LAM Affiliation and Activities:
Charles (Chuck) Mader was a dues paying member of the Los Alamos
Mountaineers from 1955 thru the 60's while it was part of the
Colorado Mountain Club. He has continued his membership in
the Colorado Mountain Club since then (Gore Range Group).
Chuck gave slide shows of climbs several times and attended many
of the clubs programs. The Los Alamos Outdoor Association and
the Mountaineers overlapped in both membership and meetings
during the 50's, as well as in mountain adventures. He
also led several Club/Association climbs and hikes.
Colorado Mountaineering with a Passion:
Trips to the Colorado Fourteeners began in the 1950's, at the
same time that the Mountaineers' club was being formed.
Outdoor enthusiasts from Los Alamos began to drive up to
Colorado to club the high peaks, either as private groups or as
small club trips. Charles was a Los Alamos scientist who
enjoyed climbing Fourteeners, starting with Blanca Peak in 1954
when he was a summer student at the Lab. Chuck climbed
with many Club members, including Emily Wilbanks, George Bell,
Gene Tate, Liz Gittings Marshall, Tom Stephenson, Ken Ewing, and
Marvin Tinkle. Chuck recalls that "Most people who came to town
were single. It was considered risqué for a single woman
to join a group of men for a climbing trip. A youth group
was formed at the Methodist Church and by 1960, 50 couples were
married, none ever divorced!"
Mount of the Holy
Cross, 9/19/2006, 16 hrs Roundtrip at age 76
In 1959 Chuck Mader became the 65th mountain climber to have
climbed the 54 Colorado peaks above 14,000 feet and has climbed
95 of the 100 highest Colorado mountains. He has climbed
Monta Rosa and the Matterhorn among other Swiss mountains.
What was it like to climb Fourteeners in the 1950's? Chuck Mader
says that "The main hazard was the long drives, no speed limits
in those days. We would pile into a big sedan for the
drive up to Colorado. Then we could rent old WWII jeeps at most
service stations. Everything was open -- there were no
wilderness areas, and lots of mines were still running.
Usually one could drive to timberline. We usually climbed using
a motel as a base. In those days the packs were painful,
no waist straps, so it was better to do most of the peaks as day
hikes even if it meant long days."
Maps were terrible in those days, and it could take several
trips to find a way up a mountain. Many peaks were still being
surveyed. The peaks often had lights with batteries on top, to
help surveyors take readings at night. Many peaks still had the
original registers. The list of Fourteeners was still in flux,
and the "hundred highest" wasn't even a concept. Chuck
climbed Mt. Stewart and Grizzly peak before they were demoted
from the Fourteener list. He finished by climbing Snowmass
in 1959, but later did Holy Cross and Ellingwood when they were
added to the list. His climbing slides are available
here and also in the Colorado Mountain Club library
archives.
Chuck recalls that the club's most experienced mountaineers had
some disdain for doing Fourteeners. They called most of them
"anthills," or "Maderhorns." Chuck did the Mt. Wilson - El
Diente traverse on a trip with George Bell, who had lost two
toes on K-2. George kept asking, " do you STILL want to be roped
up"?
Charles Mader on
top of the Crestone Needle
August 1959
Chuck Mader's
friend Ed Williamson wrote a novel called "Durango Light," which
featured a character Buck based on Chuck Mader. The novel
is set in Durango and describes life, love, and other adventures
in Durango, including climbs of Jupiter, Windom, Sunlight, and
Mt. Eolus. The photo above of Chuck Mader was used on the cover
of the book, which was taken in 1959 on top of the Crestone
Needle. The group had just finished the rescue of a couple of
climbers who had spent the night on a ledge on the Ellingwood
Arete after having lost their rope. The photograph of Chuck
(above) was taken by one of the rescued climbers.
Skiing:
He and his wife
have skied together for over 50 years at ski areas from New
Zealand to Alaska including the Tasman glacier and have
heliskied in Canada. They have skied together more than
3000 days. After retirement in 1986 they often skied more
than 100 days a year. In 1998 they skied together 136 days
by skiing in the Southern and Northern hemispheres.
Mader Scrap
Book:
Professional
Activities and Accomplishments:
Dr. Charles L.
Mader is President of Mader Consulting Co, and a Retired Fellow
of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He is a Fellow of
the American Institute of Chemists, recipient of the Los Alamos
Distinguished Performance Award, and was the organizer and first
Co-ordinator of the Los Alamos Fellows. He is listed in
Who's Who in the World and was a member of the National
Academies' Technical Assessment Board Panel on Armor and
Armaments.
