Artifacts

Peter Schoening's ice axe is one of the most famous pieces of equipment in climbing history.

 

In 1953, an American expedition attempted to summit K2, the world's second-highest peak. When one of the climbers became gravely ill at over 25,000 feet (7,620 meters), the team desperately descended during a storm in an attempt to save his life.

 

Then one climber slipped on an ice slope and tangled his rope with the others. Soon, five men were plunging off the mountain. Quick-thinking Schoening jammed his ice axe against a boulder and held tight. All five of the falling climbers were saved.

 

 

 

Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1888, Albert R. Ellingwood became one of the pioneering mountaineers of the early 20th century.

 

At the time of his death in 1934, Ellingwood was one of three men who had climbed all of the officially named 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado. In addition, he completed numerous first ascents in Colorado and Wyoming, including the Middle Teton and South Teton.

 

Ellingwood donated his fine selection of mountaineering books to the Colorado Mountain Club's collection. His legacy has been honored with the club's annual Albert Ellingwood Award, which recognizes mountaineering excellence.

This oxygen cylinder was recovered from the vicinity of Mt. Everest Advance Base Camp (c. 21,000 feet) on the East Rongbuk Glacier, March 30, 2001 during the 2001 Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition.

 

The cylinder dates from the 1922 expedition to Mt. Everest—of which George Leigh Mallory was the leader. This British expedition was the first to use oxygen as a systematic aid in the ascent of a mountain.

During World War II, the best of the best--skiers, mountaineers, sportsmen, dogsled handlers, and trappers--were recruited to join the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division. Created in 1943, this was an elite unit trained to fight in extreme cold and mountain conditions. More than 10,000 men were stationed at Camp Hale, between Vail and Leadville, Colorado, to learn the skills for mountain survival and combat.

 

The Division achieved fame toward the end of World War II for its daring nighttime attacks against German forces in Italy's Apennine Mountains. Still, the division's most lasting fame may have come after the war, when veterans returned home and used their new skills and equipment to revolutionize American mountaineering and launch the modern ski industry.

 

 

 

 

Built in 1990, the model is based on an ultra-large-scale map of Mount Everest made for Boston's Museum of Science, under the direction of Bradford Washburn, by Swissair Photo+Surveys Ltd. of Zurich, Switzerland.

 

 

A handmade Dorje Thorlo mask is part of a traditional religious garment. Representing a wrathful deity, the mask is worn during one of the dances of Mani Rimdu, a festival performed at the Tengboche Buddhist Monastery in Nepal.