Member Organizations
Below is a summary of the four sponsoring organizations which established and support the Flatirons Climbing Council. These organizations combined have over 200 years of service to climbers, mountaineers, conservationists, and other outdoor enthusiasts. All four organizations are 501(c)3 tax exempt groups.
The AF is a national climbers non-profit conservation and advocacy organization which represents the interests of rock, ice, and mountain climbers in the United States. The AF’s mission is to conserve the climbing environment and to keep climbing areas open. To accomplish this the AF provides funding for conservation and resource impact mitigation projects; produces climber educational materials and programs; underwrites scientific studies relevant to climbing; acquires and manages land and works closely with land managers in the planning and implementation of public land management and policy. The AF works in partnership with federal, state, and local land management agencies at hundreds of climbing sites across the country. Its land acquisition program has protected nearly two thousand acres of open space lands that contain climbing resources valued at 2.5 million dollars. The AF has provided direct grant funding to support and organize volunteer trail building in Boulder Mountain Parks. The AF’s national headquarters is located in Boulder.
The AAC is a national non-profit organization that has represented mountaineers and rock climbers for almost a century. Since its inception in 1902, the AAC has been devoted to: exploration and scientific study of high mountain elevations and polar regions of the world; promotion and dissemination of knowledge about the mountains and mountaineering through its meetings, publications and libraries; conservation and preservation of mountain regions and other climbing areas and representation of the interests and concerns of the American climbing community. Of its more than 6,000 members, nearly 1,000 reside in the Front Range, thus comprising its largest concentration in the country. The Club’s headquarters is located in the American Mountaineering Center in Golden.
The CMC is a nonprofit outdoor Club founded in 1912 specializing in leading trips and teaching courses ranging from the technical climbing disciplines to hiking and winter mountaineering. Included in the Club’s mission is to encourage and teach the preservation of forests, flowers, fauna, and natural scenery and to render readily accessibility to the alpine attractions of this region. The Club actively conducts year round education and conservation activities to proactively address the needs of all Coloradoans. The Boulder Group of the CMC was founded in 1920 and consists of over 2,000 members. The Boulder Group conducts several educational schools including technical climbing classes which occur in the Flatirons. In addition, the Group offers a wide variety of summer and winter trips and sponsors various conservation projects as well as obnoxious weed and wildlife surveys. Boulder Open Space awarded the Boulder Group an award for their involvement with that agency during its first twenty-five years of existence. The state CMC’s headquarters is in the American Mountaineering Center in Golden and the Boulder Group’s Clubroom is located at Table Mesa and Broadway.
ACE is a nonprofit organization comprised of dedicated volunteers who advise the Park as to the opinion of the majority of the local climbing community’s views on issues affecting climbing in Eldorado Canyon State Park. To obtain the most feedback and support from this diverse climbing community, four of the ACE board seats are reserved for representatives of the following climbing organizations: the Access Fund, American Alpine Club, Colorado Mountain Club and the American Mountain Guides Association. The remaining five seats are filled by local climbers. ACE has raised over $100,000 for Eldorado and promotes and supervises thousands of hours of volunteer time working on trails, planting trees and assisting the Park in innumerable other ways. ACE also appoints and administers the Fixed Hardware Review Committee (FHRC). The FHRC consists of experienced local climbers and reviews applications for new routes requiring fixed safety anchors. The FHRC holds public forums and accepts written and e-mail comments from the local climbing community. Taking all forms of input from the climbing community into account, the FHRC then makes recommendations to the Park on proposed new routes.
