Los Alamos Mountaineers
Monthly Program:
The Wind Rivers - Off-Trail
The August 25 Mountaineers meeting will feature a talk by Tanja Pietraß entitled “The Wind Rivers – Off-Trail.”
Last September, four LAMC mountaineers set out on a largely off-trail backpacking loop in the Wind River Range. Along the way, we were treated to spectacular scenery that inspired campsite names such as “Scottish Highlands” and “Paradise Lake.” Powerful thunderstorms rattled our tents most nights, leaving us wondering whether the stakes would hold. Route-finding, scrambling, vast boulder fields, dense brush, sketchy river crossings, and the constant awareness that we might encounter moose or bear all added to the adventure. Combined with outstanding camaraderie, these challenges made the trip an unforgettable experience. Tanja will be returning to the Winds this September.
Tanja grew up in Bavaria and moved to the United States in 1992 for her first postdoctoral position at UC Berkeley. After a brief stay in France, followed by 13 years in Socorro and 8 years in the Washington, DC area, she settled in Los Alamos a decade ago.
Tanja’s love of the mountains began in childhood, when her parents took her hiking in the Alps. Since then, she has pursued a wide range of outdoor adventures, including high-altitude mountaineering, rock and ice climbing, cave diving, bicycle touring, hunting, and fishing. Her current passion is backpacking, especially in remote and little-visited landscapes. Drawn to wild places, she is always searching for new adventures and has a particular fondness for the Arctic. Traveling off-trail is one of her favorite ways to experience the unspoiled wilderness that still exists in the Lower 48.
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 in-person 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 details are available at https://peecla.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/peecla/event.jsp?event=68355&
Camping above Seneca Lake in the Wind Rivers. Photo courtesy Seth.
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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.
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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.
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