Powers to Head AAC

Phil Powers, a longtime mountain guide who has climbed everything from K2 to 5.13 sport routes, has been named Executive Director of the American Alpine Club. Powers will take over management of the 103-year-old, 7,000-member club on May 2. Before joining the AAC, Powers was a vice president at Naropa University. “As I said in the job interviews, this feels like coming home,” Powers said. “Conserving mountain environments, where I spent my formative years having wonderful adventures and which I now enjoy with my kids, will be extremely rewarding for me.” Based in Golden, Colorado, the AAC provides rescue insurance and grants for climbing, research and conservation; advocates for climbers with federal and state land managers; maintains a 20,000-volume library of books and DVDs; and publishes the American Alpine Journal and Accidents in North American Mountaineering.