By Edwin Swift Balch
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Customer tags: hiking, denali, glacier, edwin swift balch, frontier alaska, mount mckinley, hisotrical mountaineering stories, alaska, climbing, dog sled, alaskan history, denali national park
Review & Description
One hundred years ago, society was in an uproar, with controversy brewing over some of the last serious expedition objectives in the world. Did Frederick Cook really pull off two major coups in polar exploration by reaching the North Pole before Peary and by climbing Mount McKinley before several years before Hudson Stuck? While many denounce Cook as a fraud, the controversy over who actually climbed Denali first has been simmering for the last century.
Established outdoor author, Edwin Swift Balch, waded into the debate by publishing Mountain Climbers’ Proofs which is an in depth expose of the claims of the first four expeditions to attempt Denali: Frederick Cook in 1906, Thomas Lloyd in 1910, Belmore Brown in 1912, and Hudson Stuck in 1913. This book details each expedition and is required reading for all mountaineering history aficionados.
The Sierra Club Bulletin reviewed Balch’s book in January, 1916: The Mount McKinley controversy is reopened by Edwin Swift Balch in a very interesting monograph entitled “Mount McKinley and Mountain Climber’s Proofs.” Mr. Balch is himself a noted mountaineer and traveler, and his word carries with it the authority of experience. . . . The case for Dr. Cook is strengthened by the fact that his account of the climb was published long before that of any of the others. In Mr. Balch’s opinion the “facts seem to be that the four climbers who say they have been on or nearly on the top of Mount McKinley told the truth, as well as they knew how, about their experiences. That Cook, Lloyd, Brown and Stuck, reporting as they do , though in different words, much the same facts and much the same experiences, corroborate one another.” The discussion of Dr. Cook’s disputed photograph of the summit would have been aided by a reproduction of that photograph and the alleged parallel by Dr. Browne. The last words has not been spoken on the subject, but Mr. Balch’s able presentation of one of the most confused and disputed cases of mountaineering history deserves the careful consideration of all who are interested in the first ascent of America’s greatest mountain.
One hundred years ago, society was in an uproar, with controversy brewing over some of the last serious expedition objectives in the world. Did Frederick Cook really pull off two major coups in polar exploration by reaching the North Pole before Peary and by climbing Mount McKinley before several years before Hudson Stuck? While many denounce Cook as a fraud, the controversy over who actually climbed Denali first has been simmering for the last century.
Established outdoor author, Edwin Swift Balch, waded into the debate by publishing Mountain Climbers’ Proofs which is an in depth expose of the claims of the first four expeditions to attempt Denali: Frederick Cook in 1906, Thomas Lloyd in 1910, Belmore Brown in 1912, and Hudson Stuck in 1913. This book details each expedition and is required reading for all mountaineering history aficionados.
The Sierra Club Bulletin reviewed Balch’s book in January, 1916: The Mount McKinley controversy is reopened by Edwin Swift Balch in a very interesting monograph entitled “Mount McKinley and Mountain Climber’s Proofs.” Mr. Balch is himself a noted mountaineer and traveler, and his word carries with it the authority of experience. . . . The case for Dr. Cook is strengthened by the fact that his account of the climb was published long before that of any of the others. In Mr. Balch’s opinion the “facts seem to be that the four climbers who say they have been on or nearly on the top of Mount McKinley told the truth, as well as they knew how, about their experiences. That Cook, Lloyd, Brown and Stuck, reporting as they do , though in different words, much the same facts and much the same experiences, corroborate one another.” The discussion of Dr. Cook’s disputed photograph of the summit would have been aided by a reproduction of that photograph and the alleged parallel by Dr. Browne. The last words has not been spoken on the subject, but Mr. Balch’s able presentation of one of the most confused and disputed cases of mountaineering history deserves the careful consideration of all who are interested in the first ascent of America’s greatest mountain.
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