From the President

AAA President

Welcome to the Army Alpine Association. The club's raison d'etre is adventure on snow, rock and ice. The Association has a great history of past endeavour and an active, enthusiastic current membership. Among our members are alpinists who have climbed some of toughest routes on the highest and hardest mountains. We have mounted two successful expeditions to Everest, and made significant ascents of many of the other great mountains. The Association has climbed, trekked, ski traversed and sled hauled in many of the world's most remote wild places.

Most importantly, the AAA represents a spirit of adventure, exploration and challenge that is essential for today's Defence Force. Collectively, the association generates and encourages the right qualities to succeed on the mountain and in battle. Alpine adventure training enables members of the ADF to confront fear, accept it and learn how to control it. Teamwork, mental and physical toughness, leadership and operational planning are all enhanced by alpine adventurous training. Managing risk is fundamental to adventurous training. As in battle, there are rarely any genuinely risk free courses of action that can be pursued on a mountainside. Indeed, more often than not, all of the available courses of action are obviously dangerous. Consequently, one of the most important qualities the AAA imbues its membership with is audacity: the ability and the willingness to take calculated risks supported by swift, decisive action.

Practically, the Association operates in three main ways.

First, the AAA represents and advocates for ADF recreational climbers, and provides a forum and identity for Defence members interested in climbing.

Second it offers a program of activities for members to advance their skills in rock and ice climbing, and to provide adventurous training opportunities for ADF units and members. There is a continuum of events, from entry level rock climbing and snow survival trips, to technical alpine courses in New Zealand. The club actively supports new members by providing loans of equipment, advice and financial subsidy.

Third, the AAA mounts major expeditions to the great ranges of the world. These events require dedicated planning teams, expertise and significant resources. Such an expedition is often the goal of a group of members who have progressively built these skills and experience on smaller scale events. The AAA has the experience and collective memory of hundreds of different alpine and rock routes and expeditions from across the globe. The club is a great source of inspiration and knowledge for your next adventure. The Association's equipment store contains the kit needed to put these expeditions into the field, from base camp tents, snow shoes, specialist communications equipment and portable high altitude chambers.

Whatever your interest in the vertical world and your level of skill, the Association provides opportunities to enjoy yourself on snow, rock and ice. I encourage you to join the AAA, team up with some of its members and get into the hills.

From the Patron-in-Chief

General Peter Gration AC, OBE (Retd)

Edited version of preface to the AAA 25 Year Journal The Australian Army's core values of courage, initiative and teamwork are alive and well. Nevertheless it is not easy to create training conditions that simulate the confusion, danger and stresses of combat. Adventurous training aims to do so by stretching people well beyond their comfort zone and confronting them with fear and confusion, and the need to manage risks and work as a team. Of the many forms available, I believe that alpine adventure training, or mountaineering, is the most effective. It takes people to the extremes of their capacity and requires them to make decisions that have real, immediate and sometimes life threatening consequences.

The Army Alpine Association can be proud indeed of the key role it has played in fostering alpine adventurous training in the Australian Defence Force. I founded the AAA in 1975 and have had the great privilege of being Patron since 1979. It has been an enormous pleasure to me to see the Association grow from a small group of climbers amongst the cadets at the RoyalMilitaryCollege to today's Australia-wide organisation with hundreds of members from all three Services and the Defence civilian community.

More important than the increase in numbers has been the world class quality of the Association's achievements. These have progressed from the annual ‘August' epics in the local Australian Alps through annual training in New Zealand to Himalayan trekking and climbing. AAA members have climbed five of the world's 14 peaks above 8000m and the highest mountain on every continent except Antarctica. They played a major part in the 1988 Bicentennial Expedition, when Pat Cullinan was one of three successful summiteers. This expedition set world records by being the first to climb Everest from Nepal without the support of high altitude Sherpas, and having the longest stay by any climber on the South Col of Everest and above. The 1999 Shishapangma expedition recorded the largest number of climbers (17) from the one expedition to reach the summit of an 8000m peak. These are outstanding achievements on any measure and testimony to the levels of professionalism and competence developed by the Association. They are particularly noteworthy in view of the Association's very good safety record.

The Association has indeed had an outstanding first quarter century. That is now behind us and I am delighted to see a new generation of talented younger climbers coming forward and participating in and leading expeditions to the Himalayas and elsewhere. These young men and women are the key to the Association's future and I wish them every continuing success.