MEET THE AWARDEES
Discover their incredible stories, then join us for the 2025 American Alpine Club Gala to hear more!
The Robert Hicks Bates Award: Brooke Raboutou
"Trieste" (V14) —Red Rock National Conservation Area, NV. Photo by Jess Glassberg/Louder Than Eleven.
FOR OUTSTANDING ACCOMPLISHMENT BY A YOUNG CLIMBER
Brooke Raboutou grew up in Boulder, CO, where she began climbing at age two. At 11, Raboutou sent Welcome to Tijuana (5.14b) in Rodellar, Spain, becoming the youngest person to climb the route. From 2020 to 2022, Raboutou pushed bouldering grades, sending Muscle Car (V14), The Atomator (V13), The Shining (V12/13), The Wheel of Chaos (V13), Doppelgänger Poltergeist (V13), Jade (V14), Euro Trash (V12/8a+), Low Low (V13/8b) Trieste (V14), Heritage (V13), La Proue (V13), Lur (V14), Evil Backwards (V13). Raboutou was the first American to qualify for the Olympics, and during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she finished 5th.
In October 2023, Raboutou sent Box Therapy in Rocky Mountain National Park and promptly downgraded it from V16 to V15. In 2024, Raboutou won silver in the combined bouldering and lead competition at the Paris Olympics, becoming the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in climbing. In April 2025, Raboutou sent Excalibur (5.15c), becoming the first woman to send the grade.
David R. Brower Conservation Award: Outdoor Alliance
Crested Butte. Photo by Holly Mandarich.
FOR LEADERSHIP AND COMMITMENT TO CONSERVATION AND THE PRESERVATION OF MOUNTAIN REGIONS WORLDWIDE
Outdoor Alliance is a nonprofit coalition of national advocacy organizations that includes American Whitewater, American Canoe Association, Access Fund, International Mountain Bicycling Association, Winter Wildlands Alliance, the Mountaineers, the American Alpine Club, the Mazamas, the Colorado Mountain Club, and the Surfrider Foundation. For more than ten years, Outdoor Alliance has united the human-powered outdoor recreation community to achieve lasting conservation victories. Its work has helped to permanently protect 40 million acres of public land, secure $5.1 billion in funding for the outdoors, and convert more than 100,000 outdoor enthusiasts into outdoor advocates. Adam Cramer will be accepting the award on behalf of Outdoor Alliance. He is the founding Executive Director and present CEO of Outdoor Alliance. During his time as CEO, Adam has brought new sensibilities to conservation work that have resulted in hundreds of thousands more acres of protected landscapes, improved management for outdoor recreation, and thousands of outdoor enthusiasts awakened to conservation and advocacy work. He is an avid whitewater kayaker and mountain biker, but is always on the lookout for a good skatepark.
Honorary Membership: Jack Tackle
Chilling ll in the Kishtwar Himalaya in India in 2015. Photo by Renny Jackson.
Honorary Membership is one of the highest awards the AAC offers. The award is given to those individuals who have had a lasting and highly significant impact on the advancement of the climbing craft.
For 52 years, Jack Tackle has focused on alpine climbing, particularly first ascents, in the Himalayas, South America, and Alaska. Jack Tackle is best known for his climbing in Alaska. He has done 35 separate trips, combining both attempts and successes since 1976, and completed 17 significant first ascents in Alaska’s various ranges. Tackle is a past Board member of the AAC (nine years) and served as Treasurer of the AAC from 2009-2012. He has been a member of the AAC since 1978. He presently serves on the Pinnacle and Grand Teton Climber Ranch committees and is the chairman of the AAC Cutting Edge Grant committee. For 30 years, Tackle was an independent sales rep for outdoor brands, including Patagonia, Black Diamond Equipment, and Vasque Footwear. In addition, Tackle guided for Exum Mountain Guides in the Tetons for 40 years, from 1982 to 2022.
The H. Adams Carter Literary Award: Michael Wejchert
Michael Wejchert. Photo by Alexa Siegel.
FOR EXCELLENCE IN CLIMBING LITERATURE
Michael Wejchert began climbing as a scared ten-year-old in a swami belt. Now a scared thirty-nine-year-old, rock and ice climbing remain his overriding passion. He began writing about climbing in high school and hasn't stopped. In 2013, he won the Waterman Fund Essay Contest for a piece called Epigoni, Revisited, about a failed attempt to climb Mount Deborah in the Hayes Range of Alaska. His first book, Hidden Mountains, won a National Outdoor Book Award in 2023. His essays and features have appeared in virtually every North American climbing magazine and major media outlets: Alpinist, Ascent, Rock & Ice, Appalachia, and the New York Times, to name a few. He is a proud contributing editor at the new Summit Journal. He lives just down the road from Cathedral Ledge, New England's finest trad cliff.
The Pinnacle Award: Kelly Cordes
Kelly Cordes at the team's second bivy, Great Trango Tower, 2004. Photo by Josh Wharton.
FOR OUTSTANDING MOUNTAINEERING AND CLIMBING ACHIEVEMENTS
As an undersized kid who wanted to be a cowboy, Kelly Cordes never dreamed that climbing would define his life. But he stumbled upon an obsession that took him to places of unimaginable beauty and infused his world with meaning. He established challenging alpine routes in Alaska, Peru, Patagonia, and Pakistan along the way. Some of his notable ascents include: the first ascent of the Azeem Ridge on Great Trango Tower, Pakistan; first link-up of Tiempos Perdidos and the upper West Face ice routes on Cerro Torre, Patagonia; first ascent of Personal Jesus on Nevado Ulta, Peru; first ascent of The Trailer Park on London Tower, Alaska; first ascent of Deadbeat, Thunder Mountain, Alaska; and the first ascent of Ring of Fire, Thunder Mountain, Alaska. His personal experiences intersected with a larger journey in his award-winning book, The Tower: A Chronicle of Climbing and Controversy on Cerro Torre. Cordes was also a senior editor of the American Alpine Journal for many years. He claims to never tire of mountains and wild places.
The David A. Sowles Memorial Award: Jacques-Olivier Chevallier, Vivien Berlaud, Paulin Clovis
Photo by Graham Zimmerman.
FOR UNSELFISH DEVOTION TO IMPERILED CLIMBERS
McNeill-Nott Award recipient Michaelle Dvorak and her climbing partner, Fay Manners, attempted a first ascent on Chaukhamba III (6,995m) in northern India. Falling rocks sliced their rope, sending their haul bag, with most of their gear, plummeting down the mountain. The two sent out an SOS before Dvorak’s phone died and hunkered down as a storm rolled in. They waited for rescue, but helicopters circled them without seeing them. After two days of waiting, they decided to descend on the third day. They only had one set of crampons, making the impending challenge a high-consequence affair.
Three climbers from the French Group Militaire de Haute Montagne of Chamonix, or the High Mountain Military Group, named Vivien Berlaud, Paulin Clovis, and Jacques-Olivier Chevallier had heard that two climbers were missing and abandoned their attempt on the peak’s east pillar to rescue the two climbers. The High Mountain Military Group is an elite and small unit that includes some of the best mountaineers in the French Armed Forces among its members.
The two climbers safely reached the French advanced base camp with Vivien Berlaud, Paulin Clovis, and Jacques-Olivier Chevallier's help. The Indian Mountaineering Federation (IMF) helicoptered them out the next day.
Vivien Berlaud is a sergeant of the High Mountain Military Group.
Paulin Clovis is a member of the High Mountain Military Group. In 2023, he did the first repeat and winter ascent of Directissima (1200m 7a A2) on Pointe Walker on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses.
Jaques-Oliver Chevallier is a High Mountain Military Group member and a mountain guide. Some of his accomplishments include: the Triple Direct (975m VI 5.9 C2) on El Capitan, Yosemite Valley; Cassin Route (1200m IV 5.9+ TD+/ED1 A1) on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses; Mont Blanc with a client; and Intégrale de Peuterey (4545m VI 5.9 WI4 M5) in the Mont Blanc massif.
Angelo Heilprin Citation: Rick Wilcox
Ty Marshall, Edge of the World 5.13c, The Prow Area, Cathedral Ledge, NH. Photo by Andrew Burr.
FOR EXEMPLARY SERVICE TO THE CLUB
“Rick embodies the spirit of the Angelo Heilprin Citation through his decades of tireless service to the AAC, his instrumental role in establishing and leading critical mountain rescue operations, his entrepreneurial vision in fostering a thriving climbing community, and his dedication to our community and pursuits. It is without reservation that we select Rick Wilcox for the Angelo Heilprin Citation.” - Selection Committee.
Rick Wilcox has exemplified the dedication and service required for the Heilprin Citation for over half a century. He has been an AAC member since 1973 and served as secretary to three AAC presidents, providing invaluable continuity and institutional knowledge. He was also a member of the AAC Board of Directors and a highly active participant in the AAC New England section.
In 1976, while managing EMS in North Conway, NH, he was instrumental in establishing Mountain Rescue Service (MRS). He then served as MRS president for an impressive 41 years, leading essential rescue operations in the extreme environments of the White Mountain National Forest, which was recognized in 1999 when the New Hampshire MRS received the David A. Sowles Award for critical assistance to climbers.
Beyond his direct contributions to the AAC and mountain rescue, Wilcox purchased International Mountain Equipment in 1979, a pillar of the climbing community. Later, he co-owned International Mountain Climbing School with Brad White, which grew into a highly respected brand. In 1993, Rick, alongside Nick Yardley, co-founded the Mount Washington Valley Ice Fest, now the premier ice climbing event in the Northeast. He also had a six-year tenure as a director of the American Mountain Guides Association.
Wilcox’s unwavering dedication to the Club has benefited countless climbers for decades, particularly in the Northeast, where he has been a vital behind-the-scenes nexus.
American Alpine Club award winners will be honored with bespoke, sustainable, custom-made awards by metal artist Lisa Issenberg. Lisa is the owner and founder of the Ridgway, Colorado studio, Kiitellä, named after a Finnish word meaning to "thank, applaud, or praise." Lisa has been providing custom awards for the American Alpine Club since 2013. Kiitellä's process includes a mix of both handcraft and industrial techniques. To learn more, visit kiitella.com
Attend the 2025 American Alpine Club Gala in Denver, CO, on October 18, 2025, to hear more from these awardees.
