NEW YORK SECTION 2009 REVIEW

The beginning of any new decade brings with it a moment of reflection and analysis.
During the 2000’s the New York Section Alpine Club Community almost doubled in
size. Perhaps more important than membership growth , however, was a heightened spirit
of community and brotherhood, manifested in consistently sold out events and a high
degree of volunteerism. We reached several milestones: Our January Adirondack winter
outing, where good conditions seem to be the norm, is a year short of its 20th Anniversary
while the June Ausable Club weekend is close to celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Meanwhile an active program of slide shows, films and other indoor events continues as
in the past.

Of note, our Annual Black Tie Dinner in November is now known throughout the
climbing world, gathers members from the far reaches of the country, consistently sells
out and makes a meaningful contribution to the Club’s financial well being. Since its start
30 years ago, the Dinner has raised over $250,000 for the Library and Journal. It is also a
family reunion, with old faces celebrating their friendships and newcomers being
welcomed to the Brotherhood of the Rope, to paraphrase Charley Houston.

Some of the highlights of 2009 were the launch of Olaf Soot’s new book, Alpine
Americas, with page after page of the most beautiful and inspired photographs of peaks
from Barrow to Cape Horn. Also Fritz Selby published a fine memoir of his postings and
adventures in Nepal in the 1960’s in his “Postcards from Kathmandu”. Once again the
Section furnished guides in June for the Rubin Museum’s annual “Peak Experience”
simulated climb of Everest for 11-14 year olds.

As the first Section to have its own website, we took a major step forward took with the
creation of a Section blog where members are invited to post trip reports, photos and
videos. Our thanks go to Vic Benes for years of dedicated editorship and to Conor Moran
for revamping the site and creating http://nysaac.blogspot.com. The main Section website
is http://nysalpineclub.org

At the Dinner our two Mikes, Michael Lederer and Mike Barker, returned the Section
flag from a winter exploratory mountaineering expedition to the English mountains of
Labrador. The main event, however, was our special guest speaker, Stephen Venables,
who, in his droll, witty and Oxonian accent, took the audience back to the 1988
Kangshung Face Everest Expedition with a small, lightweight team, to Sarmiento with
Roskelley and South Georgia with Messner and Anker.

Just a month before, however, the Section suffered a tragic loss. Clif Maloney, after
summiting Cho Oyu and thus becoming, at age 71, the oldest American to climb an 8000
meter peak, perished on the descent. Present at the Dinner and accepting our tribute, were
Clif’s widow Carolyn and their two daughters. Two weeks later about 30 of Clif’s close
friends and family gathered for a memorial hike in the Hudson Highlands where he had
spent so many hours training. Later that day we gathered for a sumptuous reception at the
Galligan home in Garrison to reminisce and tell stories about our dear friend and brother.

In her memorable review of the Annual Dinner in Rock and Ice, Susan Schwartz penned
the following response to the inevitable question of “why”, not only relative to Clif’s
demise but also to Venables’ own loss when his young son died of cancer:
“Some of us climb, I believe, as a way to bring order and control to our personal
universe. But climbing has a way of yanking hard on our chain to remind us that there is
a limit to how much we can control. At some point, no matter how stubborn, talented or
hard working we are, we step out of our world of personal control and one of cosmic
caprice, whether it be Everest, Cho Oyu or cancer.”

Philip Erard
NY Section Chair
February, 2010