Published May 1, 2006 09:29AM
The new museum of American mountaineering, slated to open in Golden, Colorado, in the winter of 2007-08, will be named for pioneering mountain photographer and cartographer Bradford Washburn. The Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum is a joint venture of the American Alpine Club and the Colorado Mountain Club, and will be an affiliate site of the National Geographic Society. The 3,000-square-foot museum will detail the history of climbing and the role that Americans have played in it, along with current achievements and issues facing climbers.
Washburn, 95, is best known to climbers for his striking black-and-white aerial photos of the Alaska Range, and for pioneering the West Buttress Route, the most popular route on North America’s highest mountain. Washburn was director of the Boston Museum of Science for many years, and he continued his interest in mountain cartography throughout his career, creating beautiful maps of Denali and Mt. Everest. His 14-square-foot scale model of Everest will be a centerpiece of the new museum.Comment on this story