Annual Awards Will Be Announced and Photographer Max Milligan Will Speak at the Annual Meeting

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We’re pleased to announce that the featured speaker for the Annual Meeting on Wednesday, November 30 will be author and fine art photographer Max Milligan.
“Milligan is renowned for his painterly eye and the fact that he uses no filters, flash and only minimal digital correction in his work. With eight books published and two in production, his titles have appeared in The Times Top Ten Travel Books of the Year and Condé Nast Traveler Book of the Month.
He began his career working as a wildlife cameraman for the BBC and National Geographic Video in the Amazon jungle before becoming a documentary editor at the BBC and Channel 4 in London.
His artworks hang in private and corporate collections worldwide, including the prestigious Deutsche Bank collection in London. Previous exhibitions include Kensington Palace, City Hall London and The European Parliament.
Max’s words and pictures have appeared in newspapers such as The Times, Daily Telegraph, FT, Guardian, Independent and magazines including Harper’s Bazaar, Condé Nast Traveler, FT How to spend it, New Scientist, Saturday Telegraph Magazine and Porter.
Milligan has also taken stills on the sets of movies such as James Bond, Harry Potter and Bridget Jones and numerous others on behalf of the Corporation of London.
He has lectured to MENSA at Cambridge University and often gives illustrated talks at The Royal Geographical Society as well as giving photography seminars, workshops and courses in institutions all the way from Peru to the University of Brighton.”
In addition, Esther Devito, AMC’s regional director of development in the greater New York area, will speak during the Annual Meeting, which will be held virtually. Nominees for the Executive Committee will be presented and voted upon and chapter awards for the Appie of the Year, Inspiration, Ambassador, and Unsung Hero will be announced during the event. ​​

October 2022 Issue of Paddle Splashes

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To scroll through the October 2022 issue of Paddle Splashes, use the arrow buttons at the bottom left of the screen.

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Recap of the AMC 20s & 30s Harriman Takeover in July

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By Ryan Tang, co-chair of the Young Members

The AMC NY-NoJ Young Members returned for another fun-filled action-packed weekend at the beautiful Corman Harriman Outdoor Center in Haverstraw, NY! Over 115 participants from all over the northeast and various AMC chapters attended the event from July 22 to 24.

Ryan Tang

Ryan Tang

Attendees were able to practice morning yoga on the beach, go on a variety of hikes in the area, top rope climb at the Powerlinez, find out how to fish in Breakneck Pond, land earn more about and advance their skills in paddling and canoeing, to name a few activities!

Sarabeth Brockley

Ryan Tang

It was certainly a hot and sunny weekend and most attendees opted to dive into the lake and enjoy the cool water following hikes and other daytime events! At the Stone Lodge social, around the dinner table, around the nightly campfires, folks enjoyed warm and lively conversations. They shared stories, laughed together, gave advice, and most importantly, made new friends and lasting memories.

Ryan Tang

Keep your eyes peeled for the next Young Members event!

Paddle Splashes July 2022 Issue

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To scroll through the latest issue of Paddle Splashes from the Canoe and Kayak Committee, hover over the bottom left corner and use the arrows. To download the issue, visit here.

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Rumney Together Climbing Festival Draws More than 100 Participants

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By RJ Lau, Co-Chair of the Climbing Committee

Over the weekend of June 17-19, Manda and I hosted the Rumney Together Festival. This was a joint effort organized by the New Hampshire and New York/North Jersey chapters. We also had AMC volunteers from CT, BOS, WMa, RI and a staffer who came up from PA! In addition to AMC volunteers, we had pro athletes Nina Williams and Sam Elias, support from the Ladies Climbing Coalition, ParaCliffHangers, Climb United, Rumney Climbers Association, Brianna Blanchard and Mike Morin of the Access Fund, and of course our main sponsor Black Diamond.

We offered around 30 different clinics throughout the weekend along with many other events. We celebrated Gay Pride Month, paid respects to the land we all spent the weekend enjoying with a Land Acknowledgement from Elder Dan and Chief Paul. Hosted a Juneteenth Observance breakfast and speech by our own Colin Aina. There were bonfires, raffles, community conversation and presentations, acro yoga, food, fun, two movie screenings, JEDI Training and Reel Rock 16 and so much more! The weather was actually great for a weekend of climbing, albeit a bit chilly at night. Despite some rain, everyone managed to keep climbing all weekend long!

Photo by Camille Stubb

Our Mission

Our mission was to create an inclusive climbing community by offering a wide variety of clinics, including affinity spaces. We chose to offer this as a free event (other than the cost of camping), and to cap the number of participants at 80 in order to generate conversation and community, but due to high demand we allowed a few more folks in and ultimately hosted around 100+ participants!

Photo by Yan Cheng

Overall, we just wanted to provide traditionally underrepresented climbers a fun and welcoming environment that wasn’t too commercialized or intimidating. With the amazing help of our own NY/NJ volunteers Anthony Leong, Sarabeth Brockley, Yan Cheng, Jon Kwon, Sheryl Choo, and Cara Dorney (NH & NY/NJ), we definitely made that happen! On the next page are a few quotes from some participants about what they loved about the weekend …

Photo by FB

What We Loved

“This is a weekend I will remember forever. From the walking tour on Friday with Ladd, to the open climbs with Cait + Sam and Sam + Adam, to ACROYOGA, pizza, fireside chats, and reel rock, I loved all of it. THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS! Huge props to you for putting this on, and for such a low price too.”

“Y’all did a phenomenal job. PHENOMENAL! And with incredible spirit. Everyone was so helpful, so generous, and y’all clearly have a lot of love and passion for building community in climbing. That shined through all weekend.”

Photo by FB

“Thanks for a really lovely weekend! I also want
to stress again that the smaller size of the festival worked really, really well to maintain that feeling of community and building connections with others there.”

“I had an awesome time and thought it ran pretty smoothly for how many people were there. Great event, I would definitely come back again. Thank you for organizing it and keeping the cost low (that is huge!), providing some food, fun, and a safe space!!”

“Thank you for organizing a fantastic weekend of climbing! My partner and I are thrilled to get more involved with AMC and our local climbing community.”

Photo by FB

“Loved the variety of the clinics, the welcoming and inclusive environment even for less experienced climbers, the location, the land-acknowledgement ceremony, and all the speakers!”

“The vibe! Everyone was so kind and supportive. It was the best weekend! My leaders on Saturday for Climb United and Casual Climb with Sam and Adam on Sunday were amazing. Thank you for putting this together, it was a blast!!”

“Pretty much everything!! What a terrific event. The limited size of the festival was foundational to the experience: it helped keep things manageable, the walls didn’t feel too crowded, the clinic sizes were ideal, and it felt like I really got to know and connect with lots of people – other attendees, clinic leaders, and the organizing crew.”

Photo by Yan Cheng

“Getting to climb with a great group of people, all very supportive, and the leaders I had were incredibly knowledgeable and helpful.”

“Accessibility, quality people/community, variety of clinics. RT did a really great job meeting people where they are in their climbing journey and providing an inclusive, supportive space.”