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16. History of the LAM Club
Logo
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Logo
Competition: The Masherbrum logo as featured on many of
our web pages, caps, mugs, jackets, etc. was born out of a club wide
logo competition that was judged by the 2002 LAM Board of Directors.
Peter McLachlan was the club president and responsible for the
Mountaineers' 50th anniversary celebration. As part of the
celebration it was decided that a club logo would be an appropriate
icon of the anniversary. Mario Schillaci first made the suggestion
to have Masherbrum be the club logo to honor
George Irving Bell, a
longtime club member who died on May 28, 2000, who went on several
Himalayan expeditions which culminated in the first ascent of
Masherbrum on July 6, 1960.
Close up of
Masherbrum as seen from Hushe Valley near Kande.
Photo courtesy of Evert Wesker -
link
McLachlan found
this photo
of Masherbrum, as seen from Hushe Valley near Kande, on the internet
and he and his friend Patrick Harvey modified it with Photoshop to
produce the winning
LAM logo. A few more of the original Logo
Contest entries were recently unearthed:
Logo
Merchandise Usage: Dave Katonak, our LAM Equipment Manager
for 3 years, was largely responsible for the first few rounds of logo
endowed merchandise. The club gave members a half-liter water
bottle emblazoned with the logo and had clothing with the logo available
for purchase. Bill Priedhorsky
and others have since used that very same logo on many of the clubs "trip
rewards". Below are two of several impressionistic logos used on LAM
merchandise:
The original LAM logo survives today,
along with a few newer versions, due to the rich club history that
it represents and it's fine artistic interpretations. Our
thanks go to the 2002 LAM Board of Directors, Peter McLachlan,
Patrick Harvey, Mario Schillaci, and oh yah, let's not forget George
Irving Bell.
LAM's Masherbrum History
Masherbrum was first climbed on July
6, 1960 by LAM member
George Irving Bell and
Willi Unsoeld, as part of an American-Pakistani expedition led
by Nick Clinch. They succeeded in climbing the southeast face that
had stymied earlier attempts.
The teams 1953 view of Masherbrum from the Baltoro Glacier in
northern Pakistan.
Photo courtesy of Tom
Hornbein (1960 Masherbrum team mate).
At 25,660 feet,
Masherbrum is the 22nd highest peak in the world. According to the
Himalayan index, there have been only three subsequent ascents. The
Los Alamos Mountaineers honor this historical climb and an esteemed
member by featuring Masherbrum (as seen from the Hushe Valley near
Kande) as our club logo.
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George ascending a
steep snow gully,
the crux leading to the saddle between
the two summits of Masherbrum.
Photo courtesy of Tom
Hornbein |
George approaching Willi at the summit of Masherbrum. The
south and lower summit
is in the background.
Photo courtesy of Tom
Hornbein |
George Bell on the
approach to Masherbrum.
Photo courtesy of Tom
Hornbein (1960 Masherbrum team mate).
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"Lifetime Inspiration Award"
given in Honor of George and Ginny Bell
On June 16, 2010 the Mountaineers made a special presentation to
Virginia (Ginny) Bell for her own and George's inspiration to all of us
who live the outdoor life. The event began with a social highlighted by
a special LAM Logo cake, and was followed by a ceremony for Virginia.
Before the actual presentation of the Bell's award, Bill Priedhorsky
read the following description of George and Ginny's inspiring life
together, written by their daughter Carolyn:
George and Ginny Bell met in 1952 at the Los Alamos Mountaineers. They
were on the same LAM camping trip and George cleverly left his cast iron
frying pan in Ginny's car thereby guaranteeing further contact with her.
They were a couple for several years but often not together, as George
was a member of mountaineering expeditions to K2 in the Himalayas and to
South America while Ginny traveled in Europe. In 1956 George and Ginny
were married. George continued to climb but chose his expeditions
carefully with a wife and two young children at home. As a result, the
family Christmas card for year 1960 shows infant George Jr, and
two-year-old Carolyn, standing behind her brother while pointing to the
summit of Masherbrum in a large photo.
George and Ginny were enthusiastic life partners enjoying many outdoor
adventures. With their two children, life fell into a pattern of hiking,
river rafting and Canadian climbing trips in the summer, alpine and
Nordic skiing in the winter, and exploratory trips to Canyonlands, Grand
Gulch and the Maze over Spring Breaks. Some trips took surprising turns
and it was best to be adaptable and open to anything. For example, in
1970 George led a Los Alamos Mountaineers climbing trip to the Chicago
Basin area in Colorado. This entailed riding the Narrow Gauge train from
Durango, disembarking at the trailhead and backpacking to the Chicago
Basin climbing area. Unfortunately, it had been raining heavily for many
days and the ground was saturated, so saturated that during the first
night the mountainsides began sloughing off in the form of huge
avalanches filling the swollen rivers with enormous boulders and
narrowly missing the campsites. That was too exciting for the
mountaineers so a decision was made to go back and take the train out to
Silverton. But the next day, when the group arrived at the train tracks
it was discovered that they had been washed into the river! So the hardy
mountaineers and their families had a lovely backpack to Silverton
walking under blue skies, along the train tracks marveling at the forces
of nature that twisted, covered up or pushed the train tracks off their
bed in many places.
After the kids left the family home George and Ginny really kicked up
their heels trekking in Nepal and Bhutan annually for many years,
venturing to the mountains in Patagonia, Morocco and Bolivia, traveling
to New Zealand, Australia, Europe and Africa - combining outdoor
adventures with visits to big cities or resorts. They really knew how to
plan a trip! During this time they also backpacked extensively in the
backcountry of the Grand Canyon and the High Sierra Camps of Yosemite.
George died in May 2000 from a combination of health issues including
acute leukemia. A week before he died he hiked 14 miles in Bandelier.
His death has left a huge hole in Ginny’s life but she has rallied
admirably, continuing to travel and lead a life of adventure. Ginny has
journeyed to Australia on numerous occasions over the past 10 years. Her
traveling companion was often Rosemary Beasley, a life long pen pal from
England currently living in Australia. Ginny continues to plan trips and
leaves for Easter Island in three weeks time.
Ginny is a member of a local hiking group, the Wednesday Irregulars, and
hikes weekly. She uses her extensive knowledge of every trail in the
area to help schedule and plan the hikes.
When asked why she loves adventuring in the out-of-doors Ginny will tell
you that she "loves the forest, being up high, the views, the health
benefits and being with other people who feel the same way. It's
addicting!"
After Ginny's moving ceremony we were pleased to have well known
American mountaineer
Tom
Hornbein reconstruct the first ascent of Masherbrum for us in words
and photos. Tom was a member of the original first ascent team.
The evening was a smashing success!
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