How an Old Mountaineer Finds New Challenges Chasing Western Native Trout

The month meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month in the planetarium of the Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC)  2600 Canyon Rd, Los Alamos, NM 87544

Link - https://peecla.app.neoncrm.com/event-detail?event=76474

Social at 6:45.  Reports of recent and upcoming trips at 7:05pm.   Program to follow.  Visitors are always welcome!  Free refreshments!

Program Description

Humans are unique among Earth’s species in challenging ourselves in ways that push well beyond our basic needs for food and shelter. Many of these challenges are esoteric and mean little outside of the small tribes with which we associate. For example, the terms on-sight, red- point, free or aid climbing (let alone free-soloing) has little on no meaning to those outside of the technical rock climbing community. Climbing the Nose of El Cap in a day (NIAD), summiting all the Colorado 14ers or the 50 State high-points, or completing the Appalachian, Continental Divide, Pacific Crest or similar trails are, in my mind, grand personal accomplishments but really do little to benefit the human condition writ large. Personally, I enjoyed trucking all the backpacking accoutrement and 40-50 pounds of climbing kit into remote locations to climb in beautiful, relatively remote locations. There was even a time when putting down a couple of hundred miles on foot appealed to my sense of adventure. 

Unfortunately, as I’ve grown older my affinity, and probably more importantly, my diminished physical prowess makes those endeavors much less enjoyable to me at this point in my life, even if as Conrad Anker advised to “make pain your friend and you’ll never be alone,” I am rarely alone. However, I still enjoy finding my way into the high country and I have found new ways to continue to challenge myself.

Similar to the climbing community, the fishing community has created a collection of challenges that i have personally found worthy of pursuing; and the kit required for fishing weighs considerably less than that required for a remote climbing trip. The Western Native Trout Challenge is broken down into three levels of accomplishment that ultimately requires the individual to catch 18 native trout species in 12 Western States. Each level requiring the participate to catch six distinct natives in four different States. Pursuing native trout frequently requires trekking to the headwaters of streams that comprise the historical range of the fish being pursued. You might say to yourself, fishing, how had can that be as a challenge? Well, as a mountaineer, you are uniquely positioned to appreciate that you are more likely to meet someone who has climbed all the 8,000 meter peaks than has completed the Western Native Trout Challenge.

About the Presenter: Michael R. Altherr, Ph.D.

You might consider it a bit rich to consider myself a mountaineer. Admittedly, I am probably more of an adventure tourist than a true mountaineer. I have been a member of Los Alamos Mountaineers for over a quarter century. I have held several positions on the Board including President for two terms. I’ve pursued a variety of climbing challenges and I have climb all over the U.S. and had one memorable trip to Peru. Following an up close and personal experience with an avalanche a couple of decades ago, I became interested in snow science and traveling safely in avalanche terrain. Consequently, I pursued certification as an Avalanche Professional and Instructor. For most of the last decade I have led an avalanche refresher for the club at the start of each ski season. While in graduate school my father in law introduced me to fly fishing. 

When I moved to Los Alamos I put my fishing kit away and focused on climbing. When I retired I dusted off the fly fishing kit and found a passion for pursuing native trout. I have led an ‘introduction to Backcountry Fly Fishing’ trip in the past and probably will do so again in the future. I have completed two levels of the Western Native Trout Challenge catching 12 distinct species in eight states, and I hope to complete the Challenge next year.