Lowell_Skoog

Okay, now I have a scanner. Here's the pic. This was taken in early March, 1986, during the first winter ascent of Mt Despair. We had climbed the standard route on Triumph the previous day. This was during a fine weather spell following a period of heavy snow followed by heavy rain. I believe Jim Nelson and Kit Lewis climbed the NE buttress of Slesse during this same period.

And here's a picture of the summit tower of East Mox from the Ridge of Gendarmes. (I'm not sure I've figured out how you're supposed to post images.)

Yahoo, I finally bought myself a scanner. It's such an enjoyable time waster that I probably won't get anything useful done for a month. Here is a picture of East Mox from Spickard in 1995.

I climbed both spires in July 1999. My memory is fuzzy, but I don't think the original register is still on the SE peak. Anybody else who's been up the peak remember? Regarding historic registers, Don Goodman told me that he and his wife found a very fragile register dating from September 25, 1900 on the summit of North Star, near Bonanza. He speculated that it might be the oldest Cascade register still on a summit. Another bit of trivia about Don (better watch my tongue since he probably reads this stuff ;-) is that he may be the only person crazy enough to have climbed the SE peak of Twin Spires TWICE. I believe Steve Swenson may have made an attempt on the E face of Twin Spires in the 1970s. I can't remember where I got that impression. Also, "Dave Leen" is probably Doug Leen. I may have some more info about the peak, but I'll need to check my files at home.

Thanks for your note, Wayne. I appreciate your enthusiasm about the climb. If we were all having this conversation in person, there would probably not be any controversy. E-forums can be dangerous when people get excited. Your "detest" comment got me a little excited, and that's unfortunate. I really would like to congratulate you guys on envisioning and pulling off this climb. I made a list of potential ridge traverses in the Cascades a few years ago, and put the southern Pickets on it, but never really thought about it seriously. Reading your reports, and knowing the area, it sounds like about the coolest climbing outing I've heard of in the Cascades. Regarding modesty versus bravado, it is something any enthusiastic climber grapples with. If climbing was divorced from real life, maybe it wouldn't matter. But climbing is not divorced from the rest of life, and style counts in both worlds. I participate in a local paragliding mailing list, and there is venerable tradition in that community of the "gloat" post. It's an art form to make your friends green with envy with a "you shoulda been there" story. But there's a fine line between gloating (okay) and boasting (not okay). In essence, the difference is this: Gloat: It was awesome. Boast: I was awesome. Treading too close to this edge increases one's exposure to a leader fall.

You detest an attitude of reserved ego? I hope Colin's not too offended by that remark. I was about to congratulate you guys for standard-setting climb, but I think I won't bother now.

We are privileged to have a historian of Harry Majors' standing in this forum. (Harry, look for a private message from me.) For those who may not know, Harry Majors conducted the North Cascades History Project sponsored by the University of Washington in the early 1970s. He interviewed many old-timers and compiled a wealth of material that is available in U.W. Special Collections. I've only reviewed a tiny bit of that material, but it's of great quality. A big welcome to you, Harry!

I climbed all three peaks in the winter many years ago. The middle peak is easy. The north peak has so-so rock, as I remember. I think it's worth doing all the peaks once. This latest trip has got me excited about going back with skis next spring. Some very scenic country up there.

This was not a ski trip in the usual sense. The only turns we made were glissading in hiking boots. But I did carry skis. Well actually just one ski. A very special ski. A couple years ago someone who knows of my interest in ski history mentioned that he found an old, sawed-off ski in the Three Fingers lookout. He said he removed the ski and offered me a look at it. I declined, feeling uneasy about anything being removed from the old lookout. Later, in the course of my research, I read Mac Bates' book, "Three Fingers: The Mountain, the Men and a Lookout" (Cloudcap, 1987). Mac once mentioned to me that Harland Eastwood used skis on Three Fingers when he was a lookout in 1936. I hoped I would learn more about this from Mac's book. I certainly did. On page 64, Bates describes an evening spent with Eastwood in the 1980s, which included watching some fifty-year-old movies. "There are scenes of Harland and Bob Craig skiing down from Tin Can Gap carrying 80-pound bales of telephone wire around their necks. He apologizes for his lack of style, fine parallel turns down the 40-degree slope, explaining, 'Every time I turned, the bale shifted sides and threw me off-balance.'" On page 73 Eastwood added, "Catherine [Harland's wife] and I had some short skis and with those things on, boy, you could get over to Tin Can Gap in a hurry." Harland Eastwood was a remarkable man. As an athlete in high school he excelled in track, football and basketball. He got started in mountain rescue during the Delmar Fadden search on Mt Rainier in the winter of 1936. He was an early member of the ski patrol at Snoqualmie Pass. At the 1940 Silver Skis race, he was stationed just under McClure Rock when Sigurd Hall crashed in front of him and was killed. Eastwood was one of the first to reach Hall's body. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he manufactured climbing equipment, including ice axes and alpenstocks, as the Harland Eastwood Company. He accomplished all these things with only one arm, the other having been lost in a hunting accident when he was a teenager. In 1972, Mac Bates and friends climbed to the Three Fingers lookout and found many relics from the 1930s--old magazines, pots and pans, a radio, a fire finder, the old bed, blankets. Bates writes on page 119 of his book, "A quick peek in the attic brought the discovery of a pair of short skis used by the Eastwoods and lengths of thick manila rope." Reading this made my heart skip. Clearly, the ski that my friend had removed from the lookout must have belonged to the Eastwoods. My discomfort about the ski hardened to resolve--the ski needed to go back on the mountain. Fortunately, when I explained this to my friend, he agreed and gave it to me. Hearing that the Tupso Pass road had been repaired (it washed out about a year ago), I decided to go up this Saturday. Ed Hobbick responded to an invitation on CascadeClimbers.com and made a fine hiking companion. Ed had never climbed Three Fingers before and my last visit was 16 years ago. We both marveled at the audacity of the men who blasted the tip off the mountain and completed the lookout in 1932. Once we arrived, I attached a few photocopied pages from Mac Bates' book to the ski, with a note that I hoped would help people appreciate it: The Eastwood Ski This is probably one of the short skis used by Harland Eastwood when he was Three Fingers lookout in 1936 (see the book "Three Fingers," pp. 64 and 119, enclosed). It was removed from the lookout by someone who did not know its story. It has been returned for all visitors to enjoy and contemplate. Please leave it here in its proper home. --Lowell Skoog, July '03 I hope the ski will remain on Three Fingers as long as the lookout remains standing. My note may help for a while, but I really wish more people knew the story, so they could hold the ski in their hands and imagine Harland Eastwood, a one-armed powerhouse, blasting down the slopes of Three Fingers in the middle of the Depression.

I'm planning to hike up to Three Fingers lookout tomorrow (Sat, 7/26). No climbing really, just a hike. I'd welcome company, if anybody would like to come along. Send me a private message before 3 pm this afternoon if you're interested.

Range of Glaciers has a lot of this information. For what it's worth, here are my review notes for this book, focusing on how access to the mountains developed (a pre-requisite for recreational skiing): http://www.alpenglow.org/ski-history/notes/book/beckey-2003.html My book will integrate the history of sport, land management, and community--with respect to skiing--as best I can. I hope to make it a lively story rather than a dry history.

Look up the article referenced in these notes: http://alpenglow.org/ski-history/notes/period/mtneer-a/mtneer-a-1950-59.html#mtneer-a-1958-p48 I believe that I posted a summary of the original traverse in this forum last year some time. I'm too lazy to search for it, but you could probably find it.

I've visited Charles Hessey's widow Marion several times at her house, gone through their slide collection, viewed their movies, and looked up Charles' articles. So yeah, I'm pursuing it. The Hesseys are important to the story of Cascade skiing, mostly post-war.

I agree completely. My ski research includes the latest developments. That's what this thread was all about: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=freshies&Number=207653&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1 It's fun trying to keep up with the Young Dudes while continuing to pursue scrappy 80-year-olds and dusty old journals.

Thanks, Jonathan. I thought it was probably you, but wasn't sure because your login doesn't show your full name. (grr, grumble, grumble, I hate aliases. sorry but this is a pet peave of mine) By the way, I enjoyed your Mt Prophet report. Inspires me to go in there sometime.

In June 1978, my brother Gordy and I traversed from the Mesahchie glacier to the saddle on the north ridge at about 6800 feet. There's a little pinnacle there which shows plainly on the map. We bivied there, on the edge of Katsuk Glacier. The next day we climbed the NW ridge of Mesahchie. We were travelling pretty light (since we planned to carry over) and my recollection was that the traverse was loose and exposed and dependent on seasonal snow cover. Since this was over 25 years ago, and I'm getting old and foggy, maybe you won't have a problem. My recollection was that it was not the sort of thing I would want to do with a multi-day load. You're mileage may vary. There's no substitute for taking a look at it yourself.

I'm already working on a historical book. It's on ski mountaineering in Washington. My website is my research database: http://alpenglow.org/ski-history I'd enjoy writing about some of these other folks, but the skiing history comes first. If anybody was interested in pursuing Northwest climbing history more, I could give lots of advice and assistance. Seriously. Yes, Tom Miller is still around. He's a member of the Mountaineers history committee. I see him at most of their meetings, every other month.

You've done this? How do you get to the high basin SW of Mesahchie? Traverse Mesahchie's south flank? Climb up from Fisher Creek? Cross over from Katsuk glacier? Sorry to sound skeptical, but this route doesn't make any sense to me.

Looking at the list so far, the two names that stick out as deserving more attention are Phil Dickert and Lex Maxwell. Many of the other pioneers have been profiled or interviewed before. Phil and Lex have not, as far as I know. Phil Dickert was a super active climber, inside and outside the Cascades, for years and years. I forgot to note that he was on the first ascent of Mt Goode with Bauer and Hossack. He is also a skilled B&W photographer and was an early skier. Lex Maxwell is the patriarch of Yakima climbers. Talking to him on the phone, I got the sense that he is a pillar of the Yakima community as well (though he would never say so). He always deflects attention away from himself, but he has supported his community in many ways since the 1930s. (I believe he was president of a local bank.) He reminds me of the Jimmy Stewart character in "It's a Wonderful Life."

Karl Stingl is another pre-war pioneer. He was born in Czechoslovakia, did new climbs in the Olympics with Paul Crews in the 1930s (I think Mt Lincoln was one), was an instructor in the 10th Mountain Division during WWII, and was a ski coach at U.W. after the war. He was a Class A ski jumper in his younger days. I have mixed feelings about limiting the list to "pioneers" rather any any pre-war climber. But this criteria is useful to force us to think about which climbers shaped the sport. I'm open to thinking about pioneering in a broader sense, as well.

Mac Bates's book "Cascade Voices" is the best effort of that kind so far. It was published about 10 years ago. Mac caught some of these guys and missed a few. He also talked to several pioneers who are no longer with us. We owe Mac a debt of gratitude for his work.

Pete is one of the guys (there are a bunch of them) who just barely misses this list. I'm not aware of any pioneering climbs he did before the war, but he did a bunch afterward. If this thread is interesting to people, we might gradually expand it (say a decade at a time). For now, I'm trying to rack my brain to think of pre-war pioneers still with us.

Recent trivia discussions made me think about what kind of mountain facts I find interesting. I'm fascinated by people, and my historical research has shown me that "the legends" are more accessible than we think. And more of them are still around than we realize. With that in mind, I started a list of Cascade Elders--legendary mountaineers who are still living. To begin with, I've created a very exclusive list--mountaineers who pioneered significant routes in the Cascades and Olympics before World War II. That's a tiny group. Northwest climbing came of age just before the war, and the dozen or so pioneers who are still with us are regional treasures. We should recognize them. Here's my initial list. If we expand the group beyond World War II, the number of names grows dramatically. So let's start with this for now. Several of these people live outside Washington state, so it's hard for me to keep track of them. But all of them were still around a year or so ago. Name - Pre-WWII pioneering: Wolf Bauer - Mt Goode, Ptarmigan Ridge Fred Beckey - Lots of Cascade peaks and routes Ray Clough - Original Ptarmigan Traverse party, Ruth Mtn ski Paul Crews - Mt Cruiser (Olympics) Othello Phil Dickert - Mt Challenger Ralph Eskenazi - North Star Mtn ski Forest Farr - Big Four Mtn, Chimney Rock Jack Hossack - Mt Challenger, Mt Goode, Ptarmigan Ridge Erick Larson - Dome Peak, east summit Dave Lind - Mt Triumph Jim Martin - Mt Terror, other southern Pickets Lex Maxwell - Mt Stuart, Ulrichs Couloir Hank Reasoner - Mt Shuksan, White Salmon Glacier ski Will F. Thompson - Mt Fury, Bear Mtn John Woodward - Army ski patrol traverses, 10th Mtn Division Can you suggest other names?

Cool! I never heard about this. You stumped me.

You got me there. But is it a fair trivia question if you don't know the answer either?