Vitaliy Musiyenko – Dive Into The Unknown

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

Time & Date: Tuesday, December 1, 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.

Vitaliy Musiyenko started climbing in 2010 and became progressively excited to explore established classics and peaks few have heard of. His passion to hike or climb on all sorts of terrain took Vitaliy to places he could not have imagined as a kid. “By now, I consider this passion a huge part of my life and I am excited to share it with those who are looking to see a sample from the road less traveled”.

Vitaliy will present photos and stories from climbing he has done around the world. He will focus on rarely seen parts of the Sierra Nevada range where, in the last few years, he has climbed over 30 new routes. With these experiences under his belt, Vitaliy will share the challenges of climbing new routes deep in the backcountry, as well as the differences in strategy and style.

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Adrian Ballinger – Project Makalu

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

Time & Date: Tuesday, November 3, 2015 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30)

Adrian Ballinger is a IFMGA guide, professional big mountain climber/skier, and owner & founder of Alpenglow Expeditions. Adrian has 12 summits of 8000 meter peaks (6x Everest, 4x Manaslu, 1x Cho Oyu, 1x Lhotse), 4 ski attempts of 8000 meter peaks (2 successful – Manaslu & Cho Oyu), and is the only person to ski from the summit of Manaslu (8th tallest peak in the world). Adrian has attempted to ski Makalu before, in 2012, and although he did not reach the summit due to poor weather conditions, he managed to ski from below the summit at 25,000.

Makalu, the 5th tallest peak in the world, presents a uniquely beautiful and ambitious challenge in a rarely-traveled part of Nepal. Adrian Ballinger, Emily Harrington, Hilaree O’Neill, Jim Morrison, and Kit DesLauriers will aim to test themselves as high altitude climbers while advancing an embattled sport in a post-earthquake Nepal. The team will also be taking on two groundbreaking objectives: (1) Hilaree and Emily will attempt to summit Makalu without the use of supplemental oxygen (2) Adrian, Kit, Hilaree, and Jim will attempt the first ski decent from the summit.

At 8466m (27,776ft), Makalu will be the ultimate challenge in modern mountaineering and high altitude skiing.

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Mount Saint Helena Adopt-A-Crag – October 17

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Dean Fidelman – Yosemite in the Fifties – The Iron Age

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

Time & Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2015 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30)

At the young age of 15 in Southern California, Dean Fidelman began climbing and taking photographs. Dean fell in with a group of young climbers, which included John Long, John Bachar, Yabo and Lynn Hill, the Stone Masters. He began to document this period of climbing in California, the people and the lifestyle. Dean is well known for his Stonemasters books including Yosemite in the Sixties, The Valley Climbers and Stone Nudes.

Companion to the classic Yosemite in the Sixties, Dean’s newest release, Yosemite in the Fifties – The Iron Age, uses the words of the climbers of the time and artfully restored photographs to chronicle the historic first ascents of Yosemite’s “mile-high” granite walls, the legendary personalities who risked their lives to climb them, and how their endeavors initiated the birth of adventure sports.

Yosemite in the Fifties gives the stage almost entirely over to the original source material, the first-person narratives, archive photos (artfully restored), and memorabilia particular to the seminal ascents of the era. These words, images, and design, when cast from critical angles, all reach across generations to resurrect vanished worlds. Yosemite in The Fifties is fashioned not so much as a book but as a wormhole back to an enchanted time in the history of exploration, and a classic era of Americana now lost in time.

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Ed Cooper – Sixty Years Going to the Mountains

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

Time & Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2015 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30)

As a teen with angst, Ed Cooper led a dull and rather aimless existence in New York State. Then at age 16, Ed’s family encouraged him to go out west with his older sister. They went to Yellowstone where he took a picture of a bear on a hillside with his Ansco Panda Box camera. Ed remembers that the highlight of the trip was a guided climb of Mt. Rainier. Ed recalls, “From that point on, the mountains became my passion, my raison d’être”. Some years later, the (Seattle) Mountaineers published a book entitled “Freedom of the Hills” and that is what the mountains represented for him and still do 62 years later.

Ed returned to the mountains again and again, finally moving out to the West Coast to be close to them. Along the way, Ed made a number of first ascents in British Columbia and the Cascade Mountains of Washington. There was even an early climb of Mt. McKinley and a new route on the face of El Capitan in Yosemite. Then one day in his 20’s, Ed realized that he had known over 50 people who had been killed in the mountains in every type of accident you can imagine. He took a critical look at his trajectory and it didn’t bode well for the future. He made a mid-course correction and decided to concentrate on the mountain photography aspect of the mountains. This was, of course, not without risk, but it kept his interest at a very high level and enabled him to make a living at what he loved to do.

Ed has three published books: Soul of the Heights, 50 Years Going to the Mountains; Soul of the Rockies; and Soul of Yosemite. After years of shooting film, Ed entered the digital world in 2005, considerably reducing the weight he carries into the mountains. You can follow Ed on his new Instagram account: @ed_cooper_photography and his three Facebook accounts where he posts new images almost daily. https://www.facebook.com/ed.cooper.photography. Ed’s presentation is a distillation of all of his mountain experiences over 60 years where he will show us his amazing photographs, many of which have been restored. Ed will also have his books and prints for sale at the presentation.

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Jerry Dodrill – Evolution of the Heart

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

Time & Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2015 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30)

As our community grieved the loss of Brad Parker, two of his climbing partners hiked into the Sierra backcountry on a mission to take their fallen friend on the climb of his dreams. Along the journey they discovered the healing power of climbing for a greater purpose. Join us for an enlightening evening as Jerry Dodrill and Rob McKay re-trace their climb of the High Sierra’s Evolution Traverse and highlight the strengthening of a community.

Jerry Dodrill is a photographer, writer and climber living near the Sonoma Coast in Bodega, California. He is a senior contributor to California Climber Magazine and sits of the board of the Rock Ice & Mountain Club. His photographs have been widely published in magazines, books, advertising and feature stories. He leads destination-based photography workshops across the West. View his website at:http://www.jerrydodrill.com

Rob McKay has been climbing for twenty two years with numerous big ascents across the Sierra, Utah desert, and vast ultra-light backpacking experience in Wyoming’s Wind River Range. He and his wife Sarah McKay are co-owners of Vertex Climbing Center in Santa Rosa.

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Alex Sebastian – Nepal: Trekking & Climbing for Mere Mortals

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

Time & Date: Tuesday, July 7, 2015 @ 7:30 PM (Social hours and free beer for members at 6:30)

Alex had been longing to travel to Nepal since his late friend Jim had been there in the 80s and planted the notion of climbing a 6,000 meter peak named Imja Tse. Although he has traveled the world since the age of two and volunteered for the American Himalayan Foundation for the last fifteen years, Asia remained but a dream. By last summer, Alex could no longer resist the calling and decided to retire from his career as a civil engineer and took off for a months-long solo sojourn through Nepal.

His timing would prove spot-on. Dodging October’s lethal blizzard by three days, and returning home before the pair of devastating earthquakes, Alex managed to complete two extensive treks. One in the Annapurna Conservation Area, the second in the Solu-Khumbu separated by a quick detour into India. Alex arranged ahead of time to meet fellow climber Ryan McCarthy at 4,730 meters in the village of Chukhung before continuing to base camp. He did his friend proud having carried his ashes to the summit of 6,189 meter Imja Tse. Alex’s passion for the wilderness and world travel began as a child and he has carried his camera to every continent save Antartica. His love of photography started at the age of twelve on a 2-month trip to East Africa.

Alex is passionate about anything dealing with mountains, mountain craft or mountain culture. If you have dreamed of climbing a Himalayan peak but thought it was out of your reach, please join us to enjoy Alex’s images and stories and leave inspired to plan your own trip to a this amazing mountain paradise. Leave with a packet of useful trip planning information and contacts.

The evening will include a silent auction featuring photographs of Nepal as Alex continues his fund raising for aid to friends who lost their homes in Nepal.

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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)

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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