Norman Clyde
Encyclopedia
Norman Clyde was a mountaineer
, mountain guide
, freelance writer
, nature photographer
, and self trained naturalist
. He is well-known for achieving over 130 first ascent
s, many in California's Sierra Nevada and Montana's Glacier National Park. He also set a speed climbing record on California's Mount Shasta
in 1923.
The Bancroft Library
at the University of California, Berkeley
has 1467 articles written by Clyde in its archives.
minister. He attended Geneva College
graduating in the Classics
in June 1909. After teaching at several rural schools, including Fargo, North Dakota
and Mount Pleasant, Utah
, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley
in 1911. After two years of graduate work he returned to teaching, mostly in northern California, including the towns of McCloud
and Weaverville
. He taught history, science and Latin. He continued graduate studies at the University of California in Berkeley in 1923 - 1924.
On June 15, 1915, Norman Clyde married Winifred May Bolster in Pasadena
, California. She was a nurse at a tuberculosis
hospital, and contracted the disease herself at approximately the time of their marriage. After 4 years of suffering she died at age 28 in 1919. His wife's death appears to have profoundly affected him as he moved to the Eastern Sierra to spend much of his latter life alone in the mountains.
He became principal of the high school at Independence
, California in 1924, but resigned in 1928. He admitted firing a pistol during a confrontation with some students who allegedly came to vandalize
the school on Halloween
night. One bullet hit the side of a car carrying eight high school students, but there were no injuries. Clyde said that considerable damage had been done to the school grounds the previous Halloween. He had been issued a license to carry a concealed firearm on February 2, 1928. This was the end of his career as a schoolteacher and principal, as he resigned in exchange for an agreement by the District Attorney not to press charges.
Subsequently he spent his winters as the caretaker of the local lodges, including Glacier Lodge on Big Pine Creek, and a fishing cabin which belonged to Lon Chaney, Sr.
He earned some sporadic income as a mountain guide and freelance writer.
and Sequoia National Park
s, writing to his mother that "I climbed the highest mountains in the region". He also visited McCloud
, CA near Mount Shasta that summer. He began a regimented program of mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada in 1914, including the first of his first ascents. He also joined the Sierra Club
in 1914. He first climbed Mount Shasta in 1916, and climbed that peak a total of 12 times. While living in Southern California during his wife's illness, he climbed Mount San Jacinto
in 1917. Following his wife's death in 1919, he climbed extensively in the Kings-Kern Divide region of the southern Sierra.
In 1920, Clyde journeyed with a Sierra Club group from Yosemite Valley
to the Evolution Basin, completing many climbs along the way. He set a speed climbing record on Mount Shasta in 1923, ascending from Horse Camp
at approximately 8000' to the summit at 14,162' in 3 hours and 17 minutes. That year, he also spent 36 days in Glacier National Park, MT, where he climbed 36 mountains, including 11 first ascents. The National Park Service
issued a press release praising his accomplishments in Glacier National Park. He returned to climb in Glacier National Park in 1924 and 1937.
In 1925, he completed 53 climbs in the Sierra Nevada, and told Francis Farquhar
that "I sometimes think I climbed enough peaks this summer to render me a candidate for a padded cell--at least some people look at the matter in that way. However, I get a lot of enjoyment from this rather strenuous form of diversion." In 1926, he climbed in Yellowstone National Park
, Grand Teton National Park
, the Beartooth Mountains
and Absaroka Range
of Montana, and the Sawtooth Range
of Idaho. He made several additional first ascents in California that year.
In 1928, he was a leader of the High Trip
to the Canadian Rockies
organized by the Sierra Club, the Mazamas
of Oregon, and The Mountaineers of the State of Washington. During this trip, he encountered professional mountain guides, and probably decided on this as his own career path. He spent six weeks traversing the San Gabriels
of Southern California, probably in 1929. In 1930, he wrote an article describing his trip from the summit of Mount Whitney
to the lowest point in Death Valley
between sunrise and sunset.
Clyde's first published works appeared as a series of articles entitled "Close Ups of the High Sierra" in 1928, in the Automobile Club of Southern California's magazine, Touring Topics, and were later republished as a perfect-bound edition in 1962 by La Siesta Press (Glendale, CA), edited by Walt Wheelock.
1931 was a seminal year in the history of mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada, and Norman Clyde was in the midst of it. Sierra Club leader Francis P. Farquhar invited Harvard philosophy professor and Appalachian Mountain Club
member Robert L. M. Underhill
to come to the Sierra Nevada to teach the latest techniques of roped climbing. Underhill had learned these techniques in the Alps
, and had practiced them himself earlier that summer in the Tetons
and the Canadian Rockies. After some young climbers were instructed in the techniques, a group including Clyde, Jules Eichorn
, Lewis Clark, Bestor Robinson
and Glen Dawson
traveled south to the Palisades
, the most rugged and alpine part of the Sierra Nevada. There, on August 13, 1931, the party completed the first ascent of the last unclimbed 14,000+ foot peak in California, which remained unnamed due to its remote location above the Palisade Glaciers. After a challenging ascent to the summit, the climbers were caught in an intense lightning storm, and Eichorn barely escaped electrocution when "a thunderbolt whizzed right by my ear". The mountain was named Thunderbolt Peak to commemorate that close call.
Three days later on August 16, Eichorn, Clyde, Underhill and Dawson completed the first ascent of the East Face
of Mount Whitney
, the highest peak in the contiguous United States. The route was extremely exposed, especially the famous Fresh Air Traverse. Steve Roper
called this route "one of the classic routes of the Sierra, partly because of its spectacular location and partly because it was the first really big wall to be climbed in the range." Porcella & Burns wrote that "the climb heralded a new standard of technical competence in Californian rock climbing..." These events led to a lifelong friendship between Clyde and Jules Eichorn.
In 1932, he climbed El Picacho del Diablo
in Baja California, Mexico, and climbed it again in 1937. He met David Brower in the Sierra Nevada in 1933, and in 1934 spent time with Brower and Hervey Voge as the younger men bagged 32 first ascents in ten weeks traveling through the High Sierra. From June 23–26, the trio climbed 10 of the 12 major pinnacles of the Devils Crags.
He served as climbing leader on many Sierra Club
sponsored High Trips
where he became known as "the pack that walks like a man" because of the huge backpacks he carried. In addition to as many as five cameras, he carried a hammer and cobbler's anvil in order to make field repairs to client's boots. In 1931, Underhill wrote that Clyde's backpack was an "especially picturesque enormity of skyscraper architecture". Clyde was also well-known for wearing a campaign hat
.
Clyde led or participated in many mountain rescues and is credited with saving a number of lives. He also helped in many recoveries and is remembered for discovering Pete Starr's
body in the Minarets
, in 1933, after all other searchers gave up. Clyde later returned to the site with Jules Eichorn, and they buried Starr's body where Clyde had found it on Michael Minaret.
Norman Clyde still guided parties into the Sierra into the 1960s, when he was in his seventies. In the 1950s and 1960s, he lived by himself at the old Baker ranch-house on Baker Creek near Big Pine
. Because he was trained in the classics, Norman Clyde loved to read books in Latin
and Greek
. At the Baker ranch-house, Clyde had thousands of rare classical books. At age 80, he was still sleeping outside the ranch-house on a mattress and sleeping bag, as long as it was fair weather. In the spring of 1968, he transferred to a skilled nursing facility in Bishop
where he could receive adequate care. In 1969, his cancerous left eye was removed. He died in Bishop on December 23, 1972 at age 87, surrounded by the high peaks of the Sierra Nevada that he loved so much. The cause of death was "metastatic melanoma - primary in eye."
In 1947, the Sierra Club Handbook praised Clyde's mountaineering accomplishments: "Outstanding among members who have helped others gain mountain experience is Norman Clyde, whose amazing achievements in scaling practically all the peaks in the High Sierra are well known to mountaineers. More than one climber has exulted in a supposedly first ascent, only to find later that Clyde went up that 'unclimbed peak' in the winter of, say, 1920! There are many seasoned climbers who can look back on their early days as novices in the mountains and remember with gratitude what they learned from Clyde".
Jointly with Allen Steck
, he was the first recipient of the Sierra Club's Francis P. Farquhar Mountaineering Award
in 1970.
Clyde Minaret
, Clyde's Ledge, Clyde's Meadow along the Mountaineer's Route on Mt. Whitney, and Norman Clyde Peak
bear his name. His ashes were scattered from Norman Clyde Peak by Smoke Blanchard
, his son Bob Blanchard and a party that included Jules Eichorn
.
The Eastern California Museum in Independence
has an extensive collection of memorabilia, documents and photos pertaining to Clyde's life on display. In the Wall Street Journal, Michael J. Ybarra described this exhibit as "absorbing".
Norman Clyde's life and mountaineering achievements were originally documented in the book, Close Ups of the High Sierra, published by La Siesta Press (Glendale, CA) in 1962. In 1998 Spotted Dog Press published an expanded edition of the book, Norman Clyde: Close Up of the High Sierra, edited by Wynne Benti. The foreword for the 1998 edition of Close Ups of the High Sierra included a brief biography on Clyde, written by Benti, and was the first time in history that any in-depth information was published about Clyde's wife, Winifred Bolster.
Clyde's life and mountaineering achievements were later documented in a biography written by Robert C. Pavlik and published in 2008.
Mountaineering
Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...
, mountain guide
Mountain guide
Mountain guides are specially trained and experienced mountaineers and professionals who are generally certified by an association. They are considered experts in mountaineering.-Skills:Their skills usually include climbing, skiing and hiking...
, freelance writer
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
, nature photographer
Nature photography
Nature photography refers to a wide range of photography taken outdoors and devoted to displaying natural elements such as landscapes, wildlife, plants, and close-ups of natural scenes and textures...
, and self trained naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
. He is well-known for achieving over 130 first ascent
First ascent
In climbing, a first ascent is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route...
s, many in California's Sierra Nevada and Montana's Glacier National Park. He also set a speed climbing record on California's Mount Shasta
Mount Shasta
Mount Shasta is located at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California and at is the second highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth highest in California...
in 1923.
The Bancroft Library
Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library is the primary special collections library of the University of California, Berkeley. It was acquired as a gift/purchase from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, with the proviso that it retain the name Bancroft Library in perpetuity...
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
has 1467 articles written by Clyde in its archives.
Early life, marriage and work
Clyde was born in Philadelphia, the son of a PresbyterianPresbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
minister. He attended Geneva College
Geneva College
Geneva College is a Christian liberal arts college in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, United States, north of Pittsburgh. Founded in 1848, in Northwood, Ohio, the college moved to its present location in 1880, where it continues to educate a student body of about 1400 traditional undergraduates in...
graduating in the Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
in June 1909. After teaching at several rural schools, including Fargo, North Dakota
Fargo, North Dakota
Fargo is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County. In 2010, its population was 105,549, and it had an estimated metropolitan population of 208,777...
and Mount Pleasant, Utah
Mount Pleasant, Utah
Mount Pleasant is a city in Sanpete County, Utah, in the United States. Mt. Pleasant is known for its 19th-century main street buildings, for being home to Wasatch Academy, and for being the largest city in the northern half of the county...
, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 1911. After two years of graduate work he returned to teaching, mostly in northern California, including the towns of McCloud
McCloud, California
McCloud is a small town and census-designated place in Siskiyou County, California, United States. The population was 1,101 at the 2010 census, down from 1,343 at the 2000 census.-Commerce and tourism:...
and Weaverville
Weaverville, California
Weaverville is a census-designated place and the county seat of Trinity County, California. The population was 3,600 at the 2010 census, up from 3,554 at the 2000 census.-History:Founded in 1850, Weaverville is a historic California Gold Rush town...
. He taught history, science and Latin. He continued graduate studies at the University of California in Berkeley in 1923 - 1924.
On June 15, 1915, Norman Clyde married Winifred May Bolster in Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
, California. She was a nurse at a tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
hospital, and contracted the disease herself at approximately the time of their marriage. After 4 years of suffering she died at age 28 in 1919. His wife's death appears to have profoundly affected him as he moved to the Eastern Sierra to spend much of his latter life alone in the mountains.
Independence, California
Independence is the county seat of Inyo County, California. Independence is located south-southeast of Bishop, at an elevation of 3930 feet . The population of this census-designated place was 669 at the 2010 census, up from 574 at the 2000 census....
, California in 1924, but resigned in 1928. He admitted firing a pistol during a confrontation with some students who allegedly came to vandalize
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
the school on Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
night. One bullet hit the side of a car carrying eight high school students, but there were no injuries. Clyde said that considerable damage had been done to the school grounds the previous Halloween. He had been issued a license to carry a concealed firearm on February 2, 1928. This was the end of his career as a schoolteacher and principal, as he resigned in exchange for an agreement by the District Attorney not to press charges.
Subsequently he spent his winters as the caretaker of the local lodges, including Glacier Lodge on Big Pine Creek, and a fishing cabin which belonged to Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
He earned some sporadic income as a mountain guide and freelance writer.
Life in the mountains
Clyde began climbing in the Sierra Nevada in 1910, when he visited YosemiteYosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
and Sequoia National Park
Sequoia National Park
Sequoia National Park is a national park in the southern Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California, in the United States. It was established on September 25, 1890. The park spans . Encompassing a vertical relief of nearly , the park contains among its natural resources the highest point in the...
s, writing to his mother that "I climbed the highest mountains in the region". He also visited McCloud
McCloud, California
McCloud is a small town and census-designated place in Siskiyou County, California, United States. The population was 1,101 at the 2010 census, down from 1,343 at the 2000 census.-Commerce and tourism:...
, CA near Mount Shasta that summer. He began a regimented program of mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada in 1914, including the first of his first ascents. He also joined the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
in 1914. He first climbed Mount Shasta in 1916, and climbed that peak a total of 12 times. While living in Southern California during his wife's illness, he climbed Mount San Jacinto
San Jacinto Peak
San Jacinto Peak, 10,834 feet , is the highest peak of the San Jacinto Mountains, and of Riverside County, California. It lies within Mount San Jacinto State Park...
in 1917. Following his wife's death in 1919, he climbed extensively in the Kings-Kern Divide region of the southern Sierra.
In 1920, Clyde journeyed with a Sierra Club group from Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of California, carved out by the Merced River. The valley is about long and up to a mile deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines...
to the Evolution Basin, completing many climbs along the way. He set a speed climbing record on Mount Shasta in 1923, ascending from Horse Camp
Horse Camp
Horse Camp is a property on Mount Shasta owned by the nonprofit Sierra Club Foundation. It is a enclave within the Mount Shasta Wilderness of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest...
at approximately 8000' to the summit at 14,162' in 3 hours and 17 minutes. That year, he also spent 36 days in Glacier National Park, MT, where he climbed 36 mountains, including 11 first ascents. The National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
issued a press release praising his accomplishments in Glacier National Park. He returned to climb in Glacier National Park in 1924 and 1937.
In 1925, he completed 53 climbs in the Sierra Nevada, and told Francis Farquhar
Francis P. Farquhar
Francis Peloubet Farquhar graduated from Harvard and came to San Francisco to set up in practice as a Certified Public Accountant...
that "I sometimes think I climbed enough peaks this summer to render me a candidate for a padded cell--at least some people look at the matter in that way. However, I get a lot of enjoyment from this rather strenuous form of diversion." In 1926, he climbed in Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
, Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park is a United States National Park located in northwestern Wyoming, U.S. The Park consists of approximately and includes the major peaks of the long Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Only south of Yellowstone...
, the Beartooth Mountains
Beartooth Mountains
The Beartooth Mountains are located in south central Montana and northwest Wyoming, U.S. and are part of the 900,000 acre Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, within Custer, Gallatin and Shoshone National Forests. The Beartooths are the location of Granite Peak, which at 12,807 feet is the highest...
and Absaroka Range
Absaroka Range
The Absaroka Range is a sub-range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about 150 mi across the Montana-Wyoming border, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park and the western side of the Bighorn Basin. The range borders the Beartooth Mountains...
of Montana, and the Sawtooth Range
Sawtooth Range (Idaho)
The Sawtooth Range is part of the Rocky Mountains, located within a few miles south of Stanley, Idaho, in the Western United States. Much of mountain range is within the Sawtooth Wilderness, part of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area...
of Idaho. He made several additional first ascents in California that year.
In 1928, he was a leader of the High Trip
High Trips
The High Trips were large wilderness excursions organized and led by the Sierra Club beginning in 1901. Club secretary William Colby initiated the High Trips, which usually traveled to the High Sierra, and led them from 1901 to 1929. Colby wrote, "It was from John Muir, President of the Club,...
to the Canadian Rockies
Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, extending from the Interior Plains of Alberta to the Rocky Mountain Trench of British Columbia. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the USA...
organized by the Sierra Club, the Mazamas
The Mazamas
The Mazamas is a mountaineering club based in Portland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1894.-Name:The name Mazamas means mountain goat, from Nahuatl mazatl, deer. for etymology...
of Oregon, and The Mountaineers of the State of Washington. During this trip, he encountered professional mountain guides, and probably decided on this as his own career path. He spent six weeks traversing the San Gabriels
San Gabriel Mountains
The San Gabriel Mountains Range is located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert, with Interstate 5 to the west and Interstate 15 to the east...
of Southern California, probably in 1929. In 1930, he wrote an article describing his trip from the summit of Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of . It is on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at Badwater in Death Valley National Park...
to the lowest point in Death Valley
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America. Badwater, a basin located in Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below...
between sunrise and sunset.
Clyde's first published works appeared as a series of articles entitled "Close Ups of the High Sierra" in 1928, in the Automobile Club of Southern California's magazine, Touring Topics, and were later republished as a perfect-bound edition in 1962 by La Siesta Press (Glendale, CA), edited by Walt Wheelock.
1931 was a seminal year in the history of mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada, and Norman Clyde was in the midst of it. Sierra Club leader Francis P. Farquhar invited Harvard philosophy professor and Appalachian Mountain Club
Appalachian Mountain Club
The Appalachian Mountain Club is one of the United States' oldest outdoor groups. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., with 12 chapters stretching from Maine to Washington, D.C...
member Robert L. M. Underhill
Robert L. M. Underhill
Robert Lindley Murray Underhill was an American mountaineer best known for introducing modern Alpine style rope and belaying techniques to the U.S. climbing community in the late 1920s and early 1930s....
to come to the Sierra Nevada to teach the latest techniques of roped climbing. Underhill had learned these techniques in the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
, and had practiced them himself earlier that summer in the Tetons
Teton Range
The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. A north-south range, it is on the Wyoming side of the state's border with Idaho, just south of Yellowstone National Park. Most of the range is in Grand Teton National Park....
and the Canadian Rockies. After some young climbers were instructed in the techniques, a group including Clyde, Jules Eichorn
Jules Eichorn
Jules Eichorn was a California mountaineer, environmentalist and music teacher.- Early years :Jules Marquard Eichorn was born in San Francisco on February 7, 1912 to Hilmar and Frieda Eichorn, who were immigrants from Germany...
, Lewis Clark, Bestor Robinson
Bestor Robinson
Bestor Robinson was a California mountaineer, environmentalist, attorney and inventor. He was a law partner of Earl Warren, later governor of California and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Robinson was a long time leader of the Sierra Club...
and Glen Dawson
Glen Dawson
Glen Dawson is a California rock climber, mountaineer, antiquarian bookseller, publisher and environmentalist.- Early life :...
traveled south to the Palisades
Palisades (California Sierra)
The Palisades are a group of peaks in the central part of the Sierra Nevada in the US state of California. They are located about southwest of the town of Big Pine, California...
, the most rugged and alpine part of the Sierra Nevada. There, on August 13, 1931, the party completed the first ascent of the last unclimbed 14,000+ foot peak in California, which remained unnamed due to its remote location above the Palisade Glaciers. After a challenging ascent to the summit, the climbers were caught in an intense lightning storm, and Eichorn barely escaped electrocution when "a thunderbolt whizzed right by my ear". The mountain was named Thunderbolt Peak to commemorate that close call.
Three days later on August 16, Eichorn, Clyde, Underhill and Dawson completed the first ascent of the East Face
East Face (Mount Whitney)
The East Face of Mount Whitney is a technical alpine rock climbing route and is featured in Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. Mount Whitney is the highest peak in the contiguous United States....
of Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of . It is on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at Badwater in Death Valley National Park...
, the highest peak in the contiguous United States. The route was extremely exposed, especially the famous Fresh Air Traverse. Steve Roper
Steve Roper
Steve Roper is a noted climber and historian of the Sierra Nevada in the United States. He along with Allen Steck are the founding editors of the Sierra Club journal Ascent.Roper is the winner of the Sierra Club's Francis P...
called this route "one of the classic routes of the Sierra, partly because of its spectacular location and partly because it was the first really big wall to be climbed in the range." Porcella & Burns wrote that "the climb heralded a new standard of technical competence in Californian rock climbing..." These events led to a lifelong friendship between Clyde and Jules Eichorn.
In 1932, he climbed El Picacho del Diablo
Picacho del Diablo
Picacho del Diablo is the highest peak in Baja California, measuring . It is alternately called Cerro de la Encantada, "Hill of the Enchanted." The peak is located in the Sierra San Pedro Martir in the Mexican state of Baja California Norte....
in Baja California, Mexico, and climbed it again in 1937. He met David Brower in the Sierra Nevada in 1933, and in 1934 spent time with Brower and Hervey Voge as the younger men bagged 32 first ascents in ten weeks traveling through the High Sierra. From June 23–26, the trio climbed 10 of the 12 major pinnacles of the Devils Crags.
He served as climbing leader on many Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
sponsored High Trips
High Trips
The High Trips were large wilderness excursions organized and led by the Sierra Club beginning in 1901. Club secretary William Colby initiated the High Trips, which usually traveled to the High Sierra, and led them from 1901 to 1929. Colby wrote, "It was from John Muir, President of the Club,...
where he became known as "the pack that walks like a man" because of the huge backpacks he carried. In addition to as many as five cameras, he carried a hammer and cobbler's anvil in order to make field repairs to client's boots. In 1931, Underhill wrote that Clyde's backpack was an "especially picturesque enormity of skyscraper architecture". Clyde was also well-known for wearing a campaign hat
Campaign hat
A campaign cover is a broad-brimmed felt or straw hat, with a high crown, pinched symmetrically at the four corners .It is associated with the New Zealand Army, the Royal Canadian...
.
Clyde led or participated in many mountain rescues and is credited with saving a number of lives. He also helped in many recoveries and is remembered for discovering Pete Starr's
Walter A. Starr, Jr.
Walter A. "Pete" Starr, Jr. was an American lawyer and mountain climber.A graduate of Stanford University, Starr was a respected lawyer in San Francisco, but he is better known for his abilities as a mountain climber and an explorer of the Sierra Nevada.In August 1933, he failed to return from a...
body in the Minarets
Minarets (California)
The Minarets are a series of jagged peaks located in the Ritter Range, a sub-range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the state of California. They are easily viewed from Minaret Summit, which is accessible by auto. The peaks bear a certain resemblance to the minarets of Islamic mosques...
, in 1933, after all other searchers gave up. Clyde later returned to the site with Jules Eichorn, and they buried Starr's body where Clyde had found it on Michael Minaret.
Norman Clyde still guided parties into the Sierra into the 1960s, when he was in his seventies. In the 1950s and 1960s, he lived by himself at the old Baker ranch-house on Baker Creek near Big Pine
Big Pine, California
Big Pine is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. Big Pine is located south-southeast of Bishop, at an elevation of 3990 feet . The population was 1,756 at the 2010 census, up from 1,350 at the 2000 census...
. Because he was trained in the classics, Norman Clyde loved to read books in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
. At the Baker ranch-house, Clyde had thousands of rare classical books. At age 80, he was still sleeping outside the ranch-house on a mattress and sleeping bag, as long as it was fair weather. In the spring of 1968, he transferred to a skilled nursing facility in Bishop
Bishop, California
Bishop is a city in Inyo County, California, United States. Though Bishop is the only city and the largest populated place in Inyo County, the county seat is Independence. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of 4147 feet . The population was 3,879 at the...
where he could receive adequate care. In 1969, his cancerous left eye was removed. He died in Bishop on December 23, 1972 at age 87, surrounded by the high peaks of the Sierra Nevada that he loved so much. The cause of death was "metastatic melanoma - primary in eye."
Legacy
Norman Clyde received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from his alma mater, Geneva College, in 1939. He received the college's Distinguished Service Award in 1962.In 1947, the Sierra Club Handbook praised Clyde's mountaineering accomplishments: "Outstanding among members who have helped others gain mountain experience is Norman Clyde, whose amazing achievements in scaling practically all the peaks in the High Sierra are well known to mountaineers. More than one climber has exulted in a supposedly first ascent, only to find later that Clyde went up that 'unclimbed peak' in the winter of, say, 1920! There are many seasoned climbers who can look back on their early days as novices in the mountains and remember with gratitude what they learned from Clyde".
Jointly with Allen Steck
Allen Steck
Allen Steck is an American mountaineer and rock climber, and a native of Oakland, California.-Mountaineering:Steck started climbing with his brother George. In 1940 when Allen was 16, the two completed the first ascent of the northwest ridge of Mount Maclure . He served in the U.S. Navy during...
, he was the first recipient of the Sierra Club's Francis P. Farquhar Mountaineering Award
Francis P. Farquhar Mountaineering Award
The Francis P. Farquhar Mountaineering Award is given by the Sierra Club, and is named after club leader, historian and mountaineer Francis P. Farquhar. According to the Sierra Club, this award "honors an individual's contribution to mountaineering and enhancement of the Club's prestige in this...
in 1970.
Clyde Minaret
Minarets (California)
The Minarets are a series of jagged peaks located in the Ritter Range, a sub-range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the state of California. They are easily viewed from Minaret Summit, which is accessible by auto. The peaks bear a certain resemblance to the minarets of Islamic mosques...
, Clyde's Ledge, Clyde's Meadow along the Mountaineer's Route on Mt. Whitney, and Norman Clyde Peak
Norman Clyde Peak
Norman Clyde Peak, standing tall, is in natural company among the high peaks of the Palisades region of the Sierra Nevada in California. It lies on the Palisades' main ridge, between Middle Palisade and Palisade Crest. Norman Clyde Glacier on its north face, and Middle Palisade Glacier on its east...
bear his name. His ashes were scattered from Norman Clyde Peak by Smoke Blanchard
Smoke Blanchard
William Earl "Smoke" Blanchard was an American mountaineer, climber, trekking leader, guide, world traveler, writer, Buddhist, and a truck driver. He was born in Montana and moved to Portland, Oregon in his early childhood and discovered a love for mountains in the shadow of Mount Hood...
, his son Bob Blanchard and a party that included Jules Eichorn
Jules Eichorn
Jules Eichorn was a California mountaineer, environmentalist and music teacher.- Early years :Jules Marquard Eichorn was born in San Francisco on February 7, 1912 to Hilmar and Frieda Eichorn, who were immigrants from Germany...
.
The Eastern California Museum in Independence
Independence, California
Independence is the county seat of Inyo County, California. Independence is located south-southeast of Bishop, at an elevation of 3930 feet . The population of this census-designated place was 669 at the 2010 census, up from 574 at the 2000 census....
has an extensive collection of memorabilia, documents and photos pertaining to Clyde's life on display. In the Wall Street Journal, Michael J. Ybarra described this exhibit as "absorbing".
Norman Clyde's life and mountaineering achievements were originally documented in the book, Close Ups of the High Sierra, published by La Siesta Press (Glendale, CA) in 1962. In 1998 Spotted Dog Press published an expanded edition of the book, Norman Clyde: Close Up of the High Sierra, edited by Wynne Benti. The foreword for the 1998 edition of Close Ups of the High Sierra included a brief biography on Clyde, written by Benti, and was the first time in history that any in-depth information was published about Clyde's wife, Winifred Bolster.
Clyde's life and mountaineering achievements were later documented in a biography written by Robert C. Pavlik and published in 2008.
External links
- Guide to the Norman Clyde Papers at The Bancroft Library