The Not-So-Shameless Plug

You’re probably aware that some big changes have been avalanching down the couloir at both the Museum and the Base Camp Museum Store. Nothing like change to freshen things up. And if you’re not aware of the huge leaps made these past few months then time to jump on the yak cart and come in from Outer Mongolia.

Base Camp Museum Store has been carefully chronicling feedback from guests and customers. It’s clear we’ve been offering some great merchandise, but our little space is just that – a little space – and it’s been challenging to display it all effectively. Kinda reminds us of having 85 liters of stuff and only a 40 liter pack. We’ve all been there….

As much as we’d like to hang on to some of this great merchandise, it’s essential to offer what the space can hold and display it attractively. So we’re trimming down the inventory and having a huge sale. A “we’re on FIRE!” sale as it’s been quipped. Books, CMC and AMM logo clothing, great gift items for birthdays and Mother’s Days, global crafts and local crafts to boot, lots of items up to 60% off.

Even better than just offering a sale, it starts this Thursday, March 18th, at 4 PM right before Thirsty 3rd Thursday so you can shop, see the museum, and join in the happy hour beginning at 5:30. Nothing like a ‘brew-and-do’ to make the shopping more fun and we’ll keep it going ‘til the Yeti come home. Not to be outdone, the sale continues Saturday, March 20th, beginning at 10 AM and through the entire Mountainfest celebration at the Mountaineering Center. Shoot, if you happen to wander in on Friday, we’re not going to say “no” to a sale.

And since we’re all conservationists we’ve made it easy on everyone by combining events to save time, cut down on mileage and carbon footprints and save everyone a good chunk of change. We won’t quote the “Shop! Shop! Till you Drop!” parody of the Def Leppard song but hold that thought.

The Goose Poop Two-Step

We’re conservationists at the American Mountaineering Center – All Creatures Great and Small types. If we don’t own pets, we support animal rescue leagues and endangered species protection. We’re also very fond of the flock of Canadian geese that call Parfet Park across the way their home.

Now Canada may have us in Men’s Ice Hockey, but I’ll dare say the little hamlet of Golden, British Columbia has nothing on Golden, Colorado regarding number of Canadian Geese per square foot. They can take away our Gold, but not our geese.

These Branta canadensis waddle and squawk and eat. A lot. They’re docile and occasionally need a crossing guard as they travel from the Park across 10th Street to the front lawn of the AMC. Then they waddle and squawk and eat (a lot) on our grassy slopes. And we know the end result of gooses and ganders that eat. A lot.

Then we, being All Creatures Great and Small types, take the humane road to, uh, cleaning up after them. Our facilities staff dutifully hoses down the entryway then sprays it with a non-toxic liquid that, between rain and snow storms, works to keep these fine feathered friends off the cement and their organic by-product from underfoot.

So now that it’s almost Spring and the goslings will be appearing in the next few weeks, we invite you to stop by and Zen out with our Own Private Gaggle. Come by before Thirsty 3rd Thursday on the 18th or during Mountainfest on Saturday the 20th. Or anytime you’d like to pop in and see the Museum or even renew your CMC membership. But, as the blog title suggests, you might have to dodge a poo or two. It’s worth every two-step.

It's All in Your Head

I’ll bet you didn’t know this, but March 15 – 21 is Brain Awareness Week. It’s a global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. This is the 15th anniversary of the campaign that involves universities, hospitals, schools, research centers, and museum exhibits. That’s where we come in.

I’m reminded of Defending Your Life, the 1991 Albert Brooks film, in which Rip Torn portrays Bob Diamond, the Purgatorial Prosecutor. Touting he’s able to use 48% of his brain, he reminds Brooks that the “little brains” (as we humans are called behind our backs) use only 3%. While that’s a little low by current standards of research, it’s now suggested that humans use 10% of their cranial potential.

There’s obviously a lot we don’t know about the brain and its complexities, particularly when it comes to hypoxia and its long-term effects on the old gray matter. Dr. Robert Roach, Senior Scientist at the Altitude Research Center in Denver, has made this study his life. His list of publications includes an impressive array of subject matter. And that’s why the American Mountaineering Museum is hosting the next sPEAKer series event on this very subject and led by Dr. Roach. Beginning at 7 PM in the Foss Auditorium, Roach will share his studies combining slide presentations, lecture, and discussion.

The Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine met at the Mountaineering Center last weekend. It led to some interesting conversations, one with a physician who, through personal experience, doesn’t doubt the correlation between sustained high altitude hypoxia and reduced brain function. His instruction? “Take good care of your brain.” Wherever you are, whatever you do, that’s sound advice.

Stop by, then, tomorrow night after work to hear Roach’s timely take on the subject. Remember, the Museum will be open and free to attendees after 5:30 PM. It’ll be a great chance to see the current “Thin Air – an exhibit on altitude and oxygen” before it closes in a few weeks.

Now, what was it I was supposed to remember? ;->