Tacoma Mountaineers' 100th Birthday: March 19, 2012!
The Tacoma Branch of The Mountaineers' first meeting was a joint gathering with the Tacoma Camera Club March 19, 1912 in the Tacoma YMCA Auditorium. The meeting featured "lantern slides... of woodland scenes and scenes in the Colorado mountains".
The Tacoma Branch has come a long way over the past 100 years. We hope you'll join us to celebrate the outdoors, and our club's 100th birthday, as we wind through 2012.
Follow our branch history and activity planning leading up to our 100th Birthday Celebration at our Centennial Blog
Centennial Activities
History of Tacoma Mountaineers Activities
Wilma Peterson, our Club Historian, has been working hard to put together information about the history of our Club, including the many different activities, from Salmon Bakes, to Hiking, Climbing, and Kayaking Courses, to Singles, to Campcrafters, to Running, to Folkdancing. And the list goes on and on. It's unbelievable just how many different things that the Tacoma Mountaineers have been involved in over the last 100 years.
I invite you to explore the articles below. It is a record of our amazing past and gives us a chance to think about where we are headed from here. It's been a wonderful adventure so far and will continue well into the many decades ahead.
Wilma is also working on a collection of the many fascinating people that have been a part of our Club. There will be a binder of this collection of articles placed in the Clubhouse when our new Tacoma Program Center is dedicated.
I want to thank Wilma for all of her hard work and dedication in pulling all of this history together and writing about it. It is a timeless record of who we are. Thank you, Wilma. - Debbie Due
Tacoma Centennial Local Walk - Point Defiance Park May 12, 2012
To celebrate our 100th Anniversary we are planning several outings and recreations of past events to honor the achievements of our members.
After Tacoma Branch inauguration "Local Walks" were very active and popular focus of the new Branch. The first local walk (of note) was held on May 12, 1912 at American Lake.
In commemoration of that notable event, the Centennial Committee will hold a Local Walk at Point Defiance Park on May 12, 2012. As an easy hike and a social event, it will incorporate a 1912 costume contest and a potluck picnic following the hike. This walk will follow the majority of the outside loop trail for a distance of over 4 miles and stop at the viewpoint sites and the Mountaineer Tree. The walk will be a complete loop starting and ending at the Fort Nisqually picnic area where end the walk with a Potluck picnic. Old time Tacoma Mountaineers and families are encouraged to attend.
The contest for most authentic outfit will have categories for male, female, child (12 and under), and family. Prizes will be awarded! The hike is limited to 25 but the picnic can handle many more. You can sign up online for the trip, or if you wish to sign up for the trip or picnic only (and the contest), you may contact the trip leader, Bud Truitt at 253-503-3814 or truittbljt@comcast.net.
Irish Cabin 24 Peaks - Record of 9 peaks climbed in one day set in 1953
In mid July, 1953, Leroy Riche and Les Fasig set the record of 9 summits climbed in one day. As far as we know, this record has stood for 58 years. Leroy stated that some Seattle guys had climbed 6 peaks and were bragging about it, and indicated the Tacoma climbers weren't up to the task, so Leroy and Les decided to show what Tacoma climbers could do!
When the Irish Cabin 24 were first put together, Howard and Poch were on the original list. By 1953, the list had changed to the modern list with Howard & East Bearhead interchangeable, and Poch & 3rd Mother interchangeable. There are 3 display cases that used to hang in the actual Irish Cabin that kept track of climber's progress, that show this migration from the original to modern peak list.
Leroy and Les started from the gate (in 1953, the road was only open up to the park boundary, the road and gate were maintained by a timber company). Here are the peaks they climbed and the times of summit.
Left gate - 6:04am
Hessong - 8:20am
Pleasant - 8:42am
Fay - 9:27am
First Mother - 10:04am
Castle - 11:06am
Gove - 12:54pm
Tolmie - 1:51pm
Howard - 3:10pm
Florence - 4:02pm
Back to gate - 6:20pm
22 miles and 10,000' elevation gain, mostly off trail.
They both had done all these peaks before in completing the 2 pins, this was a peak bagging outing. They hiked up past Mowich Lake on the high Wonderland Trail to the basin above Hessong, and then started climbing from there. They were planning on getting Arthur, but the clouds and fog were coming in and obscured that summit, so they bypassed. They then traversed from Florence back to the gate. They chose Gove over 2nd Mother for elevation purposes, as looking at the topo lines, Gove is less elevation change. Here is a map of their outing, and elevation profile:
Leroy Riche and Les Fasig Nine Peak Route
Elevation Profile of Nine Peak Route
For our centennial, we want to celebrate this achievement by staging a type of reenactment. We would like participants who can scramble make one of the multiple trips planned on Saturday, August 4th. We'll have an real easy trip that is just a hike (Tolmie), an easy trip (Fay, First Mother), a medium trip (Hessong, Fay, Pleasant, First Mother, Castle), and another medium trip (Gove, Tolmie, Howard, Arthur), and perhaps some others as leaders are interested in. We'll provide a picnic in the afternoon at Mowich Lake for all participants, and Leroy will be there there! He is a vigorous 92 years old and loves to talk about the peaks.
Saturday, August 4th
Picnic at Mowich Lake 4-5pm
Once we have leaders lined up, we'll have on-line signups available for the trips
