Application Deadline For Two AAC Grants Pushed Forward

September 24, 2009 — The application deadline for two of the AAC's major grant programs has been moved two months earlier, to ensure that grant winners can be notified before their expeditions are scheduled to depart in the spring. The new application deadline for the Lyman Spitzer Cutting-Edge Awards and the McNeill-Nott Awards is January 1, 2010 (Winners will be notified by March 1). Click here to learn more about AAC grants and to download applications.

The Lyman Spitzer Cutting-Edge Award was established through the generous contribution of Lyman Spitzer, Jr., a long-time American Alpine Club member and lover of the mountains. This program promotes state-of-the-art, cutting-edge climbing through financial support of small, lightweight climbing teams attempting bold first ascents or difficult repeats of the most challenging routes in the world's great mountain ranges. 

This past spring, Dave Turner completed a solo new route on Baffin Island that was funded in part by a Lyman Spitzer Award. Details of his successful climb of the 4,953-foot arete and the rest of Broad Peak's 5,906 feet can be found here. 

After the untimely death of Karen McNeill and longtime AAC member Sue Nott on Mt. Foraker's Infinite Spur in 2006, the AAC and industry partner Mountain Hardwear established the annual McNeill-Nott Award in their memory. The McNeill-Nott Award seeks to preserve the memory and spirit of these two talented and courageous climbers by giving grants to amateur climbers exploring new routes or unclimbed peaks with small and lightweight teams. 

This past May, Zack Smith and Renan Ozturk completed a trip to Alaska's Ruth Gorge that was funded in part by a McNeill-Nott award. Check out their trip report here. 

For more stories, read the trip reports of other AAC grant winners. 

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