The Adirondack International Mountaineering Festival, known as Mountainfest, is an annual celebration of ice climbing and mountaineering featuring guest athletes, instructional clinics taught by visiting climbers and local guides, demo gear, and a chance to gather with the climbing community for an Adirondack winter weekend.

Mountainfest 2016 will take place January 16-18 in Keene Valley and will include Patagonia athlete Barry Blanchard and DMM pro team member Nick Bullock. Barry and Nick’s slide shows on Saturday and Sunday evenings are expected to be entertaining and also offer a chance to win raffle gear and free giveaways.

In celebration of the event’s 20th anniversary, Geoff Tabin, MD (a.k.a. Wilheim Jörge), co-founder of the Himalayan Cataract Project and a highly-accomplished mountain climber (Tabin was the fourth person in the world to climb the Seven Summits), is returning for a special appearance Friday evening. Tabin will present “From Everest to Curing Blindness,” documenting his efforts to eliminate preventable blindness in third world countries by performing life-changing, low-cost cataract surgery, restoring sight to the previously blind.

Mountainfest offers more clinics than ever this year, including courses on ice climbing, snow and alpine climbing, snowshoe mountaineering, avalanche safety, and wilderness first aid. Many event sponsors will be on hand with their latest gear for participants to climb with on both Saturday and Sunday.

More information about Mountainfest, including how to register can be found at mountaineer.com/mountainfest/