More People than Mountain:

Ila and John:

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Ila eating sardines on summit of Pointe Isabella, 12300 ft, French Alps, 
Chamonix, 1960.  Grand Jorasses (Walker Buttress) in background.

01527003.jpg
Ila climbing up snow before final rock of Pointe Isabella, 1960.
Talefre glacier below; one of the principal sources of the Mer de Glace.

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John on summit of Pointe Isabella, 1960.

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Ila descending Pigeon Peak, Bugaboos, British Columbia, 1961 .

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Ila rock climbing on tower adjacent to Mt. Lemmon highway, above Windy Point,
1962; Ila is wearing heavy  mountaineering boots.

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John, at start of 3rd of the middle towers (Ravens), Mt. Lemmon, ~1977.

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John setting rappel at top of 3rd of the middle towers, Mt. Lemmon, ~1977.

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Ila and John at home, 1990.

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Ila at Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, 2001.

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John on hike in Southern Purcells, British Columbia, 2001.



Hans Kraus:

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Hans Kraus, age 50, at camp below North Face of Liberty Bell, 1956.
The North Cascades Highway was not yet built.  We had hiked 15-20 miles
from the road end to reach camp below the face .  

Hans was the climbing mentor of Jim McCarthy and myself.  When young,
living in Trieste, Hans learned to climb in the Dolomites.  Among his
friends and climbing partners were Emilio Comici and Gino Solda.  He
carried the Dolomite techniques of high-angle face climbing to this
country.  With Fritz Wiessner, Hans opened the Shawangunks for climbing
in the early 1930's.  Over the next 40 years he established many of the
classic Shawangunk routes.  Hans, a physician, was one of the founders
of physical medicine and the father of sports medicine.  He was elected
to the U.S.  Ski Hall of Fame in 1974.  He was Associate Professor at
New York Univ.  Medical College.  His studies on children led to
President Eisenhower's establishing the President's Council on Physical
Fitness and Sports.  He was President Kennedy's back doctor and had as
patients a long list of other celebrities (Arthur Godfrey, Katherine
Hepburn, etc.).  Hans combined several full lives into his allotted one,
contributing to medicine, public service, and climbing.


Fritz Wiessner:

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Fritz Wiessner, age 81, Mt Lemmon, 1981,
climbing on the Rupley Towers, first pitch of R3.

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Fritz Wiessner, age 86, Mt Lemmon, 1986, at a belay point on the Rupley
Towers.

Fritz's love of climbing is obvious in the photographs.  From about
1970 until 1986, after each winter season of skiing with wife Muriel,
he would begin his climbing year with a trip to Tucson.  Fritz was
raised in Dresden.  His early climbing was in the Elbe Sandstone
Towers.  He was among the avant garde of "6th Class" climbing duing the
1920's.  Routes he put up 80 years ago in the Elbe Sandstone are still
considered difficult.  He made classic routes in the Dolomites, on the
Fleischbank, the Furchetta, and the Civetta.  He was a member of German
Himalayan expeditions in the 1920's.  When Fritz came to this country
in 1928, he brought both cutting-edge rock technique and Himalayan
mountaineering experience.  He made notable contributions to American
climbing.  Fritz discovered and opened, with Hans Kraus, the
Shawangunks, made the first ascent of Mt. Waddington with Bill House in
1936, and the first climbing ascent of the Devil's Tower in 1937.  He
was the dominant climber on the 1939 American K2 expedition, on which
he accomplished the famous feat of climbing past the difficulties to
within 800 ft. of the summit, only to turn back in deference to the
religion and fears of his Sherpa partner.  He was for many years the
American Alpine Club representative to international climbing
organizations.  During his first years in America, Fritz founded a
chemical company that specialized in waxes, including a widely-used ski
wax.  He successfully developed his company during the depression of
the 1930's.  Fritz Wiessner was a gracious gentleman with wide-ranging
interests.  He and Hans Kraus were typical of many climbers of the
pre-WWII era, who integrated climbing with leadership in other areas.


Fred Beckey:

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Fred Becky, age 77, at our home, Tucson, 2000.

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Fred Becky, age 56, on the summit of Mt. Forresta, Alaska, 1979.  The
sea is in the background, 10,000 feet below.  A few hours later, one 
could see the lights of Yakutat, just off the picture right.  Fred was
wet and cold, owing to a fall into a crevasse; he was later to be colder, 
during a bivouac necessitated by an avalanche on the descent.

Fred is an elemental force.  For over 60 years he creatively
searched for and made new routes and first ascents - more than any
other American and probably more than any other individual in history.
He has spawned a small industry that writes about him - 1500 hits on
Google.  Fred taught me about alpine climbing when I went to Seattle
for graduate study.  His ability to move rapidly over difficult terrain
was awesome.  He understands weather and mountain conditions better
than anyone I have known.  I was fortunate to climb with Fred
frequently for five years and occasionally for another fifteen.  His
intelligent sensitivity, not often spoken of, is evident in his
writing.  Fred's mixture of tenacity and boldness tempered by caution
and backed by experience, has led to his great success and his
survival.



Jim McCarthy:

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Jim McCarthy and Dave Bernays, summit Devil's Tower, 1954;
note that in those days tennis shoes were worn for climbing.

Jim and I were undergraduates at Princeton during the early 1950's.  We
went often to the Shawangunks, where we met Hans Kraus.  We climbed
together for several summers, making the first ascent of the Middle
Howser Spire in the Bugaboos, two new routes on Devil's Tower, the West
Face of Snowpatch with Hans Kraus, the "diretississima" on High
Exposure with Hans, and Foops, another Shawangunk climb that still
appears occasionally in ads.  Jim was a leader of Shawangunk climbing
for many years.  He has been a major force in the American Alpine Club,
as its President and a long-time member of its board.  Jim practiced
trial law in New York and is now living in Jackson Hole.




More Mountain than People:



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Liberty Bell, North Cascades, 1956.



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Howser Spires, Bugaboos, 1955.

01527002.jpg
Kraus route, Snowpatch, Bugaboos, 1956.



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looking up 75ft inside crevasse, Mt. Bona, 1980.

01316112.jpg
looking down inside crevasse, Mt. Bona, 1980.



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Dolomites, Italy, Tre Cime; N. face Cima Grande and Cima Ovest.

01316124.jpg
Dolomites, Italy, Tre Cime - different aspect.



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Shawangunks from distance.

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Jim McCarthy on High Exposure, Shawangunks, 1957.



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Ila & Ray Salemme,  Mons Icefield, Canada, 1990.
