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Fred Beckey - Cascade Alpine Guide, Volume 2
In these notes, I include only items that I haven't found in other sources.

p. 90: In the Glacier Peak introduction, there is a reference to note 98, which includes the following information: On July 4, 1938, Sigurd Hall and Dwight Watson climbed Glacier Peak on skis using the approximate descent route of the August 1935 party (Kennedy Glacier party). On the descent they skied west of the Rabbit Ears via the Kennedy Glacier. (I have omitted more details of the ascent route here.)

p. 140: Howe Sound Co. purchased the Holden claims and began production in 1938. Mining continued until June 1957. "In 1939 the 2000-ton mill employed 350 men and Holden was called the 'Model Mine town' (Wenatchee Daily World, 26 April 1939)."

p. 141: The highway over Stevens Pass was completed in 1924-25, following the original railroad grade.

p. 195: In his introduction to the Cascade Crest Region, the author writes, "The North Cascades between Suiattle Pass and the Skagit River truly fit the description 'The Snowy Range,' the name applied by Captain George Vancouver in 1792, for even in midsummer they are considerably cloaked by a mantle of snow and ice." There is also a nice description of the Dome Peak area by Fred McNeil, from Mazama, 8:12, 1926.

p. 205: Construction of the North Cascades Highway began in 1959 and was completed in 1972.

p. 220: A ski ascent of North Star Mtn was made by Ralph Eskenazi, Sigurd Hall and Dwight Watson on May 29, 1938 on a tour from Phelps Creek basin.

p. 221: In the description of Stonehenge Ridge, the author writes: "The name was given by Dwight Watson during the Hanging Gardens traverse in 1936." Then on p. 224, writing about Gunsight Peak, "Probably the first to consider an ascent were Hermann Ulrichs and Dwight Watson when in July 1936 they reached the S margin of the Chickamin Glacier. But they 'were too pressed for time, too fatigued...to cope with the very obvious difficulties ahead.'" (Sierra Club Bulletin 22:1, 1937)

p. 333, note 53: In personal communication with the author, 28 Dec 1972, Hermann Ulrichs described his first impression of the North Cascades: "I did not begin to see the range by degrees--I had seen nothing of it, not even a solitary picture...It could not have been arranged more dramatically than by climbing the peak forming the two buttresses of Park Creek Pass and be suddenly confronted with that great complex of mountains."

p. 335, note 54: "In 1936 [Hermann] Ulrichs and Dwight Watson hoped to climb all the summits between Agnes and Sentinel, but an accident to a third partner curtailed plans." Also: "A historic early visit to the South Cascade and Le Conte glaciers was the trek via Downey Creek in July 1938 by Dwight Watson and Herbert Butt." On p. 229, the author writes that in summer 1936 Watson also hiked Rimrock Ridge (east of the crest, above Flat Creek) nearly to Le Conte Lake, but made no ascents.

p. 348: In the description of the Canyon Lake to Chickamin Glacier route, there is a nice description of the Hanging Gardens.

p. 373: From September 10-17, 1938, Dwight Watson and Paul Flint traversed from Napeequa Valley to the Honeycomb Glacier, continuing to White Mountain (the basic route of the Dakobed Range ski traverse).


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Last Updated: Tue Feb 27 21:04:55 PST 2001