The December Mountaineers meeting will feature a potpourri of talks in a virtual version of our traditional holiday event, starting at 7 PM on Tuesday, December 15.

The October Mountaineers meeting will feature a talk by Evan Rose entitled “The Solo Hiker.”

Evan writes of his talk: “My canyoneering trip fell through. It was March 2020, and the weather in Arizona promised rain. My four partners all worked full time. I am retired. Why should they burn vacation days to sit idle in the rain, far from home? I drove to Lee’s Ferry alone.

The October Mountaineers meeting will feature a talk by Blake Wood entitled “Caldera Circumnavigation:  Exploration of a Valles Caldera Rim Trail Route.”

The September Mountaineers meeting will feature a talk by Coco Rae entitled “The Insider's Guide to Hiking Valles Caldera National Preserve.”

The August Mountaineers meeting will feature a talk by Michael Altherr entitled “Attitude for Altitude: A Smorgasbord of Adventures Above 14,000 feet.”

The highest point in the contiguous 48 States is Mount Whitney standing at 14,500 feet. It is approximately 1/2 the altitude of the tallest peak on earth, Mt Everest. So, no big deal, right? Yet, there are only approximately 75 named points of prominence in the lower 48 above 14,000 feet: 58 in Colorado, 14 in California, and 2 in Washington State; and climbers are drawn to these prominences like Ulysses to the sirens.

The June Mountaineers meeting will feature a talk by Phil Martin on a climbing expedition to Potrero Chico. Some call it a sport climbing paradise, others think it's just a particularly beautiful pile of loose mud. Either way, El Potrero Chico's sheer limestone walls and spires, rising thousands of feet above northern Mexico's Chihuahuan Desert, have been getting bolted for climbing for decades. This January, Phil Martin and a few friends made their way down to Nuevo Leon to experience for themselves this fabled land of inspiring climbs and questionable rock quality.

The June Mountaineers meeting will feature a talk by John Lyles on Lechuguilla Cave. The cave was discovered by a team digging in a blowing hole in the back country of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in 1986. The complex cave is developed in the uplifted limestone and dolomite rock of the Permian-age Capitan Reef complex that forms the Guadalupe Mountains. Hundreds of known caves are found in this region but Lechuguilla Cave greatly exceed the size of the rest.

Svalbard is an archipelago halfway between Norway and the North Pole.  It is the land of the polar night, the midnight sun, reindeer, polar bears, and Arctic foxes.  More recently, it is also home to coal miners, researchers, and adventure seekers.

For the April Los Alamos Mountaineers' program, Gwendolyn Gallagher and Don Krier will tell of their adventures in the Dolomite range in Italy. There, soaring limestone towers reflect the alpenglow, and green plateaus contrast with rugged scree. In 2018, they backpacked the Alta Via 1 (High Route One) - a stunning high altitude trek that comprised 11 days, 100 miles, and 26,000’ of elevation gain/loss.

This month, Jean Dewart will share her visit to Churchill, Manitoba's polar bears.