
The Career of Mountaineer Fred Beckey - simonebrunozzi
https://lithub.com/jon-krakauer-on-the-incredible-career-of-mountaineer-fred-beckey/
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theothermkn
I saw him once in the early 2010s in Vertical World's Redmond location, but I
didn't realize it at the time. Just some old guy in a harness feeling the
holds in the bouldering area. We kept to ourselves.

Later, one of the employees told a story about how he met Beckey at the
counter one time. Beckey had asked if he could climb, and the employee told
him the rate for a day pass, not realizing who it was.

"I'm Fred," Beckey volunteered in frustrated amazement.

"Fred who?"

"Fred Beckey."

He waved him in to climb for free, of course.

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steve_gh
Fred Beckey really was an absolute legend in the world of mountaineering - he
was known worldwide as the original climbing bum, and one of the world's
finest alpinists - right up there with the likes of Walter Bonatti.

This is a reprint of an old article. Fred Beckey died in 2017 at the age of
94!

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Mikeb85
Met him once at a backcountry lodge. I'm not a climber, but was on a long
hiking trip and he was staying the night about to approach a climb. We were
just like "who's the old guy" (he was mid 80's at the time) and wound up
having dinner with him and a bunch of others. I only know a bit about him but
it was inspiring seeing someone living like that even into old age.

