Anchorage Daily News

Conquering forbidding Alaska summits helped Fred Beckey establish his reputation, and the name still reverberates powerfully among climbers here today.

Some of Beckey's first ascents -- such peaks as Devils Thumb in 1946, Mounts Hunter and Deborah in 1954 -- place him among the best climbers to ascend Alaska's most challenging peaks. Beckey and four other climbers were the first to climb Mount McKinley's North Peak via its difficult Northwest Buttress in that same magical season.

"If you go back to 1954, it's amazing what he accomplished," said McKinley climbing ranger Daryl Miller. "Mount Hunter is still one of the most technical peaks around. That's a major, major effort."

"He's one of a kind, a mountaineering legend," said Brian Okonek, founder of Alaska Denali Guiding in Talkeetna. "That was one of the most remarkable climbing summers in Alaska mountaineering history. We've built upon the shoulders of things that have been done in the past, but he really pushed the limits of his time."

Few disagree. Since Beckey's first trip to Alaska in the 1940s, he's climbed dozens of Alaska mountains, recording several first ascents.

"As ice climbers, Beckey and Harrer (one of his partners on Mount Hunter) were decades ahead of their time," Jonathan Waterman wrote in "High Alaska," which was published in 1988. "This was the first alpine-style climb of a technical route in the Alaska Range. This was also a landmark climb because few climbers had dealt with such steep ice and extensive cornicing. ... It is the steepest and most spectacular of the three great peaks in the Alaska Range."

Even today, Hunter is attempted only about a half-dozen times a year, with even fewer climbers trying Deborah, according to Miller. And the Northwest Buttress of McKinley has only been climbed a half-dozen times in the five decades since Beckey's team reached the summit, Miller added.

Perhaps even more remarkable is that Beckey continues climbing in his ninth decade, an athletic accomplishment as notable as Joe Redington's fifth-place finish in the 1988 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race at age 71.

"I don't know anybody else who does it -- or has done it," Miller said. "Whatever pain he's in, he's still out doing it. When I last talked to him a month ago, he said he was headed back up here.

"He'll show up sometime in the spring."

Why not? As much as Beckey has climbed throughout the world, he always returned to Alaska.

"The variety of Alaskan ascents range from simple glacier hikes to the most terrifying ice route on Mount Huntington," Beckey wrote in the introduction to Bill Sherwonit's book, "Alaska Ascents."

"Alaskan climbing, with some notable exceptions, seldom requires great athletic skill; gallantry can usually be obtained easier in other lands. ... In Alaska, it is the crossing of glaciers that can provide a special catalog of horrors."

And while Beckey's home range of the Cascades may be the highlight of his resume, "Alaska was a special place for him," Okonek said.

The state's innumerable peaks and Beckey's insatiable curiosity were a potent combination.

"His desire to explore uncharted terrain was incredible," said Okonek, who never climbed with Beckey but encountered him often. "He was always in search of new mountain ranges, new peaks. He kept millions of notes, so when he came up here he had all these binders full of information. He was always plying people for information."

Always searching, always climbing.

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