Puma

Re: the Beckey Family Hi JasonG, In 1966, prior to his move to Munich, Helmy married a young woman who had come from Austria to care for his and Fred's mother. That marriage ended in divorce about seven years later. In interviews with his former wife, she has positive memories and affirmative things to say about Helmy, Fred, and their mother. They had no children; neither Fred nor Helmy had any offspring. They (Helmy, Fred and their mother , whose name was Marta Maria) remained a tight-knit family over their lifetimes. Helmy spent the last dozen years or so in the company of a woman (a former opera singer) who died shortly after he did. Regards, - Megan Bond

I'm often asked "what happened to Helmy?" or about the whereabouts of Helmy, Fred Beckey's brother. I was able to spend time with Helmy on two lengthy visits to Munich: the first in 2014 and then in 2018. This is a link to his obituary, on the Mountaineers website: https://www.mountaineers.org/blog/remembering-helmy-beckey . . . . . . . . . . . *Note: The climb of Index's North Peak was originally made by Lionel Chute & "company" in the late 1920s - exact year and partner's names unknown. It was later climbed by Otto Trott and Eric Larson in 1941. It's likely that Trott & Larson actually made the first "complete" summit, but that the specifics were not entirely documented, as could have Chute. It was proposed in later years by Harry Majors that Fred & Helmy made the first "complete" ascent of the North Peak, as the write-up by Fred in the 1946 AAJ made mention of continuing to the true summit; Chute's homemade-metal match summit register was found at the "false" summit. Fred never made the FA claim himself.

Thank you for your interest. Please send me a personal message for more information.

Thank you for your interest. Please send me a personal message for more information.

SOLD

LAST CALL for FRED BECKEY'S 'SURVIVOR WINTER-ASCENT' BIRTHDAY PARTY - HAPPENING ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2011. I'll be emailing out the specifics of Fred's soiree in the next few days .... if you want 'in', you have until January 9th to contact me: thank you! [ WHERE? Still not telling yet ..... THE IN-SEATTLE BASE-CAMP LOCATION TO BE REVEALED ON YOUR TICKET, AND E-MAILED TO YOU.... ] PLEASE NOTE THE SEVERITY OF THE *SURVIVOR PARTY* CONDITIONS: • IT WILL BE FREEZING COLD (JANUARY, OUTDOORS). • IT WILL BE RAINY & WET ....OR ICEY SNOW. • IT WILL BE DARK AS NIGHT ... STARTS AT 7:00pm THIS PARTY WILL BE AN EPIC: FRED WILL BE 88 YEARS OLD! IT WILL BE OUTSIDE. COME PREPARED FOR FULL-ON WINTER CLIMBING CONDTIONS, BRING YOUR TOOLS, YOUR HEADLAMP, YOUR WARMEST CLOTHES, SOME TEMPORARY SHELTER, YOUR INSTINCT TO STAY ALIVE UNDER THE HARSHEST CONDITIONS AND PACK YOUR HIGHEST PARTY AMBITIONS! NO LUXURIES, NO INDOOR PLUMBING, NO WARMTH PROVIDED. GET USE TO IT OR DON'T COME TO FRED'S PARTY! MORE INFORMATION and the HOW-TO-BUY -TICKET$ WILL BE FORWARDED TO THOSE WHO EMAIL WITH THEIR RSVP TO: mbondpauli (at) hotmail (d0t) com ...... (as before, there will be a minimal $15 cost to help cover expenses and food) NOTE: FRED'S FRIENDS THAT WANT TO ATTEND SHOULD EITHER EMAIL ME AT mbondpauli (at) hotmail (dot) com or "Facebook Friend" me IN ORDER TO GET ONTO THE GUEST LIST = AS THIS WILL KEEP YOU IN THE LOOP. ..... I WILL ABSOLUTELY NEED A HEAD COUNT FOR THE GRUB AND MUST MAINTAIN A GUEST LIST. Thanks and see you on January 14th!

Dear Rob, The idea of doing something like this “potluck style” always crosses my mind – and then I come to my senses. I know climbers: “Potluck” means that two people each a bring a bag of potato chips, five people bring six-packs of beer, someone brings a flask of Jack Daniel’s to pass around, Matt Perkins brings Porksicles, and there’s a box of Twinkies somebody throws in. The rest of the 84 people that show up don’t bring anything at all because, “hey, it’s a potluck …. Everybody else is bringing food.” And people get grumbley when they don’t eat. As I am not Jesus, I cannot feed a multitude of people with five loaves of bread and two fishies, (or in this case, over a hundred on a bag of Lays and a few brews), so this just seems to make more sense. And as I am not Warren Buffet, my pockets are not deep enough to take on all the expense (dang!). As before, the cost will be defrayed by guests essentially helping to underwrite the cost of their own *semi-catered* meal. And no one goes hungry! Success? You betcha! I hope you can make I, Rob …. I haven’t heard from you yet!

Ha Ha! You are so perceptive, Heinrich; I was hoping that SOMEONE would pick-up on that! He certainly has his own special style. Thanks for noticing!

SAVE THE DATE ......! Friday, January 14, 2011 for FRED BECKEY'S 'SURVIVOR WINTER-ASCENT' BIRTHDAY PARTY! [ WHERE? Not telling yet ..... THE IN-SEATTLE BASE-CAMP LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED LATER .... ] PLEASE NOTE THE SEVERITY OF THE *SURVIVOR PARTY* CONDITIONS: • IT WILL BE FREEZING COLD (JANUARY, OUTDOORS). • IT WILL BE RAINY & WET ....OR ICEY SNOW. • IT WILL BE DARK AS NIGHT ... STARTS AT 7:00pm THIS PARTY WILL BE AN EPIC: FRED WILL BE 88 YEARS OLD! IT WILL BE OUTSIDE. COME PREPARED FOR FULL-ON WINTER CLIMBING CONDTIONS, BRING YOUR TOOLS, YOUR HEADLAMP, YOUR WARMEST CLOTHES, SOME TEMPORARY SHELTER, YOUR INSTINCT TO STAY ALIVE UNDER THE HARSHEST CONDITIONS AND PACK YOUR HIGHEST PARTY AMBITIONS! NO LUXURIES, NO INDOOR PLUMBING, NO WARMTH PROVIDED. GET USE TO IT OR DON'T COME TO FRED'S PARTY! MORE INFORMATION and the HOW-TO-BUY -TICKET$ WILL BE FORWARDED TO THOSE WHO EMAIL WITH THEIR RSVP TO: mbondpauli (at) hotmail (d0t) com ...... (as before, there will be a minimal cost to help cover food) NOTE: FRED'S FRIENDS THAT WANT TO ATTEND SHOULD EMAIL ME AT mbondpauli (at) hotmail (dot) com or "Facebook Friend" me IN ORDER TO GET ONTO THE GUEST LIST = AS THIS WILL KEEP YOU IN THE LOOP. ..... I WILL ABSOLUTELY NEED A HEAD COUNT FOR THE GRUB AND MUST MAINTAIN A GUEST LIST. Thanks and see you on January 14th!

Many readers have emailed me direct and asked for more information and images from this trip specifically, and they have been directed to where more phots can be found, plus additional resources. Along this line, there will be a *semi-private* showing of slides from various trips that Fred has taken to the Himalaya's over several decades. These slides will be shown in conjunction with a little bit of birthday cake this coming Friday (January 15th) in Seattle to celebrate his 87th year. If you are interested in viewing these slides at this small soireé, please email me at: mbondpauli (at) hotmail.....for details and for the specific (undisclosed) location, as the headcount is limited. Thanks!

Check your *private* mailbox messages for info I've sent.

Late in coming back at you Musky333 - you or anyone can view more pics via my facebook pages (email me and I'll send the link). I prefer to not go thru the upload mode on this site (as I'm not the speed-queen on using this system) and I have dozens of images. mbondpauli(at)hot......

FOTOS OF THE TRIP

Trip: The Himalayas, India: Himachal Pradesh - Date: 11/28/2009 Trip Report: (THIS IS NOT SO MUCH A "TRIP REPORT" AS IT IS A BIG "THANK YOU" TO SO MANY OF YOU THAT PARTICIPATED IN THE HIMALAYAN PENCIL PROJECT). Here's how it went.... Last month (October 2009) my friend Fred Beckey and I set upon making a reconnaissance of varous peaks in a remote area of the Himalayas in northwest India, in the province of Himachal Pradesh. The getting-there took us from Delhi via a fourteen hour overnight bus ride, to Manali at 1,950meters (6,398 ft), in the Beas River valley. Manali is an important hill station in the mountains near the northern end of the Kullu Valley with a population of approx. 30,000. This town marks the starting point of an ancient trade route to Ladakh and, from there, over the Karakoram Pass on to Yarkand and Khotan in the northern areas of the Tibetan Plateau. We provisioned and hired porters in Manali, then traveled by jeep for about nine hours, up and over the Rotang Pass on the rugged Leh-Manali Hiway. The highway crosses some of the highest mountain passes in the world, including Rohtang La at 3,978 meters (13,051 ft), Owing to the high altitudes some travelers experience mountain sickness (as did one of our porters, surprisingly) - but neither Fred nor I had ill effects, either on the road or on while trekking. Because we were heading into an area that is not considered a “trekking route” and is well off the beaten path, (only a limited number of westerns have visited the upper end of the Miyar Valley - and these are climbers going in after the stupendous rock towers), it seemed that packing in some school supplies would be an appropriate thing to do. There is a school in the village of Upper Chailing, which is at the “end of the road” from which we began our journey on foot. This school serves children of all ages. Upper Chaling is a small Buddhist settlement, where the primary work objective is agricultural, primarily growing potatoes and raising yaks and cattle. Electricity was brought into the area just recently, and also up the valley to the next village, Kanjhar, (NOTE: The Indian Government has been hard at work, attempting to improve the lives of people that live in rural areas. Along the major roads and highways we witnessed the advancement of infrastructure by way of road and bridge building, electrical and, solar-power installations, cell phone towers, water-sourcing and public-toilet projects - all money well spent). The village proper of Kanjhar is home to approximately three families, but has a primary school that serves the younger children of the surrounding area; approximately twenty children attend school here. The village and schools are not served by road - only foot-paths, and at various times of the year are cut-off from the each other due to weather and terrain issues ….. Washed out bridges, too much snow, floods and other problem. Through the generosity of so many friends and acquaintances, - we were able to take hundreds of pencils, pencil sharpeners and dozens of erasers to these schools. These supplies were desperately needed, and beautifully received. Most families in this region are impoverished and live on less than a dollar per day: these simple items were highly prized; just sending children to school is considered a luxury. After spending over a week trekking up the Myar Valley (then reversing course for the trip back), we made our way back to Delhi, then headed off to Darjeeling for yet another reconnaissance. The plan was that we‘d skirt the border between India and Nepal by jeep until we were able to pinpoint by line of sight the peek we were interested in ….. While in Darjeeling, we met with Colonel Neeraj Rana, who is the Principal of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) (www.himalayanmountaineeringinstitute.com). As we had a few supplies left but were short on time, he was quickly enlisted to help out with the delivery of the remaining pencils to even more schools this time heading into Sikkim, off towards Kanchenchunga , via the packs of the students at HMI. I hope you enjoy the pictures of the children, most of which were taken in Upper Chailing. It was a great trip. Thank you to so many of you for your generosity - your thoughtfulness has touched the lives deeply of children who live so far away from the world that we know. ~ Megan PS ...yes, I have many more pictures of the trip, and beta. Please email me if interested in viewing. Gear Notes: Trekking horses are available - which we did not use. Make arrangements well ahead of time if you want to hire them.

Dear Climbing Friend, PLEASE TAKE YOUR PLACE IN HISTORY! FRED BECKEY’S Birthday is coming up …..and in anticipation of this celebration, we are creating a gift for him from the world-wide-climbing community…… We are asking for your written contributions for a "Tribute Book" : a collaborative gift from anyone who has known Fred, climbed with Fred, or experienced mountain-life or trail life with Fred …. Your one-to-three pages of storied experiences with Fred - in your own words - your thoughts, encounters, risks, incidents, transportation failures, food-gaffs, weather dangers, trail perils and reflections will all be bound up for him in a book for his reading …. The writings and reflections of you and other climbers from around the globe that have spent time in his company and have become acquainted with him on any level will be a book that we know he will treasure. We anticipate that some of these memories will be funny, sad, historical, sentimental, anecdotal, factual (fiction even??), etc. But we are looking forward to including all of them and presenting them in a bound book to him, from you, from us. PLEASE EMAIL SUBMISSIONS BY JANUARY 6. 2009 DEADLINE TO mbondpauli@hotmail.com. Be sure to include your FULL NAME and a telephone number. Please also forward this request for stories to all those you feel would want to contribute their experiences to this labor of love. Thank you in advance for the generosity of your memories. Megan Bond and Alex Bertulis Questions? 206.406.5217