Hall of Mountaineering Excellence Debuts in April

3/15/10 - The American Mountaineering Museum will induct four members of its new Hall of Mountaineering Excellence in April at a celebration of the lives and achievements of American climbers Yvon Chouinard, Robert Craig, Bob Bates, and Dr. Charlie Houston. At the awards gala on April 10 in Golden, Colorado, Chouinard and Craig are expected to accept their awards in person; the family and friends of Bates and Houston, who both have passed on, will accept their awards.

The evening will be filled with stories of each mountaineer’s greatest ascents and expeditions, memories of the inductees no longer with us, as well as an appreciative look at each man’s work beyond the climbing world. In addition to being a pioneering ice and big-wall climber, Chouinard has been one of the most important outdoor equipment and clothing innovators of modern times and a leading voice of environmental activism. Bates, Craig, and Houston are perhaps best known as climbers for their roles in the dramatic K2 expedition of 1953, but each has had profound impacts outside mountaineering: Bates as a beloved educator; Craig as founder and longtime president of the Keystone Center public-policy conference center; and Houston as a doctor and medical researcher.

Tickets for the April 10 event will go on sale February 15 through the American Mountaineering Museum website and at the museum’s Base Camp Adventure Gift Shop in Golden.

The American Mountaineering Museum opened in February 2008. The new Hall of Mountaineering Excellence will be located in a rededicated space in one of the museum’s theater rooms.