![Nolan Smythe photos from the GoFundMe webpage. [Photos] Savannah Cummins](https://alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/nolan-smythe-930x620.jpeg)
Nolan Smythe of Moab, Utah, was killed on March 6 while climbing Logical Progression (VI 5.13, 2,800′) on El Gigante in Mexico’s Basaseachic Falls National Park. He was standing on a ledge that collapsed and cut his rope. His body was recovered March 10.
![Geof Childs is receiving the H. Adams Carter Literary Award at the American Alpine Club's annual benefit dinner on March 14. The in-person gathering was canceled because of concerns about the Coronavirus pandemic, and the event will be livestreamed online instead. [Photo] Geof Childs collection](https://alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/geof-childs-aac-award.jpg)
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic–which recently reached Colorado–has prompted the American Alpine Club (to make changes to it’s annual benefit dinner (ABD), which is the club’s biggest fundraiser of the year. This Saturday, March 14, instead of eating steak and prawns while rubbing elbows with climbing legends, guests are now invited to attend the event online as a “Virtual ABD,” starting at 5 p.m. Mountain Time. The livestream will also be open to the public.
![Matt Cornell climbing Nutcracker (WI5+ M9, 5 pitches)--with a rope and partner--in Montana's Hyalite Canyon. [Photo] Nathan Norby](https://alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/matt-cornell-nutcracker-1-930x620.jpg)
On February 15, Bozeman climber Matt Cornell, 25, free soloed Nutcracker (M9 WI5+, 5 pitches), in Montana’s Hyalite Canyon. Cornell’s solo of Nutcracker was a logical next step after years of soloing in Hyalite, where he began with the classic ice pillars for many seasons before moving on to harder mixed climbs such as Black Magic (5.9 WI5, 140′) and Come and Get it (M7, 165′). He rehearsed Nutcracker many times and cleaned loose rock before his solo, but he did not use tick marks or make any other enhancements to the route. He doesn’t own a car, so he was “riding the bike and hitching rides most days to get up to the canyon,” he said.
The application period for the Climbing Grief Grant through American Alpine Club and the Climbing Grief Fund is now open. The grant “offers financial support for individuals directly impacted by grief, loss, and/or trauma related to climbing, ski mountaineering or alpinism.” Ten applications were received within the first 24 hours. Only 15 grants are budgeted for 2020.
![James Edward Mills stands in front of his exhibit featuring African American mountaineer Charles Madison Crenchaw at the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum, in Golden, Colorado. [Photo] Courtesy of James Edward Mills](https://alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/mills-charles-crenchaw-exhibit-930x620.jpeg)
“Something Yet Higher,” an exhibition featuring African American mountaineer Charles Madison Crenchaw, opened at the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum on February 6. Crenchaw was the first Black man to summit Denali in 1964, an accomplishment that remains relatively obscure despite its historic significance. James Edward Mills curated the exhibit.
![Climbing in Bears Ears National Monument, Ute (Nuu-agha-tuvu-pu) and Pueblo Territories. [Photo] courtesy of Ben Crawford/Access Fund](https://alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/bears-ears-cat-wall-930x620.jpg)
This year–2020–is anticipated to be the year for the long-awaited court ruling as to whether President Donald Trump’s reduction of Bears Ears National Monument in December 2017 was legal. There appears to be some hope for the people in favor of reinstating the former boundaries of the 1.35 million acre monument. But as the legal battle plays out, the Trump Administration has ordered the Bureau of Land Management to push ahead with a management plan for the greatly reduced monument, which critics say is “highly flawed.”
![The famous Blue Bear outside the Colorado Convention Center, pictured on the first official day of the Winter Outdoor Retailer + Snow Show, Wednesday, January 29, 2020. [Photo] Derek Franz](https://alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/winter-outdoor-retailer-preview-1-930x620.jpg)
As Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz prepares to attend Denver’s third Winter Outdoor Retailer + Snow Show, he reflects on the rise of conversations about politics and the environment at the biannual trade convention. A climate rally is planned for Friday afternoon at the conclusion of the show, and a recent update was also announced for the lawsuit defending the original designation of Bears Ears National Monument.
![Kyle Dempster in his elements. [Photo] Kyle Dempster collection](https://alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/kyle-dempster-solo-award-img1874-930x620.jpg)
Two grant application periods opened this week–the Kyle Dempster Solo Award and the American Alpine Club Live Your Dream Grant. The AAC application period is closing earlier this year, on February 29. KD Solo Award applications are due March 15.
We are sad to report that a series of avalanches has devastated villages in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir. Steve Swenson, a climber and author who is very familiar with the area, has provided Alpinist with some description about the hazards villagers face in these mountains.
![Wayne Merry while engaged in Alaskan glacier mapping for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1958. [Photo] Dick Long (Wayne Merry collection)](https://alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wayne-merry-1-800x620.jpg)
Steve Grossman chronicles the adventurous life of Wayne Merry, who passed away at home in Atlin, British Columbia, early on October 30, 2019, after suffering from prostate cancer. He was 88. Merry completed the first ascent of the Nose on El Capitan with Warren Harding and George Whitmore in 1958. He went on to oversee the foundation of Yosemite Search and Rescue and the Yosemite Mountain Shop, and eventually settled in Canada where he continued his work as an educator and steward for wild places.
The American Alpine Club Annual Benefit Dinner weekend will be in Denver on Friday and Saturday, March 13-14. Tickets are now available on the AAC website. It promises to be particularly special because it will be Phil Powers’ last Benefit Dinner as club CEO. Kris McDivitt Tompkins, former CEO of Patagonia and current president of Tompkins Conservation, will deliver the keynote address.
![Brad Gobright climbing Lurking Fear (VI 5.7 C2, 2,000') on El Capitan.[Photo] Cheyne Lempe](https://alpinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/brad-gobright-1-930x620.jpg)
Brad Gobright died in a rappelling accident in El Potrero Chico, Mexico on November 27. The 31-year-old Californian was a highly accomplished free-soloist and big wall climber, former Nose speed-record holder with Jim Reynolds. He was loved and respected by many people around the world and was known to have a goofy sense of humor.
