| Chicago Mountaineering Club |
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March 2026 NEWSLETTER
Wayne Martin, EDITOR
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| FUTURE MEETING PRESENTATIONS |
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CMC Meetings
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Usually the Chicago Mountaineering Club (CMC) meetings are held on the second Monday of the month, September through May. But in March we have the Annual Dinner (see below) so there will not be a regular meeting.
The next meeting will be held on April 13th at First Ascent Avondale and will feature a presentation on Weekend Expeditions.
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| Annual Dinner |
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Join the Chicago Mountaineering Club for our 2026 Annual Dinner, featuring Polish alpinist Piotr Śliwiński — a world traveler and record-setting climber known for his ambitious expeditions across the Seven Summits, the North and South Poles, and beyond. Piotr will share stories of adventure, endurance, and exploration from some of the most remote corners of the planet. Enjoy an evening of great food, community, raffles, and inspiration as we celebrate another incredible year of climbing and camaraderie with the CMC.
The annual dinner will be held at Allegra Banquet Hall,5035 N River Road Schiller Parkon Saturday March 7th from 5:30pm to 10pm.Tickets and more information are available at the following link. |
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Rock Climbing Weekends - Devils Lake, WI
The proposed dates for Devil's Lake outings for 2026 are as follows:
- April 18-19
- May 9-10
- May 30-31
- June 20-21 (Pride)
- July 11-12
- August 1-2
- August 22-23 (Old Timers New Climbers)
- September 12-13
- October 3-3
- October 24-25 (Work Weekend)
For non-members, the ability to sign-up for outings should be available on our new website that is planned to be online later this month.
Also, there will be othervolunteeroutings for maintenancework as the CMC collaborates with the Wisconsin Climbing Association.
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Other Rock Climbing Outings
We are looking for volunteer leaders to organize outings to the following destinations. If you are willing and interested, please contact Chris Schaecher, CMC Outings Chair.
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Red River Gorge
- Horseshoe Canyon Ranch
- Mississippi Palisades
- Jackson Falls, Ferncliff, Giant City
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Western Outing - Rocky Mountain National Park
The RMNP Western Outing will be on July 18 - 26.Some people may arrive earlier or later than that week. The trip itinerary is in development. If interested contact Jim Considine.
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Western Outing - Mount Whitney
A second Western Outing to Mount Whitney (or an alternative) will be on July 19 - 24.Details for the trip are being worked on. If interested in this, please contact Expedition Chair, Jacek Witkos.
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New Members
Our newest CMC members are as follows, welcome to the Club!
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Name
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Hometown
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Sponsors
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Eric Lentz
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Chicago, IL
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Shari Perry, Dave Hann
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Kyle Johnston
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Arlington Heights, IL
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Li-En Tai, Dave Hann
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Nazizi Ilana
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Chicago, IL
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Joel Perkins, Anna Benson
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| Updates from Patrick (Safety Chair) |
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This summer stay tuned for discounted safety courses courtesy of our partners,the CMC, and the MFC. In addition, at the Devil's Lake there will also be two anchors courses (beginners and advanced), and small-group meetups for learning to trad climb and multipitch climbing led by the Safety Chair. Details on how to signupwill be announced in the coming months.
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| John Speck Memorial Library |
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The CMC John Speck Memorial Library houses one of the nation's largest collections of climbing guides, mountaineering books, and historical materials, including the Club's photo archive, newsletters dating back to 1949, and historical yearbooks and trip reports. Starting Saturday, February 28th, the Library will be open from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on Saturday mornings, coinciding with a CMC Saturday Morning Climbing Meet Up at First Ascent in Arlington Heights (except on Club outing weekends). It is also open the last Sunday of each month from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM, with weekday hours under consideration. CMC members may check out books by creating a patron account on-site, and the catalog can be browsed online athttps://librarycat.org/lib/CMCLibrary. Volunteers are welcome — contact Club Librarian Ron Eberle using the link below.The library is located inside First Ascent Climbing Gym, 701 Rohlwing Road, Arlington Heights, IL 60005.
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| KMAC Guide Services |
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CMC has developed a relationship with KMAC Guide Services based in Estes Park, Colorado. This relationship will provide mountaineering guide services to the CMC membership. Initially, KMAC is offering the following to promote their services:
- 10% reduction on one-day guide services offered by KMAC. The code for the reduction is found at CMC website page on Destination - Colorado Cabin.
- Guide trip services for a three-day multi pitch climbing course or back country ski class for a minimum of three members. Team up with other members or friends and stay at the Gorby Cabin. The cost would be $590 or $400 for a 2-day session. If interested contact Jim Considine using the link below.
- KMAC has generously provided 2-days of guide services for auction at the upcoming annual dinner on March 7th. Attend the annual dinner or watch the newsletter for details on how you can bid for these services.
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| Alpine Mentoring Program |
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Have you heard of the CMC Alpine Mentoring Program - called AMP? It is a program to help develop mountaineering leadership in the club, and normally takes two years to complete. The best part of the program is that CMC, in collaboration with the Mountaineering Foundation of Chicago (MFC), will help to subsidize some of your training costs. The program involves developing leadership and technical skills in winter camping, ice climbing and alpine multi pitch climbing. The program subsidy is available to members who are rope leaders, board members, or members that have contributed to the club in some other highly significant manner.
If you want more information about AMP, please read the description in the CMC Yearbook. Contact Dave Kenealy for additional details.Note that MFC`s individual grant application process was updated last year and now requires a sponsoring organization. Also, the allocated funds as voted in the 2026 CMC budget towards classes/training are now exhausted. Any applications that come in, will have to be presented to the CMC Board for approval before presenting the request to the MFC.
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| CMC Colorado Cabin |
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A great advantage of CMC membership is the ability to use the Gorby Cabin in the Wild Basin of RMNP. The Cabin is only a block walk from the Wild Basin entrance. Information about the Cabin can be found at the link below. Cabin registration is made through the CMC website. Go to the Members Only portal and then to the Member Information tab. There is a charge for using the Cabin, the fee is not included in the Devil’s Lake camping fee. If you have questions about the Cabin contact Nico Orduz.
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Newsletter and Trip Reports
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If you have questions or comments about the newsletter, or want to submit content such as trip reports, or upcoming trips you'd like to plan, send it to me and we'll consider putting it here.
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