Bradford Washburn 1910 - 2007: The Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum Mourns the Loss of a Mountaineering Pioneer

The Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum Mourns the Loss of a Mountaineering Pioneer

With great regret and sympathy for the family, the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum is saddened to announce the passing of one of America’s pioneers of mountaineering, photography, and cartography, Bradford Washburn. 

Washburn, who served as the Director of the Boston Museum of Science from 1939 to 1980, passed away last night at a retirement home in Lexington, Mass. He was 96.

In 1951, having climbed Mt. McKinley twice before, Washburn joined an historic expedition of the Colorado Mountain Club to pioneer an ascent up the Kahiltna Glacier on the western side of the mountain. He had studied aerial photographs for fifteen years before joining Barry Bishop and Henry Buchtel, among others, on this first ascent of the West Buttress.  

An honorary member of the American Alpine Club, Washburn was an active mountain climber and made a number of first ascents with guides in the Alps and with friends in North America. He has been honored by the Royal Geographic Society and the National Geographic Society for his contributions to exploration and cartography.  

Along with his wife, Barbara, Washburn climbed, trekked, and flew over the Alaska Range beginning in the 1930s, returning nearly every year for the next 60 years. The aerial photographs he created with large format cameras are part strict documentation, part geometrical abstraction. Washburn’s images have served as detailed “topos” for climbers looking for new routes. “My partners and I relied on those photos for our new route explorations in Alaska. We owed so much to Brad that we named a route after him, the Washburn Face on Denali, which we climbed in 1988,” says executive director of the American Alpine Club, Phil Powers.  

After founding the modern Boston Museum of Science, Washburn transformed a modest collection into a renowned institution, and authored many distinctive maps of our time, including those of Mt. Washington, Mount McKinley, and Mt. Everest. 

His devotion to mountains and mountaineering will live on in the American Mountaineering Museum named in his honor.   

About the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum

Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

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