Xtreme Profiles: Fred Beckey “The Lone Rebel”
December 18, 2008
Fred Beckey photo by Rod Mar NYT 2008
Fred Beckey is one of climbing’s greatest warriors. Some people won’t recognize his name. Most of his greatness came before many of us were born. Some of his greatness came before many of our parents were born. Oddly enough, Fred Beckey is still climbing. Even more odd–he is 85 years old and has recently been profiled by The New York Times. So who is this guy?
Wikipedia doesn’t carry much information on Fred. Maybe that’s because many people probably know some of his accomplishments, or even read many of his books, but his name is just ‘normal’. That factor couldn’t be further from the truth. The one interesting thing that Wikipedia does have up, is the following quote:
Fred Beckey has achieved enduring recognition as the most imaginative, persistent, and thorough explorer and mountain investigator of the Cascade Range Wilderness. He was noted as “one of America’s most colorful and eccentric mountaineers,” and is unofficially recognized as the all-time world-record holder for the number of first ascents credited to one man. In addition to being the author of the Cascade Alpine Guide series, Beckey is also the author of Mountains of North America, The Range of Glaciers: Exploration and Survey of the North Cascades, and a personal narrative, Challenge of the North Cascades.
This quote is being attributed to Mountaineers Books. To look at Fred’s history and accomplishments might shock you:
Fred Beckey has made more first-ascents, the first person to top out on any given summit, than anyone else in the world. His very first attributed climb happened to be a first-ascent of Mt. Despair in 1939. His last? Who knows, it could be years from now. Fred Beckey is still rounding up climbing partners to tackle unknown peaks in Spain. That was his plan for 2008. After more than 70 years of climbing some of the world’s toughest and unknown peaks, Fred Beckey is still going strong. He has never had a major injury, never taken a major fall, but has been around when many of his friends and climbing partners have succumbed to tragedy.
Fred Beckey has also written the book on climbing. Literally. He has actually written a few books that now stand as all-time classics of mountaineering literature. These include the following taken from Wikipedia.
Xtreme Endurance: Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge
December 9, 2008
The 2nd Annual Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge will be kicking off on Friday. This adventure race will be pitting coed teams of four against a six stage, desert romp that features six different disciplines (including the very interesting ‘camel hiking’). The winning team will take home a share of a $230,000 prize purse.
The Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge will have participants showing their skills in sea kayaking, camel hiking, cross orienteering, mountain biking, adventure running, rope activities, and in-line skating. That is a pretty varied list of events that will require all sorts of different skill sets.
Xtreme Endurance: Australia’s Simpson Desert Challenge 2009
December 1, 2008
The first annual Simpson Desert Challenge will be taking place in May of 2009. The Simpson Desert Challenge is being billed as the ‘World’s Toughest Long Distance Team Walking Event’. This Xtreme endurance challange will pit teams of adventurers together for a chance at becoming the first team to cross the Simpson Desert.
The Simpson Desert is a 170,000 square kilometer desert wasteland found in Australia. It is home to some of the world’s longest sand dunes. These dunes will present a formidable challenge to even the toughest of competitors as they try to navigate the sometimes 200 km by 40 Ft. high dunes in one of the world’s most arid landscapes.
