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3.12.07
The Last Explorer
When Bradford Washburn passed away in January at age 96, the
founder of Boston's Museum of Science left behind a legacy as one of New
England's great adventurers.
by
Dan Mathers
For Bradford
Washburn, even taking photographs was an exercise in adventure.
To capture his striking aerial mountain images, Washburn would
take the side door off a single-engine airplane. He’d then strap
himself and his camera –weighing 50 pounds – in the opening and
fly up to 20,000 feet, where he needed to suck on a bottle of
oxygen to keep from passing out. He would then shoot while
braving frigid temperatures and with powerful winds shaking the
fuselage around him.
What resulted were some of the most amazing mountain images to
date. And Washburn was called “a roving genius of mind and
mountains” by Ansel Adams, who knew a thing or two about
photography.
Washburn died in January at the age of 96. The native of
Cambridge, Massachusetts, was a legendary mountaineer, a
renowned photographer, cartographer, and the founder of the
Boston Museum of Science. He leaves a legacy as one of New
England’s greatest 20th-Century explorers.
In mountaineering circles, Washburn was known for his
exploration of Alaska. He is credited with seven first ascents
of North American peaks, and in 1947 he became the first person
to summit Mount McKinley twice. He created the West Buttress
Route up McKinley, which is arguably the easiest route up the
mountain and one which thousands of climbers have since used.
Washburn was as skilled at cartography as he was at photography
and mountaineering. He created what many still believe to be the
definitive maps of New Hampshire’s Presidential Range and the
Grand Canyon. Even at age 89, he was part of a U.S. team using
climbers and Global Positioning Satellites to determine Mount
Everest’s exact height. And it was Washburn who made the
announcement that Everest was 7 feet taller than previously
measured. |
