Mountain Club to Challenge North Selkirks This Summer

Archery, boating, horsing, and other pleasant forms of relaxation are the usual curriculum at a summer camp.

The Harvard Mountaineering Club's summer camp will, however, teach something more rigorous--how to survive when climbing mountains. Horsing with mountains is rougher, and more fun, of course, than horsing with horses.

A 16-man group, led by two experienced mountaineers, will move into the Northern Selkirks of British Columbia for a climbing session lasting from July 20 to August 9. Not only are the Selkirks the most inaccessible of Columbia's mountains, but they also offer varied, difficult climbing and a few possible first ascents.

The club's purpose, "to help club members get more climbing experience," is a bit misleading. Almost all of the men on the trip will be soundly versed in the wiles of mountain climbing, according to club President Harry Francis, who will participate. Francis himself led an expedition to Alaska's 20,000 foot Mt. McKinley last summer.

The club last ran a summer camp of this sort in 1951; Bill Putnam and Andrew Kaufman, both '47, led that that group and will also handle this year's foray. According to Francis, the Mountaineering Club hopes to provide such a camp every other summer, in order to make climbing available cheaply to its local partisans.

Climbs within the Selkirks vary, Francis said, from "simple snow" to high peaks, with Mt. Sanford, at 11,000 feet, the highest. Ranges within the Selkirks are the North Adamants, the Gothics, and the Blackflers, all at least a three day pack trip from civilization.

The camp will be the club's major activity for the summer, Francis said. Last year, the group sent three expeditions to Alaska, while in less recent summers, it has had men in Peru, Switzerland, the Rockies, British Columbia, and other less known but equally rugged spots.