Congrats to 2010's New Leaders

Please join me in celebrating the accomplishments of the members who have earned leader status in 2010. In addition to the names of our new leaders, I am providing a description of what each level of certification encompasses.

Level O-1

This is a popular leader rating for 1-day trips that are on-trail. It's easy to earn this rating, and most of our leaders start with this level. Leading a trip to one of your favorite places is a great way to contribute to the Club's mission.

The 40 new O-1 leaders for 2010 are as follows: Mary Aratounian, Barry Baker, Gina di Bari Carlos, Paul Carlos, George Christiansen, Chris Cobb, Dagny Collier, Mary Conte, Allison Allport Counseller, Tammy Cross, Dave Evans, Kathy Faulds, Flavia Faustini, Felix Flores, Jeff Fryer, Reaven Gately, Scott Graham, Kevin Gray, Larry Guzin, David Haake, Bryan Harrison, Michael Kanne, Annette Kargodorian, Eli Kashman, Karim Khoshab, Noemi Knights, Kenadi Le, Nancy Le, Lynn Lively, Ted Mattock, Denise Mickelsen, Lourdes Leticia Puyol, Linda Robb, Wende Sherman, Jason Stone, Zoltan Stroll, Valerie Thomas, Homer Tom, Thanh Ha Tran, and David Urciuoli.

Level O-2

Trips at the O-2 level can be multiday trips on trail. Leaders at the O-1 level can easily advance to the O-2 level by leading a provisional overnight backpack and submitting the regular evaluation forms to Leadership Training Committee (LTC).

2010 brought us ten new O-2 level leaders: May Adachi, Scott Closson, Tammy Cross, Daryn Dodge, James Huang, Peter Ireland, Sanam Lamborn, Cathie Miller, Lisa Miyake, and Bill Stevens.

Level I

A little more adventure is encountered on I-Level trips, which can be multi-day and involve off-trail, cross-country travel.

The following 14 Club members attained Level I leadership status in 2010: Melody Anderson, Nicole Bunni, Linda Campbell, Sylvie Côté, Daryn Dodge, Eva Eilenberg, Joe Harvey, David Kuhn, Ted Lenzie, Gary Maxwell, Cheryl McMurray, Joan Rosenburg, Dave Scobie, and Monica Suua.

Level M

The M-Level trips involve a little more serious adventure as more difficult terrain is crossed and ropes and ice axes might be used. Paul Garry, Matthew Hengst, Jack John Kieffer earned Level M leader status for 2010.

While the M Level includes trips with difficult routes on rock and/ or snow, a leader may earn terrainspecific M-Rock or M-Snow rating.

Regge Bulman and Matthew Hengst earned the M-Rock leader status.

The E-Level Trips are the most challenging type of outing. They are often multi-day trips traveling terrain that requires the use of ropes, ice axe, and other technical skills. Although we didn't see any new leaders at this level this year, we know that there are a few leaders out there that are thinking about advancing to this level.

Groups, Sections and Committees

All of these leaders received guidance and encouragement from fellow leaders in several Angeles Chapter entities including the 20's and 30's Singles Section, Bicycle Touring Committee, the Desert Peaks Section, the Gay and Lesbian Sierrans Section, the Griffith Park Section, the Hundred Peaks Section, the Inner City Outings Committee, the Long Beach Group, Mule Pack Section, the Orange County Inner City Outings Committee, the Orange County Sierra Singles Section, the Palos Verdes-South Bay Group, the Santa Ana Mountains Task Force, San Fernando Valley Group, the Orange County Sierra Sage Group, the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force, Ski Mountaineers Section, the Sierra Peaks Section, Verdugo Hills Group, the Wilderness Adventures Section, West Los Angeles Group, and the Wilderness Training Committee.

Congratulations to all of our new leaders. Be safe on your journey to explore, enjoy, and protect our wild and natural lands. And thanks for your volunteer efforts. For more information about Outings Leaders in the Angeles Chapter please see the LTC website.