June 2010 Mountaineers Newsletter

MountaineerThe

www.mountaineers.org

June, 2010Volume 104, No. 6

M5 UPDATE: The latest on changes to web, publications

M7 Families receive ‘Star Party’ invite

M2 View from the Top

M4 Summit Savvy

M4 Conservation Currents

M5 Passages

M7 In Support

DiscoverTheMountaineersIf you are thinking of joining - or have joined and aren’t sure where to start - why not attend an information meeting? Check the Go Guide branch sections for times and locations.Are you ready to jump right in? Visit www.mountaineers.org. Need to call? 206-521-6000.

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5The monthly publication of The Mountain-eers: Enriching the community by helping people explore, conserve, learn about, and enjoy the lands and waters of the Pacific Northwest.

Mountaineers pick up the pieces for today’s research By Brad Stracener

When the local public television station, KCTS,

needed a film clip to augment a broadcast about climbing icon Fred Beckey, it knew whom to ask.

When the Mountain Rescue Association needed a film for its 50th anniversary, it had a good idea of whose door on which to knock. And when New York Times reporters needed some film clips to finish a video produc-tion on Beckey last year, they were literally standing in the shadow of their source for part of the film: The Mountaineers Program Center.

For 104 years, The Mountain-eers has been making history in more than one sense of the word. From photos by Asahel Curtis during The Mountaineers’ infancy, to images by Bob and Ira Spring, to a film that caught Beckey and Pete Schoening in action on Lighthouse Tower, Mountaineers were not only making history on ascents and first routes, but also via film and photos.

“History is not just old, dried-out stuff; it has tremendous value,” stated Lowell Skoog, who is at the center of The Mountain-eers’ efforts to preserve historic

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U p c o m i n gU p c o m i n g

‘The Sound of Music’ fills Forest Theater in June. See pgs. 2 and 20 of the Go Guide for details.

NWhikesthattopthechartsLeaders list their favorite places

Guidebook author to visit – M3

Continued on M3

Rock climbing for newbies—Nev-er explored the spider inside you? A seminar in June and July should give you a decent chance. See pg. 9 of the Go Guide for this intro to the fun sport of rock climbing.

✔

Barbecue, AAC style—The Ameri-can Alpine Club welcomes Moun-taineers to its Spring BBQ on Fri., June 4. See the ad on pg. 16 of the Go Guide for details about the event, which will include live dance music.

The Ever-ett Branch will treat volunteer trail work-ers with a raptor show on National Trails

Day, June 5. See M4 and trail maintenance sections for each branch in the Go Guide to learn about Trails Day projects near you.

Trails and hawk tails!

There is only one resource better than a Mountaineers guidebook to introduce

new hikers to the best the Pacific Northwest has to offer: Mountain-eers hike leaders. The Mountaineer asked a few who have led more than their fair share of hikers into the verdant hills of our state to name some of their favorite hikes.

Following is a blend of their insight and guidebook grist that should give any hiker—whether experi-enced or new—some destinations to put on their to-hike list this sum-mer.

AmyMann,TacomaBranch“That’s a hard one,” confesses Amy, who has few rivals among Mountaineers leaders for most hikes led year to year. “But I’ll try,” she said. Following are a few of her favorites.

Rachel Lake — This is one of the few ‘I-90 hikes’ I really like. You work your way up that trail (not an easy one) and then arrive at this gorgeous little lake. The counterpoint of the hard work to

Summer 2010

Conceived by John-Michael TebelakMusic and new Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

July 31,

August 1

7, 814, 15

21, 22

2:00 pm

Spring 2010 May 30, 31June 5, 6 12, 13 19, 202:00 pm

KITSAP FOREST THEATER

Escape to the Kitsap Forest Theater, located a short drive from the Bremerton ferry. Enjoy a great day trip with friends and family!

Picnic under the firs before you stroll down the forested trail to our unique and magical theater! Call today for tickets: 800-573-8484.

Shows presented by The Mountaineers Players Tickets available at www. ForestTheater.com

get there and the beauty and se-renity of the lake (especially dur-ing the week) is marvelous. You also get far enough away from the highway to not hear the vehicular traffic. Reference: “Day Hiking Snoqualmie Region,” Hike 70.

Hikes out of Sunrise, Mt. Rainier National Park: Fre-mont Lookout, Second Bur-roughs, Dege Peak — The

views are magnificent and very different from the southern part of MRNP. And, the season is short there. Berkeley Park has wonder-ful wildflowers and a lovely creek running through it. Grand Park from Lake Eleanor is magnificent as you work your way up through the forest and come out at the north end of Grand Park with Mt.

Hiker basks above Lake Ingalls, a favorite of leader Carly Waterman’s (see pg. 3).

Mountaineers Books photo

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June�010 TheMountaineer

First, thanks to all who have volunteered (I estimate it’s close to 100,000 volunteer

hours since January) as our winter and spring classes finish. Best of luck on a safe summer season!

Looking beyond sum-mer, I am of-ten asked for my view of our organiza-tion’s future.

The Mountaineers is the second largest community of our kind in the country with 9,800 members. Our doors are open to all, we operate a highly regarded publishing arm, and we wield an ability to influence public policy. That said, we have a responsibility to our community to provide leadership in saving our natural world.

As wild areas that we enjoy grow smaller, continue to lack for care and suffer climate change, we are in a unique position to help save national treasures in our backyard. Good news: most of what The Mountaineers does as a community already drives toward this outcome. Academic studies, research reports and experts agree that it’s a simple equation—the more people get out

Connectingthecommunitytotheoutdoors

The

MountaineerAlso see us on the web at www.mountaineers.org

The Mountaineers is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1906 and dedicated to the responsible enjoyment and protection of natural areas.

Board of TrusteesOfficersPresident Tab Wilkins, 10-12President Elect Mona West, 10-12Past President Eric Linxweiler 10-12 VP Properties Dave Claar, 10-12VP Publishing Don Heck, 10-12Treasurer Gavin Woody, 10-12Secretary Lorna Corrigan, 10-12

Trustees at largeKirk Alm, 07-10Rich Draves, 08-11Dale Flynn, 07-10Ed Henderson, 08-11Lynn Hyde, 08-11John Ohlson, 09-12Mark Scheffer, 09-12Dave Shema, 07-10Matt Sullivan, 09-12Mona West, 09-12

Branch TrusteesBellingham, Steven GlennEverett, Rob SimonsenFoothills, Gerry HaugenKitsap, Jimmy JamesOlympia, John FlanaganSeattle, Mike MaudeTacoma, Tom Shimko

Executive DirectorMartinique Grigg

Managing EditorBrad StracenerContributors, proofreaders:Chris Austin, Christine Compton, Jack Edwards, Brian Futch, Jim Harvey, Suzan Reiley Photographers & Illustrators:O.P. Dickert, Mick Etchoe, Tom Ham-mond THE MOUNTAINEER is published monthly by: The Mountaineers, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E.Seattle, WA 98115206-521-6000; 206-523-6763 faxVolume 104, No. 6The Mountaineer (ISSN 0027-2620) is published monthly by The Moun-taineers, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115.Members receive a subscription as part of their annual dues. Approximately $12.42 of each member’s annual membership dues is spent to print and mail this publication. Non-member subscriptions to The Mountaineer are $32. Periodicals postage paid at Seat-tle WA.Postmaster: send address changes to The Mountaineer, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not nec-essarily represent the views of The Mountaineers.

Mission and purposesTo enrich the community by helping people explore, conserve, learn about, and enjoy the lands and waters of the Pacific Northwest.

“To explore and study the mountains, forests and other water courses of the Northwest and beyond;

“To preserve by example, teaching and encouragement of protective legislation our special places;

“Add value to our member’s and our community by providing youth and adult outdoor education opportunities.”

Who ya gonna call? Your mentor, of courseAre you a new member wondering about the how-to, where-to and what-to-do with your club? There are a number of resources available to you, not the least our websites. Now there is also a real, live person. If you want to know about expected conditioning for a hike, what not to wear, how to sign up for events or whatever call or e-mail the “mentor of the month.” Mona West is this month’s mentor. Feel free to contact her at [email protected] with your questions or comments.

View from the Top

Read The Mountaineer/Go Guide online, too!Did you know you can find The Mountaineer and

the Go Guide online? Visit www.mountaineers.org and go to “Monthly Magazine” in the top menu bar

to view current and past issues.

and experience the outdoors, the more they value the outdoors. The more they value the outdoors, the more interest they have in caring for natural and wild areas.

Our niche, our passion and our expertise is in helping others truly experience nature through informa-tion, education and all the activities we currently pursue. I don’t see that changing.

I see the desire to modernize our properties and facilities, to make our programs more accessible and to use a multi-media approach to publishing, educating, training and conserving—not just to have a great time ourselves, but also to share with others (families and youths in particular) our passion and excitement for the outdoors. This will surely lead to more inter-est in protecting the very areas where we recreate. As a climber I see similar legacies in action, such as the Himalayan Trust, Greg Mortenson’s Central Asia Institute (“Three Cups of Tea”) and the American Alpine Club.

Financially, not all of this can be achieved by membership dues, course fees and volunteer hours. We will need your additional finan-cial support as well as support from grants, foundations and partners

to reach these goals. Recently we hired a director of development and marketing, Laurie Ward, to help us grow our financial support. We are also considering a change of our tax status to 501(c)3, which would

By Tab Wilkins, president

make most contributions (and potentially part of your dues) tax deductible.

I do believe we have a higher call-ing as we look forward to a club for future generations. And it can be as

simple as helping one person have a great time on a hike or a climb, or helping a family enjoy one of our lodges, which then translates into more people interested in preserv-ing our natural treasures in the

Pacific Northwest.

Thanks for being a member and let me know your thoughts at [email protected]. See you out there.

See M5 for an update on changes to our web and publications

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June�010TheMountaineer

Hikesonthemust-dolistNo shortage of destinations — once the snow melts

Rainier looming to the south—breathtaking! Paradise mead-ows, when the meadows are in full-flower, and any other hike around MRNP when the wild-flowers are in bloom provide a veritable carpet of flowers which I don’t believe is as readily found in other parts of this country. Reference: “Day Hiking Mount Rainier,” Hikes 25, 28, 31.

Poo Poo Point — On a good day you can sit at lunch for hours just watching the paragliders taking off, sitting on the thermals and wandering around up there in the sky. The gliders leave the landing zone at about noon or 12:30 and ride up in a truck to the launch site. Plan your day to arrive at about noon and give yourself plenty of time to enjoy the spectacle. They are gliding on weekdays as well—a good thermal day means a lot of out-sick calls for gliders, apparently.

flowers, vistas, marmots and an airy summit are all found in just an eight-mile round trip and a little more than 1,000 ft. elevation gain. I like to include a side trip to Burroughs Mountain or Berke-ley Park to round out the day. Reference: “Day Hiking Mount Rainier,” Hike 27.

Poe Mountain via Irving Pass — Excellent fall colors hike to the former site of a fire lookout boasting incredible views of Gla-cier Peak. Reference: “Day Hiking Mount Rainier,” Hikes 75, 78.

Iron Peak — The El Dorado Creek trail to Iron Peak is full of biodiversity. This is a great trip for

Bare Mountain — Great fall colors, wonderful views of Glacier Peak from the ridgeline up to the summit. For a hike so close to town this summit truly feels wild. Note: This hike is cur-rently not accessible by car due to a bridge closure. I recommend parking at the closed bridge and then mountain biking to the trailhead. Reference: “Day Hiking Snoqualmie Region,” Hike 19.

Mt. Baldy — Not in the books! I’m not telling you how to get there unless you take me with you. If you do attempt this hike, be careful. The junctions are not all easy to see and only one of them is marked. Really, you should just take me with you. Hint: Go in June when the calypso orchids bloom. I love this hike and have led it annually for the last five years.

Mt. Defiance — Follow the masses to Mason Lake and then continue along the less-beaten path to Defiance. On a clear day you can see Seattle. Go during the peak of wildflower season. Reference: “Day Hiking Sno-qualmie Region.”

A special presentation of the award-

winning adventure drama in

support of Big City Mountaineers,

providing wilderness experiences to

under-resourced urban teens.

Egyptian Theater

805 East Pine

Seattle, WA 98122

Tickets are $15 – Available at

Brownpapertickets.com or (800) 838-3006

7:PM, Thursday June 17th






Egyptian Theater

805 East Pine

Seattle, WA 98122









Egyptian Theater

805 East Pine

Seattle, WA 98122




Above Rachel Lake.

Mountaineers Books photo

The only problem with this hike is for folks who want to get a workout but end up sitting for two hours or more at lunch. Refer-ence: “Day Hiking Snoqualmie Region,” Hike 8.

Lower Lena Lake — This is a wonderful hike through the forest to a lovely lake. Best done during the week and/or on the shoul-der seasons. It is very popular and busy during the summer. Reference: “Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula,” Hike 42.

DougTerry,OlympiaBranch“Tough question,” says Doug, who leads more backpacks than hikes, but notes that other leaders do hikes on some of the routes he backpacks.

Marmot Pass from the Up-per Dungeness Trail — Start-ing out on a gently rising trail under the canopy of old-growth trees, you head deeper into the Olympics alongside a bubbling river. After crossing the river, you begin to traverse out of the valley to the backside of Warrior Peak and Mt. Constance. The flora changes regularly as you gain altitude. Just as you break out at the alpine level you get a first-hand view of nature’s fury—huge trees, broken off at the base, lie downhill after a decade-old avalanche. Switching back up towards the pass, an over-the-shoulder look reveals The Broth-ers sticking out from Constance Pass. Finally, you make Marmot Pass, under the shadow of Buck-horn Peak, and get your first view of the entire Olympic interior. Reference: “Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula,” Hike 58.

Mt. Townsend in spring— Shortly after hitting the trail, you are flanked by rhodies to start the floral display. You gradually switch your way up, and after a wee bit, break out into open meadows of blooming flowers, swarming with butterflies and bees—a virtual potpourri of plant life and color. Arriving at the alpine level, you are ushered into a quiet area below the summit trail, sur-rounded by hardy pines nestled around Camp Windy. And finally your reward for all this work—a series of switches up dust-cov-ered rock to the twin summits that stand guard over the Olym-pics from the northeast corner and provide endless vistas in all directions. Reference: “Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula,” Hike 59.

CarlyWaterman,SeattleBranchSkyscraper Mountain — Big bang for your hiking buck. Wild-

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naturalists of all levels. Refer-ence: “100 Hikes in Washington’s Alpine Lakes,” Hike 52.

Lake Ingalls — Go in sum-mer for wildflowers, go in fall for larches. Hold onto that sandwich! A colony of hungry mountain goats inhabits this area. Refer-ence: “Day Hiking Snoqualmie Region,” Hike 93.

Umtanum Ridge and Creek —This is where a lot of us lead-ers go in April and May when the lingering snow just won’t melt. Reference: “Desert Hikes.”

Surprise and Glacier Lakes — Glacier Lake is quite possibly the best lake in which to swim in the entire Alpine Lakes Wilder-ness. Swim out to the center of the lake and look in the distance northward to see why they named it Glacier Lake. Refer-ence: “Day Hiking Cental Cas-cades,” Hike 32 (note: the book incorrectly calls Glacier Lake “Granite Lake”).

Blanca Lake —This forest hike does not seem special until you get to the lake, opalescent and glowing with its aquama-rine color, unlike any other lake I’ve seen. It looks otherworldly. Reference: “Day Hiking Central Cascades,” Hike 36.

GuidebookauthorRomanotovisit

Umtanum Ridge provides one of the finest views of the Stuart Range.

The man behind the lines of print that lead you to new hiking destina-tions will step out from behind the pages of his guidebooks to speak to Mountaineers on Thu., June 17.

The Mountaineers Program Center will feature a night with Romano, including books signings and a question-answer period that promises some insight not only on destinations but also on the critical issues surrounding trails and ac-cess to them. The event will begin at 7 p.m.

Romano, who has hiked more than 13,000 miles of Washington ter-rain—from corner to corner, north and south—is currently working on his latest guidebooks, “Day Hiking Columbia Gorge” and “Backpack-ing Washington.” Both are due for release in spring of 2011.

Growing up in rural New Hamp-shire, Romano says he fell in love with the natural world as a child, eventually becoming a Boy Scout and backcountry ranger in the White Mountain National Forest. In the meantime he has held down the positions of ski bum in Vermont

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June�010 TheMountaineerCan you identify the summit in

the foreground here? Send your answer

(by June 10) by post or e-mail: brads@

mountaineers.org; Summit Savvy, The

Mountaineer, 7700 Sand Point Way

N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. If you guess

correctly, you’ll receive $10 of Moun-

taineers Money, good for Mountaineers

Bookstore merchandise, and we’ll

publish your name in next month’s

column. (In case of a tie, one winner will

be chosen at random.) Club employees

or persons shown in the photograph are

not eligible. Each month we’ll publish a

new mystery summit and identification

of the previous one.

■ Send your photographs for pos-sible publication as a mystery summit (include identification for our benefit). See e-mail and mailing address at right. If we use your photo, you will receive $10 in Mountaineers Money.

■ At the end of each year, all correct respondents’ names are placed in a hat and the winner of that drawing will receive $50 of Mountaineers Money good for purchases at The Moun-taineers Bookstore.

■ No one correctly guessed last month’s mystery summit, Monte Cristo, as photographed by Sara Woody.

Summit Savvy

conservationCURRENTS

The North Cascades is an area of great beauty where many of our members frequently

recreate. The creation of the park in 1968 was the culmination of years of effort—vividly recounted in “Wilder-ness Alps; Conservation and Conflict in Washington’s North Cascades,” by Harvey Manning (2007), and on sale in The Mountaineers Bookstore. But even in triumph the park was incomplete. Concessions were made to short-term political interests. As Manning wrote, projecting the voice of future genera-tions who would look back at the effort to create North Cascades National Park:

“You were too timid. You compromised too much. You should have been more farsighted and daring. I hereby place on record my apologies to the year 2000.”

Here we are now, in 2010, taking up the campaign to complete the park. Why? Our population continues to grow and pressures from development are increasing; scenic and recreational landscapes remain unprotected; an important, functional ecosystem is be-ing dissected; and headwaters of rivers and streams that reach Puget Sound are unprotected.

Further, while the park has stupendous backcountry opportunities, it has little front-country access to offer day-hik-ing, picnicking, bird-watching and other opportunities to people of all fitness levels. In fact, most who drive the North Cascades Highway (Washington SR-20) do not realize that they never actually enter North Cascades National Park.

There are several initiatives working to raise awareness and increase protec-tion for the North Cascades, including

the American Alps Legacy Project, The North Cascades Initiative and Cas-cades Wild.

Mountaineers volunteers have long been involved with The American Alps Legacy Project, a bold initiative to complete the original vision for the North Cascades National Park. The American Alps group currently includes The Mountaineers, the North Cascades Conservation Council, Republicans for Environmental Protection, Seattle Audubon and the University of Wash-ington Climbing Club as partners, with Pilchuck Audubon, Skagit Audubon, Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs and Issaquah Trails Club as supporting organizations.

Both King and Snohomish counties have passed resolutions of support for the Legacy Project. Other groups are being actively courted with the goal of aggregating a broad-based coalition of non-profit organizations, business owners and community members to advocate for the completion of North Cascades National Park.

How will North Cascades National Park be completed and protected? By

raising public awareness and begin-ning the political processes that will lead to protection and completion of the park. As part of this venture, The Mountaineers, in partnership with the Braided River imprint of Mountaineers Books, will publish a book celebrating the glories of the North Cascades. The book’s ultimate goal will be to provide a broad-based advocacy tool to increase support for the North Cascades. Each North Cascades coalition group will be able to use the book as an education tool in their outreach efforts.

The Mountaineers was instrumental in securing designation of North Cas-cades National Park back in 1968. The publications of Braided River are “committed to inspiring support for criti-cal conservation efforts.” Braided River has a proven track record of publishing beautiful and informative books that serve as powerful tools to illustrate the significance of these areas from an environmental as well as a cultural perspective.

In past successful advocacy cam-paigns, books were effectively used as tools to raise awareness and to

Completing the Vision: North Cascades National Park

publicize and promulgate the case for managing our public lands—not merely for the short-term interests of extrac-tive industries—but for the continued value and benefit of all citizens living now, as well as for future generations in perpetuity.

It is time for a new volume, a new chapter in the North Cascades story that will tie in the potential for discovery of the North Cascades front-country with the splendors which are currently only available to those who can venture into the backcountry.

What can you do to help? Make a tax-deductible donation to Braided River online at www.braidedriver.org, or by mailing your check, made out to Braided River, to: The Mountaineers, 7700 Sand Point Way N.E., Seattle, WA 98115. Please be sure to write “North Cascades Book” in the memo line of the check. The Mountaineers will match your donation dollar for dollar up to $25,000!

John Edwards, Mountaineers conser-vation chair, and Martinique Grigg, Mountaineers executive director, con-tributed to this article.

See birds of prey on National Trails DayTrail volunteers may want to hold on tight to their burgers and other treats when they finish work at Lord Hill Regional Park on National Trails Day. About a half-dozen raptors will be cruising the park’s airspace just after the volunteers’ much deserved barbecue dinner is served on Sat., June 5.

Actually, the birds should be quite behaved around the table, thanks to their trainer and the Snohomish County Park Rangers. As part of the post-work-party festivities, the county has scheduled an air show of the feathered kind for those who sign up for work on one of three trails in the park: Chapel Pond Loop, River Trail or Devil’s Butte Trail.

Volunteers will be working on trails from 8 a.m. to about 2:30 p.m., and then head to the barbecue potluck site around 3 p.m. to enjoy burgers and bever-ages. The raptor show will start at 4 p.m. and run about an hour.

As far as eating goes, all volunteers are asked to bring a lunch or snack and a dessert for the barbecue. The rest—beverages, burgers and condiments—will be provided by the trail maintenance committee.

Lord Hill Regional Park, located at 12921 150th St. S.E., south of Snohomish, covers about 1,500 acres.

Those interested in volunteering for the Everett Branch work parties should sign up by June 3 at 6 p.m. Volunteers should bring water, a long-sleeved work shirt, long pants and gloves. To sign up, contact Clark at [email protected].

Other Mountaineers work partiesThe Olympia Branch will be leading volunteers to the Church Creek Trail in the Olympic National Forest on National Trails Day. Tacoma also plans to enlist in Trail Days activities by helping at Mt. Rainier National Park. Foothills Moun-taineers will be heading to the Ira Spring Trail to roll up their sleeves. See each branch’s section in the Go Guide for more details.

Johanesberg Peak from the air.

Spend a volunteer summer in the wild. See ‘Go Volunteer’ on pg. 20 of the Go Guide

M�


encouraging members to use the web and also consider us latent in our duty to reduce the amount of paper we use. Others think the option of an easily compiled print-out from the web would lessen the blow at first to those who are not connected to the internet at home. Some simply pre-fer a document that can be carried along in their vehicle or spread out on the counter as they eat.

—All seem to concur that some type of trip list needs to be included in the new magazine. Some questions came up about the best market-ing tool for us: Is it something like the Go Guide that illustrates the wide array of our activities? Or a more appealing Mountaineer magazine? Do we want to produce a magazine that looks too slick and prevents non-Mountaineers members from picking it up because they don’t want to eventually throw out something that looks like it was expensive to pro-duce? As for our members, some believe that they would be more likely to endorse a publication that doesn’t have the appearance of using high-end resources. All input points to the need of a magazine that represents the spirit and face of The Mountaineers.

There will be an announcement in the next Mountaineer about our timeline. Please note that when the current format of our Go Guide is set to disappear, all will be no-tified well in advance.As input continues we are still determining the exact schedule for eliminating the monthly production of the publication and enhancing the website. Tentatively, the slower period of registration activity—August and September—has been targeted to enact most of this transition. This could mean that as of the September issue, the printed Go Guide as it exists right now would be eliminated, incorporated into an enhanced web site, and referenced in a more condensed form via our new magazine, which would be printed by the end of September.

—Brad Stracener, managing editor

Webandpublicationupdate:inputonchangescontinues

In the course of events, he became one of the first members of the new regiment that would develop into the Army’s Tenth Mountain Division.

Watson’s military career included a vital taking of German strongholds in the Appennine Mountains of Italy just prior to Germany’s surrender. Howev-er, Watson took mortar-shell shards in the gut during a heroic approach on Mount Della Torracia that ended his combat career. He was taken off the mountain en route to a hospital via an assist from his fighting companion and good friend, Ralph Bromaghin, a member of Seattle’s Ptarmigan Club. Two days later, Bromaghin died from a German mortar shell.

Watson’s career in the army’s mountain divisions intersected with another climbing friend, Fred Beckey, who was later to gain much mountaineering fame and reunite with Watson on some North Cascade climbs after the war.

After nearly six years of service Watson retired as a major. Second only to marrying Marillyn Black of Seattle in 1948, his proudest moment was lead-ing his battalion to the summit of Della Torracia.

After his marriage, Watson became involved in the lumber wholesale trade, eventually establishing his own business and later creating the Crystal Mountain ski area.

Though steeped in skiing and mountain climbing during the first half of his life, Watson endeavored in wilderness canoeing for much of the remainder of his time in the wild.

He traveled well over 20,000 miles by canoe, including a transcontinental journey from the Labrador Sea on the Atlantic Coast to the Bering Sea on the Pacific, as well as a branch connection through Canada’s Northwest Territories to the Arctic Ocean.

His input to lawmakers as the founder of the Crystal Mountain ski area was significant in the decision to create the North Cascades National Park in 1968 and relegate future ski resort expansion to ample areas outside of the park.

Passages

Editor’s note: Much of the following obituary about Duke Watson, who first joined The Mountaineers in 1940, comes from an interview conducted by

Mountaineers History Committee Chair Lowell Skoog when Watson was 91 years of age. Much more detail about Watson’s life can be found in Skoog’s 2006 article in the Northwest Mountaineering Journal web-zine, www.mountaineers.org/NWMJ/06/061_Watson1.html.

DukeWatson:On a transcontinental paddle across Canada and Alaska via canoe, Duke Watson finished by paddling out into the Bering Sea as if he were headed for Japan. His wife, Marillyn, who accompanied him on the last leg of the trip, asked, “Duke, will you ever stop?”

Watson proved to be unstoppable up to the time of his death on April 22, 2010, at the age of 94. His zest for the mountains and waterways, his forti-tude for accomplishing his quest or task and his duty to his country forged a life story that can arguably be called unequaled.

Born in Illinois, Watson was 18 months old when his father died, leaving Watson, his six-week old brother and their mother.

During his childhood, his mother took Watson and his brother, Edward, on many travels, such as winter stays in Florida that included trips to the Caribbean, summer retreats in the ‘North Woods,’ and visits to U.S. and Canadian national parks throughout the West, including Yellowstone, Banff, and Jasper. Several of these trips terminated in Vancouver or Seattle before the journey home by train, prompting Duke to decide at a young age that he would spend his adult life in the Pacific Northwest.

Duke studied forestry at the University of Michigan, hoping this field would offer him the best chance of employment in the Northwest. After gradu-ation, he moved to Washington in the fall of 1937. He found work in the Skagit Valley in the waning days of railroad logging. He witnessed the transition from hand saws to power saws and from steam power to truck logging. He began climbing in the summer with Everett members of The Mountaineers. In winter he took up skiing at Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier. In March 1941, while he was working for Sound View Pulp Company in Ever-ett, he was drafted into the army.

For the past two months, I have been visiting branches and receiving input via e-mails about our plan to enhance our website and our print publication, The Mountaineer. So far, the feedback has proven informa-tive and beneficial as we determine how the faces of the website and magazine may look. Though the input process continues, following is a synopsis of the input thus far:

Web—There needs to be myriad ways to access trips online based on vari-ous criteria (i.e., type, date, destination, similar offerings).

—It needs to enable downloading of trips and events in a way that can either be sent out to others via a .pdf or on a template with the option of printing the file—in essence an amenity that allows someone to share a document with other Mountaineers who endeavor in a common activity or course.

—There should be faster, more fluid browsing capability that precludes what some have called “the labyrinth” on the way to searching and regis-tering for a trip, course or event.

—The website needs to allow users the opportunity to “stumble upon” an activity or event that might appeal to them.

—The site must be proactive about making members aware of upcom-ing courses, banquets and all the other events that do not fall under the category of trips—events without precise registration dates.

—It is generally understood at this point that the face of the website is as yet indiscernible. However, we have begun to strategize and conjecture on how to facilitate some of the aforementioned needs. Further input will determine what the new site will look like.

Print—At this early juncture of the process, members are ambivalent about whether a template is needed to essentially print out a branch-specific Go Guide. Some think it would be counterproductive to the objective of

How far will you go this year?

The

Mountaineersw w w . m o u n t a i n e e r s . o r g

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mountaineering chronicles that serve to educate the curious back-country travelers of today. How-ever, as the Mountaineers History Committee chair can personally at-test, the effort can be painstaking.

For one, the list of History Commit-tee projects is not short, nor is its investment of volunteer time. Sec-ondly, the committee itself usually numbers around a half-dozen to 10 members at best—a collection of longtime Mountaineers who have actually witnessed some of their organization’s rich history unfold and those like Skoog who simply gravitate by nature to mountain-eering history. He co-founded a website, Northwest Mountaineering Journal, and, in between his own impressive itinerary of backcountry ski achievements, manages to re-search his predecessors’ achieve-ments on some of the same terrain he traverses today.

Skoog’s proclivity is film pres-ervation, but he acquired it

en route to a different medium: the written word. “All my work with the History Committee grew from my original desire to write a book about the history of backcountry skiing in the Northwest.” He had clipped out a 1996 feature article in the Seattle Times about Northwest skiing pioneer Dwight Watson, who had died that year. “I had seen his name in the Beckey guidebooks,” Skoog said. The article indicated that Watson had given movie films to The Mountaineers. Skoog called The Mountaineers and was advised

The Mountaineers had received Watson’s films from his estate with the goal of preserving and transfer-ring them to video, according to Skoog, but the History Committee had not yet started the project. “So I became a member of the commit-tee in order to help document those films.”

He added, “Jim gave me the okay to have some transfers done and we put Watson’s films on a digital videotape.” The budget limited the committee’s means of documenting films then, according to Skoog.

“The Dwight Watson collection was my initial focus, but I’m working with many other films now,” noted Skoog, who, in the 9-to-5 world, is a developer of software for con-sumer and medical devices.

During his research of ski history he became aware of other films, notably some from the late Moun-taineers guidebook photographer and author Ira Spring, as well as a collection donated by Marion Hessey, who died in 2007. “These were people who in the 1950s were making a case for what could be lost if we didn’t act to protect wilderness,” said Skoog. Chuck and Marion Hessey were particu-larly instrumental in campaigns to preserve wilderness in the North Cascades.

Skoog’s rummaging for ski history led him to projects such as the one regarding Beckey and KCTS, as well as “Mountains Don’t Care, But We Do,” for the mountain rescue anniversary event. He has also preserved movies and photos for families of climbing greats, such as Pete Schoening and Phil Dickert. Most recently, he used images from Dickert collection for a presentation on the life of Wolf Bauer, celebrat-ed during a special “Evening of Legends” banquet in April.

Though the budget for archiving and preservation has been

challenging, the History Commit-tee has found some relief through the grant process, according to its chair. In 2004, Skoog received a grant from The Mountaineers Foun-

dation for the History Committee’s Northwest Wilderness Heritage Film Preservation Project, which completed digital video transfers of films by the Hesseys, the Springs and famed conservationist David Brower.

Skoog counts among his gems the discovery of one film of Beckey on The Tooth and another of Beckey and Schoening on Lighthouse Tow-er in the Cashmere Crags, filmed by Burge Bickford and Ira Spring.

film, photos and artifacts. He lauds the Mazamas’ climate-controlled storage areas and confesses that The Mountaineers needs to find another accommodation for its many archives that are temporarily stored upstairs at the new program center—some of the materials stored in acid-free boxes but some of it not.

He cites the University of Washing-ton’s Special Collections Library as an example of how a partnership can work when it comes to archival preservation. The UW maintains a vast collection of Mountaineers-donated photos and, in turn, allows members of The Mountaineers easy access to the archives.

A prime example of need for either a partnership or more grant money is the History Committee’s latest project, preservation of some old summer outings films. A fundrais-ing “History Grab” held a year ago helped garner $1,000 for the cause, according to Skoog. Some of the films have been transferred to digital tape for viewing by re-searchers, but more transfers are needed, said Skoog, and all the films require better physical stor-age, as well as more aids to make them truly accessible. “These ef-forts all cost money,” Skoog noted.

In the past, The Mountaineers has also collaborated with the Wash-ington State Historical Society to archive some of its items. Skoog said the History Committee is currently exploring other partner-ships, “but these efforts are limited by the amount of volunteer help available.” Indeed, Skoog himself may have to increase his hours in consulting as a software engineer, thus reducing his volunteer hours noticeably.

As for now, Skoog sees the need to “just raise awareness

of all these little irons we have in the fire.” He noted, “We have holdings. There is a desire among the mountaineering community for them and we have partners like the UW to help us.”

He believes the work to preserve historical archives is imperative to sustaining The Mountaineers’ vitality. “The ability to tell a story is valuable, to tell why things are the way they are is very powerful—the ability to connect what is going on today to the past.”

More importantly, he noted, such ability continues to provide The Mountaineers leverage to pursue its mission and contribute to the broader community.

Brad Stracener is managing editor of The Mountaineer.

Continued from M1

Areyouahistorybuff?The Mountaineers History Com-mittee seeks volunteers to help it preserve archives of film, photos and publications. If you have in-terest or skills in this regard and would like to help, contact the committee chair, Lowell Skoog, [email protected].

Partnerships prove crucial to mission of preservation

Helmy Beckey in the Olympics.

O.P. D

ickert Collection photo

“Ira was mostly known for his al-pine travel but this showed that he was getting into some pretty cool rock climbing areas in order to get these shots,” noted Skoog.

The facilitation and preserva-tion of film archives is only

part of the History Committee’s charge. It is also working on long-term preservation of Mountaineers publications, such as the Annuals, Bulletins and Mountaineers. In this vein, it collects extra copies for sale as a fund-raising mechanism. The committee is working on a long-term project to create a digital version of the Annual editions from 1907 through 1995, when it was last produced.

Further, the committee organizes and manages papers in its archive, digitizes oral history videos, and manages donations of papers, pho-tos and artifacts. Most importantly it is involved with strengthening its relationship with the University of Washington and the Washington State Historical Society, as well as other outdoor organizations, such as the Mazamas.

Skoog sees such relationships as critical in order to effectively pre-serve mountaineering archives of

“The ability to tell a story is valuable, to tell why things are the way they are is

very powerful”

to contact the History Committee about viewing Watson’s archives.

“So I spoke with Jim Kurtz, who was then the committee chair, and he told me that the films were in his attic.” Most of the histori-cal archives maintained by The Mountaineers back then were kept in what was called “the dungeon” of The Mountaineers Building when it was located in the lower Queen Anne neighborhood. When the committee ran out of space or climate-appropriate quarters for preservation of archives, it often had to keep those items off-site, such as the homes of committee members.

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and world traveler to such far corners as Ar-gentina, Alaska, Sicily and South Korea.

He ranks the state of Washington, his home since 1989, “among the most beautiful places on the planet.” He notes, “I have thoroughly hiked it . . . from Cape Flattery in the northwest to Puffer Butte in the southeast; Cape Disap-pointment in the southwest to the Salmo-Priest Wilderness in the northeast.”

An avid hiker, runner, kayaker, and cyclist, Romano has written about these passions for over a dozen publications. He is co-creator of Hikeoftheweek.com, author of six books and co-author of two others. In addition to his two new releases set for next year, he is also working in tandem with Spokane outdoors writer Rich Landers on a “Day Hiking Eastern Washington” guide-book.

Romano lives with his wife, Heather, and cats, Giuseppe and Scruffy Gray, in Skagit County, near the North Cascades and the San Juan Is-lands.

Mountaineers FoundationThe Mountaineers Foundation desires to acknowledge and thank all its donors. Unless individuals request their names not be published, all donors will be acknowledged in The Mountaineer on a quarterly basis (usually June, September, December,

In support

Nocornerofthestateunexplored

Craig Romano

Continued from M3

March). If you have donated during the period of February through April 2010 and your name is not on this list, please notify Paul Robisch, Mountaineers Founda-tion, 206-363-1989, [email protected], and your name will be added to the next published list of acknowledgments. Donations received after April 30 will be acknowledged in the September issue of The Mountaineer.

Christine AcarreguiThomas E. AllenKirk A. AlmSteven E. AndersonConny I. AndertonEdward M. AndrewsJohn R. AnguloAnonymousAndrew F. AnschellDale G. BaskinRobert BeckerMichael S. BialosAnne S. BiglowLuther F. BlackGraeme A. BlakeAaron B. BooneKathleen A. BrammerGwynne F. BriggsGregory E. BrownMary BruckerJulius D. BudosConstance BuhlClementine BullittEllen M. CaffertyPeter CanonBeth A. CarlyleDonn CharnleyJoanne M. ChasePeter A. ClitherowMerrilee G. ConwayLarry H. CorbinLorna S. CorriganJanet H. CurranKaren DaubertMike DeanBruce and Virginia DeesEdith DelzellRex DerrMarilyn T. DexterGary G. DobbsJames D. DubuarScott EbyWilliam Lee EichenbergerMickey S. EisenbergWashington Mutual Employee Giving ProgramNeil R. EricssonFrank FickeisenKatherine L. FongUeland FoundationJim FreeburgJiayi GengJ. Chris GibsonPeter GieseBoeing Company Gift Matching ProgramThelma T. GilmurRobert P. GoldsmithCarolyn L. GrahamJohn GriffithMartinique GriggPaul GustieMary Jane HaemigDavid M. HallJeffrey M. HancockJoan E. HansenEllen HansonClifford N. Harby

David HartleyWilliam E. HauserJames W. Hawkins, JrPeter D. HeinzPeter J. HemmenEdward M. HendersonLinda M. HillDouglas A. HirschSamara K. HoagBill HolmTed HoukNoel C. HoweCharles HydeRuth IttnerSally JewellJanet KavadasRobert W. KingJack KinneyRichard L. LambeHoward T. LangeveldRobert N. LatzBarbara LaVioletteRalph T. LeberDave LeBlancJudi L. LempEvelyn LesterAlan LincolnEric LinxweilerHillary P. LipeDonna M. LipskyPatricia M. LovelandCynthia M. LuksusAnne A. MackDennis MadsenJulia MajkrzakDean MargellDaniel L. MazurBernie R. McKinneyGeorge J. MehlerDavid L. MesserschmidtMicrosoft Matching Gifts–Vol. HoursRobert T. MilhousNorman D. MillerKira M. MisuraJohn L. MoenColleen MolenaarWilliam W. Montgomery, IIIDennis T. MooneySally MurdochRoyce L. NatoliHoward E. NebeckRobert N. NelsonPaul M. NessAlice L. NorthThomas C. O'KeefeRobert E. OrdalGrace E. ParkerPatricia S. ParrentCarrie M. ParrisRuth PelzLeslie Edith PhillipsRichard M. PirretRussell T. PogemillerAlexander PolskyScott PriceRay L. Puddicombe

V. S. RainesMerv M. RasmussenMike ReesBetty V. RenkorDianne RobertsKathleen A. RobertsonPaul A. RobischGrace D. RoopRodney RowenKathy RuleI. B. SakamotoJerry P. ScottVictoria SellersDavid B. ShemaThomas M. ShimkoLloyd A. SkinnerLowell D. SkoogNedra G. SlausonEric SmithJay W. SnodderlyJean E. SpohnHelen B. St. JohnMargaret SteedRobert Scheiler StephensonJon G. StutzStephanie Subak

Elizabeth L. TeshJoan K. ThomasBill ThornessBrown Paper TicketsFrances F. TrojeBarbara E. TubbPaula R. VanHaagenWalter VollRoger Carl VonDoenhoffJoanne WarsinskeMona WestGail T. WeyerhaeuserKarl H. WeylerJerry WheelerJohn WickBruce T. WilkinsTimothy W. WilliamsNorman L. WinnPaul W. WittrockSally C. WolfSara WoodyPatricia F. ZeislerSal ZizIn tribute to:Polly Dyer

The Mountaineers Books imprint, Braided River, has received two Indepen-dent Publisher Book Awards.

“Planet Ice,” a photographic compilation by James Martin, won a special gold medal award as one of the 12 outstanding books of the year in the category “most likely to save the planet.” This special award recognizes “the daring spirit of independent authors and publishers,” chosen from over 4,000 entries.

“Salmon in the Trees,” by Amy Gulick, won a silver medal in the Environ-ment/Ecology/Nature category.

The Independent Publisher awards recognize gold, silver and gold medal winners in 67 categories to recognize and encourage the work of publish-ers who exhibit the courage and creativity necessary to take chances, break new ground, and bring about change, not only to the world of pub-lishing, but to our society. Over 2,000 independent authors and publishers submitted more than 4,000 entries for 2010.

BraidedRiverreceivestwobookawards

Day Hiking in the Olympic PeninsulaCRAIG ROMANOThursday, June 17 at 7 pmMountaineers Program Center

7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle

Discover the Olympic Peninsula with Mountaineers Books author Craig Romano, who will take us on a tour to both popular and ‘hidden’ destinations. The Olym-

pics offer a range of day hikes, from easy strolls to all out grunts, and cover wilderness areas, state parks, county parks, tribal land, national wildlife refuges

and greenbelts. There’s something for everyone in the family, and Craig knows the best places to hike!

Tickets: $5 members, $10 non-members. Available through The Mountaineers.

o u n t a i n eers P r o d u c t i o n s

MountaineersplanStarPartyoutingStep aside, Copernicus and Galileo. A cadre of young astronomers will be examining the dynamics of the heavens in August, courtesy of the Annual Table Mountain Star Party and a Mountaineers leader who has stepped forth to coordinate the young stargazers’ trip.

The Star Party, to be held Thu.-Sat., Aug. 12-14, allows families a chance to learn more about astronomy from a perch of 6,357 ft., approximately four miles east of Liberty and 20 miles north-northwest of Ellensburg.

This is not a Mountaineers-operated activity, according to Marc Kramer, who took his 8- and 9-year-old children last year, but he seeks to inform and coordinate attendance for those Mountaineers families who are interested in rendezvousing at the event. For more details, contact him at [email protected] or 425-205-7300. For more about the event, visit www.tmspa.com. Watch for more details in next month’s Mountaineer.

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A member of Penguin Group www.penguin.com •Also available on Penguin Audio and as an eBookAvailable in

paperback from Penguin Books

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June 2010 Mountaineers Newsletter

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