Piotr Andrzejczak
Chair

Piotr Andrzejczak picked up climbing in the Washington DC area, discovering the Potomac Mountaineering Club and the American Alpine Club – Washington DC Section. As the seasons change so does the climbing on the east coast. Spring, summer and fall were spent at the local DC crags, Seneca Rocks and New River Gorge. Winters were spent ice climbing in the northeast.

Piotr received the Live Your Dream Grant in 2014 taking a team of 4 to the Alaska Range climbing technical peaks around Denali. Since then he has returned to the Alaska Range multiple times. While on a work assignment to San Diego, CA. Piotr and Jonathan established the San Diego Chapter, unifying Southern California climbing community while sending local SoCal crags, high sierra granite and learning to surf. To Piotr it’s about “mentorship, education, conservation and community.” We are excited Piotr has returned to the DC area and part of the DC Section Leadership as the Social Chair.

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Elliott Becker
Policy and Advocacy Volunteer Chair

Elliott Becker is also a native of D.C., though he started climbing on the limestone walls of the Greenbelt in Austin in 2012. Since then, he has pursued climbing in all forms and disciplines and has climbed all over the U.S. and the world.

A peripatetic climber, his favorite crag is the next one he is exploring. A member of the AAC for a number of years, he believes absolutely in the critical importance of climbing being an open and democratic endeavor. Regardless, his guiding philosophy remains, "I just really like climbing."

Melissa Rojas (she/they)
Community Chair

Melissa Rojas (she/they) is a new climber who began climbing shortly before the pandemic in early 2020. As restrictions have lifted, Melissa has taken every opportunity to climb since then. She credits her love of climbing to the welcoming and supportive people she’s met in the climbing community. 

Melissa believes that fostering and establishing strong culturally diverse and ability diverse groups within the climbing community is key to true accessibility. In 2021, she created ¡Escala DC!, a climbing group that seeks to make climbing linguistically and culturally accessible to Spanish-speakers in the Washington, D.C. area. 

Melissa’s approach to climbing: “Climbing isn’t about getting to the top. Climbing is about pushing past your boundary. The top is wherever you thought you couldn’t go.”

Tim Murphy
Education Chair

Climbing has been a part of Tim Murphy's life for over 30 years, spanning all disciplines in hundreds of free, aid, big wall, and ice routes across the country. Originally from Silver Spring, Maryland, Tim returned to the DC area in 2016 with deep love for wide open spaces and mountain air instilled by decades living and adventuring across the American west in Montana, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. He is the co-founder of East Outdoors, a DC-based climbing school, and spends his free time in-season climbing at Seneca Rocks, the New River Gorge, and other East Coast climbing hubs.

With a BA in wilderness leadership; 20+ years of outdoor industry experience as a facilitator, instructor, and guide; and a MSW, Tim is passionately interested in how outdoor activities can spark personal and community growth. He takes inspiration every day from the mountaineer Willi Unsoeld: "Why not stay out there in the wilderness the rest of your days? My answer to that is, 'Because that's not where men are'. The final test for me and for the legitimacy of the experience is, 'How well does your experience of the sacred in nature enable you to cope more effectively with the problems of mankind when you come back to the city?"'.

Court Zabel


Social Chair

Pronouns: he/him

Court Zabel is a native of the Washington, DC area who discovered his love of the mountains while climbing with family in the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest. Court first connected with the DC area climbing community through the Mountaineering Section of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) , where he found friends and mentors who introduced him to a wide variety of climbing.

Although the local crags like Great Falls will always be home, Court enjoys climbing all over and all year round: Summers are for cragging from the Gunks, to the New, & Seneca in between; winters are for climbing ice in Ouray, CO, the Northeast, and even Arlington, VA; while shoulder seasons are for training (& mixed climbing).

Court believes in climbing as a lifelong pursuit where people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities can challenge themselves both mentally and physically while enjoying the simple joy of movement. He is excited to help build a vibrant, diverse & supportive community of climbers in the DC Section.

Diane Kerns


North Fork Valley Advocate

Diane has been climbing since 1989 and been a member of the AAC since 1996. Diane was the first American woman to cross Greenland’s icecap in 1999 and she and her husband Arthur made the first ascent of the Mohawk in the Schweizerland area of the east coast of Greenland in 2001.

Diane has summited Rainier, Elbrus, Gunnsbjornfeld , Dome and Cone, the three highest peaks in Greenland. She has also made attempts on Denali, Ama Dablam, Baruntse, Illimani, Mt Forel, and Rytterknaegen and climbed in the Alps, the Adamants and the Pickett range. Diane is a co-owner of the Seneca Rocks Climbing School and the Gendarme at Seneca Rocks W.V.

Cynthia Svendsen


Communications Chair

Cynthia has been climbing since 2015, starting out as a gym climber in NJ, before venturing to outdoor top roping. Soon afterwards, she and her husband moved to VA where they continued to pursue their love of climbing. Cynthia has since climbed in multiple locations including Spain, Greece, and throughout the US.

While rock climbing is Cynthia's main passion, she has also gone mountaineering in the Cascades, and has been ice climber for a number of years as well. She aims to see the world through climbing, with more international destinations on the bucket list. 

Cynthia has volunteered with the AAC since 2023 and most recently serving as a mentor for the first all women's New Ice Climber weekend. Having grown up in an urban area of NJ, she didn't have the resources available to her to enjoy the outdoors, and now, she is passionate about sharing the love of this sport with as many folks as she can, and happy to share outdoor spaces with others who might not have ever thought it possible.