100 YEARS OF MOUNTAINS AND MOUNTAINEERING
Fireside Chat illuminates the brave but happy pioneers of mountaineering
Telluride, Colorado (August 14, 2012) – Inadequate maps, hobnail boots, long skirts for women, cotton clothing—just some of the challenges Colorado’s brave mountaineers faced 100 years ago. On Thursday, the Telluride Historical Museum will honor that history, and the smiling faces pictured in early mountaineering photos, with a special Fireside Chat.
In 1912, the Colorado Mountain Club was born. 100 years later, the organization remains devoted to connecting those who love the Colorado Rockies or who study or seek recreation in them. The 100th anniversary is commemorated with the book, “100 Years Up High: Colorado Mountains and Mountaineers,” which focuses on significant people, events, and developments that made climbing, hiking, and skiing the High Country a great outdoor adventure for hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts drawn from Colorado and beyond.
Co-Author of the book, James E. Fell Jr. is the featured guest speaker at the museum’s Thursday Fireside Chat. His presentation will highlight the book’s illustrations, photographs, significant people, events, and developments that made climbing, hiking, and skiing the High Country a great outdoor adventure for hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts drawn from Colorado and beyond.
You might say Fell is obsessed with history.
He’s worked in both historic preservation and exhibits at the Colorado Historical Society. He is a former Harvard-Newcomen Fellow in Business History at the Harvard Business School and former managing editor of the “Business History Review.”
Since 1990, he has taught at the University of Colorado Denver and is the author of “Ores to Metals: The Rocky Mountain Smelting Industry,” co-author with Stanley Dempsey of “Mining the Summit: Colorado’s Ten Mile District, 1860 – 1960,” and collaborator with Jay E. Niebur on “Arthur Redman Wilfley: Miner, Inventor, and Entrepreneur.”
He is also the author of various articles and many reviews in professional journals, as well as treasurer and former director of the Mining History Association, which awarded him its Rodman Wilson Paul Award for distinction in mining history.
His latest book and focus of Thursday’s Chat celebrates the 100 year history of the Colorado Mountain Club and deals largely with 20th century mountaineering. The book contains about 150 images, many of which, will be featured at the Fireside Chat.
Thursday’s Chat is sponsored by the Peaks Resort and Spa and Andie and Rudy Davison. The Chat begins at 5:30p.m. and is free.
For more information about Fireside Chats, visit the Museum at the top of Fir St. or online at telluridemuseum.org.