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 Profiles: Reinhold Messner “The World’s Greatest Mountaineer”
December 4, 2008
Reinhold Messner has played many roles in life. World famous mountain climber, Arctic and Antarctic Explorer, desert trekker, speaker, politician, and even museum curator. Messner’s epic climbs will forever be remembered as some of the most grueling, horrifying, and glorious moments ever achieved by a true adventurer and a true mountaineer.
- First to Climb Mt. Everest without Oxygen
- First To Climb Mt. Everest Solo
- First To Scale all 14 of the world’s 8,000 meter peaks
- Third person to summit the Seven Summits (highest mountain on all seven continents)
- First Ascent North Face The Eiger
- First Ascent and new route up Nanga Parbat
- First AScent and new route up Gasherbrum I
Besides his great mountaineering achievements, later on in life Reinhold embarked on many more Xtreme adventures:
He has been to the top of the world’s highest mountains, stopped in at the North and South Poles, and continues to embark on adventurous journeys to the far ends of the world.
Reinhold’s adventures have not come without a price. In 1970, while attempting to climb a new route on Nanga Parbat, Reinhold’s brother Günther Messner would tragically be killed while trying to navigate the descent of Nanga Parbat’s Diamir Face. Reinhold and his brother had successfully summited and put up a new route by way of the Rupal Face. Reinhold Messner would come leave Nanga Parbat with three less fingers, seven less toes, and a brother that would be forever on the mountain. Reinhold stayed behind to search for his lost brother, while his teammates packed up and left the mountain. Reinhold Messner would go home empty handed.
