Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa Time & Date: Tuesday, February 4, 2014 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30) Directions: From Highway 101 at Santa Rosa go west on Highway 12 to Stony Point Road Exit. Go straight from the middle lane at the light onto Occidental Road. The Round Table Pizza is on the right just down the road. Why do people climb mountains? Because it gets us high! Doug’s long-awaited book, The Alchemy of Action, offers a fresh – even shocking – explanation of why people climb mountains, by delving into the brain chemistry behind climber’s euphoria. The intriguing story behind why we are so much more than “adrenaline junkies” leads deep into the psyches of all adventure athletes as they push toward the ragged edge of human potential and return with shimmering new awareness from a heady brew of hormonal cocktail that includes the surprising ingredients of home-made organic psychedelic compounds. Doug Robinson is a professional mountaineer known internationally for his climbing, guiding and ski mountaineering, as well as his poetic writings about the mountains and why we climb them. Closely identified with California’s High Sierra, Doug has … READ MORE

Sonoma County’s Rock Ice & Mountain Club welcomes Todd Offenbacher and the Tahoe Adventure Film Festival Road Tour on January 10, 2014 at the Mystic Theater in Petaluma. PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA – The Rock Ice & Mountain Club is pleased to host the Tahoe Adventure Film Festival at the historic Mystic Theatre. Designed to capture the intensity and passion of adventure, the Tahoe Adventure Film Festival is a perfect summary of California’s outdoor culture. The festival’s eight short films will showcase segments from the best skiing, rock climbing, skate boarding, surfing, cycling, snow boarding, and BASE jumping films of the year. The show begins the minute the doors open at 6:30 p.m. Dramatic action photos by Tahoe’s Keoki Flagg from, Tahoe, Antarctica, and Alaska flashes on the big screen while music pumps up the crowd. The main event begins at 7:30 p.m. Many of the segments are special edits including previews of films that have not been released. During intermission and after the event we’ll be giving away gear and prizes from our sponsors. The party continues after the event at neighboring McNears Saloon. “This is one night to see the progression in the best action and adventure sports films of … READ MORE

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa Time & Date: Tuesday, January 7, 2014 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30) Directions: From Highway 101 at Santa Rosa go west on Highway 12 to Stony Point Road Exit. Go straight from the middle lane at the light onto Occidental Road. The Round Table Pizza is on the right just down the road. Amy Ness and Myles Moser are residents of Lone Pine, CA. Living in Lone Pine provides access to the largest mountain in the lower 48 states, Mt. Whitney, along with numerous other peaks in the vicinity. Although they each climbed separately before they met, it was their union in this playground of granite that inspired the fury of first ascents beginning about 4 years ago. Living in a little 1950’s turquoise trailer in the high dessert below Lone Pine Peak offers an inspiring panorama of rock to chose from. Amy teaches in the local schools, attempting to get kids interested in the outdoors while Myles prepares burgers for the hoards of hungry climbers and hikers at the Whitney Portal Store. Battling the Big Ones…it’s not only what they do, but what … READ MORE

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa Time & Date: Tuesday, December 3, 2013 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30) Directions: From Highway 101 at Santa Rosa go west on Highway 12 to Stony Point Road Exit. Go straight from the middle lane at the light onto Occidental Road. The Round Table Pizza is on the right just down the road. Kevin Jorgeson is a Santa Rosa local, who started climbing at Vertex Climbing Center in Santa Rosa at the age of 14, and has become one of the most elite and well rounded climbers in the nation. His climbing accomplishments are numerous, but the most profound are his first ascents of hard and scary highball boulders. For the past 5 years, Kevin has been working to free “the hardest wall never climbed,” The Dawn Wall on Yosemite’s El Capitan. They say it’s about the process, not the destination. That the sweet isn’t as sweet without the bitter. They’re not wrong, but it’s a lot easier to believe it when you have already arrived. Kevin’s slideshow won’t be about the Dawn Wall, Yosemite, or even Kevin for that matter. It will be … READ MORE

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa Time & Date: Tuesday, November 5, 2013 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30) Directions: From Highway 101 at Santa Rosa go west on Highway 12 to Stony Point Road Exit. Go straight from the middle lane at the light onto Occidental Road. The Round Table Pizza is on the right just down the road. Andy Selters has been a leading figure in both the artistic and technical aspects of mountaineering for many years. As a guide and climber he has climbed from Alaska to the Cascades, Sierra and Bolivia. In particular, he has spent many seasons trekking and climbing in Asia and he has pioneered new routes in the Himalaya and Karakoram. As a photographer, Selters images have won international acclaim and he has authored important books including Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue and the award-winning Ways to the Sky, A Historical Guide to North American Mountaineering. His recent focus has been on the people and geography of Ladakh, the Tibet-like area at the northern tip of India. Mountains of the Blue Sheep is Andy’s latest presentation from his expedition last year as a member … READ MORE

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa Time & Date: Tuesday, October 1, 2013 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30) Directions: From Highway 101 at Santa Rosa go west on Highway 12 to Stony Point Road Exit. Go straight from the middle lane at the light onto Occidental Road. The Round Table Pizza is on the right just down the road. The Rock Ice & Mountain Club welcomes director Jeff Vargen as he presents the film “Assault on El Capitan”. Assault on El Capitan tells the story of the second ascent of Wings of Steel on Yosemite Valley’s El Capitan. Undoubtedly the most controversial climb in Yosemite history, Wings of Steel was first climbed in 1982 by Richard Jensen and Mark Smith. The team was slowed by death threats, sabotage, and assaults. After 39 days of climbing, they reached the summit. With questions about style, ethics and a general distrust of the first ascent team, Wings of Steel went unrepeated for 29 years. In 2011, partly as a challenge and partly to investigate the rumors, accusations and claims made over the past three decades, Ammon McKeely and Kait Barber spent 13 days … READ MORE

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa Time & Date: Tuesday, September 3, 2013 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30) Directions: From Highway 101 at Santa Rosa go west on Highway 12 to Stony Point Road Exit. Go straight from the middle lane at the light onto Occidental Road. The Round Table Pizza is on the right just down the road. Charlie Barrett is a native of Sonoma County, who relocated to the Mammoth area over thirteen years ago. Relocating to Mammoth has allowed Charlie to be centrally located to Tuolumne Meadows, the Bishop region, the High Sierra and all of the wonderful crags and bouldering areas around Mammoth and June Lake. As an Asana sponsored athlete, Charlie has already made his mark with first ascents of many boulder problems and rock climbs in the region. His foray into guidebook authoring came naturally as one day Charlie and a few friends were bouldering at a new area called Hartley Springs and they all agreed that the area needed a guidebook. After calling some long time locals and asking permission to do the guidebook everyone OK’ed the idea. The guide took about a … READ MORE

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa Time & Date: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30) Directions: From Highway 101 at Santa Rosa go west on Highway 12 to Stony Point Road Exit. Go straight from the middle lane at the light onto Occidental Road. The Round Table Pizza is on the right just down the road. Giovanni Traversi, a Sonoma County native, has a true passion for travelling the world, climbing boulders and experiencing new things. He has recently developed an interest in filmmaking and has just finished his first film entitled “Paradise”, featuring bouldering on the beautiful Sonoma Coast. The film captures Giovanni’s life as a rock climber and will showcase areas like Salt Point State Park and Cazadero, home to some of the hardest boulder problems in Sonoma County. Some of the boulder problems showcased include the second ascent of Stoney White Boots Johnson (V7r/x) and Fear of the Inevitable (V7r). Giovanni will give us some teasers of the film and will be showing the premiere of the film at Vertex Climbing Center in Santa Rosa on August 17. He will also show us pictures … READ MORE

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa Time & Date: Tuesday, July 2, 2013 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30) Directions: From Highway 101 at Santa Rosa go west on Highway 12 to Stony Point Road Exit. Go straight from the middle lane at the light onto Occidental Road. The Round Table Pizza is on the right just down the road. Todd Offenbacher will grace us with his presence as he lectures on the seriousness of climbing and skiing. Todd, the man behind the Tahoe Adventure Film Festival, has a long and impressive climbing and skiing resume that will put most to shame. Hailing from South Lake Tahoe, it seems like Todd has done it all, from first ascents in the Bugaboo’s, Peru and Pakistan, to big wall solos, to getting as many ski days as he can. Todd’s presentation will feature the 2011 season of rock climbing with climbing legends Tommy Caldwell and Hayden Kennedy in the Arctic Circle Brooks Range for a first ascent, to skiing in the Antarctic for first descents, and his recent ski trip to Spitsbergen in the Svalbard region of Norway. The presentation will also include … READ MORE

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa Time & Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2013 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30) Directions: From Highway 101 at Santa Rosa go west on Highway 12 to Stony Point Road Exit. Go straight from the middle lane at the light onto Occidental Road. The Round Table Pizza is on the right just down the road. Mingmar Sherpa is a Nepalese mountaineer, mountain guide and television journalist. He has summited Mount Everest 4 times and was the first person to climb Mt. Naipaigusum in 2006 on the occasion of the 50th year diplomatic relation between Nepal and Japan. Mingmar has worked with the IMAX Everest expedition team where he guided Michael Palin for a BBC documentary and worked with David Breashears on the film “Storm Over Everest” which recounted the dramatic events of the tragic 1996 climbing season. He is also the team leader for “Saving Mount Everest 2011”, which is a Mount Everest cleaning expedition. Mingmar will present dramatic photographs of trekking and mountaineering from the Everest region and present a short video on the 2011 Everest Cleaning campaign. For anyone wanting to go trekking and … READ MORE