Category Archives: Mountaineering

Towards a Definition of Backcountry Skiing

Posted on January 9, 2023 by ahcadmin

Recently while researching at the American Heritage Center, I discovered the papers of a living legend who, nearly fifty years ago, attempted to describe one of the more significant modern developments in outdoor recreation. I am referring to William Morse … Continue reading →

Posted in Mountaineering, outdoor recreation, Sports and Recreation, Uncategorized, Wyoming history | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Being Lothar Kolbig

Posted on July 5, 2021 by ahcadmin

I want to be like Lothar Kolbig when I grow up, to have as many adventures around the world as he did. It is quite apparent that the overarching theme of his life was seasoned by a spirit of wanderlust … Continue reading →

Posted in Explorers, Mountaineering, Rock climbing, Uncategorized, World exploration | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Hair-Raising Ascent – Free Soloing the Grand Teton

Posted on May 3, 2021 by ahcadmin

Today’s mountain climbers would call it free soloing, but in August 1923 it was simply three college students who were short on equipment. Brashly, they believed they could summit the Grand Teton. David DeLap had taken up mountain climbing on … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital collections, Grand Tetons, Mountaineering, Uncategorized, Wyoming history | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Finis Mitchell (and Matthew Troyanek) Trailing through the Wind Rivers

Posted on November 15, 2020 by ahcadmin

In my preparations to become a backpacker seeking adventures in Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains, my research led me to take the footsteps of a man from the golden age of American mountaineering, whose chronicles and photographs bade me to these … Continue reading →

Posted in environmental history, Mountaineering, outdoor recreation, Photographic collections, Wyoming history | Tagged , | Leave a comment

No Mountain Too High: The Climbs of Betsy Cowles Partridge

Posted on November 28, 2018 by ahcadmin

Three years before Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Nargay made their famous ascent of Mount Everest in 1953[1], Elizabeth “Betsy” Cowles Partridge, an intrepid woman from Colorado Springs, Colorado, was part of an American Expedition exploring a route to conquer … Continue reading →

Posted in found in the archive, Grand Tetons, International Collections, Mountaineering, Uncategorized, women's history | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Who Climbed the Grand Teton First?

Posted on August 11, 2018 by ahcadmin

One hundred and twenty years ago, on August 11, 1898, William O. Owen (federal surveyor and outdoorsman), Reverend Franklin Spencer Spalding, and Jackson Hole ranchers Frank L. Petersen and John S. “Jack” Shive made an ascent of the Grand Teton by way … Continue reading →

Posted in found in the archive, Grand Tetons, Mountaineering, Uncategorized, Western history, Wyoming history | Tagged | 2 Comments