O r eg o n e c t io n Keith Daellenbach along with Kellie...

O r e g o n S e c t i o n . Keith D aellenbach along w ith Kellie Rice were the super-achievers o f the O regon Section on the M adrone Wall Preservation Project. O ne mile south o f the City o f D am ascus along the Clackam as River Bluffs resides an am azing civic treasure. The M adrone Wall is a publicly owned 44-acre Clackamas C ounty site which has been closed to public access since 1997, when the C ounty pursued an ill-conceived rock quarry that would have destroyed these splendid bluffs. Over a quarter million dollars were wasted studying how to blow up the cliffs. In 2000 the C ounty dropped plans to quarry the site with “C ounty forces.” W ith the help of Mazama Club funding and the climbing com m unity, a study by the M adrone Wall Preserva­tion C om m ittee showed the C ounty why it was uneconom ical, even under the m ost favorable circumstances, to reduce these beautiful cliffs to aggregate, thus destroying their unique w ater­shed, natural habitat, and recreational and educational resources. Keith and Kellie have worked diligently on the M adrone Wall Project along w ith o ther m em bers o f the M W PC (M azam as and AAC) to create a clim bing park in the suburbs o f Portland. Kellie is an active Portland climber who also works w ith the Access Fund. Long-time AAC m em ber and exploration geolo­gist Richard Bence hosts the M adrone Wall Web site.

O n a C olum bia River Gorge Service Project, Christy H ansen, myself, and others worked on the rescue litter shelter at B roughton’s Bluff. The O regon Section has had good success w ith the rescue litter station program and will collaborate w ith A1 Schum er and the Cascade Section to create m ore such structures in the N orth Cascades.

In Septem ber C hristy Hansen and I m ade a num ber o f ascents testing concepts for the Space M ountaineering Analogue Project (SMAP). The idea is to learn from each discipline to b ring new ideas to space exploration as well as m ountaineering. A brief abstract o f ou r work may be found in “E arth and Space 2008" in the Proceedings o f the ASCE. M em bers o f the Oregon Section will be testing ascending mechanism s and techniques in space tether climbing.

R o b e r t M c G o w n . Chair