One of our Cascade Section members alerted me to these concerns about Accidents and the AAJ. Let me clarify.
Both books report about events that occurred in the preceding year. Thus, AAJ 2002 covers climbs and expeditions that occurred in 2001, while Accidents 2002 covers accidents reported in 2001. Occasionally there are exceptions, but this is the general rule.
Because mailing books is quite expensive, we mail the membership publications once when both books are back from the printer. Historically this occurred in late July or early August, but the Journal has been late the past few years. For example, this year Accidents arrived in August, while the Journal didn't show up until around October 1. If you're familiar with both books, you'll easily understand how much more complicated the Journal is to produce and how it tends to take longer to assemble and usually runs into greater printing delays.
We alerted members who subscribe to the AAC E-News in July and August that the books would be coming in the fall, but not all members are on this service. The books are in the mail and should be arriving soon. We use August 1 as the cutoff date for books each year so that members are always assured of receiving one set of membership publications each year even if the books deliver late.
I hope this answers the various questions raised in these posts. If you have questions about the status of books or other membership benefits, the best way to get an answer is to contact us directly at getinfo@americanalpineclub.org or by phone at (303) 384-0110.
Lloyd Athearn, Deputy Director
