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27-737: Fred Beckey describes the Wenatchee Mountains as the area between the Wenatchee and Yakima rivers and Stevens Pass . Among the range's significant features he describes are Mount Stuart , the second highest non-volcanic peak in Washington and one of the largest single granitic mountains in the United States, the Cashmere Crags, the Lost World Plateau, Edward Plateau, and Dragontail Plateau,

54-540: A considerable achievement for a climbing guide book. Reviewing the book in American Alpine Journal , Fred Beckey wrote: "Roper and Steck have presented a profile of what could be considered the Great American Dream climbs with a writing style that provides much Lebensraum for speculation and meditation. While reading, one is tempted to meditate: the challenge of the alpine adventure is always there;

81-505: A time, he worked as a delivery truck driver, which left him time for climbing. As time went on, he decided that climbing was his life's focus. He never married or had children, he never pursued a professional career, he never sought money or financial security as a goal—his goal was to climb mountains. In 1955 Beckey joined the International Himalayan Expedition to climb the world’s fourth-highest peak, Lhotse . During

108-421: Is a 1979 climbing guidebook and history written by Steve Roper and Allen Steck . It is considered a classic piece of climbing literature, known to many climbers as simply "The Book", and has served as an inspiration for more recent climbing books, such as Mark Kroese's Fifty Favorite Climbs . Though much of the book's contents are now out of date, it is still recognized as a definitive text which goes beyond

135-451: Is the rarest plant in Washington , and is now on the endangered species list. Fred Beckey Friedrich Wolfgang Beckey (14 January 1923 – 30 October 2017), known as Fred Beckey , was an American rock climber, mountaineer and book author, who in seven decades of climbing achieved hundreds of first ascents of some of the tallest peaks and most important routes throughout Alaska,

162-418: The 50 classics'. Nevertheless, the book brought great popularity to many of the routes it featured, and prospective climbers pursuing one of the "fifty classics" often found crowds on the more accessible climbs and unexpected company on the more remote routes, earning them the nickname "Fifty Crowded Climbs". No one person has yet climbed all fifty routes. This has been attributed to the difficulty of some of

189-685: The Canadian Rockies and the Pacific Northwest . Among the Fifty Classic Climbs of North America , seven were established by Beckey, often climbing with some of the best known climbers of each generation. Beckey was born in 1923 near Düsseldorf , Germany to Klaus Beckey, a surgeon, and Marta Maria Beckey who was an opera singer. In 1925 economic hardships due to hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic forced his family to emigrate to

216-764: The Columbia River , then down the Columbia River to Interstate 90 , then west along the highway to the vicinity of Cle Elum and Roslyn , then north along Cle Elum Lake and the Cle Elum River and north to Stevens Pass. Subranges of the Wenatchee Mountains and their highest peaks as defined by Peakbagger.com are the Chiwaukum Mountains ( Big Chiwaukum Mountain , 8,501 feet (2,591 m)), North Wenatchee Mountains (Cashmere Mountain, 8,501 feet (2,591 m)), Stuart Range (Mount Stuart, 9,415 feet (2,870 m)),

243-668: The Enchantment Lakes Basin ("one of the most marvelous examples of an ice-sculpted wilderness in the Cascade Range″), Icicle Creek and its narrow, U-shaped valley over 6,000 feet (1,800 m) deep, one of the deepest in the Cascades, and the Wenatchee River's unusual winding Tumwater Canyon gorge. According to Peakbagger.com the Wenatchee Mountains are defined as bounded by U.S. Route 2 from Stevens Pass to Wenatchee on

270-628: The 2017 Banff Mountain Film Festival ; the Best Mountaineering Film at the 2017 Kendal Mountain Film Festival ; and, the People's Choice Award at the 2017 Banff Mountain Book Festival . Mount Beckey, a previously unnamed, 8,500-foot peak in remote West-Central Alaska Range ( 62°51′20″N 152°8′15″W  /  62.85556°N 152.13750°W  / 62.85556; -152.13750 ),

297-691: The North Cascades, which was considered unclimbable at the time. In 1942, the teenage Beckey brothers snatched a second ascent of Mount Waddington , which was then considered the most difficult climb in North America. Beckey followed that with many more first ascents of summits in the Olympic and North Cascade ranges. In 1942 he joined 10th Mountain Division , based in Colorado, and served as an instructor. After

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324-673: The Northwest Boundary Survey at Yale University ; and records of the Northern Pacific and Great Northern railroads in Minneapolis . Beckey continued climbing when over 90 years old. His life was the subject of a 2017 documentary, directed by David O'Leske and produced by Patagonia , called Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey . The film won over 26 international awards, including: the Best Feature Mountain Film at

351-674: The Teanaway Area ( Ingalls Peak , 7,662 feet (2,335 m)), and the Mission-Naneum Ridges (Mission Peak, 6,876 feet (2,096 m)). Peakbagger.com also defines and names the mountain regions bordering the Wenatchee Mountains. These are the Alpine Lakes Area to the west, South Cascade Crest to the south, Glacier Peak-North Stevens Pass area to the northwest, and the Entiat Mountains to the northeast. The USGS GNIS defines

378-676: The United States, settling in Seattle , Washington . His brother, Helmut "Helmy" Beckey, was born in Seattle in 1926 and would later become Fred's frequent climbing partner. At age twelve, Fred Beckey climbed Boulder Peak in the Cascades by himself, after wandering off on a family camping trip. Afterwards, his family signed him up with the Boy Scouts where he learned the basic concepts of climbing. Later he joined The Mountaineers . In 1939, at sixteen, Fred and two friends climbed 7,292-foot Mount Despair in

405-563: The Wenatchee Mountains, modifying the plant communities in those areas. The Wenatchee Mountains are home to a number of rare , endemic , or disjunct plant species, including Androsace nivalis var. dentata , Claytonia megarhiza var. nivalis , Delphinium viridescens , Lewisiopsis tweedyi , Trifolium thompsonii , and Valeriana columbiana . The Wenatchee Mountains checkermallow ( Sidalcea oregano var. calva ) occurs only along Peshastin Creek, south of Leavenworth, Washington . It

432-476: The dreams of the various pioneers sometimes filter through the narrative." Roper and Steck received the American Alpine Club 's 1995 Literary Award for the book and for their other works such as The Best of Ascent . To choose the list of climbs, the coauthors solicited opinions from a number of leading climbers of the era, narrowing a list of more than 100 climbs according to three basic criteria: that

459-448: The expedition his tentmate developed cerebral edema at 23,000 feet on the night before they were to attempt the summit. Beckey descended in the blizzard to get help, but was later blamed by his teammates for abandoning his partner, who was rescued by others. Consequently although Beckey seemed a likely choice as a member for first American Everest Expedition in 1963, he was never invited by his ex-teammates. Afterwards Beckey shied away from

486-964: The history of the region, Range of Glaciers , was published by the Oregon Historical Society Press. According to a reviewer, he did much of the research for the volume in Washington, D.C. , at the Library of Congress and the National Archives, scouring files of the State Department, U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies. Beckey also perused the Canadian archives in Ottawa , Ontario; Hudson's Bay Co. archives in Winnipeg, Manitoba ; British Columbia archives in Victoria, British Columbia ; records of

513-437: The large team efforts abroad, preferring smaller alpine-style undertakings alone or with a few companions seeking out America's last unclimbed peaks or striking routes considered too difficult to climb. He often climbed 40 or 50 different summits a year, and over the decades managed to achieve nearly one thousand first ascents. In the late 1940s, he asked The Mountaineers of Seattle to publish his first climbing guidebook for

540-567: The local peaks. They turned him down, and the American Alpine Club agreed to print a few thousand copies for a flat fee. Between climbs, he wrote several books, most notably the Cascade Alpine Guide , the definitive three-volume description of the Cascades from the Columbia River to the Fraser River , now in its third edition, published by The Mountaineers. In 2003, his 563-page book on

567-402: The peak or route appear striking from afar, have a noteworthy climbing history, and offer climbing of excellent quality. Precedence was given to climbing quality over appearance and appearance over historical significance. In order to judge the historical significance and continuing popularity, routes were limited for the most part to those first ascended before 1970. A lower limit on the length of

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594-515: The range with a simple list seven points in a line, running from approximately Paddy-Go-Easy Pass and Granite Mountain to approximately Blewett Pass and Naneum Creek . Partial list of peaks: Download coordinates as: The Wenatchee Mountains are in the rain shadow of the main Cascade Range and hence are drier and have fewer trees. This comparative lack of trees offers good wildflower displays and wide views. Serpentine soils are found within

621-470: The route, at 500 feet, was also established. Steck and Roper had personally ascended or attempted most of the selected routes. The list of fifty climbs has served as a challenge to climbers, providing them with a "tick list" of challenging routes that span a wide section of western North America. Author Steve Roper has emphasized that the climbs were chosen from a list of about 120 climbs he and Steck considered classic, and are simply '50 classic climbs', not '

648-456: The traditional guidebook. The first edition was published in 1979, by Sierra Club Books in the United States and in Great Britain by the now-defunct Diadem Books. This was followed by a paperback printing by Random House in 1981. Two subsequent editions (with the same content) were published by Sierra Club Books in 1982 and 1996. Between 1979 and 1999 it sold nearly thirty thousand copies,

675-626: The war, Beckey studied business administration at the University of Washington , while still spending a lot of time climbing mountain ranges in the Northwest and desert rock formations in the Southwest. After graduation in 1949 he worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and became a print shop sales representative. However, he soon discovered that his work interfered with his climbing. For

702-442: Was a quintessential dirtbag climber , well captured by a classic portrait of him by Corey Rich from 2004 Patagonia 's Fall catalog, where he is trying to hitchhike while holding a sign "Will belay for food". His reputation is well known among many climbers, captured in a T-shirt "Beware of Beckey: He will steal your woman, steal your route." Fifty Classic Climbs of North America Fifty Classic Climbs of North America

729-451: Was named after Beckey, after he, Calvin Hebert and John Middendorf climbed it in 1996. Fred Beckey died of congestive heart failure , in Seattle, on October 30, 2017 at the age of 94. Partial list of notable first ascents: Timothy Egan captures Fred Beckey's personality in a chapter of The Good Rain . Beckey named Vasiliki Ridge , by Washington Pass, after his one true love. Beckey

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