Fred Beckey

Last Thursday,Fred Beckey came to speak at a special Outing Club presentation. This guy is a climbing legend! He was born in 1923.... so he's.... 84. And he's still climbing on stuff harder than I can (like 5.8).

His slideshow had more insane pictures of amazing rock and mountain climbs (Denali, Waddington, Rainier, Hood, etc.) than I could previously imagine. For many pictures, Fred would say something like "this was about ten years ago." And you're thinking.... so that means you were 74?!?! You were navigating a glacier as a 74 year old?

After the presentation I asked Fred what allowed him to climb so long into his years. He kind of gave me a funny look that said "I'm old?" And then explained that once he got started he just never stopped.

Wow...