The Alaskan Alpine club will host a presentation at the UAF Pub on Monday, March 23rd at 6:00 PM on climbing the east face of McGinnis peak in the Hayes Range. Join club members Roman Dial, Ethan Berkeland, and Tristan O’Donoghue as they talk about a legendary route, the Cutthroat Couloir. Discover what has changed both stylistically, as well as more tangibly on the mountain, in the intervening 40 years between Roman and Chuck Comstock first ascent of the route and the January 2026 ascent. There will be plenty of pictures to admire and plenty more memories recounted to share in raucous laughter over. We hope you can join us. The Pub requires attendees to be 21 or older with valid ID.

The Balin Scott Miller Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded by Jeanine Moorman, Balin’s mom. The foundation is committed to preserving the legacy of Balin Miller, who lost his life in a fall from El Capitan in October, 2025.

 “Balin Miller was a passionate climber, alpinist, and adventurer whose impact on the climbing world far exceeded his years. In his short life of just 23 years, Balin is estimated by his brother Dylan to have completed more than 500 individual climbs across rock, ice, and alpine terrain—driven by curiosity, discipline, and a profound love for the mountains and sport. He became widely known in the climbing community for completing three first-ever solo ascents: Reality Bath on White Pyramid, the Slovak Direct on Denali, and The French Connection on Mount Hunter. These unprecedented achievements secured his place among the most accomplished alpinists of his generation. (balinscottmillerfoundation.org)

The Alaska Legislature issued a Certificate of Honor in February, 2206 in recognition of Balin and his achievements.

The Foundation, started by his mother, Jeanine Moorman, will initially offer two grants, “The Orange Tent Guy Grant” and the “To Be Fair Balin Shoe Grant”,  to support providing climbing gear and footwear of children and young adults under the age of 24. The Alaskan Alpine Club recently donated $5,000 to the Foundation in support of these grants. The Club offered this statement about the donation:

“Balin was not only an inspiration to all Alaskan climbers, he was a friend to many of them as well, including all of those of us at the Alaskan Alpine Club. We are proud to support this effort to preserve Balin’s legacy as a once in a generation Alaskan Climber and we are all still deeply saddened by his loss. We hope that by supporting the Balin Scott Miller Foundation we can contribute to future generations enjoying Alaskan wilderness as Balin did. Free, untethered and joyful.”

American climbers August Franzen, Dane Steadman, and Cody Winckler completed the bold first ascent of 6,667 meter (21,873 ft) Yashkuk Sar I in Pakistan’s Karakoram range in September 2024. The team was awarded the prestigious international 2025 Piolet d’Or award for this incredible feat of alpinism.

“The trio climbed the mountain’s north pillar and named it Tiger Lily Buttress (2,000m, AI5+ M6 A0). They descended by the upper west and lower north faces.

During acclimatization, they also climbed a new route on Sax Sar (ca 6,200m). Their route spiraled around the mountain, starting on the south side and following a glacial basin westward to eventually gain the west ridge, where they bivouacked.”
( 20205 American Alpine Journal – “Up, Up and Away: The First Ascent of Yashkuk Sar I | Pakistan, Karakoram, Baturah Muztagh” )

Read Dane Steadman’s account of the climb in the 2025 American Alpine Journal.

August Franzen’s story will be the feature article in the upcoming issue of Alpinist 92 (due to release in November, 2025).

You can read about the team’s Piolet d’Or Award honor and a summary of the climb on Les Piolets d’Or website.

The purpose of the Piolets d’Or awards is to raise awareness about the year’s greatest ascents across the world.  They aim to celebrate the taste for adventure, the bravery and sense of exploration that lie behind the art of climbing in the world’s great mountain ranges. The jury was full of praise for this highly committing ascent and descent, and the young team, who embody the spirit of alpinism, searching journals and earth imagery for far-away objectives that push the boundaries of both technical difficulty and exploration.

Team member August Franzen is an Alaskan Alpine Club member from Valdez. The club has supported August’s dedication to preserve the archives of photographs, journals, and climbing history of Andrew Embick, Brian Teale, John Weiland, Jeff Benowitz and other legendary Alaskan alpinists. August presented a slide program with hundreds of images from these archives at the UAF Pub in early October, 2025.

August Franzen has curated and digitized a collection of photographs from legendary Alaskan adventurer Dr. Andrew Embick. August will be delivering a presentation highlighting Dr. Embick’s climbing adventures on Thursday, October 2, 2025 at the UAF Pub,  The show starts at 7:00 p.m. Attendees must be 21 or older and have a valid ID.

The Alaskan Alpine Club has been supporting efforts to preserve, archive, and share historical photographs and documents from Alaskan climbers. This is the first is a series of planned presentations by the club. This winter, we plan to collaborate with Fairbanks Paddlers to deliver a presentation of Dr. Embick’s whitewater kayaking photos and stories. Many of his Alaskan first descents are documented in his book, Fast and Cold: A Guide to Alaska Whitewater. You can invite friends to the Facebook Event or view the posts on our Instagram @alaskan.alpine