The AAC gives out more than $50,000 in climbing grants every year to ALL types of climbers, and for ALL types of projects - rock, ice, alpine, expedition. Visit www.americanalpineclub.org/grants for more information and to download an application.

2011 Grants

* AAC Lyman Spitzer Cutting Edge Grant - $12k for elite endeavors by small, highly qualified teams. Deadline January 1.
* Copp-Dash Inspire Award - $20k in memory of Jonny Copp and Micah Dash for small teams documenting their trips via multimedia. Deadline March 31.
* AAC Mountain Fellowship - $9k for non-pro applicants under the age of 25 for major endeavors. Two deadlines: January 1 & April 1.
* McNeill-Nott Grant - $5k in memory of Karen McNeill and Sue Nott for non-pro/sponsored climbers for new routes and unclimbed peaks. Deadline January 1.
* AAC Zack Martin Breaking Barriers Grant - Under 2k in memory of Zack Martin and for trips with a humanitarian element. Deadline March 15.
* Nikwax Alpine Bellwether Grant - $3k for expeditions that focus on photography and observation of climate change impacts. Deadline Mrch 1st.
* AAC Research Grants - $9k for expeditions that have an academic research component. Deadline March 1st.

Good luck everyone - every year the grant committee's see an amazing number of high quality, super-cool, inspirational grant applications.