Charlie Barrett – Tuolumne Meadows Bouldering

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa

Time & Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2015 @ 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 fifteen 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.

In Tuolumne Meadows, Charlie has established many new climbs and boulder problems over the years. Many years ago, Charlie was honored when Chris Falkenstien asked him to help write a section of bouldering in the back of his Tuolumne Falcon guidebook, so the idea of a full bouldering guidebook was thought of but never came about. Ten years later, Charlie asked Chris if we wanted to do a bouldering guide. Chris said, “I was just waiting for you to do it.”

Over the past two years, Charlie has worked hard to make the guidebook a reality and he is extremely psyched to give this guidebook to people who never knew about the amazing bouldering in Tuolumne Meadows. Charlie and many others have put countless hours into finding, cleaning and climbing many of the new boulder problems in the guidebook. “Tuolumne is truly a magical place and now with my new guide, I’m happy to know that people with have the option of kicking back and enjoying a bouldering session in between climbing domes and peaks and hanging out in the most beautiful place in the world.” – Charlie Barrett

Charlie will have his Tuolumne Meadows Bouldering Guidebook for sale at the presentation.

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Jason “Singer” Smith – A Rational Choice

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa

Time & Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2015 @ 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.

Jason “Singer” Smith recounts the incredible events of his fateful expedition to Kyrgyzstan when he and his climbing partners were kidnapped and held hostage for a week before orchestrating their own daring and dramatic escape. In this engrossing and emotional narrative, Singer details the tremendously complex and adverse situations that his team was forced to confront. His dramatic account of survival provides audiences with inspiration, the tools for making rational decisions when acting under pressure, and a renewed appreciation for what is really important in life.

Singer has been climbing forever. First cutting his teeth in his home mountains in Utah, he then shifted his focus to big wall climbing in Yosemite where he quickly established a reputation as a talented and bold soloist. In August of 2000, Singer, along with three other climbers, were climbing in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan when they were kidnapped and held hostage for six days by rebels from the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan. Ultimately, the team conspired to engineer their own dramatic escape.

Subsequently, from 2001 to 2006, Singer traveled the world in an effort to learn and understand people better. His thirst for adventure and insatiable curiosity have taken him to deserts, mountains, and jungles in over 40 countries. Unable to settle down, he divides his time between the United States and Australia. When not questing in the outdoors he trains 10th Planet jiu jitsu under Eddie Bravo and Denny Prokopos.

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Mark Hudon – Iron Hawk: A Tale of Woe

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa

Time & Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2015 @ 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.

Mark Hudon first climbed El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in 1974. He was 18 years old and a senior in High School on a trip out from New Hampshire. Over the next 6 years Mark would climb El Cap 8 more times, usually early and fast ascents of routes such as the Mescalito, Magic Mushroom, New Dawn and the Zodiac, not to mention nearly free ascents of the Salalthe Wall and The Nose. In 2009, Mark was bitten by the big wall bug again. He led the entire Nose route in 15.5 hours, his first route on El Cap in 30 years. The next spring he soloed Grape Race to Tribal Rite in 11 days and has done 15 additional routes since, including 2 more solo ascents. Mark, with various partners, has plans for 6 El Cap routes this year including Tempest, A4+, and Freerider (5.13a). Next year, after turning 60, he plans to solo another El Cap route.

Mark will present his 2012 solo ascent of Iron Hawk VI (A4 5.9r) on El Capitan. Mark’s intent was to solo the route. Twelve days later he was barely able to jumar a rope tossed down from the top for him. Mark says “It’s still hard for me to talk about it”.

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Scott Darsney – From Alaska To The Himalaya

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa

Time & Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2015 @ 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.

Alaska mountain guide and photographer, Scott Darsney, will share stories and photos from his upcoming photo books recounting first ascents and ski trips in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and his trips to Nepal and Pakistan. Scott has been to many 8000m peaks in Nepal and Pakistan, was Greg Mortenson’s climbing partner on K2 and was climbing Mount Lhotse during the disaster in 1996 on Mount Everest.

Scott has climbed on every continent in over 50 countries and has been published in hundreds of well known books and magazines including Outside, Climbing and Rock and Ice. He is now working full time as a pilot in Alaska.

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Gordon Wiltsie – Extreme Adventure at the Bottom of the World

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa

Time & Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2015 @ 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.

Gordon Wiltsie, a lifelong explorer, photographer and writer, first visited Antarctica aboard a ship in 1987. He was instantly captivated by the continent and his only disappointment was that he could only go ashore for a few hours at a time to explore more widely into a mountainous continent unlike any other wonderland he had ever witnessed. Within a year, however, Gordon teamed up as a guide and photographer for a new, “wings-and-many-prayers” aviation company called Adventure Network and was blessed to climb and ski over much of the continent, often to places never before visited.

Gordon will lead us through a cavalcade of expeditions, culminating with the first-ever big wall climb on the continent, far south of the Antarctic Circle in little-known Queen Maud Land. Accompanied by such climbing legends as Alex Lowe, Conrad Anker, Jon Krakauer, Rick Ridgeway and Michael Graber, Gordon chronicles one of the most dramatic adventures of his career and his first cover story for National Geographic.

Gordon Wiltsie is an award-winning photographer, writer and speaker who has documented extreme mountaineering, dogsledding, skiing and other expeditions to some of the world’s remotest mountain and polar regions. He is also noted for his photography of vanishing cultures and his images appear regularly in scores of magazines such as National Geographic. He is the author “To the Ends of the Earth – The Adventures of an Expedition Photographer” and has photographed several other books. When not traveling he lives in Pleasant Hill, California with his wife Meredith. His website is: http://www.alpenimage.com.

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Tahoe Adventure Film Festival Road Tour 2015: Mystic Theatre, Petaluma – January 30, 2015

Tahoe Adventure Film Festival Road Tour 2015: Mystic Theatre, Petaluma – January 30, 2015

It is that time of year again. The Rock Ice & Mountain Club is excited to host the Tahoe Adventure Film Festival Road Tour on January 30, 2015 at the Mystic Theatre in Petaluma, CA. doors open at 6:30 and the festival starts at 7:30. Tickets are $15 and all ages are welcome. You can buy tickets at McNear’s Restaurant next to the Mystic Theatre, at Sonoma Outfitters in Montgomery Village in Santa Rosa or on line at www.mystictheatre.com.

The Bohemian is our proud sponsor for the event and you can go to to enter to win free tickets.

Here is a list of the films:

Road Bike – cycling
Cascada – kayaking
Slomo – rollerblading
Flying Squirrels – wing suit BASE
Out on a Limb – disabled skier
Bounce – lifestyle
Burn it Down- longboard skate
After Glow – ski

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Colton Edson – My Four Year Journey

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa

Time & Date: Tuesday, January 6, 2015 @ 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.

Colton Edson is a 17-year-old local Sonoma County climber who started climbing at Vertex Climbing Center and quickly fell in love with the sport. Joining Team Vertex right away, he has progressed from a scrawny kid with no technique to a sponsored athlete aspiring to travel the world. In his relatively brief climbing career, Colton has traveled to Switzerland and all around the western United States.

Colton will show us highlights of his journeys over the last four years along the Sonoma Coast, Bishop, Joe’s Valley, Switzerland and more. Colton will tell us of his upbringing and his outdoor lifestyle influences. He tracks the progression from first time climber to athlete and all the hardships and setbacks he has faced along the way as well as the wonderful support the local Sonoma County climbing community has played in his life. Colton is a sponsored athlete for Five Ten, Asana Climbing and Giddy Organics.

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Nicholas Giblin – Climbing in the Bugaboos

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa

Time & Date: Tuesday, December 2, 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.

Nicholas Giblin is a certified climbing guide and rope access technician from Santa Rosa. He has been climbing for 12 years and has worked at various climbing gyms, managed rope course programs, worked as a Matterhorn climber at Disneyland, and currently as a SPRAT III rope access technician for Ropeworks. He is a member of the Swiss Alpine Club, American Alpine Club, Korea on the Rocks Foreigner Climbing Club, Industrial Rope Access Trade Association, Society for Professional Rope Access Technicians, Ropeworks Rope Access Team Member, Disneyland Matterhorn Climber and Guide for Outback Adventures.

While on a road trip to Colorado a few years back, Nicholas met Kaare Iverson, a photographer, who asked Nicholas to climb wearing shirts from his client so he could take photos. Three years later Nicholas found out Kaare had moved to San Rafael, CA where they reconnected and hatched a plan to climb in the Bugaboos. Their ten day climbing trip consisted of amazing weather, a beautiful campsite, meeting some amazing alpine athletes and climbing some of the classic routes in the Bugs.

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Peter Haan – Art and Climbing

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa

Time & Date: Tuesday, November 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.

Hawaiian-born, Berkeley-raised Peter Haan began climbing in summer of 1963, not quite 15 years of age. The golden age of Yosemite was in mid-swing and yet Haan was still a teenager. Consistently involved as the years have gone by and several distinct eras come and gone, his first solo ascent of the Salathe Wall, first free ascent of the Left Side of the Hourglass, the first un-roped ascent of Crack of Despair and other free climbs in the early Seventies, still stand tall in our history.

Now forty years after these climbs, Haan still remains involved on a variety of levels, writing for Alpinist Magazine, Rock & Ice, The American Alpine Journal, and is deeply committed to an unusual type of sometimes narrative Photoshop imagery related to his understanding of climbing today. As these years went by he graduated from UC Santa Cruz in philosophy and also has maintained a career in architectural woodwork fabrication and general construction, based in Santa Cruz while serving on committees and boards of several associations. His other sports have been skiing, surfing, dressage and cross-country jumping.

Peter will present his art and some of the climbing highlights of the last half-century of climbing. Haan theorizes that much of the compulsion to climb at the extreme level, risking everything including one’s life is a quest for myth, meaning and yearning for a hero’s journey in the terms of Joseph Campbell.

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Steve Curtis: Bolivian Climbing – Fact or Fiction

Location: Round Table Pizza, 2065 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa

Time & Date: Tuesday, October 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.

Steve Curtis was born and raised in Petaluma, California and after a long time abroad, including 6 years in Germany, he has returned to the area and has not let up on his life long passion for climbing. Curtis is a retired air force prosthodontist with 27 years of service, board certified in 1994 and elected to the American Board of Prosthodontists in 2007. Steve’s notable climbs include the Nose in 16 hours, the Half Dome Regular route in 7 hours, plus long hard speed rope solos in Europe. Steve is a true climbing hardman who’s accomplishments continue to stay under the radar. That is until we get him to do a slideshow for us.

Steve recently travelled to Bolivia to sample the variety of climbing that this intriguing country has to offer. Steve will share his experiences with sport, traditional and alpine first ascents in Bolivia. Plus fun facts about the Bolivian Navy, the Red Poncho People, and attempting to give the Bolivian Minister of Education 40 million dollars.

photo credit: Chris Clarke

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