As the keynote speaker at the 2008 Climbing Wall Summit, Powers will discuss the state of the organizational environment in climbing today. Colleges and universities, regional clubs, and national organizations are beginning to engage in a comprehensive conversation that bodes to unify the climbing world. With the dramatic increase in climbers over the past two decades, the need for this conversation is more relevant than ever. Through his stories of his own teams' successes and failures, Powers will highlight the challenges and opportunities facing climbing at the organizational level today.

Phil Powers' Biography

Phil Powers joined the American Alpine Club (AAC) as executive director in May of 2005. His previous experience in the non-profit world includes service as vice president for institutional advancement at Naropa University and seventeen years with the National Outdoor Leadership School as chief mountaineering instructor and development/partnerships director. He remains an owner/guide with Jackson Hole Mountain Guides.

Under his leadership, the AAC has reversed a deteriorating membership, created the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum, and adopted a role as a unifying influence for all climbing organizations and climbers in the United States.

Powers is the author of Wilderness Mountaineering-a third edition will come out late in 2008-and Climbing: Expedition Planning. His essay, "The Importance of Pace," was aired on NPR's "This I Believe" in 2006. It is soon to be released in a book compiling the highlights from the series.

Powers has led dozens of expeditions to South America, Alaska and Pakistan's Karakoram Range, including ascents of K2 and Gasherbrum II without supplemental oxygen. He made the first ascent of the Washburn Face on Denali, naming it in recognition of the impact longtime AAC member Bradford Washburn's photos had in the planning and route research of many Alaska climbs. Powers also made the first ascent of Lukpilla Brakk's Western Edge in Pakistan, and the first winter traverse of the Tetons' Cathedral Peaks. He continues to be an active climber and skier.

Powers is the recipient of the American Mountain Foundation's VIIth Grade Award for climbing achievement; the AAC Mountaineering Fellowship Grant; the Mug's Stump Climbing Grant; and the Wilderness Education Association's Paul Petzoldt Award for Excellence in Outdoor Education (2007). He currently serves on the boards of the Galen Rowell Legacy Committee the American Mountain Guides Association.

He lives with his wife and children in Denver, Colorado.

A Climbing Wall Association Event.