Fundraising Rolls On

Fundraising for the new museum continues to bring donors, supporters, and individuals new to the museum together for dinners and slideshows of the design and layout of this amazing project.

Attendees are greeted by beautiful place settings, wine, food, and old friends.

Once everyone has arrived, guests mingle within...the old gymnasium where the museum will be built. Quite the setting for such an event. The contrast of old versus new (that being the new museum) will be delicious.

New Display Case

We've installed a new display case to tease visitors to the AMC of the coming museum. It contains artifacts from our collection including the boots, camera, and ice axe of Bradford Washburn, as well as a display on Mt. Everest. This includes three models of the world's highest peak--one from 1953 in plaster, a more modern laser-cut piece from Rauda Scale Models in Seattle, and a beautiful alabaster carving--as well as text, maps, and photos of the Himalayan giant. Come check it out.

Sherpa New Year

The American Mountaineering Center is already a world-class center for mountaineering and conservation. It is home to the Colorado Mountain Club, the American Alpine Club, and Outward Bound. It serves as a conference center for numerous events each year, including some of the nation's biggest and most influential conservation forums. The auditorium hosts lectures and movies, speakers and concerts. It is already an amazing place in which to work for those fortunate enough to do so, and a great place to learn and contribute.

But the final punctuation mark on the Center will be the museum. And it will serve to bring in many prestigious events and even greater speakers and movies, and more often. Which brings us to the title of this entry.

When deciding on a venue to host their New Year's celebration, the Sherpa community of Colorado decided upon the AMC because of the ammenities it provided, and also because of the natural connection between Sherpa people and the mountain environment. This past Saturday they celebrated the year of the Fire Pig, and we would like to share a few images from the event. It was a beautiful event and the organizations of the AMC were very proud to play host.

(1) Lhoppon Rechungpa, founding monk of the Buddhist Mipham Shedra of Boulder, began the festivities with a blessing for the New Year. (2) Traditional clothing meets modern technology. (3)(4)(5) Dancing lasted through the night, from traditional dances which told the tale of the Sherpa culture, to modern dances, and most everything in between. (6) At the end of the night, everyone was sad to go.

Encapsulation

With the help of volunteers, we have begun the process of encapsulating and sorting through the collection. Because construction will begin shortly, we have had to move all of the artifacts out of their previous location and have sealed the rest of the less precious materials into the old collections space. Sorting continues for our near-100 year old collection of Trail & Timberline magazines. The process will continue in the upcoming weeks so if you'd like to volunteer, please contact Nina Johnson at johnsn@bwamm.org. Come back soon for some demolition photos.