Fred Beckey Award

[JoshK]

I think Tex hit the nail on the head, as my dad would say.

 

I would like to add that the beauty of climbing is the lack of scorekeepers, awards, etc. Let's keep it that way and leave the awards to basketball players and javelin throwers. Climbing is about keeping score with yourself. To modify Alex Lowe's saying..."THe best climbers are the ones who meet and stretch their own goals, and feel great about it."

[Dru]

i just escaped from fred by shutting and locking my front door

 

in an hour or so i can go out with a can of lysol and disinfect the passenger seat!

[ketch]

See what happens dude, you two disappear for awhile and we start talkin about Fred. Welcome back to you too

[Lowell_Skoog]

Texplorer makes some good points:

 

There are many great climbers in the NW that have been climbing for years and done many impressive things. Do we really think they need more recognition? If they are worthy enough to match up with the likes of Mr. Beckey then they should be well known enough already.

 

My sense of the AAC Oregon section's Fred Beckey award is that it focuses on people who have pioneered a lot of new routes in good style. You don't need an award for that. People who are into pioneering new routes typically get all the recognition they need from journals, guidebooks, and so on. Putting up new routes is a pretty self-absorbed activity. Why give awards for it?

 

If I was to create an award it would recognize climbers who have given more to the community than just new climbs. I'd call it the Wolf Bauer award. Bauer was not only a pioneer climber and skier, but he also created the Northwest's first climbing course and founded the Mountain Rescue Council and the Washington Kayak Club. I read an interview with Wolf in which he said he could have done a lot more first ascents, but he preferred to teach others how to climb safely. To me he epitomizes the combination of great mountaineer and humanitarian. And he's still around at age 90! (or is it 91?).

 

I have a lot of respect for Fred Beckey, but I think the current award doesn't recognize his most important accomplishments very well. When Fred talks about "old timers", he's talking about people like Wolf Bauer. Wolf taught the people who taught Fred how to climb.

[klenke]

I agree with Lowell. Besides, why are we naming an award after a man who hasn't even passed on yet? Can Fred win his namesake award, then? "And the winner of the Fred Beckey Award for 2009 for the fifth year in a row is.....FRED BECKEY! Congratulations to Fred!"

 

I'm gonna be reeeeeall famous in climbing circles one day (if I'm not famous already ). Let's name an award after me now while I'm still young. That way, I can see all the people who measure up against me--people like Lowell, and Wayne, and Colin, and that guy who does nothing but sprays on this site all day (you know who you are), and that guy who works the Burger King down the street, and that guy who works the convenience store down the street, and that guy holding the cardboard sign on the corner, and that guy...