December 2009 Mountaineers Newsletter
Content
December, 2009
The monthly publication of The Mountaineers
Volume 103, No. 12
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Mountaineers’ work on Legacy Roads applauded
Mountaineer
The
w w w. m o u n t a i n e e r s . o r g
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Election results Service Award presented posthumously to Jo Backus
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View from the Top Conservation Currents Summit Savvy In Support Off the Shelf Passages
Offices to close for holidays
Mountaineers are reminded that all offices and services will be closed on Thu., Dec. 24, and Fri., Dec. 25, to observe the Christmas holiday. Club headquarters will also be closed on Fri., Jan. 1, to observe New Year’s Day. Happy holidays to all!
Lodges and courses: open for business!
Oyvind Henningsen photo
Winter travel courses and lodges open their doors to Mountaineers and guests this month. Check out registration dates for classes and reservations for any of our properties at www.mountaineers.org or in this month’s Go Guide. Above, backcountry ski course students and their instructor pause during an overnight field trip, with Mt. Shuksan beaming in the background.
Discover The Mountaineers
If you are thinking of joining or have joined and aren’t sure where to start - why not attend an information meeting? Check the Go Guide branch sections for times and locations. Are you ready to jump right in? Visit www.mountaineers.org. Need to call? 206-521-6000.
PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT SEATTLE, WA
New director takes helm
Skills mesh with pivotal direction charted by club
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By Brad Stracener
ollowing a five-month nationwide search, The Mountaineers has hired an executive director to steer the club through “a pivotal period in its evolution,” as Mountaineers President Eric Linxweiler puts it. A strategic plan in 2006 helped pivot the club toward its course of evolution, advanced with the headquarters move to Magnuson Park a year ago, and Martinique Grigg highlighted by the hiring of an executive director who Linxweiler calls “the right person at the right time to lead us.” Martinique Grigg, who officially begins her directorship in midDecember, brings a combination of private and public non-profit Continued on M3
Book sale & Banff! The Mountaineers will prsent its one-two punch as soon as the new month begins. See the ad on M5 to find out about Banff Film Tour shows in Seattle, Olympia and Tacoma, and the Annual Holiday Book Sale at The Mountaineers Bookstore.
Upcoming
Winter Trails Fest: As you step knee-deep into winter by the end of this month, step into a sampling of showshoes at our annual Winter Trails Day in January. See the ad on M3 for details about this fun demo day at our Snoqualmie Campus.
The Mountaineers 7700 Sand Point Way N.E. Seattle, WA 98115
International Day of Climate Action—Mountaineers and others
Eileen Kutscha photo
joined a worldwide effort on Oct. 24 to raise awareness and a sense of urgency about the need to reduce CO2 levels in our atmosphere. A reduction to 350 ppm is what scientists have identified as the safe upper limit. Atop Mt. Si are (clockwise from bottom) Andrea Foegler, Scott Heinz, Daniel Shoe, Jeremy Cottle, Ansel Wald, Nicole Bahr, Joanne Frank, Leonard Russell, Colt DeWolf and Jim Clinton. Not shown: Sonya Remington and Eileen Kutscha— the event leaders.
December 2009
The
The Mountaineer
Purposes and mission
The club’s mission:
To enrich the community by helping people explore, conserve, learn about and enjoy the lands and waters of the Pacific Northwest. The club’s charter lists its purposes as follows: —To explore and study the mountains, forests and other water courses of the Northwest and beyond. regions and explorations. —To gather into permanent form the history and traditions of these —To preserve by example, teaching and the encouragement of environment.
Mountaineer
The Mountaineers is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1906 and dedicated to the responsible enjoyment and protection of natural areas. Board of Trustees Officers President Eric Linxweiler, 08-10 President Elect Tab Wilkins, 08-10 Past President Bill Deters, 08-09 VP Properties Dave Claar, 08-10 VP Publishing Don Heck, 08-10 Treasurer Mike Dean, 08-10 Secretary Steve Sears, 08-10 Trustees at large Kirk Alm, 07-10 Rich Draves, 08-11 Dale Flynn, 07-10 Ed Henderson, 08-11 Lynn Hyde, 08-11 Mark Scheffer, 09-12 John Ohlson, 09-12 Dave Shema, 07-10 Mona West, 09-12
Also see us on the web at www.mountaineers.org
Managing Editor Brad Stracener
Contributors, proofreaders: Barb Butler, Brian Futch, James Hampton, Jim Harvey, Suzan Reiley, Darla Tishman Photographers & Illustrators: Oyvind Henningsen, Eileen Kutscha THE MOUNTAINEER is published monthly by: The Mountaineers 7700 Sand Point Way N.E. Seattle, WA 98115 206-521-6000; 206-523-6763 fax
protective legislation or otherwise the natural beauty of the natural —To make expeditions and provide educational opportunities in fulfillment of the above purposes. outdoor life. —To encourage a spirit of good fellowship among all lovers of —To hold real estate and personal property and to receive, hire, purchase, occupy, and maintain and manage suitable buildings and quarters for the furtherance of the purposes of the association, and to hold in trust or otherwise funds, received by bequest or gift or otherwise, to be devoted to the purposes of said association.
Branch Trustees Bellingham, Steven Glenn Everett, Rob Simonsen Foothills, Gerry Haugen Kitsap, Jimmy James Olympia, John Flanagan Seattle, Mike Maude Tacoma, Tom Shimko Executive Director Martinique Grigg
Volume 103, No. 12 The Mountaineer (ISSN 0027-2620) is published monthly by The Mountaineers, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. Members receive a subscription as part of their annual dues. Approximately $12.42 of each member’s annual membership dues is spent to print and mail this publication. Non-member subscriptions to The Mountaineer are $32. Periodicals postage paid at Seattle WA. Postmaster: send address changes to The Mountaineer, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of The Mountaineers.
How far will you go this year?
www.mountaineers.org
Mountaineers
The
View from the Top
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have.
New director important step in club’s evolution
his month’s Mountaineer focuses on an important event in the history of our at Mountaineers Books, combined with our new controller, Blair Cossey, we have the four most capable people to execute on strategy. The Mountaineers’ mission and We should be mindful to not view the hiring of a new executive for the club. It’s actually just director as a revolutionary event another step—albeit a big one—in our evolution and transition to an next century. organization that is focused on our With our move to Magnuson Park, the enjoying the results of this vision and its execution. It’s refreshing, and it’s very exciting. Capping our nationwide search and the hiring of a new executive director, your board of trustees is our organization’s direction. We know we have the right unified, optimistic and confident in
club—the hiring of a new executive leader, Martinique Grigg. She joins the absolutely best senior team
that any outdoor organization could In Publisher Helen Cherullo and
modularization of many of our courses,
publishing strategist Art Freeman
the launching of two new kids’
strategy and definitely the right with the passion that each
Who ya gonna call? Your mentor, of course
activities (Junior Naturalists and on the way to achieving much of our strategic vision for The Mountaineers.
leaders to execute it. Combined Mountaineer has, there’s simply no way to have anything other than Welcome to The Mountaineers, Martinique! We’re glad you are here. See all of you on the trail. the brightest of days ahead of us.
Junior Mountaineers), we are well
Are you a new member wondering about the how-to, where-to and what-to-do with your club? There are a number of resources available to you, not the least our websites. Now there is also a real, live person. If you want to know about expected conditioning for a hike, what not to wear, how to sign up for events or whatever call or e-mail the “mentor of the month.” Mona West is this month’s mentor. Feel free to contact her at [email protected] with your questions or comments.
Over the course of the past few our vision and our plans, and
months, you’ve read much about how so many of our members are
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The Mountaineer
Continued from M1 operation of the lodge. Similar to portions of The Mountaineers’ new headquarters, the Highland Center was made from reclaimed materials from the local region. vision.”
December 2009
members through our programs, conservation efforts and facilities.”
New executive director sees ‘amazing opportunities’ for the club
experience to The Mountaineers as it seeks to steady its finances and embolden its mission to enrich the community through exploration, education and preservation. Saying she “is not afraid to be very hands-on,” Grigg’s business and non-profit resumes reflect her acumen for becoming involved in several facets of a project on its way to fruition. Her work at L.L. Bean, for example, involved a complete overhaul of a product line—from its design to its market strategy and sales. “I learned more about sweaters than I ever wanted to know,” she said with a laugh. Components of that vision for The Mountaineers, according to the strategic plan, is to gain financial stability through growth in membership and improving the club’s fundraising competency. Grigg’s hands-on acuity poses a natural fit to the task. Her creation of a capital and operating budget for the Highland Center and her profit-loss responsibilities at Amazon.com and at L.L. Bean should prove advantageous to the club’s current strategy. “I’d love to see the (club’s) membership double or triple and I would also love to see She added, “With so many demands on our free time, and so much time spent on computers and video games, how can we help people to remember what is great about being in the outdoors? More importantly, how do we make it more fun? Making (the club) a fun place is important because it is where people will spend their free time.” She said the club’s current properties pose a “great opportunity to connect with members.” She added, “What would we need to do to make our facilities more active year-round and increase visitation?”
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ired as a project manager for the Appalachian Mountain Club, where she was a member for 10 years, Grigg is called a “superstar” by AMC Executive Director Andy Falender for her work on the AMC’s Highland Center, a recreational and learning center nestled inside the White Mountain National Forest at Crawford Notch, NH. “The AMC looked at the Highland Center as a pivotal point in its community role. It was representative of meeting an underserved portion of our members—those wanting somewhere to go with their families for outdoor activities and to spend an evening at a lodge to learn something about the environment,” said Grigg. The lodge itself provides a learning tool, she indicated. Named one of the “Top 50 Eco-Lodges in 2009” by the editors of National Geographic ADVENTURE magazine, the center conducts ‘green tours’ to educate its guests about the environmentally conscious construction and
“It took a lot of outreach,” she said in regard to making the Highland Center a reality. One of her challenges was communicating with the AMC’s 12 chapters and galvanizing their support, not to mention coordination with local chambers of commerce. “I worked with an excellent fundraising department of 6-8 people in executing the vision of our $30 million capital campaign,” she noted, but more importantly she said she was able to see the
“My highest priority is to execute on the club’s vision . . . I also want to see our branches grow and attract new members while re-engaging our existing members through our programs, conservation efforts and facilities.”
results. “I had a chance to go back and see how it was being used by the members and chapters. They can see how it embodies the purposes of the AMC,” she stated. AMC’s Falendar said he “can’t imagine a better candidate than Martinique” for leading The Mountaineers, given what he knows about the challenges facing the club at this point. “I know she has a passion for non-profit in her blood and a love for the full range of activities that (The Mountaineers is) involved in,” he stated. He added, “She definitely is a dynamic individual who will want to head toward a new and exciting our volunteer (commitment) increase, and our work on trails increase,” Grigg said. “I’d like to see us remain a strong force in conservation and in being able to balance recreation with conservation.”
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rigg’s volunteerism and nonprofit passion began at a young age. She was a volunteer mentor for teenage girls and a parolee tutor during her attendance at Dartmouth College. She began her volunteer effort with the AMC while attending Harvard Business School. She has also worked as an Outdoor Leadership instructor with the YMCA and is a threetime graduate of Outward Bound courses. She currently volunteers on an advisory board for the AMC. An enthusiastic paddler whose kayak is still back East where she grew up, Grigg said she hopes both she and her husband, who is from the San Francisco area, can enjoy some time in the Cascades on skis this winter. “Like me, he is a huge outdoors enthusiast,” she noted, but he has found it difficult to find time to enjoy the Northwest’s splendor since taking on a medical residency as an anesthesiologist in Seattle.
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rigg’s passion for the non-profit industry, to which Falender alluded, is what interested her in The Mountaineers’ directorship. “I know we are facing a lot of challenges, but I also see the amazing opportunities here.” She cited the club’s strong volunteer base, a strategic plan “pointing us toward the right direction,” a rich heritage of education through the club’s outdoor courses and “a ton of energy and enthusiasm.” She said the volunteer energy here and the will to move forward is inspiring. “My highest priority is to execute on the club’s vision,” she sated. “I also want to see our branches grow and attract new members while re-engaging our existing
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inter W ay
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or now, Grigg knows she will be hard-pressed for time outdoors as well, given her first-six-month agenda with the The Mountaineers. But, she has no worries, knowing that the contagion for outdoors fun among Mountaineers is as catching as their energy to enrich the outdoors community. Brad Stracener is managing editor of The Mountaineer.
January 9, 2010
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
How about spending a day with us in the snow? On Saturday, January 10, 2009, we’re hosting Winter Trails Day, a FREE snowshoe event at Snoqualmie Pass. We bring the snowshoes and hike leaders, you just bring yourself and your family for a whole bunch of fun. Winter Trails Day is open to everyone from 10 am to 4 pm - bring the family and discover a new way to enjoy the snow - on a pair of snowshoes! For more details, visit www.mountaineers.org.
How's 20 percent off your first piece of hiking gear sound?
That's how much you save on the price of guidebooks—or any book for that matter—at our bookstore when you join The Mountaineers.
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December 2009
Can you identify the summit in
the foreground here? Send your answer (by Dec. 10) via e-mail—brads@ mountaineers.org—or mail to: Summit Savvy, The Mountaineer, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. If you guess correctly, you’ll receive $10 of Mountaineers Money, good for Mountaineers Bookstore merchandise, and we’ll publish your name in next month’s column. (In case of a tie, one winner will be chosen at random.) Club employees or persons shown in the photograph are not eligible. Each month we’ll publish a new mystery summit and identification of the previous one.
The Mountaineer
■ Send your photographs for possible publication as a mystery summit (include identification for our benefit). If we use your photo, you will get $10 of Mountaineers Money as well. ■ At the end of each year, all correct respondents’ names are placed in a hat and the winner of that drawing will receive $50 of Mountaineers Money good for purchases at The Mountaineers Bookstore. ■ Seven correctly guessed last month’s mystery summit, South Sister (in Oregon), as photographed by Curt Baxstrom. The name drawn from the hat was that of Mike Arth. Congrats!
Summit Savvy
conservation CURRENTS
Group’s work in public awareness leads to greater forest protections
Collaborative work on Legacy Roads and Trails earns initiative members, including The Mountaineers, national award from U.S. Forest Service
By Leesa Wright
Mountaineers Public Policy Associate
Wilderness Society, Washington Trails Association, Washington Wilderness Coalition and Wildlands CPR. The goals of the WWRI are to: • Restore the health of Washington’s national forest watersheds. • Ensure the Forest Service has adequate funding for road decommissioning and maintenance to restore watershed integrity. • Provide targeted, educational and outreach efforts to organizations, community groups, local governments, tribes, and the media, in order to build support for watershed restoration. • Promote and conduct credible, long-term research on the ecological and economic benefits and impacts of road remediation as a vehicle for watershed restoration. • Maintain and restore recreational access that is both locally appropriate and ecologically sound. • Serve as a model for other forest watershed restoration programs.
to the Forest Service is declining. The loss in revenue has left a large hole in funding for road repair and upgrading.
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Here’s what the USFS had to say about the award: “The (WWRI) is a coalition of state and private non-profit groups focused on improvement of water quality and watershed conditions (in) national forests. Since 2007, members have worked tirelessly to address road and trail impacts on watersheds and fish habitat. By utilizing media, networking and testifying to Congress, awareness has been heightened. (WWRI) efforts have resulted in the allocation of over $90 million dollars to repair degrading roads and trails within national forest system lands.”
ging forest roads threaten access to recreational public lands, clean drinking water and native fish populations. Unmaintained Forest Service road culverts block fish passage and may play a part in the destructive landslides which are occurring with increasing frequency in our area. What we have been left with is a road system that is economically and environmentally unsustainable. Because many of our members are out every weekend recreating somewhere, often on USFS land, The Mountaineers is poised to offer the Forest Service a unique and informed perspective on roads. Rep. Norm Dicks has been a champion for Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation, and shepherded the latest $90 million appropriation through Congress. Dicks put it succinctly when he said, “If we do not fix our roads, we will have to drink our roads—after they slide into our streams.”
“It’s hard to walk when you’re carrying $90 million!” joked a member of the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative upon entering the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Region 6 headquarters in Portland. Days earlier, the USFS had published names of the winners of its national 2009 Rise to the Future and National Watershed Awards. The Award for Public Awareness was given to the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative (WWRI) of which The Mountaineers is a charter member. That same day, President Obama signed the Department of Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. The act included $90 million in funding for the Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative for fiscal year 2010—a marked increase from past allocations. The $90 million appropriation equals the total amount allocated to Legacy Roads and Trails in the two previous years combined.
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n 2007, the U.S. Congress approved a $39.4 million expenditure to establish the Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Act. This 2008 fiscalyear funding was designated to protect community water sources and threatened, endangered and sensitive species. In March 2009, an additional $50 million was approved for repair and maintenance of roads and trails. The WWRI (www. washingtonwatersheds.org) members are: Washington State Department of Ecology, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Alpine Lakes Protection Society, American Whitewater, Cascade ChapterSierra Club, Conservation Northwest, Gifford Pinchot Task Force, North Cascades Conservation Council, Olympic Forest Coalition, Pacific Rivers Council, Pilchuck Audubon Society, The Mountaineers, The
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ost of the 380,000 miles of roads on the 193 million acres of our national forests were built to provide access for logging and mining. Over time, the emphasis has changed from logging to recreation, as Forest Service roads are increasingly used to provide access for recreational opportunities. Unfortunately, the rise in demand for recreational access has occurred as timber-related revenue
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he $90 million in Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation funding will be spread across all the national forests. There is no way of knowing at this point how much of the $90 million Washington’s national forests will receive, but it is a positive step in the right direction. The next step will be to monitor the progress and efficacy of road decommissioning, aquatic species passage improvements and trail maintenance. Stay tuned here for a list of Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation projects near you.
What can $73 a year get you? Sometimes a wilderness area
When you join The Mountaineers you join a partner in the lobby for wilderness preservation, including our most recent collaboration: the Wild Sky Wilderness Area.
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The Mountaineer
December 2009
Two new trustees join board; one trustee reelected
Two new trustees were elected and one trustee was reelected in the Oct. 21 club-wide election. Joining The Mountaineers Board of Trustees as new members are John Ohlson and Mark Scheffer. Mona West, who has served on the board since 2006, was reelected to her post. There were 730 ballots cast. Following are the tallies for the four candidates on the ballot: Mona West, 612; John Ohlson, 510; Mark Scheffer, 506; Matt Sullivan, 370. Of the 730 ballots received, 695 were cast electronically in the first election in Mountaineers history to feature electronic voting.
UN Copenhagen exhibit hosts Mountaineers author
Happy 70th to a fighter for the cause
Brad Stracener photo
An exhibit to be featured at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen will include the works of Steven Kazlowski, author of “The Last Polar Bear,” a title from Mountaineers Books,
Norm and Karyl Winn begin doling the cake to the 140 well-wishers who gathered on Oct. 25 to fete his 70th birthday. Over his four decades as a Mountaineers volunteer and leader, Norm has proved instrumental in historic lobbies for preservation of wilderness in the Pacific Northwest.
The exhibit is part of a World Wildlife Fund Arctic program being held outside of the conference center where 12,000 international delegates will gather to discuss the future of the planet relative to the consequences of climate change. Kazlowski, who appeared at a Mountaineers production last month, will deliver a multimedia slide show, sponsored by Braided River, an imprint from Mountaineers Books. Also, several of his images will be on display.
HOLIDAY! BOOK! SALE!
MEMBERS ONLY NIGHT - TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1 - 6-9 pm 5-9
December 2, 3, 4
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
10 am - 7 pm each day All books and maps 25% off All TOPO! software 25% off Book sets 30% off Books “Seconds” 50% off Clearance Titles up to 85% off Logo Merchandise 10% off
The end of the year is almost upon us, and that means two things: the Banff Film Festival and our Holiday Book Sale! This year, it pays to be a member - we’re opening the sale one night early just for you! Be sure to check out our Members Only Night to get the best deals before everyone else. Mountaineers Books will also be bringing in a mountain of overstock and ‘seconds’ titles - a bargain if there ever was one. See you at the sale!
In support
Mountaineers Foundation Donors
The Mountaineers Foundation desires to acknowledge and thank all its donors. Unless individuals request their names not be published, all donors will be acknowledged in The Mountaineer on a quarterly basis (usually December, March, June, September). If you have donated during the period of August through October 2009 and your name is not on this list, notify Paul Robisch, Mountaineers Foundation, 206-363-1989, [email protected], and your name will be added to the next published list of acknowledgments. Donations received after Oct. 31 will be acknowledged in the March 2010 issue of The Mountaineer.
Barrett Amos Anonymous Robert Barnoski Dan Brady The Barco Trust C/O Ruth Barclay Kathleen P. Carey Daniel M. Castoriano Jim R. Cavin Ilene Chapman Lawrence K. Dean Shay E. Dickson Sascha N. Elsing Tom R. Fisher Matt Fleming Kraft Foods Foundation MG Juanita E. Gomez Ed Greutert James M. Gross Jeffrey P. Harker Robert W. Hickey Jocelyn Horder Betty Jensen J.R. Jesson Don W. Kenyon Karen L. King Mark Ray Koski Matching Gifts Microsoft- Vol Hours Microsoft MS Giving Campaign-Emp Funds Daniel Robert Newell Randy Oakley Matthew G. Pearson Barbara M. Retzlaff Michael J. Riley Maryann Ruffing Rich Sobieski Helen B. St. John Cynthia L. Taylor Ann R. Uhrich Dorothy W. Walker Kenneth G. Wells
BANFF RETURNS TO WASHINGTON!
Big thrills. Exotic locales. Wanderlust. The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour promises an experience like no other. Fresh from the October festival in Banff, Canada, the best mountain-themed films from around the world make their way to Seattle, Olympia and Tacoma. Tickets always go fast for this popular event. Get your tickets today!
SEATTLE
December 2, 3, 4 @ 7 pm.
Tickets: $10 Mountaineers, $15 General. Tickets are available through the Mountaineers office, or by calling 206-521-6001.
OLYMPIA
December 5 @ 7 pm, December 6 @ 6 pm
Tickets: $12 Saturday, $10 Sunday; $20 for both. $2 discount Sunday for Mountaineers, Olympia Film Society members and students w/ID Tickets are available in advance through The Alpine Experience and Olympic Outfitters, both in downtown Olympia, or at the theater each night.
Get to any trailhead any day, still for only 15 cents a mile
When you join The Mountaineers you join a cadre of outdoor enthusiasts who like to hike, climb, paddle—and carpool. Hop in and head to the hills on the cheap.
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TACOMA
December 8 @ 7 pm
Tickets: $10 Mountaineers/UPS staff, faculty and students. $13 General Schneebeck Concert Hall, University of Puget Sound Tickets: 253-879-3419
December 2009
The Mountaineer
Off the shelf Passages
Clyde Lince, an accomplished climber and climb leader, died Sept. 26,
2009, at his home in Sparta, Tennessee. He was 90 years old. Lince, who joined The Mountaineers in 1962, enjoyed climbing and hiking in the Pacific Northwest into his 70s. He is remembered by those who climbed with him as an excellent team leader who was especially adroit on rock, and always knew when to turn back on a climb. In 1980 he joined a team on the first winter ascent of Stillaguamish Peak. As a Mountaineer, he earned the Six Peaks Pin, the Snoqualmie Second 10 and graduated from both the climbing and ski programs. He served the club as a climbing course instructor and snowshoe leader. He climbed extensively in the North and Central Cascades as well as the Idaho Sawtooths. In later years, he scaled his destinations down to nearby mountains such as Si and Tiger. A survivor of the Bataan Death March and the Battle of Corregidor during World War II, he spent more than three years in a Japanese prison camp. Lince maintained contact after the war with his fellow veterans, including Gen. Matthew Wainwright, also a prisoner of war and under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Lince, born in Yakima, lived in Eastern Washington until enlisting with the Army at the start of the war. He was living in Sparta with his daughter, Peggy Main. How far will you go this year?
The latest from your Mountaineers Library
By Kathleen McCluskey, librarian
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s our early-winter weather brings its status quo of rain and chill, you might equate it to ice climbing in Colorado. If so, then the library has the book for you. Perhaps you would rather walk the mountains of Scandinavia or plan that trek of the Grand Canyon. Be it Squamish, Wasatch, Oregon or Nepal, the library has the guidebook to make your adventure planning that much easier. Check out our new items: Guidebook collection—Colorado Ice, Vol.1; Day Hiking Central Cascades; Day Hiking North Cascades; Deschutes Paddle Trail River Guide; Dolomites of Italy; Ecrins Park: Dauphine Alps: Mountain Walking, Scrambling & Trail Guide; Eiskalt: Wasserfallklettern in der Schweiz; German and Belgian Rock Climbs; Grand Canyon and the American Southwest: Trekking in the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks; Great Atlas Traverse: Morocco, Vol.1-2: Moussa Gorges to Midelt.
High Country Stone: Rock Climbing in the Gunnison and Crested Butte Area; Hiking Colorado, Vol. 1-2; Julian Alps; Kangchenjunga Himal & Kumbhakarna Himal; Mazama Rock: A Vertical Paradise; Mount Whitney: The Complete Trailhead to Summit Guide; Nepal: Trekking & Climbing; 100 Best Cross-Country Ski Trails in Washington (2002); Rock Climbing Western Oregon, Vol. 2: The Umpqua; Paradise Forks: Rock Climbing; Rock Climber’s Guide to Montana; Rock Climber’s Guide to Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon; Rock Climbing Yosemite Free Climbs; Rock Climbs of Southwest Montana: A Guide to the Boulder, Paradise, Gallatin, and Madison Valleys; San Juan Ice Climbs; San Luis Valley Rock Climbing and Bouldering Guide; Scandinavian Mountains; Silvretta Alps: Mountain Walking, Touring and Climbing Guide. Sinks Canyon Rock Climbs; Snowshoeing Colorado; Squamish Chief Guide; Via Ferrata: Scrambles in the Dolomites; Wasatch Rock Climbs; Whitewater of the Southern Rockies; Whole Enchilada: A Climber’s Guide to Potrero Chico, Mexico.
Pictorial collection—Appalachian Wilderness: The Great Smoky Mountains; High and Wild: A Mountaineer’s World; National Geographic: The Photographs.
Special collection—Armchair Mountaineer; Climber’s Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada; Compass Points: Finding a Mid-Life Bearing on Mount Rainier; Dolomites: Lac de Garde, Merano; Fred Beckey Stories: A Tribute to a Climbing Legend; Himalayan Traders; Journey to Mustang; Last Great Wilderness: The Campaign to Establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; Natural Object, Social Subject: The Mountaineers of Puget Sound; Nouveaux Voyages En Zigzag a la Grande Chartreuse; Stanford Alpine Club. DVDs—American Bicentennial Denali Expedition; Rock Climbing Skills: The Basics and Beyond.
www.mountaineers.org
Mountaineers
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To view open hours at the library, log on to www.mountaineeers.org and click on “Library” in the top banner of the front page.
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The Mountaineer
Editor’s note: At The Mountaineers Annual Meeting in September, six volunteers were presented with the Service Award, recognizing members for their outstanding service to the club. The award had not been presented since 2003. The six represent successive years thereafter. Last month, The Mountaineer featured the recipients named for 2004, Dave Claar and Patti Polinsky. The 2005 Service Award recognizes the late Jo Backus for her nearly 20 years of selfless devotion to the club and its mission.
December 2009
very proactive, and she would find a way to be involved. If she saw a need or an opportunity that she thought would be fun, she would pursue it.” Jim and Tacoma Branch Trustee Tom Shimko received the Service Award on Jo’s behalf at the club’s Annual Meeting. Jo was elected Tacoma Branch chair in 1993—the first woman serving in the post since the 1920s—and served as Tacoma’s representative to The Mountaineers Board of Trustees. Many members remember her regular involvement with the new-member meetings and orientation on Friday nights. She was always tapping new members and reaching out to them. She was particularly active in introducing other women to the sport of mountaineering. Jo made an impact through her innovations. When she noticed some club members wanted an opportunity to take short snowshoe trips, rather than long backcountry treks, she initiated the still popular Snowshoe Lite Course. The condensed course offers an introduction to safe and enjoyable winter travel for the beginner who just wants to get a taste of snowshoeing, and pick up a few good skills, without the commitment of a full course.
Award presented posthumously to Tacoma volunteer
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By James Hampton
very once in awhile a person comes along who works so tirelessly that she or he makes contributions in ways that a team of people would struggle to accomplish. Luckily, The Mountaineers had such a person in their midst for nearly 20 years. To the many who knew Jo, she was a special person who touched innumerable lives in her many roles with the club, at her church, and in the medical community as a nurse. Tom Shimko, a club officer from the Tacoma Branch who joined The Mountaineers the same year as Jo, also took the club’s climbing course the same year she did, 1991. “She had an incredible amount of energy— always getting people to do things.”
In 2000, Jo founded HARK (Hikes for At-Risk Kids She joined The Mountaineers in 1986 after originally and now Hiking and Active Recreation reveling in the dominance of Mt. Rainier on her for Kids), a program that takes inner-city kids commutes from Seattle to her home in Tacoma— hiking or snowshoeing to instill an appreciation aspiring to climb the Northwest’s most prominent for the beauty of the outdoors and recognize peak. the opportunities that nature offers. For many of the kids, it was their first time venturing outside Her eventual debut on the top of Rainier Jo Backus in her element. the city. Though the activity became defunct in mushroomed into some 200 more climbs, Tacoma for lack of volunteers, it later caught on in the Olympia and Kitsap including multiple routes up Rainier, before she died four years ago. She branches.
“Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally ride!”
According to Shimko, “You never said, no, Jo.” She was a motivator and rallied people to go along with her, perhaps because of her can-do attitude or her calm, positive demeanor. “(Jo) kept everyone honest, she wouldn’t let things slide. (She) was always pushing to make the branch better.”
sideways, champagne in one hand, strawberries worn out and screaming WOO-HOO—what a
— A quotation attached prominently on Jo’s refrigerator door.
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f her contributions to the club were not impressive enough, Jo exerted at least as much influence on the health of mothers and children during the work day as a nurse. A scholarship established in her name by the Pierce County Breastfeeding Alliance had this to say: “Jo was a charter member of the PCBA having actively participated since the inception of the Alliance in 1986. Jo worked as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) for Tacoma General Hospital, and as a nurse for Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. Jo loved life and loved people. She aspired to make people feel welcome, accepted, and involved. She was selfless in her commitment to the community, and was a profound humanitarian at heart.” Jo died in a tragic climbing accident, along with two other Mountaineers, in July of 2005 on Sharkfin Tower, when they were hit by rocks from a slide. She originally wanted to climb Johannsburg Peak (because it was her namesake mountain), which sits across the valley from Sharkfin. In the end, she died within view of the mountain sharing her name. The incident was the first triple-casualty accident in the history of The Mountaineers, prompting changes that strengthened the club’s culture of safety. Jim Backus said Jo would be humbled and honored by receiving the Service Award. Jo would say that there were others who deserved the award more, but she was clearly a person who left a long history of leadership with the club and whose effect will continue to resonate within the club for a long time. “It’s going to take a lot of people to fill her shoes,” stated Shimko. James Hampton is a Mountaineers member/volunteer and freelance writer.
received a Five Peak Pin, Tacoma Irish Cabin First 12, Snoqualmie First and Second Ten Pin, Tahoma First Peak Award and a Teanaway Ten Pin—not too shabby for someone who took up the sport when she was in her 40s. During her time with the club, she served in a variety of roles and instituted many important innovations. Her husband, Jim Backus, stated, “Jo was
What can $73 a year get you? Sometimes a wilderness area
When you join The Mountaineers you join a partner in the lobby for wilderness preservation, including our most recent collaboration: the Wild Sky Wilderness Area.
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December 2009
Set your course: Enrollment is open for Mountaineers courses, winter and spring. See the Go Guide or visit www.mountaineers.org
The Mountaineer
Planet ICE
Thursday, January 21 at 7 pm
ountaineers Productions
The Photography of James Martin
The Mountaineers, 7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle Tickets: $8 Mountaineers, $12 General. Available through the Mountaineers Bookstore. What the ice tells us about the past may help us understand the future of ice, and us, on Earth. It can also help gauge the health of the planet. In the book Planet Ice, photographer James Martin examines the characteristics of polar, mountain, and tropical ice. He explores human concepts of ice and wilderness; the far-reaching effects of climate change on people and iconic wildlife including penguins and polar bears; and our responsibilities as stewards of the natural world. Planet Ice illuminates the profound connection between ice - a substance that is at once mutable and forceful - and the wellbeing of our global community.
Escape
with The Mountaineers
Mt Baker Lodge
www.mountaineers.org/lodge/baker
only steps from hiking trails and chairlifts
Kitsap Cabin
ROWED TRIP From Scotland to Syria by Oar
Thursday, January 28 Show at 7 pm
The Mountaineers 7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle Tickets: $5 Mountaineers, $10 General. Available through the Mountaineers Bookstore or by calling 206-521-6001.
Using two rowboats, Colin and Julie Angus voyaged 7,200 km from the northern tip of Scotland to Aleppo, Syria via an interconnected route of rivers, canals, ancient transportation corridors, oceans and coastlines. Each vessel was specially designed for the trip, and was fitted with a bicycle and trailer that allowed it to travel not only on water but also on land. Over the course of seven months, the couple rowed through thirteen countries and explored their ancestral homelands.
enchanting old-growth preserve, forest theater, salmon safaris
www.kitsapcabin.org
Meany Lodge
winter sport lessons, learn, explore
www.meanylodge.org
Snoqualmie Campus
www.snoqualmiecampus.org
four-season camping only an hour from seattle
Stevens Lodge
ski in, ski out, relax
www.stevenslodge.org
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The monthly publication of The Mountaineers
Volume 103, No. 12
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Mountaineers’ work on Legacy Roads applauded
Mountaineer
The
w w w. m o u n t a i n e e r s . o r g
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Election results Service Award presented posthumously to Jo Backus
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View from the Top Conservation Currents Summit Savvy In Support Off the Shelf Passages
Offices to close for holidays
Mountaineers are reminded that all offices and services will be closed on Thu., Dec. 24, and Fri., Dec. 25, to observe the Christmas holiday. Club headquarters will also be closed on Fri., Jan. 1, to observe New Year’s Day. Happy holidays to all!
Lodges and courses: open for business!
Oyvind Henningsen photo
Winter travel courses and lodges open their doors to Mountaineers and guests this month. Check out registration dates for classes and reservations for any of our properties at www.mountaineers.org or in this month’s Go Guide. Above, backcountry ski course students and their instructor pause during an overnight field trip, with Mt. Shuksan beaming in the background.
Discover The Mountaineers
If you are thinking of joining or have joined and aren’t sure where to start - why not attend an information meeting? Check the Go Guide branch sections for times and locations. Are you ready to jump right in? Visit www.mountaineers.org. Need to call? 206-521-6000.
PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT SEATTLE, WA
New director takes helm
Skills mesh with pivotal direction charted by club
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By Brad Stracener
ollowing a five-month nationwide search, The Mountaineers has hired an executive director to steer the club through “a pivotal period in its evolution,” as Mountaineers President Eric Linxweiler puts it. A strategic plan in 2006 helped pivot the club toward its course of evolution, advanced with the headquarters move to Magnuson Park a year ago, and Martinique Grigg highlighted by the hiring of an executive director who Linxweiler calls “the right person at the right time to lead us.” Martinique Grigg, who officially begins her directorship in midDecember, brings a combination of private and public non-profit Continued on M3
Book sale & Banff! The Mountaineers will prsent its one-two punch as soon as the new month begins. See the ad on M5 to find out about Banff Film Tour shows in Seattle, Olympia and Tacoma, and the Annual Holiday Book Sale at The Mountaineers Bookstore.
Upcoming
Winter Trails Fest: As you step knee-deep into winter by the end of this month, step into a sampling of showshoes at our annual Winter Trails Day in January. See the ad on M3 for details about this fun demo day at our Snoqualmie Campus.
The Mountaineers 7700 Sand Point Way N.E. Seattle, WA 98115
International Day of Climate Action—Mountaineers and others
Eileen Kutscha photo
joined a worldwide effort on Oct. 24 to raise awareness and a sense of urgency about the need to reduce CO2 levels in our atmosphere. A reduction to 350 ppm is what scientists have identified as the safe upper limit. Atop Mt. Si are (clockwise from bottom) Andrea Foegler, Scott Heinz, Daniel Shoe, Jeremy Cottle, Ansel Wald, Nicole Bahr, Joanne Frank, Leonard Russell, Colt DeWolf and Jim Clinton. Not shown: Sonya Remington and Eileen Kutscha— the event leaders.
December 2009
The
The Mountaineer
Purposes and mission
The club’s mission:
To enrich the community by helping people explore, conserve, learn about and enjoy the lands and waters of the Pacific Northwest. The club’s charter lists its purposes as follows: —To explore and study the mountains, forests and other water courses of the Northwest and beyond. regions and explorations. —To gather into permanent form the history and traditions of these —To preserve by example, teaching and the encouragement of environment.
Mountaineer
The Mountaineers is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1906 and dedicated to the responsible enjoyment and protection of natural areas. Board of Trustees Officers President Eric Linxweiler, 08-10 President Elect Tab Wilkins, 08-10 Past President Bill Deters, 08-09 VP Properties Dave Claar, 08-10 VP Publishing Don Heck, 08-10 Treasurer Mike Dean, 08-10 Secretary Steve Sears, 08-10 Trustees at large Kirk Alm, 07-10 Rich Draves, 08-11 Dale Flynn, 07-10 Ed Henderson, 08-11 Lynn Hyde, 08-11 Mark Scheffer, 09-12 John Ohlson, 09-12 Dave Shema, 07-10 Mona West, 09-12
Also see us on the web at www.mountaineers.org
Managing Editor Brad Stracener
Contributors, proofreaders: Barb Butler, Brian Futch, James Hampton, Jim Harvey, Suzan Reiley, Darla Tishman Photographers & Illustrators: Oyvind Henningsen, Eileen Kutscha THE MOUNTAINEER is published monthly by: The Mountaineers 7700 Sand Point Way N.E. Seattle, WA 98115 206-521-6000; 206-523-6763 fax
protective legislation or otherwise the natural beauty of the natural —To make expeditions and provide educational opportunities in fulfillment of the above purposes. outdoor life. —To encourage a spirit of good fellowship among all lovers of —To hold real estate and personal property and to receive, hire, purchase, occupy, and maintain and manage suitable buildings and quarters for the furtherance of the purposes of the association, and to hold in trust or otherwise funds, received by bequest or gift or otherwise, to be devoted to the purposes of said association.
Branch Trustees Bellingham, Steven Glenn Everett, Rob Simonsen Foothills, Gerry Haugen Kitsap, Jimmy James Olympia, John Flanagan Seattle, Mike Maude Tacoma, Tom Shimko Executive Director Martinique Grigg
Volume 103, No. 12 The Mountaineer (ISSN 0027-2620) is published monthly by The Mountaineers, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. Members receive a subscription as part of their annual dues. Approximately $12.42 of each member’s annual membership dues is spent to print and mail this publication. Non-member subscriptions to The Mountaineer are $32. Periodicals postage paid at Seattle WA. Postmaster: send address changes to The Mountaineer, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of The Mountaineers.
How far will you go this year?
www.mountaineers.org
Mountaineers
The
View from the Top
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have.
New director important step in club’s evolution
his month’s Mountaineer focuses on an important event in the history of our at Mountaineers Books, combined with our new controller, Blair Cossey, we have the four most capable people to execute on strategy. The Mountaineers’ mission and We should be mindful to not view the hiring of a new executive for the club. It’s actually just director as a revolutionary event another step—albeit a big one—in our evolution and transition to an next century. organization that is focused on our With our move to Magnuson Park, the enjoying the results of this vision and its execution. It’s refreshing, and it’s very exciting. Capping our nationwide search and the hiring of a new executive director, your board of trustees is our organization’s direction. We know we have the right unified, optimistic and confident in
club—the hiring of a new executive leader, Martinique Grigg. She joins the absolutely best senior team
that any outdoor organization could In Publisher Helen Cherullo and
modularization of many of our courses,
publishing strategist Art Freeman
the launching of two new kids’
strategy and definitely the right with the passion that each
Who ya gonna call? Your mentor, of course
activities (Junior Naturalists and on the way to achieving much of our strategic vision for The Mountaineers.
leaders to execute it. Combined Mountaineer has, there’s simply no way to have anything other than Welcome to The Mountaineers, Martinique! We’re glad you are here. See all of you on the trail. the brightest of days ahead of us.
Junior Mountaineers), we are well
Are you a new member wondering about the how-to, where-to and what-to-do with your club? There are a number of resources available to you, not the least our websites. Now there is also a real, live person. If you want to know about expected conditioning for a hike, what not to wear, how to sign up for events or whatever call or e-mail the “mentor of the month.” Mona West is this month’s mentor. Feel free to contact her at [email protected] with your questions or comments.
Over the course of the past few our vision and our plans, and
months, you’ve read much about how so many of our members are
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The Mountaineer
Continued from M1 operation of the lodge. Similar to portions of The Mountaineers’ new headquarters, the Highland Center was made from reclaimed materials from the local region. vision.”
December 2009
members through our programs, conservation efforts and facilities.”
New executive director sees ‘amazing opportunities’ for the club
experience to The Mountaineers as it seeks to steady its finances and embolden its mission to enrich the community through exploration, education and preservation. Saying she “is not afraid to be very hands-on,” Grigg’s business and non-profit resumes reflect her acumen for becoming involved in several facets of a project on its way to fruition. Her work at L.L. Bean, for example, involved a complete overhaul of a product line—from its design to its market strategy and sales. “I learned more about sweaters than I ever wanted to know,” she said with a laugh. Components of that vision for The Mountaineers, according to the strategic plan, is to gain financial stability through growth in membership and improving the club’s fundraising competency. Grigg’s hands-on acuity poses a natural fit to the task. Her creation of a capital and operating budget for the Highland Center and her profit-loss responsibilities at Amazon.com and at L.L. Bean should prove advantageous to the club’s current strategy. “I’d love to see the (club’s) membership double or triple and I would also love to see She added, “With so many demands on our free time, and so much time spent on computers and video games, how can we help people to remember what is great about being in the outdoors? More importantly, how do we make it more fun? Making (the club) a fun place is important because it is where people will spend their free time.” She said the club’s current properties pose a “great opportunity to connect with members.” She added, “What would we need to do to make our facilities more active year-round and increase visitation?”
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ired as a project manager for the Appalachian Mountain Club, where she was a member for 10 years, Grigg is called a “superstar” by AMC Executive Director Andy Falender for her work on the AMC’s Highland Center, a recreational and learning center nestled inside the White Mountain National Forest at Crawford Notch, NH. “The AMC looked at the Highland Center as a pivotal point in its community role. It was representative of meeting an underserved portion of our members—those wanting somewhere to go with their families for outdoor activities and to spend an evening at a lodge to learn something about the environment,” said Grigg. The lodge itself provides a learning tool, she indicated. Named one of the “Top 50 Eco-Lodges in 2009” by the editors of National Geographic ADVENTURE magazine, the center conducts ‘green tours’ to educate its guests about the environmentally conscious construction and
“It took a lot of outreach,” she said in regard to making the Highland Center a reality. One of her challenges was communicating with the AMC’s 12 chapters and galvanizing their support, not to mention coordination with local chambers of commerce. “I worked with an excellent fundraising department of 6-8 people in executing the vision of our $30 million capital campaign,” she noted, but more importantly she said she was able to see the
“My highest priority is to execute on the club’s vision . . . I also want to see our branches grow and attract new members while re-engaging our existing members through our programs, conservation efforts and facilities.”
results. “I had a chance to go back and see how it was being used by the members and chapters. They can see how it embodies the purposes of the AMC,” she stated. AMC’s Falendar said he “can’t imagine a better candidate than Martinique” for leading The Mountaineers, given what he knows about the challenges facing the club at this point. “I know she has a passion for non-profit in her blood and a love for the full range of activities that (The Mountaineers is) involved in,” he stated. He added, “She definitely is a dynamic individual who will want to head toward a new and exciting our volunteer (commitment) increase, and our work on trails increase,” Grigg said. “I’d like to see us remain a strong force in conservation and in being able to balance recreation with conservation.”
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rigg’s volunteerism and nonprofit passion began at a young age. She was a volunteer mentor for teenage girls and a parolee tutor during her attendance at Dartmouth College. She began her volunteer effort with the AMC while attending Harvard Business School. She has also worked as an Outdoor Leadership instructor with the YMCA and is a threetime graduate of Outward Bound courses. She currently volunteers on an advisory board for the AMC. An enthusiastic paddler whose kayak is still back East where she grew up, Grigg said she hopes both she and her husband, who is from the San Francisco area, can enjoy some time in the Cascades on skis this winter. “Like me, he is a huge outdoors enthusiast,” she noted, but he has found it difficult to find time to enjoy the Northwest’s splendor since taking on a medical residency as an anesthesiologist in Seattle.
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rigg’s passion for the non-profit industry, to which Falender alluded, is what interested her in The Mountaineers’ directorship. “I know we are facing a lot of challenges, but I also see the amazing opportunities here.” She cited the club’s strong volunteer base, a strategic plan “pointing us toward the right direction,” a rich heritage of education through the club’s outdoor courses and “a ton of energy and enthusiasm.” She said the volunteer energy here and the will to move forward is inspiring. “My highest priority is to execute on the club’s vision,” she sated. “I also want to see our branches grow and attract new members while re-engaging our existing
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inter W ay
D rails T
or now, Grigg knows she will be hard-pressed for time outdoors as well, given her first-six-month agenda with the The Mountaineers. But, she has no worries, knowing that the contagion for outdoors fun among Mountaineers is as catching as their energy to enrich the outdoors community. Brad Stracener is managing editor of The Mountaineer.
January 9, 2010
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
How about spending a day with us in the snow? On Saturday, January 10, 2009, we’re hosting Winter Trails Day, a FREE snowshoe event at Snoqualmie Pass. We bring the snowshoes and hike leaders, you just bring yourself and your family for a whole bunch of fun. Winter Trails Day is open to everyone from 10 am to 4 pm - bring the family and discover a new way to enjoy the snow - on a pair of snowshoes! For more details, visit www.mountaineers.org.
How's 20 percent off your first piece of hiking gear sound?
That's how much you save on the price of guidebooks—or any book for that matter—at our bookstore when you join The Mountaineers.
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December 2009
Can you identify the summit in
the foreground here? Send your answer (by Dec. 10) via e-mail—brads@ mountaineers.org—or mail to: Summit Savvy, The Mountaineer, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. If you guess correctly, you’ll receive $10 of Mountaineers Money, good for Mountaineers Bookstore merchandise, and we’ll publish your name in next month’s column. (In case of a tie, one winner will be chosen at random.) Club employees or persons shown in the photograph are not eligible. Each month we’ll publish a new mystery summit and identification of the previous one.
The Mountaineer
■ Send your photographs for possible publication as a mystery summit (include identification for our benefit). If we use your photo, you will get $10 of Mountaineers Money as well. ■ At the end of each year, all correct respondents’ names are placed in a hat and the winner of that drawing will receive $50 of Mountaineers Money good for purchases at The Mountaineers Bookstore. ■ Seven correctly guessed last month’s mystery summit, South Sister (in Oregon), as photographed by Curt Baxstrom. The name drawn from the hat was that of Mike Arth. Congrats!
Summit Savvy
conservation CURRENTS
Group’s work in public awareness leads to greater forest protections
Collaborative work on Legacy Roads and Trails earns initiative members, including The Mountaineers, national award from U.S. Forest Service
By Leesa Wright
Mountaineers Public Policy Associate
Wilderness Society, Washington Trails Association, Washington Wilderness Coalition and Wildlands CPR. The goals of the WWRI are to: • Restore the health of Washington’s national forest watersheds. • Ensure the Forest Service has adequate funding for road decommissioning and maintenance to restore watershed integrity. • Provide targeted, educational and outreach efforts to organizations, community groups, local governments, tribes, and the media, in order to build support for watershed restoration. • Promote and conduct credible, long-term research on the ecological and economic benefits and impacts of road remediation as a vehicle for watershed restoration. • Maintain and restore recreational access that is both locally appropriate and ecologically sound. • Serve as a model for other forest watershed restoration programs.
to the Forest Service is declining. The loss in revenue has left a large hole in funding for road repair and upgrading.
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Here’s what the USFS had to say about the award: “The (WWRI) is a coalition of state and private non-profit groups focused on improvement of water quality and watershed conditions (in) national forests. Since 2007, members have worked tirelessly to address road and trail impacts on watersheds and fish habitat. By utilizing media, networking and testifying to Congress, awareness has been heightened. (WWRI) efforts have resulted in the allocation of over $90 million dollars to repair degrading roads and trails within national forest system lands.”
ging forest roads threaten access to recreational public lands, clean drinking water and native fish populations. Unmaintained Forest Service road culverts block fish passage and may play a part in the destructive landslides which are occurring with increasing frequency in our area. What we have been left with is a road system that is economically and environmentally unsustainable. Because many of our members are out every weekend recreating somewhere, often on USFS land, The Mountaineers is poised to offer the Forest Service a unique and informed perspective on roads. Rep. Norm Dicks has been a champion for Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation, and shepherded the latest $90 million appropriation through Congress. Dicks put it succinctly when he said, “If we do not fix our roads, we will have to drink our roads—after they slide into our streams.”
“It’s hard to walk when you’re carrying $90 million!” joked a member of the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative upon entering the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Region 6 headquarters in Portland. Days earlier, the USFS had published names of the winners of its national 2009 Rise to the Future and National Watershed Awards. The Award for Public Awareness was given to the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative (WWRI) of which The Mountaineers is a charter member. That same day, President Obama signed the Department of Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. The act included $90 million in funding for the Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative for fiscal year 2010—a marked increase from past allocations. The $90 million appropriation equals the total amount allocated to Legacy Roads and Trails in the two previous years combined.
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n 2007, the U.S. Congress approved a $39.4 million expenditure to establish the Forest Service Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Act. This 2008 fiscalyear funding was designated to protect community water sources and threatened, endangered and sensitive species. In March 2009, an additional $50 million was approved for repair and maintenance of roads and trails. The WWRI (www. washingtonwatersheds.org) members are: Washington State Department of Ecology, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Alpine Lakes Protection Society, American Whitewater, Cascade ChapterSierra Club, Conservation Northwest, Gifford Pinchot Task Force, North Cascades Conservation Council, Olympic Forest Coalition, Pacific Rivers Council, Pilchuck Audubon Society, The Mountaineers, The
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ost of the 380,000 miles of roads on the 193 million acres of our national forests were built to provide access for logging and mining. Over time, the emphasis has changed from logging to recreation, as Forest Service roads are increasingly used to provide access for recreational opportunities. Unfortunately, the rise in demand for recreational access has occurred as timber-related revenue
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he $90 million in Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation funding will be spread across all the national forests. There is no way of knowing at this point how much of the $90 million Washington’s national forests will receive, but it is a positive step in the right direction. The next step will be to monitor the progress and efficacy of road decommissioning, aquatic species passage improvements and trail maintenance. Stay tuned here for a list of Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation projects near you.
What can $73 a year get you? Sometimes a wilderness area
When you join The Mountaineers you join a partner in the lobby for wilderness preservation, including our most recent collaboration: the Wild Sky Wilderness Area.
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The Mountaineer
December 2009
Two new trustees join board; one trustee reelected
Two new trustees were elected and one trustee was reelected in the Oct. 21 club-wide election. Joining The Mountaineers Board of Trustees as new members are John Ohlson and Mark Scheffer. Mona West, who has served on the board since 2006, was reelected to her post. There were 730 ballots cast. Following are the tallies for the four candidates on the ballot: Mona West, 612; John Ohlson, 510; Mark Scheffer, 506; Matt Sullivan, 370. Of the 730 ballots received, 695 were cast electronically in the first election in Mountaineers history to feature electronic voting.
UN Copenhagen exhibit hosts Mountaineers author
Happy 70th to a fighter for the cause
Brad Stracener photo
An exhibit to be featured at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen will include the works of Steven Kazlowski, author of “The Last Polar Bear,” a title from Mountaineers Books,
Norm and Karyl Winn begin doling the cake to the 140 well-wishers who gathered on Oct. 25 to fete his 70th birthday. Over his four decades as a Mountaineers volunteer and leader, Norm has proved instrumental in historic lobbies for preservation of wilderness in the Pacific Northwest.
The exhibit is part of a World Wildlife Fund Arctic program being held outside of the conference center where 12,000 international delegates will gather to discuss the future of the planet relative to the consequences of climate change. Kazlowski, who appeared at a Mountaineers production last month, will deliver a multimedia slide show, sponsored by Braided River, an imprint from Mountaineers Books. Also, several of his images will be on display.
HOLIDAY! BOOK! SALE!
MEMBERS ONLY NIGHT - TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1 - 6-9 pm 5-9
December 2, 3, 4
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
10 am - 7 pm each day All books and maps 25% off All TOPO! software 25% off Book sets 30% off Books “Seconds” 50% off Clearance Titles up to 85% off Logo Merchandise 10% off
The end of the year is almost upon us, and that means two things: the Banff Film Festival and our Holiday Book Sale! This year, it pays to be a member - we’re opening the sale one night early just for you! Be sure to check out our Members Only Night to get the best deals before everyone else. Mountaineers Books will also be bringing in a mountain of overstock and ‘seconds’ titles - a bargain if there ever was one. See you at the sale!
In support
Mountaineers Foundation Donors
The Mountaineers Foundation desires to acknowledge and thank all its donors. Unless individuals request their names not be published, all donors will be acknowledged in The Mountaineer on a quarterly basis (usually December, March, June, September). If you have donated during the period of August through October 2009 and your name is not on this list, notify Paul Robisch, Mountaineers Foundation, 206-363-1989, [email protected], and your name will be added to the next published list of acknowledgments. Donations received after Oct. 31 will be acknowledged in the March 2010 issue of The Mountaineer.
Barrett Amos Anonymous Robert Barnoski Dan Brady The Barco Trust C/O Ruth Barclay Kathleen P. Carey Daniel M. Castoriano Jim R. Cavin Ilene Chapman Lawrence K. Dean Shay E. Dickson Sascha N. Elsing Tom R. Fisher Matt Fleming Kraft Foods Foundation MG Juanita E. Gomez Ed Greutert James M. Gross Jeffrey P. Harker Robert W. Hickey Jocelyn Horder Betty Jensen J.R. Jesson Don W. Kenyon Karen L. King Mark Ray Koski Matching Gifts Microsoft- Vol Hours Microsoft MS Giving Campaign-Emp Funds Daniel Robert Newell Randy Oakley Matthew G. Pearson Barbara M. Retzlaff Michael J. Riley Maryann Ruffing Rich Sobieski Helen B. St. John Cynthia L. Taylor Ann R. Uhrich Dorothy W. Walker Kenneth G. Wells
BANFF RETURNS TO WASHINGTON!
Big thrills. Exotic locales. Wanderlust. The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour promises an experience like no other. Fresh from the October festival in Banff, Canada, the best mountain-themed films from around the world make their way to Seattle, Olympia and Tacoma. Tickets always go fast for this popular event. Get your tickets today!
SEATTLE
December 2, 3, 4 @ 7 pm.
Tickets: $10 Mountaineers, $15 General. Tickets are available through the Mountaineers office, or by calling 206-521-6001.
OLYMPIA
December 5 @ 7 pm, December 6 @ 6 pm
Tickets: $12 Saturday, $10 Sunday; $20 for both. $2 discount Sunday for Mountaineers, Olympia Film Society members and students w/ID Tickets are available in advance through The Alpine Experience and Olympic Outfitters, both in downtown Olympia, or at the theater each night.
Get to any trailhead any day, still for only 15 cents a mile
When you join The Mountaineers you join a cadre of outdoor enthusiasts who like to hike, climb, paddle—and carpool. Hop in and head to the hills on the cheap.
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TACOMA
December 8 @ 7 pm
Tickets: $10 Mountaineers/UPS staff, faculty and students. $13 General Schneebeck Concert Hall, University of Puget Sound Tickets: 253-879-3419
December 2009
The Mountaineer
Off the shelf Passages
Clyde Lince, an accomplished climber and climb leader, died Sept. 26,
2009, at his home in Sparta, Tennessee. He was 90 years old. Lince, who joined The Mountaineers in 1962, enjoyed climbing and hiking in the Pacific Northwest into his 70s. He is remembered by those who climbed with him as an excellent team leader who was especially adroit on rock, and always knew when to turn back on a climb. In 1980 he joined a team on the first winter ascent of Stillaguamish Peak. As a Mountaineer, he earned the Six Peaks Pin, the Snoqualmie Second 10 and graduated from both the climbing and ski programs. He served the club as a climbing course instructor and snowshoe leader. He climbed extensively in the North and Central Cascades as well as the Idaho Sawtooths. In later years, he scaled his destinations down to nearby mountains such as Si and Tiger. A survivor of the Bataan Death March and the Battle of Corregidor during World War II, he spent more than three years in a Japanese prison camp. Lince maintained contact after the war with his fellow veterans, including Gen. Matthew Wainwright, also a prisoner of war and under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Lince, born in Yakima, lived in Eastern Washington until enlisting with the Army at the start of the war. He was living in Sparta with his daughter, Peggy Main. How far will you go this year?
The latest from your Mountaineers Library
By Kathleen McCluskey, librarian
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s our early-winter weather brings its status quo of rain and chill, you might equate it to ice climbing in Colorado. If so, then the library has the book for you. Perhaps you would rather walk the mountains of Scandinavia or plan that trek of the Grand Canyon. Be it Squamish, Wasatch, Oregon or Nepal, the library has the guidebook to make your adventure planning that much easier. Check out our new items: Guidebook collection—Colorado Ice, Vol.1; Day Hiking Central Cascades; Day Hiking North Cascades; Deschutes Paddle Trail River Guide; Dolomites of Italy; Ecrins Park: Dauphine Alps: Mountain Walking, Scrambling & Trail Guide; Eiskalt: Wasserfallklettern in der Schweiz; German and Belgian Rock Climbs; Grand Canyon and the American Southwest: Trekking in the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks; Great Atlas Traverse: Morocco, Vol.1-2: Moussa Gorges to Midelt.
High Country Stone: Rock Climbing in the Gunnison and Crested Butte Area; Hiking Colorado, Vol. 1-2; Julian Alps; Kangchenjunga Himal & Kumbhakarna Himal; Mazama Rock: A Vertical Paradise; Mount Whitney: The Complete Trailhead to Summit Guide; Nepal: Trekking & Climbing; 100 Best Cross-Country Ski Trails in Washington (2002); Rock Climbing Western Oregon, Vol. 2: The Umpqua; Paradise Forks: Rock Climbing; Rock Climber’s Guide to Montana; Rock Climber’s Guide to Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon; Rock Climbing Yosemite Free Climbs; Rock Climbs of Southwest Montana: A Guide to the Boulder, Paradise, Gallatin, and Madison Valleys; San Juan Ice Climbs; San Luis Valley Rock Climbing and Bouldering Guide; Scandinavian Mountains; Silvretta Alps: Mountain Walking, Touring and Climbing Guide. Sinks Canyon Rock Climbs; Snowshoeing Colorado; Squamish Chief Guide; Via Ferrata: Scrambles in the Dolomites; Wasatch Rock Climbs; Whitewater of the Southern Rockies; Whole Enchilada: A Climber’s Guide to Potrero Chico, Mexico.
Pictorial collection—Appalachian Wilderness: The Great Smoky Mountains; High and Wild: A Mountaineer’s World; National Geographic: The Photographs.
Special collection—Armchair Mountaineer; Climber’s Guide to the Rocky Mountains of Canada; Compass Points: Finding a Mid-Life Bearing on Mount Rainier; Dolomites: Lac de Garde, Merano; Fred Beckey Stories: A Tribute to a Climbing Legend; Himalayan Traders; Journey to Mustang; Last Great Wilderness: The Campaign to Establish the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; Natural Object, Social Subject: The Mountaineers of Puget Sound; Nouveaux Voyages En Zigzag a la Grande Chartreuse; Stanford Alpine Club. DVDs—American Bicentennial Denali Expedition; Rock Climbing Skills: The Basics and Beyond.
www.mountaineers.org
Mountaineers
The
To view open hours at the library, log on to www.mountaineeers.org and click on “Library” in the top banner of the front page.
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The Mountaineer
Editor’s note: At The Mountaineers Annual Meeting in September, six volunteers were presented with the Service Award, recognizing members for their outstanding service to the club. The award had not been presented since 2003. The six represent successive years thereafter. Last month, The Mountaineer featured the recipients named for 2004, Dave Claar and Patti Polinsky. The 2005 Service Award recognizes the late Jo Backus for her nearly 20 years of selfless devotion to the club and its mission.
December 2009
very proactive, and she would find a way to be involved. If she saw a need or an opportunity that she thought would be fun, she would pursue it.” Jim and Tacoma Branch Trustee Tom Shimko received the Service Award on Jo’s behalf at the club’s Annual Meeting. Jo was elected Tacoma Branch chair in 1993—the first woman serving in the post since the 1920s—and served as Tacoma’s representative to The Mountaineers Board of Trustees. Many members remember her regular involvement with the new-member meetings and orientation on Friday nights. She was always tapping new members and reaching out to them. She was particularly active in introducing other women to the sport of mountaineering. Jo made an impact through her innovations. When she noticed some club members wanted an opportunity to take short snowshoe trips, rather than long backcountry treks, she initiated the still popular Snowshoe Lite Course. The condensed course offers an introduction to safe and enjoyable winter travel for the beginner who just wants to get a taste of snowshoeing, and pick up a few good skills, without the commitment of a full course.
Award presented posthumously to Tacoma volunteer
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By James Hampton
very once in awhile a person comes along who works so tirelessly that she or he makes contributions in ways that a team of people would struggle to accomplish. Luckily, The Mountaineers had such a person in their midst for nearly 20 years. To the many who knew Jo, she was a special person who touched innumerable lives in her many roles with the club, at her church, and in the medical community as a nurse. Tom Shimko, a club officer from the Tacoma Branch who joined The Mountaineers the same year as Jo, also took the club’s climbing course the same year she did, 1991. “She had an incredible amount of energy— always getting people to do things.”
In 2000, Jo founded HARK (Hikes for At-Risk Kids She joined The Mountaineers in 1986 after originally and now Hiking and Active Recreation reveling in the dominance of Mt. Rainier on her for Kids), a program that takes inner-city kids commutes from Seattle to her home in Tacoma— hiking or snowshoeing to instill an appreciation aspiring to climb the Northwest’s most prominent for the beauty of the outdoors and recognize peak. the opportunities that nature offers. For many of the kids, it was their first time venturing outside Her eventual debut on the top of Rainier Jo Backus in her element. the city. Though the activity became defunct in mushroomed into some 200 more climbs, Tacoma for lack of volunteers, it later caught on in the Olympia and Kitsap including multiple routes up Rainier, before she died four years ago. She branches.
“Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally ride!”
According to Shimko, “You never said, no, Jo.” She was a motivator and rallied people to go along with her, perhaps because of her can-do attitude or her calm, positive demeanor. “(Jo) kept everyone honest, she wouldn’t let things slide. (She) was always pushing to make the branch better.”
sideways, champagne in one hand, strawberries worn out and screaming WOO-HOO—what a
— A quotation attached prominently on Jo’s refrigerator door.
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f her contributions to the club were not impressive enough, Jo exerted at least as much influence on the health of mothers and children during the work day as a nurse. A scholarship established in her name by the Pierce County Breastfeeding Alliance had this to say: “Jo was a charter member of the PCBA having actively participated since the inception of the Alliance in 1986. Jo worked as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) for Tacoma General Hospital, and as a nurse for Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. Jo loved life and loved people. She aspired to make people feel welcome, accepted, and involved. She was selfless in her commitment to the community, and was a profound humanitarian at heart.” Jo died in a tragic climbing accident, along with two other Mountaineers, in July of 2005 on Sharkfin Tower, when they were hit by rocks from a slide. She originally wanted to climb Johannsburg Peak (because it was her namesake mountain), which sits across the valley from Sharkfin. In the end, she died within view of the mountain sharing her name. The incident was the first triple-casualty accident in the history of The Mountaineers, prompting changes that strengthened the club’s culture of safety. Jim Backus said Jo would be humbled and honored by receiving the Service Award. Jo would say that there were others who deserved the award more, but she was clearly a person who left a long history of leadership with the club and whose effect will continue to resonate within the club for a long time. “It’s going to take a lot of people to fill her shoes,” stated Shimko. James Hampton is a Mountaineers member/volunteer and freelance writer.
received a Five Peak Pin, Tacoma Irish Cabin First 12, Snoqualmie First and Second Ten Pin, Tahoma First Peak Award and a Teanaway Ten Pin—not too shabby for someone who took up the sport when she was in her 40s. During her time with the club, she served in a variety of roles and instituted many important innovations. Her husband, Jim Backus, stated, “Jo was
What can $73 a year get you? Sometimes a wilderness area
When you join The Mountaineers you join a partner in the lobby for wilderness preservation, including our most recent collaboration: the Wild Sky Wilderness Area.
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December 2009
Set your course: Enrollment is open for Mountaineers courses, winter and spring. See the Go Guide or visit www.mountaineers.org
The Mountaineer
Planet ICE
Thursday, January 21 at 7 pm
ountaineers Productions
The Photography of James Martin
The Mountaineers, 7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle Tickets: $8 Mountaineers, $12 General. Available through the Mountaineers Bookstore. What the ice tells us about the past may help us understand the future of ice, and us, on Earth. It can also help gauge the health of the planet. In the book Planet Ice, photographer James Martin examines the characteristics of polar, mountain, and tropical ice. He explores human concepts of ice and wilderness; the far-reaching effects of climate change on people and iconic wildlife including penguins and polar bears; and our responsibilities as stewards of the natural world. Planet Ice illuminates the profound connection between ice - a substance that is at once mutable and forceful - and the wellbeing of our global community.
Escape
with The Mountaineers
Mt Baker Lodge
www.mountaineers.org/lodge/baker
only steps from hiking trails and chairlifts
Kitsap Cabin
ROWED TRIP From Scotland to Syria by Oar
Thursday, January 28 Show at 7 pm
The Mountaineers 7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle Tickets: $5 Mountaineers, $10 General. Available through the Mountaineers Bookstore or by calling 206-521-6001.
Using two rowboats, Colin and Julie Angus voyaged 7,200 km from the northern tip of Scotland to Aleppo, Syria via an interconnected route of rivers, canals, ancient transportation corridors, oceans and coastlines. Each vessel was specially designed for the trip, and was fitted with a bicycle and trailer that allowed it to travel not only on water but also on land. Over the course of seven months, the couple rowed through thirteen countries and explored their ancestral homelands.
enchanting old-growth preserve, forest theater, salmon safaris
www.kitsapcabin.org
Meany Lodge
winter sport lessons, learn, explore
www.meanylodge.org
Snoqualmie Campus
www.snoqualmiecampus.org
four-season camping only an hour from seattle
Stevens Lodge
ski in, ski out, relax
www.stevenslodge.org
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