“….The exhibit will highlight Fred Beckey's cartographical skills and sketches, a talent often overshadowed by his climbing reputation.”
In 1942, two teenage brothers left Seattle to climb a mountain so remote and unknown that few but the most serious climbers in North America had heard of it, let alone set eyes on its challenging faces. Situated in the Pacific Coast Range of upper British Columbia, the knife edged Mount Waddington had repelled much more sophisticated and well financed climbing expeditions, and had only allowed one party to touch its peak - Fritz Wiessner and Bill House in 1936 - before these two young men would have their turn at the summit.
This presentation will discuss Fred and Helmy Beckey’s backgrounds and preparation for the climb, the planning, the approach, the climb itself, the descent and the aftermath of the Beckey Expedition.
It will feature the “Waddington Journal” from the expedition, writings by Fred Beckey that recall the climb, and readings by Megan Bond (Fred Beckey’s biographer) from Fred’s unpublished manuscript which details the challenges encountered.
Part of The Fred Beckey Lecture Series
Local Leavenworth climbers will read selections from Fred Beckey’s writings about his First Ascents and New Routes in the Leavenworth area.
Megan Bond will read excerpts from her biography of Fred Beckey, The Climber’s Guide to Fred Beckey, due out 2025.
Including a full round of trivia questions focused on Fred Beckey and his life of climbing.
FREE ADMISSION & FREE TO PLAY.
Famed Mountaineer Fred Beckey first traveled to the Himalaya in 1955 as a member of the International Himalayan Expedition.
Their objective: To make the first ascent of Lhotse, a part of the Everest massif. At 27,940 feet, this is the fourth highest mountain in the world.
Over the next nearly-sixty years Fred made multiple trips back to the Himalaya.
His interests were in finding unclimbed peaks, establishing new routes on previously climbed peaks, trekking untrodden, remote mountain valleys, and the study and exploration of sub-ranges of various Asian Mountains and the Himals.
This short evening lecture will focus on the goals of the Lhotse Expedition, and analyse controversies that arose with this climb, and resultant outcomes.
Time permitting, the detail and objectives of subsequent trips will also be discussed, and include the ambitious plans of what had been Fred Beckey's last Himalayan objective: to travel in 2018 to a remote valley in the Garhwal of Northern India.
Fred Beckey died at age ninety-four on October 30, 2017, without making the trip. He had lived a life that centered on mountains, climbing, scholarship, research and creating a legacy that will endure for generations to come.
The speaker, Megan E. Bond, is also Fred Beckey's biographer and will read excerpts from her writings, which will be published by Mountaineers Books. Over the course of a decade, she and Fred made multiple exploratory trips together to Nepal, India, China and Tibet.
