Dechristo Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 If the name Fred Beckey means anything to you, please read on: The American Alpine Club has accepted a challenge grant from Yvon Chouinard to support the feature length documentary about club member and prolific route opener: Fred Beckey "Direct Beckey" Every once in a great while an individual lives a life that is so unique and inspiring that their story must be preserved for posterity. This documentary film will tell the life story of such a character, Fred Beckey. Fred, now in his 80's, will venture to the remote Sichuan region of China to attempt the first ascent of a 19,000 ft. peak. Despite strong efforts, the peak (as of 2/06) remains unclimbed. For many years, the first ascent of this stunning and isolated mountain has been Beckey's dream. More than ever, time is a factor for Fred. The expedition to China will be the culmination of over 70 years of climbing achievements and the thread of an important historical documentary. This portion of the project needs initial funding to provide Beckey with a window of opportunity in the 2006 April-May climbing season. Those of you that have climbed with Fred Beckey, enjoyed his lectures, used his books to navigate high and wild places or experienced one of his classic routes, already know a piece of the extraordinary life he has led and the impact he has had on climbing and climbing history. He is a legend. Today Fred, like always, remains inspired by one core focus: to climb. "There is no more prolific and important American climber than Fred. This story has to be told." -Yvon Chouinard "Fred Beckey is the quintessential American climber, a man of awesome energy, roaming the mountains at will, leaving his name on top of many a peak. (He) has climbed more virgin summits than any other American, perhaps any other human." -Royal Robbins "Beckey's unparalleled number of first ascents notwithstanding; it is his decades of relentless exploration of North America's alpine wilderness that leaves me most in awe. His story needs to be told." -Jim Donini The Club has received a matching grant. This is a great opportunity for individuals to give back to a man that has done so much for climbing. If you want to help see Fred Beckey's story told, your donations to the AAC for this project will be matched by one of Beckey's most influential apprentices, Yvon Chouinard, of up to a total of $7,000. -Make checks payable to the American Alpine Club and mention Beckey in the memo line or in a note. -Visit the club website at http://www.americanalpineclub.org/ and click on "make a donation" to use your credit card. Please mention Beckey in the comments field -Call Nigel Gregory at the AAC office to make a gift of stock or other property. (303) 384-0110 ext. 15 Donations of $500 and up will receive a signed copy of the completed film, sure to become a vital piece of climbing history. Please remember, time is a major consideration for this project to get off the ground and for Fred to make it to China by spring of '06. Look for updates concerning "Direct Beckey" in the upcoming editions of the American Alpine Club newsletter and for more information please see: www.throughachildseyesproductions.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFIVE Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Sounds like a great project! Will be filmed with some local guys. They did Spirit of Snow for Lenticular Pictures. Fred may be linking up with Aamon soon to do Lurking Fear! Can't wait to see and hear what becomes of this project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFIVE Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 Here is an e-mail I got this morning from JW who is working hard on this project..........PM me if you want the letter he attatched to me. Hey! The Yosemite stuff is totally on as far as we're planning but you never know who might have to flake. Honestly we're 100% swamped with the China trip right now. That is the crucial step to getting this thing off the ground and building the momentum we need. Chouinard has a vision for the film that we share: Get to China by way of tax deductable contributions made through the AAC challenge grant and then have proper coorporate sponsorship for the rest of the film (Luking Fear, Bugaboos, interviews, post-processing, $ for us, etc.). 95% of the coorporate world fianancing will be 6+ months out anyway, same with the way most yearly grants are awarded. We would love your involvement at any point. It's too early to tell what we could do in return but appreciate the offer. I'll attach the AAC letter. Feel free to share as you see fit. Also, other donations are coming in and are much appreciated. The leaing guy (company) in high altitude O2 in North America is donating the Oxygen which is great and a high altitude specialist MD is donating his time and paying to be along at base. We'll have to probably put 4 camps on this thing and fix a fair bit of rope so there is plenty of room for other types of donations but we're not writing that into the challenge grant. Tell Pat we'd be psyched for his involvement too if Yosemite works out...and it would be cool to meet in the Valley regardless. IC sounds amazing but I doubt I'll be able to justify more time from work. I'm basically taking 10 weeks this Spring. Thanks man I'll keep you posted. Can't wait to get back out to TC for some cold camping...haven't been since last Fall. Cheers, Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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