1951 Pioneering of Denali's West Buttress by Bradford and Barbara Washburn

United States🏔️ 1 Peak

Barbara Washburn

Born on November 10, 1914, in Boston, Massachusetts, Barbara Polk graduated from Smith College in 1935 and began working as a secretary at Harvard University. In 1940, she married mountaineer and cartographer Bradford Washburn, setting off on what became a legendary partnership in science, exploration, and mountaineering. Although she had no formal climbing background prior to marriage, Washburn quickly demonstrated remarkable high-altitude endurance, technical competence, and serene composure on steep glaciated terrain. In 1940, during their honeymoon, she made the first ascent of Mount Bertha (3,110 m) in the Fairweather Range of Alaska. In 1941, she completed the first ascent of Mount Hayes (4,216 m), then the highest unclimbed peak in the eastern Alaska Range. In 1947, joining Operation White Tower, a joint military and scientific expedition to Denali, Washburn reached the 6,190-metre summit on June 6, becoming the first woman to stand atop the highest peak in North America. In 1951, she returned to Denali to co-pioneer the groundbreaking West Buttress route, spending weeks at high camps conducting theodolite survey readings for the Boston Museum of Science's seminal maps. Washburn also played an integral role in mapping the Grand Canyon and Mount Everest. She authored the celebrated memoir The Accidental Adventurer and was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2009 before passing away in September 2014 at the age of ninety-nine.

United States🏔️ 1 Peak

Bradford Washburn

Born on June 7, 1910, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Bradford Washburn began climbing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Alps during his teenage years, completing ascents of the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc. Earning degrees from Harvard University, Washburn pioneered the use of large-format aerial photography for high-mountain mapping, capturing breathtaking black-and-white vistas of Alaskan glaciated peaks while hanging out the open doors of airplanes in sub-zero winds. In 1937, Washburn completed the heroic first ascent of Mount Lucania (5,226 m) in the Yukon with Robert Bates, surviving an epic 150-mile wilderness trek after being abandoned by their bush pilot. Over four decades, Washburn led numerous expeditions into the Alaska Range. In 1951, collaborating with bush pilot Don Sheldon, Washburn pioneered the use of ski-equipped airplanes to land on the Kahiltna Glacier, establishing the West Buttress route on Denali alongside his wife Barbara Washburn and fellow climbers. This masterstroke avoided the perilous Muldrow Glacier approach and became the classic global standard route on the mountain. Serving as director of the Boston Museum of Science for over four decades, Washburn produced peerless topographical maps of the Grand Canyon, Denali, and Mount Everest, using laser theodolites and satellite geodesy. Washburn passed away in January 2007, remembered as one of the most prolific and visionary figures in twentieth-century mountaineering and cartography.