Los Alamos Mountaineers
Monthly Program:
Wilderness Character Monitoring in the Rocky Mountain West and How You Can Help
Daryl Kohut, Katie Goodleaf, and Mike Fugate will speak volunteering in service of wilderness at the June 25 Mountaineers meeting. In collaboration with Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado, a variety of initiatives at the Rio Grande National Forest are designed for public participation in crucial volunteer work. Particularly notable is the wilderness character monitoring program, a long-term project significantly bolstered by volunteer efforts, involving the collection of water samples in Wilderness areas on National Forest Service lands. Since the Wilderness Act of 1964 was signed into law, Congress has designated 37 million acres of National Forest Service land as wilderness1, about 19 percent of all the land managed by the Forest Service. The central mandate of the Wilderness Act is to preserve wilderness character. To support this effort, the long-term lake monitoring program began in the 1990s. The purpose of this program is to track the impact of atmospheric deposition on high-mountain lake ecosystems, the program also examines water chemistry as a significant ecological indicator. This presentation will provide an insight into the development and current status of the wilderness character monitoring program on the Rio Grande National Forest. Information on how to get involved with this program and other volunteer opportunities on the Rio Grande National Forest will be discussed. Mike Fugate, Los Alamos Mountaineers, will share his experience embarking on multiday backcountry trips to collect water samples in the South San Juan and La Garita Wilderness areas.
We welcome all to this Mountaineers’ meeting, on the regular fourth Tuesday of the month. The social hour, with cookies, begins at 6:45 PM and the program at 7:00 PM. The presentation will be streamed at Los Alamos Nature Center; the slides will be live-streamed on Zoom. Registration is required to Zoom and recommended for in-person – we would love to see your smiling face. Registration is at https://peecla.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/peecla/event.jsp?event=53253&.
High lakes in a New Mexico mountain wilderness
Pages
- « first
- ‹ previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
Climbing School Update
Registration is Open for Los Alamos Mountaineers Climbing School
The Los Alamos Mountaineers are thrilled to announce that they will be offering a climbing school following last year’s successful revival of the school, in conjunction with Mountain Skills Rock Climbing Adventures of Taos. Details can be found on their climbing school page, here .
Mountain Skills, supported by Mountaineers volunteers, will teach rock climbing with a safety first attitude, including movement on rock, belaying, rappelling, cleaning protective gear, and removing anchors, with extensive on-rock practice. The course objective is such that successful students should develop the skills needed to participate in top roping, follow a leader in a multi-pitch trad climb, and be able to climb or descend moderate technical obstacles in unplanned backcountry situations using improvised gear (e.g. rope and carabiners). No previous rock climbing experience is required.
Outdoor sessions will be held at Northern New Mexico climbing areas, principally Tres Piedras. The outdoor sessions will encompass a full day (6 hours) on the Saturdays of April 6, 13, 20, and May 4, with a backup date to make up any weather cancellation on May 11. Participants will sign a Los Alamos Mountaineers waiver at the first session, and additional waivers as requested by Mountain Skills. Mountain Skills will provide equipment (helmets, harnesses, climbing shoes) based on the information provided by participants in their registration form.
The cost for the school will be $650; a slot in the school will be secured when (1) participants sign up online, (2) payment is received by the Mountaineers, and (3) participants sign up for Mountaineer membership, if needed. Payment may be made by check, made out to “Los Alamos Mountaineers”, mailed to LAM c/o Cecile Hemez at 1060-B 49th Street, Los Alamos, NM, 87544. The school will take place if we register at least 7 participants, and will fill at 25 participants. Payment will be refunded only if the slot can be filled by a suitable replacement. Participants will be responsible for obtaining their own copy of the course book, “How To Rock Climb” by John Long and Bob Gaines. Registration will close on March 15.
Participants should be at least 18 years old, except that 16- or 17-year olds can take part if a parent or guardian is present at all outdoor activities, either as a fellow student or an observer. All participants should be members of the Los Alamos Mountaineers; joining the Mountaineers is easy, and can be done
at https://www.lamountaineers.org/drupal7/Member_Benefits.html. If the money is a problem for you, we have a limited number of scholarships for community-minded individuals. The scholarship application is here, completed applications should be mailed to taylortrugman@gmail.com.
The climbing school was a highlight of the Mountaineers year for decades, and the Club is excited to have it back. Friendships made at the climbing school lasted for years, and participants went on to become Mountaineers participants and leaders. We trust that the renewed climbing school will open the door to adventures for decades to come.
For questions, potential students can contact Toni Taylor, the Mountaineers climbing school lead, at taylortrugman@gmail.com.
- Log in to post comments
Ongoing Events
Monthly Public Meeting and Presentation:
Normally held in the planetarium of the Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC)
on the fourth Tuesday of each month.
Now offering hybrid meetings with in-person and zoom options! Sign up for each talk at the Monthly Program page.
Social at 6:45. Reports of recent and upcoming trips at 7:05pm. Program to follow.
Visitors are always welcome! Free refreshments!Past presentations, and occasionally future, can be viewed here
Future Club Speakers: In addition to frequent presentations by nationally known adventurers, we love to hear from our own members....not that some of you aren't in that group. A presentation gets you a free club membership and dinner at the restaurant of your choice in Los Alamos.
LAM Member Presentations Wanted! The LAM Board would like to encourage our members to provide more of our monthly presentations. We understand well that club members are an active lot, with a wealth of activities in their repertoire that can and have been inspiring to new and old members alike. We have often focused our monthly presentations on the elite of the outdoor adventure world, and perhaps created the undesired effect of squelching the voices of our own members who participate in frequent beautiful and exciting adventures of their own. Although our own activities are not always "world class", they are representative of what we "weekend" athletes can and do accomplish. We want many of our programs to inspire the "I can do that" attitude in our members, not merely entertain. Shock and awe may have their rightful place, but inspiration to participate and shine is our true goal.
Trip Leaders: Post your trip by logging in and then going here. If you do not have an account, contact the webmaster. For overnight trips, please ensure that membership waivers for participants are current and recorded by the club Membership Chairperson prior to your trip. Non-members may participate in day trips. All club sponsored trips require the trip waiver. After the trip, please scan and email a PDF of the waiver to the Trip Coordinator.
Trip Leader Awards: The club will recognize trip leaders as described here.
Borrow Equipment: We have a limited amount of mountaineering equipment for loan (e.g., avalanche transceivers). Contact our Equipment Manager listed on this page.
Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer