Had a cool little encounter in Talkeetna. We were in the get-ready shed over at Talkeetna Air Taxi Fred Beckey 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. He shouted me out when I walked past him, amazing how he remembers faces, 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 learned a few things from the old master. We also spoke for some time about what rando bindings worked best for climbing boots (still the classic 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
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
