The Mountaineers Historic Films

The Mountaineers History Committee has been working for several years to preserve films held by the club and other Northwest mountaineers. The Committee is preparing a grant request to support physical preservation, digital video transfer, and creation of on-line finding aids for nearly 200 films. We expect to carry out this work in partnership with the University of Washington.

To support our grant request, the History Committee has prepared over 40 video clips of selected films and posted them on the Mountaineers website:

www.alpenglow.org/mountaineers-history/cat/movies-film.html

These videos are typically two to three minutes long. For sound films, we've pulled a single clip from each film. For silent films, we edited each video like a trailer, a story in miniature. These clips were prepared for films that we have already transferred to digital video. As you can see from the complete list, there are a lot more films that have never been digitized. Most of them haven't been seen for over fifty years, and they're bound to hold delightful surprises.

I'm posting this message to increase awareness of The Mountaineers films and to build support for their preservation. Take a few minutes to look at some of these films. (It's a great way to blow a lunch hour or two.) I hope you'll agree that they represent an important historical legacy for Northwest mountaineering. Perservation of these films is a long-term effort, and the collection offers opportunities that have not been explored. If you'd like to help work with the Mountaineers History Committee on these films, or if you know of other films that deserve to be preserved, feel free to contact me.

--Lowell Skoog
Mountaineers History Committee chairman

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Here are links to a few of my favorite clips:

1928: Like Washington crossing the Delaware, Edmond Meany crosses the Skagit, click here .
1930: Called forth by Ned's bugle, The Mountaineers encircle Rainier, click here .
1930: On Whitehorse Mtn, how not to glissade with an alpenstock, click here .
1932: At the basecamp below Mt Hood, McKee is deloused, click here .
1938: Dwight Watson and Sigurd Hall ski Mt St Helens, Glacier Peak, and Eldorado Peak, click here .
1939: Otto Trott, Andy Hennig, Sigurd Hall, and the Beckey brothers climb Mt Shuksan, click here .
1940: Jim Crooks and Fred Beckey scale The Tooth, click here .
1949: Fred Beckey and Pete Schoening demonstrate tricks of the crag rats, click here .
1955: Bob and Ira Spring go Skiing Above the Clouds, click here .
1956: Chuck and Marion Hessey ski Cascade Wilderness, click here .
1957: Climbing the Daiber way with Ome and Matie, click here .
1959: Chuck Hessey shares skiing at Crystal Mtn, before chairlifts, click here .

Thanks Lowell!

Now I know what I'm doing for lunch...

-Dave

Thanks Lowell.

Thanks Lowell! I love "Crystal Mountain and You". The whole basin was so wide open back then...

I also like the brief scene of the old Miners Basin cabin. That cabin stood for at least a decade (maybe two) right next to Chair 1 after the ski area opened. I don't remember exactly when it was removed.

It burned down. The cause of the fire I think is unknown. It was known as the party cabin for some time. Visitors leaving their bottles and crap. To bad that piece of history is gone.

Thanks for putting the effort into getting these clips online with links.
Sure is good stuff.
The skiers of those days had some pretty good skills with the low top boots, cable bindings longs skis with screw on edges. And that's talking about their modern gear.
My dad had a ski rental shop in the basement of his hardware store and got a deal on a lot of the older gear to rent. We got the leftover stuff to ski on.

There is some cool stuff in there. Thanks for sharing!