International Mountain Day - 12/11

[Jason_Martin]

 

At the American Alpine Institute, we love mountains for their beauty and challenge, and for the livelihood they provide us as guides and teachers. But there are ample reasons for flatlanders to love mountains as well. Mountain ranges function as engines of water production, provide habitat for game, and supply resources for industry. In view of the universal value of mountains, the United Nations General Assembly established International Mountain Day of each year to celebrate this shared natural heritage.

 

This year, we have decided to benefit the Central Asia Institute with our International Mountain Day activities. The Central Asia Institute is a non-profit organization with the mission to promote and support community-based education, especially for girls, in the remote mountainous regions of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.

 

Greg Mortenson, whose story was chronicled in the best-selling books, Three Cups of Tea and Stones to Schools, started the Central Asia Institute in 1993. Mortenson was inspired to develop a program to build schools at the foot of the Himalaya after he stumbled into a remote village in northern Pakistan following a failed attempt to climb K2. The villagers took him in, fed him, and gave him a place to rest while he recovered from his Himalayan failure. After Mortenson regained his strength, he vowed to come back to the village in order to help them to build a school. His return some months later marked the start of his quest to bring education to some of the poorest and most remote reaches of the world. Since 1993, Mortenson has helped build 145 schools throughout central Asia.

 

You can develop your personal climbing skills, your avalanche awareness skills and help us to benefit this important cause by participating in our International Mountain Day events.

 

You can now register online at aai.cc/imd.asp. Registration is optional, but space is limited and those who register will be given priority.

 

Rock Rescue Clinics (Free with a suggested donation of $25) We will be offering four two-hour rock rescue clinics at the YMCA Climbing Wall in downtown Bellingham. The clinics will focus on the baseline skills required to perform a rescue in a high angle environment. We will be offering these from 8am-10am, 10:30am-12:30pm, 1pm to 3pm, and 3:30-5:30pm. Those who donate $25 will receive a raffle ticket. For every additional $5, participants will receive additional raffle tickets. Rock Rescue Clinics (Free with a suggested donation of $25)

 

Avalanche Awareness Seminars We will be offering two avalanche awareness events to celebrate International Mountain Day. The first event will be at 7pm at Western Washington University on December 2nd and the second event will also be at 7pm on December 11th at the American Museum of Radio and Electricity in downtown Bellingham. Food and drink – including beer donated by Boundary Bay – will be available at the event on the 11th.

 

At all events we will be selling raffle tickets ($5 per ticket) to raise money for the Central Asia Institute. Our sponsors have generously donated many thousands of dollars worth of prizes that we will be giving away. Sponsors include REI, Fairhaven Runners and Walkers, Backcountry Essentials, Boundary Bay, Black Diamond, Tendon, Outdoor Research, Fairhaven Bike and Ski, The Mountain Runners, Mountain Gear, the YMCA and the American Museum of Radio and Electricity. More sponsors are joining every day!

 

For more information, log onto www.aai.cc/imd.asp or call me at 360-671-1505.

 

Jason Martin

Operations Manager

American Alpine Institute

 

Edited November 18, 2010 by Jason_Martin

[genepires]

sweet! good for Dunham and all the sponsors for putting this thing on and donations.

[Jason_Martin]

Just a quick reminder... While most of our events celebrating International Mountain Day will be on December 11th, we will be having a free avalanche awareness seminar tonight at Western Washington University at 7pm in Viking Union #552.

 

We will be raffling off some prizes with all donations going to the Central Asia Institute. If you buy a raffle ticket tonight, that ticket will be eligible for the raffle on the 11th as well.

 

Jason

[Jason_Martin]

So there will be BEER and pizza at our avy awareness event on Saturday night.

 

There is a rumor floating around -- which can be directly attributed to us -- that the beer on Saturday night will be free. We wrongly believed that since we were getting beer donated to us that we could just give it away... Unfortunately, this is no longer true. The rules at the Museum of Radio and Electricity don't allow for that. So we will have to charge for it. But rest assured, all of the proceeds from beer consumption will go to the Central Asia Institute.

 

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

Jason

[Jason_Martin]

International Mountain Day is on Saturday and we are literally swimming in gear donations that we're going to give away!

 

 

Yep in the middle of the picture there, there is a stack of passes to Stevens Pass that is nearly an inch thick. And yep, that is a Hilleberg tent in the foreground...and we still have more donations coming in from SMC and Petzl!

 

Donations have been made from the following companies:

 

Stevens Pass, Egear, Tendon, Mountain Gear, REI, Backcountry Essentials, Hilleberg, Fairhaven Runners and Walkers, SMC, Petzl, The Mountain Runners Film, Outdoor Research, Black Diamond, the YMCA, American Museum of Radio and Electricity and Boundary Bay!

 

Raffle tickets are five dollars each and of course, all profits will go to Greg Mortenson's Central Asia Institute.

 

We still have plenty of space in our rock rescue clinics at the Y. If you don't know if you can make it, you're welcome to just show up and we'll probably have space. And of course there's tons of room at the Museum of Radio for our avy awareness seminar!

 

Looking forward to it!

 

Jason

[DyP]

And, SMC just dropped off a couple of super sweet snow saws. Say that three times fast...

 

And, two Rock & Ice subscriptions were donated, as well.