Had a cool little encounter in Talkeetna. We were in the get-ready shed over at Talkeetna Air Taxi, and a climber there mentioned he was headed out on a climb with Fred Beckey. Fred and I are old friends from numerous encounters over the years, so it was pretty exciting to see the guy. He’s in his 80s and still climbing, which is pretty inspiring. So I got Louie over there and we spoke for some time about what else but climbing?
Fred was especially interested in how we were doing our crevasse rigging. He described his system, and I did learn a few things. We also spoke for some time about what rando bindings worked best for climbing boots (still the wire toe Silvrettas). I’d always heard you can meet lots of interesting climbers in Talkeetna, glad to see the place is holding up its reputation. And best wishes to Fred and his friends for their climb, which sounds like it could be fun.
Fred Beckey and Louie Dawson
7 comments
That is awesome on so many levels- how cool is it that Louie and your crew got to hang with an elder of the climbing tribe!
Geo
Fred is one in a million. Very cool he is still active as a climber.
Hi Joe et al. Love reading the blogs and will continue each day. Talk to Debbie most days via text or email. Know you are having a blast. Take care. Kathy
I still recall a comment of Fred’s while we were on a trip in the Canadian Rockies. A friend asked, “Fred, what’s your favorite area up here?” Fred’s response: “Ehhh. They’re all good.” Yep. The mountain sage. Sorry we missed the ski tour this winter.
Wonderful! Can’t think of a finer chance encounter.
Best of luck to both expeditions.
Rob
It’s B-E-C-K-E-Y.
Tom, thanks, sorry about that, am fixing. Now that I’m back and can access blog in admin mode, I’m going back through all the posts and doing some editing, and perhaps adding a few more photos. Also, stay tuned for more posts as we progress on our road trip.
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