Henry Bradford Washburn, Jr. (June 7, 1910 - January 10, 2007) was an explorer, mountaineer, photographer, and cartographer. He established the Boston Museum of Science, served as its director from 1939-1980, and from 1985 until his death served as its Honorary Director (a lifetime appointment).

Washburn is especially noted for exploits in four areas.

• He was one of the leading American mountaineers in the 1920s through the 1950s, putting up first ascents and new routes on many major Alaskan peaks (often with his wife, Barbara Washburn, one of the pioneers among female mountaineers).
• He pioneered the use of aerial photography in the analysis of mountains and in planning mountaineering expeditions. His thousands of striking black-and-white photos, mostly of Alaskan peaks and glaciers, are known for their wealth of informative detail and their artistry. They are the reference standard for route photos of Alaskan climbs.
• He was responsible for some of the finest maps ever made of mountain regions; his map of Mount McKinley and his map of Mount Everest are perhaps the most notable, although his map of the Presidential Range in New Hampshire was closer to home.
• His stewardship of the Boston Museum of Science made it into a first-class museum.

Also notable is the fact that some of these achievements – e.g. the Everest map and subsequent further work on the elevation and geology of Everest – were carried out in his 70s and 80s.

Biography

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Washburn received an undergraduate degree from Harvard University, where he was a member of the Harvard Mountaineering Club. He returned to Harvard to earn a master’s degree in geology and geography in 1960.

Washburn was an avid pilot and made his first solo flight in a Fleet biplane at Boeing Field in Seattle in 1934. He earned his private flying license at Roosevelt Field on Long Island later that year.

Washburn embarked on a notable expedition in 1937 to Mount Lucania, 17,147 feet (5,226 m), in the Yukon. To do this he and climbing partner Robert Bates had to reach Walsh Glacier, 8,750 ft (2,670 m) above sea level. He called upon Bob Reeve, a famous Alaskan bush pilot, who later replied by cable to Washburn, "Anywhere you'll ride, I'll fly". The ski-equipped Fairchild F-51 made several trips to the landing site on the glacier without event in May, but on landing with Washburn and Bates in June, the plane sank into unseasonal slush. Washburn, Bates and Reeve pressed hard for five days to get the airplane out and Reeve was eventually able to get the airplane airborne with all excess weight removed and the assistance of a smooth icefall with a steep drop. Washburn and Bates continued on foot to make the first ascent of Lucania, and after an epic descent and journey to civilization, they hiked over 150 miles through the wilderness to safety in the small town of Burwash Landing in the Yukon.

Washburn gathered many awards over the course of his career, including nine honorary doctorates, the Centennial Award of the National Geographic Society (shared with his wife Barbara, the first woman to summit Mount McKinley), and the King Albert Medal of Merit.

He died of heart failure on January 10, 2007, at the age of 96, in a retirement home in Lexington, Massachusetts. In addition to his wife, he left a son, Edward H of Lexington, MA., and two daughters, Dorothy Dundas of Newton, MA and Elizabeth Cabot of Belmont, MA.

Washburn’s legacy now lives on with a new state-of-the-art museum named in his honor. The Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum (BWAMM) is devoted to mountaineering, the mountains, science and art, and the dissemination of knowledge – all things that Washburn exemplified. BWAMM is a joint project of the American Alpine Club, Colorado Mountain Club, and National Geographic Society, and opened in Golden, Colorado, Feb. 16, 2008.

Selected Alaskan first ascents

• 1933: Pointed Peak, Fairweather Range, Saint Elias Mountains
• 1934: Mount Crillon, Fairweather Range, Saint Elias Mountains
• 1937: Mount Lucania, Saint Elias Mountains
• 1938: Mount Marcus Baker, Chugach Mountains
• 1938: Mount Sanford, Wrangell Mountains
• 1940: Mount Bertha, Fairweather Range, Saint Elias Mountains
• 1941: Mount Hayes, Alaska Range
• 1944: Mount Deception, Alaska Range
• 1945: Mount Silverthrone, Alaska Range
• 1947: McGonagall Mountain, Alaska Range
• 1951: West Buttress Route on Mount McKinley, Alaska Range
• 1951: Kahiltna Dome, Alaska Range
• 1955: Mount Dickey, Alaska Range

Sources

External links

• Washburn Gallery The Mount Washington Observatory's Washburn Gallery offers framed and unframed prints of much of Bradford Washburn's early work.
• Photographing In High Places A portfolio of ten photographs from the Alaska Range and the Yukon made between 1938 and 1978.
• Obituary in the New York Times
• Memorial film: "Remembering Brad Washburn"
• Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum
• Collection of Washburn's photographs at Panopticon Gallery