Denali's Howl: The Deadliest Climbing Disaster on America's Wildest Peak (21 page)

The Wilcox Expedition

Auburn, Washington:
E-mail exchange with David Cooley, childhood friend and climbing partner of John Russell, December 2013.

CHAPTER 1:
Those Who Came Before

the Big One, the High One, the Great One
:
Donald J. Orth, ed.,
Dictionary of Alaska Place Names
(Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1971), 610.

superstitious horror of even approaching glacial ice
:
A. H. Brooks, “An Exploration to Mt. McKinley, America’s Highest Mountain,”
Journal of Geography
2, no. 9 (1903): 441–69.

Ruth Gap marks its southern edge
:
Author interview with Denali guide Brian Okonek, Talkeetna, AK, October 2013.

12,000 feet from base to summit
:
Bryce S. Walker, ed.,
Reader’s Digest Illustrated World Atlas
(Pleasantville, NY: The Readers Digest Association, 1997), 122.

lowlands of interior Alaska
:
Orth,
Dictionary of Alaska Place Names,
61.

35-million-year-old granite intrusion
:
Bradford Washburn,
Guide to the Muldrow Glacier,
unpublished
,
Daryl Miller Collection, 2.

Bolshaya Gora, or Big Mountain
:
Orth,
Dictionary of Alaska Place Names,
345.

“bounded by distant stupendous snow mountains”
:
Ibid., 610.

known among prospectors as Densmore’s Peak
:
Ibid.

was for exploration and mountaineering
:
Frank Norris,
Crown Jewel of the North: An Administrative History of Denali National Park and Preserve,
vol. 2 (Anchorage: Alaska Regional Office National Park Service, 2006), 253.

“At my request he tells them”:
James Wickersham,
Old Yukon: Tales—Trails—and Trials
(Washington, DC: Washington Law Book Co., 1938), 223.

“
I was then convinced”
:
Diary of James Wickersham, June 21, 1903, entry, Alaska State Library, Juneau, AK, Historical Collections, MS 107, Diary 6, 13.

Snow falls down to 6,000 feet
:
National Park Service, “Denali: Photography,”
nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/photography.htm [accessed December 6, 2013].

permanently snow-covered vertical reliefs
:
Washburn,
Muldrow Glacier,
2; Okonek interview, October 2013.

the fourth relying on a tent pole
:
Okonek interview, October 2013.

“As I brushed the frost”
:
Belmore Browne,
The Conquest of Mount McKinley
(New York: GP Putnam and Sons, 1913), 344.

just 200 feet lower than the summit
:
Okonek interview, October 2013.

“Cold & Clear. ‘Hurrah’”
:
Harry Karstens,
The First Ascent of Mount McKinley, 1913. A Verbatim Copy of the Diary of Harry P. Karstens, Preface and Footnotes by Bradford Washburn
(New York: American Alpine Journal, 1969), 347.

“it was
plain and prominent”
:
Hudson Stuck,
The Ascent of Denali (Mount McKinley)
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1918), 173.

Shakshanee Ish had lived in Sitka
:
Arrest record for Shakshanee Ish from the Sitka jail, undated, George Hall collection.

already listed our house with a Realtor
:
George Hall, interview by Kristen Griffen, tape recording, June 3, 1999, Alaska Regional Curatorial Center, Anchorage, DENA40001, Series II Box 31, Folder 17.

CHAPTER 2:
What Makes an Expedition?

“I was rather non-gregarious”
:
Joe Wilcox,
White Winds
(Los Alamitos, CA: Hwong Publishing Company, 1981), 14.

in a snowcat measuring ice thickness
:
Undated letter from Jerry Clark to Joe Wilcox, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 110.

he was a smart and careful climber
:
Handwritten letter from Joe Wilcox to Vin Hoeman, October 25, 1967, Grace and John Vincent Hoeman papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska–Anchorage.

“Every person will be expected”
:
Pretrip update letter from Joe Wilcox to potential expedition members November 16, 1966, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 107.

“primarily because
I conceived of it”
:
Wilcox,
White Winds,
14.

“I was a bit uncomfortable”
:
Ibid., 15.

longtime editor of
National Geographic
:
Norris,
Crown Jewel of the North
, 258.

photo expeditions to the mountain in 1937 and 1938
:
Ibid., 259.

looking for a new route to the summit
:
Author interview with Mike Sfraga, PhD, Anchorage, December 2012.

“Dear Dr. Washburn”
:
Letter from Joe Wilcox to Bradford Washburn, May 12, 1967, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 111.

“Dear Mr. Wilcox”:
Letter from Bradford Washburn to Joe Wilcox, May 17, 1967, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 111.

“Here I’ve got this guy”
:
Hall, Griffen interview, June 3, 1999.

“In chatting with Mr. Wilcox”
:
Letter from Bradford Washburn to George Hall, June 12, 1967, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 111.

“crevasse rescue, belays”
:
Letter from Chief Ranger Art Hayes to Joe Wilcox, May 10, 1967, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 111.

“It is my intention”
:
Letter from Howard Snyder to Jerry Clark, May 11, 1967, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA26657, Box 18.

“We had to either combine”
:
Howard Snyder,
The Hall of the Mountain King
(New York: Scribner, 1973), 10.

left Boulder for Mount Rainier
:
Ibid., 13.

CHAPTER 3:
A Dozen Kids

stores gathering last-minute supplies
:
Wilcox,
White Winds
, 44.

Humorous yet functional garb
:
Ibid., 47.

“I just don’t feel good about it”
:
Ibid., 49.

“like a Hong Kong tailor”
:
Snyder,
The Hall of the Mountain King
, 13.

“You’ve got two guys ”
:
Author telephone interview with Paul Schlichter, February 2013.

Some of Steve’s reasons
:
Wilcox,
White Winds
, 52.

“apparent lack of basic mountaineering knowledge”
:
Snyder,
The Hall of the Mountain King
, 17.

“Wilcox was under no obligation”
:
Author interview with Wayne Merry, Atlin, British Columbia, March 2012.

and finally waved them through
:
Author telephone interview with Howard Snyder, May 1, 2013.

climbed to get high
:
Author telephone interview with Joe Wilcox, September 2013.

“The Hankmobile and the Green Bomb”
:
Wilcox,
White Winds
, 55.

stopped for the night at Wolf Creek
:
Snyder,
The Hall of the Mountain King,
19.

was a McLaughlin creation
:
Wilcox to Hoeman, October 25, 1967.

“This last fall”
:
Undated Letter from Mark McLaughlin to Joe Wilcox, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 110.

took a more conservative approach
:
Wilcox to Hoeman, October 25, 1967.

“If all goes well, I should have the THING”
:
Letter from Dennis Luchterhand to Joe Wilcox, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 110.

“Sometime in the next few years”
:
Ibid.

“some of the greatest moments of my life”
:
Letter from Hank Janes to Joe Wilcox, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 110.

“I feel that I can be of more help”
:
Ibid.

“My parents don’t think it such a swinging idea”
:
Letter from Steve Taylor to Joe Wilcox, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 110.

“Brad is a no gooder”
:
Wilcox
, White Winds,
56.

“I first learned to water ski”
:
Letter from Walt Taylor to Joe Wilcox, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 110.

“scrambling as opposed to climbing”
:
Letter from Anshel Schiff to Joe Wilcox, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 110.

not to reach the summit
:
Author interview with Joe Wilcox, Kailua-Kona, HI, March 2012.

“He was a fighter from conception”
:
Handwritten letter from Jane O. Russell to Vin Hoeman, October 15, 1967, Grace and John Vincent Hoeman papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska–Anchorage.

began calling himself John Russell
:
Author telephone interview with David Cooley, May 2013.

“at which time he was a complete beatnik”:
Russell to Hoeman, October 15, 1967.

“I have in the past carried load[s]”
:
Letter from John Russell to Joe Wilcox, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 110.

had meandered off of the road in his sleep
:
Wilcox,
White Winds
, 56.

“Gee, maybe I’d be happier”
:
Schlichter telephone interview, February 2013.

“Look there”
:
Snyder,
The Hall of the Mountain King,
20.

“The ranger at the Information Center”
:
Ibid., 21.

CHAPTER 4:
Trouble at the Base

including communications with climbers
:
Author telephone interview with William Babcock, April 2013.

The radios weren’t compatible
:
Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 107.

Hayes arranged to borrow a CB radio
:
Letter from Arthur Hayes to Jerry Clark, May 18, 1967, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 111.

With the rough communications schedule mapped out
:
Wilcox,
White Winds
, 59.

“After reading Brad Washburn’s unusually hot letter”
 . . . “Basically, Wilcox ran afoul”:
Memorandum from Wayne Merry to George Hall, May 22, 1967, Denali National Park and Preserve Museum Collection, DENA13611, 1967 Wilcox Expedition, Folder 111.

“On paper, you are the best organized party”:
Wilcox,
White Winds,
60.

“We seem to be a loose collection”
:
Ibid., 61.

“No one even opens cans with gusto”
:
Snyder,
The Hall of the Mountain,
23.

beyond the means of the young men
:
Wilcox interview, March 2012.

“Dad told us they weren’t happy”
:
Author interview with Baxter Mercer, Healy, AK, November 2012.

“in a continual state of depression”
 . . . “literally worrying him sick”:
Snyder,
The Hall of the Mountain King,
25.

“I think psychologically he just wasn’t ready”
:
Schlichter telephone interview, February 2013.

“At a couple of places going up there”
:
Mercer interview, November 2012.

dawdled incompetently
:
Snyder,
The Hall of the Mountain King,
28.

he had been goaded, ridiculed, insulted
:
Wilcox,
White Winds,
70.