Occupation Mountaineer Died February 1, 1993 | Name Carl Blaurock Spouse(s) Louise Forsyth | |
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Born April 22, 1894 ( 1894-04-22 ) Denver, Colorado, United States | ||
Alma mater Colorado School of Mines | ||
Carl Blaurock (April 22, 1894 – February 1, 1993) was an American mountaineer. He pioneered many climbing routes throughout Colorado and Mount Blaurock (13,616 feet (4,150 metres)) is named after him. Blaurock and climbing partner Bill Ervin were the first to climb all of the 14,000-foot peaks (known as "fourteeners") in the state of Colorado, doing so by 1923.
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By 1957, he had also climbed all of the 14,000-foot (4,300-metre) peaks in California as well. In Wyoming, Blaurock participated in the first ascents of Mount Helen, Mount Turret, and Mount Harding along with Hermann Buhl, Elmina Buhl and Albert Ellingwood. In Colorado, he also made the first ascent of Lone Eagle Peak with Stephen H. Hart.
In 1912, Blaurock helped to found the Colorado Mountain Club as a charter member.
Early life and education
He was born in Denver, Colorado. He studied at North Denver High School and later went on to study metallurgy at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, graduating in 1916.
After graduation, he worked for his father and took over the family business until his retirement in 1972. His business helped to finance his hobbies, including mountaineering and photography, but it also limited the amount of time he could spend outside of Colorado.
Mountaineering
Blaurock's first major climb was Pikes Peak.
In 1912, he became a charter member of the Colorado Mountain Club. He was very active in the club throughout his life, participating in club hikes all over the state of Colorado.
In 1916, he had what he described as his closest brush with death when he slid several hundred feet from the top of one of Colorado's Saint Vrain Glaciers and landed in a crevasse.
In 1920, Blaurock made an expedition to the Sangre de Cristo Range in southern Colorado and climbed the Crestone Needle. Initially, he thought it was the first ascent, but later discovered that Albert Ellingwood and Eleanor Davis had climbed it in 1916.
Blaurock and his climbing partner, Bill Ervin, were the first to summit all of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, completing this feat in 1923.
In 1924, he made an expedition to the Wind River Range in Wyoming with Albert Ellingwood, Hermann Buhl, and Emma Buhl. There, the group managed to make first ascents of Mount Helen, Mount Turret, and Mount Warren.
In 1925, Blaurock and two others retrieved the body of his friend Agnes Vaille, who had attempted to climb the eastern face of Colorado's Longs Peak in a blizzard.
In 1926, Blaurock traveled to Europe to climb in the Alps.
In 1957, he completed his goal of climbing all 14,000-foot peaks in California. This made him the first person to summit all fourteeners in the continental United States. He declared that his favorite climb was Longs Peak's east face, which he completed 18 times.
Blaurock was known among the mountaineering community for doing handstands on the summits of mountains and pictures exist of him doing so on Longs Peak and Sunlight Peak (also in Colorado). He joked that it was his method of getting his feet higher on the mountains than anybody else.
His last climb was in 1973, to the summit of Notch Mountain in Colorado. The trip was to commemorate William Henry Jackson's photograph of the Mount of the Holy Cross and he placed a plaque at the position from which Jackson took his photograph.
Legacy
To honor Blaurock's legacy of climbing, the U.S. Department of the Interior named a 13,616-foot peak Mount Blaurock on July 11, 2004.
Personal life
In 1925, he met Louise Forsyth while on a Colorado Mountain Club outing. They were married soon after and their marriage lasted until her death, 65 years later.