Fred Beckey: A life devoted to mountains

[Lindahl]

Fred Beckey passed away recently, and they held his memorial in Seattle just a few days ago. While not known for skiing, he was a ground-breaking rock climber and mountaineer with hundreds of first ascents - more than any other North American climber. Pretty amazing life he lead, and to think it wasn't even done in the modern era with the equipment we have today.

I figured I'd leave the touching presentation shown at his memorial, here. The link, below, has more photos and videos and information about his life.
http://alpenglow.org/people/fred-bec...ins/index.html

[zion zig zag]

Thanks for sharing. I can't help but wonder what that era of climbers could've done with modern gear. True bad-asses.

[PNWbrit]

I was pissed to have missed the screening of the biography movie of him.. DIRTBAG. recently in North Bend.

Looks like it's back here in January for SIFF and then online release around springtime.

[John_B]

Good movie but at least spell his name correctly. Beckey.

[plugboots]

Great documentary, go see it.

[raisingarizona13]

I can't wait to see it. Where can you watch it?

Edit: I just saw PNW Brits post, stoked.

[Peruvian]

Multiple threads about Beckey’s passing. Super badass motherfucker.

[raisingarizona13]

Multiple threads about Beckey’s passing. Super badass motherfucker.

An eccentric mountain dwelling weirdo really, I love those people and I'm fascinated by Beckey.

[wickstad]

I think the Chouinard/Beckey relationship qualifies Beckey to at least have had some influence on skiing. I swear that I read somewhere that Beckey taught Chouinard the standing glissade while they were climbing together in Alaska which led the latter to ski mountaineering and some gear company. I could be making this up.

[The Amicable Snowman]

Thanks for sharing that.


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[GeezerSteve]

An eccentric mountain dwelling weirdo really.

Fred lived much of his adult life in a couple North Seattle bungalows and worked between climbing trips as an editor for a Seattle publishing company. For sure he was eccentric and a world class mountaineer. He was built for the mountains: tall, sinewy, narrow shoulders, ape arms, big strong hands, stronger than shit.

I swear that I read somewhere that Beckey taught Chouinard the standing glissade while they were climbing together in Alaska which led the latter to ski mountaineering and some gear company. I could be making this up.

Sounds like pure myth. Standing glissade is a very obvious technique and around long before those guys. Surely Yvon, who more than any other person advanced modern steep snow and ice climbing, saw standing glissade or figure it out on his own before he met Fred.

I saw Fred ski a couple times. He was not a great skier. He used skis to access some climbing routes. Later in life he hooked up with some of his friends for XC skiing and mellow lift-served skiing.

[Pennyless]

Quoting from Chouinard's Climbing Ice, (Sierra Club Books 1978):

"On one early trip I learned to glissade from Fred Beckey. He was a hell of a skier and glissaded like he skied, standing up and angulating. The axe was either left in the pack or held in the air out of the way."

While Old Steve is correct regarding Chouinard's skill at, and contribution to snow and ice climbing, he started as a rock climber and learned about the mountains and mountaineering (at least in part) from Beckey.

Dave Smith

[DBdude]

I remember seeing him in the U District

[zion zig zag]

I saw Fred ski a couple times. He was not a great skier.

I skied with Fred when he had to have been nearly 90 years old, but yeah, it took us well over an hour to get down from the gondola at Snowbasin. I remember he had all brand new Black Diamond gear, almost head to toe (sponsored I'm sure) except for his gloves. I asked about the gloves and he told me that he had bought them from REI and was going to return them after his trip, he said "I'm fuckin the co-op!"

[PNWbrit]

I skied with Fred when he had to have been nearly 90 years old, but yeah, it took us well over an hour to get down from the gondola at Snowbasin. I remember he had all brand new Black Diamond gear, almost head to toe (sponsored I'm sure) except for his gloves. I asked about the gloves and he told me that he had bought them from REI and was going to return them after his trip, he said "I'm fuckin the co-op!"

He was also notorious for returning shit that he'd worn out, knowing that local stores wouldn't say no to him.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Shouldn't it be 'A Life Devoted to Himself'? He's a legend for sure.

[GeezerSteve]

I remember seeing him in the U District

Fred often hung out at Jim Nelson's shop when it was on the N end of The Ave.

[BFD]

pretty inspiring, Is there any other climber as accomplished as him?

[Name Redacted]

pretty inspiring, Is there any other climber as accomplished as him?

No one is even half as accomplished as he is, and might never be. He started young, became obsessed, and never really stop being obsessed. This also coincided with the rise of the sport, so he put up first ascents before anyone else was even climbing. Sure, some Alex Honnold guy could come along and solo really hard stuff, but will he live to 93? And keep climbing till 93? As far as I can tell, he was climbing for 8 decades... Just let that sink in for a minute