Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum

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​WHAT:  RMGA MEMBERSHIP MEETING – Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum

WHEN:  March 12, 2018, 6:30 pm – Networking, 7:00 pm – Short Meeting, 7:15 pm – History and tour of the American Mountaineering Museum

WHERE:  710 10TH STREET, GOLDEN, CO 80401

PROGRAM:  Susan Henley and her assistants will provide the history and tour of the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum


RMGA Membership Meeting Review 


Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum

 

Short Business meeting: Chaired by President Mike Pearl.  New member introduced – Jessica, who runs Denver Like A Local – a walking tour company.  The company gives unusual tours and unusual information about well-known sites, i.e., the Blue Bear.

Next Board meeting will be Tuesday, April 3, 2018.  April 9th program will be at Cherry Creek Shopping Center at the 810 Chop House (same site as last year).  Nancy Brueggeman announced that RMGA would contribute $200 to CCSC to compensate for the cost of parking for this event.

Larry Foos introduced the docents for the tour of the Mountaineering Museum – Sue and Dave are volunteer docents and Katie is the librarian and also runs the museum.  The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday – 10-4 most days.  Tours are available – call ahead to arrange a docent tour – there is no additional charge for a docent led tour.  Restrooms are available, free parking behind the building and an elevator.

The building was originally Golden High School – 1924-1956 – designed by Groves, architect who also designed the Canon City High School and Civic Center.

  • It then became the Junior High School and had several additions until 1988
  • Bought by the Golden Civic Foundation
  • 1992 – Civic Foundation sold to American Alpine Club (headquartered in NYC) for $1
  • Renovation cost $7 million

             1996 other groups moved in (see below)
             1997 placed on National Historic Register
             Former gymnasium is now the museum
                      Museum opened in 2008 – named for Henry Bradford Washburn, Jr., who made many first climbs of mountains                                in Alaska and Canada
                      Friend of Ansel Adams – Henry flew over mountains and took photos
                      His photos were the GPS of his day – often used by mountaineers to find the safest way to the top
                      Many, many Alaska photos
                      Wife also mountaineered and was the first woman to summit Denali
         Other famous climbers include: Royal Robbins (Yosemite climber), Yvon Chouinard, and Warren Harding and the museum                          has information on these and other climbers
         Photo in the entry to the museum is of the Mount Everest climbing scene - made up of more than 130 photos spliced                                  together
                      Camps are visible as tiny yellow dots at the side of the glacier toward the bottom of the photo
                      Glacier moves 4’/day
                      Climbs to Everest can take place from the last week in April until the 1st week of June – that’s the season
                      From base camp to summit is only 6 miles – takes more than 40 days
                      Sherpa is the last name of many of the bearers – it is also a title earned by porters who carry equipment
                      There are only 14 - 8,000 meter peaks in the world
                      2015 – Katmandu earthquake killed more than 7,000 people, the land rose 3’
                      2015 – Crevasse on Camp 1 and 2 on Everest developed
                      2015 – nobody summited Everest
                      2015 – Sherpas struck for fund to provide for families of Sherpas/porters killed on expeditions
                     2016 – Sherpas were funded – however some of that fund was used to remove four Indians so that they could                                be returned to their families for cremation
                               On these high peaks – 95% of your energy is used just to breath and 5% of your energy goes into                                                  climbing – generally climbers begin to use O2 at around 20-23,000’
                               There are more than 300 bodies on Everest – too difficult to recover

  • In the museum itself

            There is a crevasse on the stairs under glass
            It has blue ice which is difficult for climbers
            As you descend, on the left is a diorama of the 10th Mountain Division
            There is a model of Everest and surrounding peaks – the paths used to summit are marked

Climbing wall in entry hall replicates North Table Mesa
        Left side is “easier”, right side more difficult

Library – “friends” membership is $30/year

  • Rare Books Room – largest mountaineering library in the world
  • 50-60K items total
  • Temperature controlled
  •  60% of the information is about Central Asia; 40% covers the rest of the world

       

Also have Colorado Mountain Club’s archives

  • There are 54 official peaks over 14,000’ in Colorado (the saddle must fall more than 300’ to have both peaks listed as over             14,000’
  • And over 625 peaks over 13,000’ in Colorado
  • In 1966 a sample of the highest peak in Antarctica (Mt. Vincent) was added to the museum – unfortunately, it is the peak


American Alpine Club has 5-6 climbing ranches: Tetons, El Paso, West Virginia (New River Gorge), New York and New Hampshire
       They have more than 20,000 members worldwide

Colorado Mountain Club – offers many classes – run by volunteers and reasonably prices

  • Mountain Safety
  • Hiking
  • Backpacking
  • Avalanche safety
  • Orientation – finding your way from where you are
  • Offer 3,000 trips/year, guided by volunteers
  • Conservation – RMNP helped start this – volunteers work on trail crews to repair and maintain trails in RMNP and trail crews              around the world
  • Offer youth mountain program


Other offices in the building include:

  • Colorado Trail Foundation – built trail from Denver to Durango – 500 mile
  • Continental Divide Trail – 2,000 miles from Canada to Mexico
  • Big City Mountaineers – take disadvantaged kids to the mountains
  • Outward Bound
  • Cowboy Poets
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Written by Nancy Brueggeman CEO