, who met at the Outing and planned a successful expedition to Katahdin later in March. They recounted their adventure at a slide show co-hosted by the Section in the North Face store in Manhattan a few months later. Katahdin is the highest point in Maine and, in winter, is a Himalayan-style, week-long adventure.

May and June were busy months. First we began with a party at the Brooklyn Brewery to benefit the Ascent Program, which teaches inner city kids to climb. In June we combined culture with climbing in the Hudson Highlands. After hiking in the Breakneck- Taurus area of Cold Spring, we attended a live, one-man stage show " Willi" , about the life of the legendary climber Willi Unsoeld.

In the Fall, we once again returned to the Gunks where Jack Reilly and John Tiernan organized simultaneous top rope and hiking outings and, a week later, to the High Peaks area of the Adirondacks for a weekend of climbing and hiking. As in the past, the historic Ausable Club was our base of operations. Despite the area being one of the East's oldest venues, challenging, spectacular new routes, such as on the South Face of Gothics (5:9 to 5:11), are constantly being discovered and opened up. This private reserve also offers the rare opportunity to access hikes and climbs by canoe.

Finally, in November, we held our 24 th Annual Black Tie Dinner. As usual, the event draws a capacity crowd of members and guests from around the country drawn by the presence of a celebrity speaker plus the opportunity to renew old friendships and make new ones. This year, Peter Hillary, was the special guest talking not so much about Everest but his experiences on K-2 in 1995, where good judgment in turning back just short of the summit no doubt saved his life. A riveting speaker, Peter stressed the need to rely on one's informed judgment and not being swayed by group psychology. On that expedition, Peter lost six of his teammates in a ferocious storm, including Alison Hargreaves, Britain's most successful woman high altitude mountaineer. In a change of pace and mood from Hillary's talk, Mark Richey discussed and showed slides of Huayllay, a remarkable, pristine rock climbing area about 7 hours from Lima in Peru.

Among the new faces were 14 new members who were introduced, gently "roasted" and presented their membership pins. One of these, Britton Keeshan is one summit away from being the youngest person, at age 22, to attain the Seven Summits. Only Everest, which he will attempt this Spring, remains. Britton is dedicating his climbs to his late grandfather, Capt. Bob Keeshan, the creator of "Captain Kangaroo." Captain Bob passed away just a few weeks ago.

The Dinner was run as a benefit for the AAJ and the AAC Library New Acquisition Fund. Over the years, this event has raised well over $100,000 for these and other AAC causes.

Special thanks go to our volunteer event leaders and speakers, in particular Vic Benes , Chris Galligan, John Tiernan, Bob Hall, Jack Reilly, Richard Ryan and Richard Wiese, in addition to others already mentioned above. Vic also doubles as our webmaster. For information about goings-on in the Big Apple, check out http://nysalpineclub.org.

Sadly, we mark and mourn the loss of two of our members, David Boyd Brown and Peter Hodgson Wood. David, a member for 22 years, died as the result of injuries suffered in a bicycle accident. He was a pioneer in digital animation, and his company produced the recent hit film " Ice Age." Peter, a member since 1951, was the son of former President and noted glaciologist Walter Wood and served on the AAC Board in the 1980's. He was our oldest member in terms of seniority.

Philip Erard

Section Chairman