Annual Banquet & Silent Auction

114th Mazama Banquet & Silent Auction

Guest Speaker: Alison Gannett

When:  November 11
Where:  Oregon Zoo
Price:  $35 (Tickets go on sale September 24 at the Mazama Mountaineering Center. )
How to buy:  In person at the Mazama Mountaineering Center, on the phone with a credit card, or via mail.

Its time for the annual Banquet & Silent Auction.  This year you will be treated to the increasingly exciting silent auction (there is rumor of a friendly competition between 2 prominent Mazama members to create the best stained glass window….), a delicious carving station and heavy hors d’oeuvres (with dessert), and an inspiring guest speaker.  You don’t want to miss this one!  Tickets go on sale September 24 for Mazama members and friends and will likely sell out like last year.

Alison Gannett is well-renowned for her expedition to retrace the path of turn of the century female mountaineers, her global conservation efforts, and her ski mountaineering expeditions.

Alison plans to retrace the paths of three intrepid female mountaineers who beat incredible odds to summit peaks around the turn of the century:  Annie S. Peck, Fanny Bullock Workman and Dora Keen.  With her all-female expedition team, Alison will not only attempt to summit these peaks in the footsteps of these mountaineers, but will train indigenous and local women along the way about mountain climbing to empower them in their daily lives and hopefully inspire more women to take up mountaineering.

Alison will also speak to her work as a global cooling consultant.  As a World Champion Extreme Skier she has used her skills to highlight the potentially devastating effects of global warming and her solutions to the problems.  Alison is the founding president of two non-profit organizations tackling climate disruption.  She works with Clif Bar’s Save Our Snow project and documents her adventures as part of the Chasing Glaciers project.  Alison was nominated by Outside Magazine to be one of only twenty-three Green-All-Stars of 2007.

Alison logs her exciting adventures in ski mountaineering at http://www.alisongannett.com, but on November 11, join the Mazamas in welcoming Alison to Portland and hear about her adventures in person!  Spend time in Bhutan on an unskied Himalayan peak, travel to Mont Blanc, and the South Couloir of Colorado’s Maroon Peak, plus many, many more.

We expect brisk ticket sales and for the event to sell out, as it did last year, so be sure to purchase your tickets early by:

• calling the Mazamas Mountaineering Center at 503-227-2345 with your credit card in hand
• visiting the Mazamas Mountaineering Center in person at 527 SE 43rd Ave. (at Stark St.)
• mailing a request for tickets, with a check enclosed, made out to “Mazamas”, to 527 SE 43rd Ave., Portland, OR 97215.

The banquet will be held at the beautiful Oregon Zoo Banquet Center directly across from the mountain goat exhibit on Sunday, November 11, 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.  The social hour and silent auction with an enticing array of heavy appetizers comprise the first half of the evening with awards and Alison Gannett featured in the second half. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased at the Mazama office. (Old-Timers: several of our limited number of dining tables will be reserved for you again.)

We promise you a festive evening, a few surprises, great food and drink, and a celebration of friends and mountains.

• Visit the Mazama General Store
• Peruse the Silent Auction while you enjoy socializing with your friends
• No-host bar
• View photos from the Archives and old climbing equipment, showing part of our proud Mazama history

Call for committee members
The Banquet Committee, ably chaired by Monica Lyster, is still in need of a volunteers, particularly those who have experience with auctions.  Here’s your chance to offer your volunteer time and have that feeling of a grand success by November 11!  What a deal!  Please contact Monica at 503-607-1016.

Call for auction items
Consider gift certificates for items or professional services, a skill you can offer, your brother’s vacation home, wine and sailing in your boat, consulting.  Your hairdresser, attorney or handy man will be happy to have the exposure of an item or gift certificate at the Mazama banquet and are happy to give.  It’s easy!  Please call the office with your donation or ideas.

Please use our Auction Donor Form so we can most easily handle your auction donation.