Come and hear a rundown of the CCA’s recent activities plus general climbing news and points of interest, followed by our guest speaker presentation.

CCA members and non-members are welcome.

Dinner is available from The Limestone Kitchen at the Ainslie Football Club, providing a great chance to relax and socialise with other CCA members before the meeting starts at 7.30pm. A table in the name of CCA is booked for 6pm.

Guest speaker: Prof. Ken Baldwin – The 2023 Gorak Himal (Nepal) exploratory expedition and its roots in the ANUMC

In May this year, with Tim Macartney-Snape and a group of friends from previous expeditions, we explored the remote valleys and high passes of far NW Nepal in the Gorak Himal. With an eye for the many unclimbed 6-7,000m peaks in that part of the Himalaya, we traversed regions that had not been travelled by other expeditions, passing only small hamlets with summer yak and goat herders over the three weeks.

The presentation will put this expedition in the context of other expeditions that arose out of the ground-breaking 1978 ANU Mountaineering Club Himalayan Expedition to Dunagiri, and discuss rekindling the links between the CCA and the ANUMC.

Ken Baldwin is an Emeritus Professor at ANU whose main focus is on advancing the energy transition, particularly for Australia’s export future in the region. A brief summary of his ANUMC connections are as follows:

• 1974-1977 ANUMC undergraduate member
• 1978 Secretary and member, ANUMC Himalayan Expedition to Dunagiri (7,066m), India
• 1980’s ANUMC committee member and President – upgraded old ANU Sport brick climbing wall to include rock holds and cracks
• 1988 Member, Australian Baruntse Expedition (7,128m), Nepal
• 1990 ANUMC host and international judge for the Oceania Cup – the first climbing competition between Australia and New Zealand
• 1991 Built new ANUMC climbing wall with interchangeable holds and overhanging routes
• 2010 Member, Yangma Expedition, Nepal
• 2023 Member, exploratory expedition to Gorak Himal, Nepal

Ken Baldwin in the Gorak Himal, far NW Nepal