July 24, 2005, "the last raclette"

In the Swiss and French Alps, raclette is a type of cheese, a meal based on said cheese, or a party based on such a meal. For the past 25 years or so, my friend Kay Spickard (who lives in Gstaad and is married to Swiss guide Hansueli Matti) has hosted a summer party of this nature at her mom Jo's home on Mercer Island, but with Jo's passing a few months ago, this was to be the final chapter in the raclette story at the old home. Kay's dad, Warren G. Spickard, who died in a climbing accident in 1961, will be remembered by old-timers as one of the pioneers of ski touring routes on Rainier and in the North Cascades, as well as one of the original planners and investors in Crystal Mt.<br><br>Guests included Peter Giese (son of ski legend Hans Otto Giese), Bob and Betsey Withington and their daughter, former US Team member Tori, and all the surviving Spickard offspring, and the conversation touched on many past trips and mutual friends, including Ron Fear, Marty Hoy, and Mark Bebie who perished in the mountains doing what they loved.<br><br>Highlight of the evening was inspecting the Spickard's ski room (Jo never threw away anything), still full of Warren's gear from before the day - a quiver of 75-85cm wood-shafted ice axes that must have weighed five pounds each, 215cm Kneissl Red Stars with Marker non-releasing turntables, 220cm Head Comps with Rotomats and W.G. Spickard engraved on them, old Austrian wooden "approach" skis, never mounted, and on and on . . .<br><br>

Thanks for the report Greg! Sure a lot of familiar names there.<br><br>I've never met the Spickards, but I have a film by Chuck Hessey made in 1957 ( "Glacier Peak Holiday" ) which has footage of 13-year-old Linda Spickard (mentioned by name) descending the Cache Glacier with her dad and Duke Watson after a climb of Magic Mountain. The film also includes footage of Watson and Spickard leading a large group of children, roped together, across the steep slopes above Cascade Pass. I bet some of those children were at the raclette. I'd be happy to show the Spickards this film sometime, if desired.<br><br>It's amazing what a small world the Seattle ski community is. Mark Bebie was my roommate and main climbing partner in the early 1980s before I got married. I didn't know he was a friend of the Spickards.

Everyone pretty much knew everyone at Crystal in the early days; I grew up skiing with Mark and Wendy Bebie as CMAC kids. Unfortunately Linda died of cancer a few years ago, but I'll mention the film to the rest of the "kids" when I see them.

A bit of trivia: There's a peak near Washington Pass called Wamihaspi or "Blue Lake Peak" in Fred Beckey's red guide. From Duke Watson's journals, I learned that the peak was named in 1960 after the first ascent party: Watson, Milnor, Hall and Spickard. Duke told me that Warren Spickard liked to come up with clever names. In this case, I'd say they snuck one past Fred Beckey. Wamihaspi is not an indian name. <br>