Barbara Washburn

Barbara Washburn (née Polk) (November 10, 1914 – September 25, 2014) was an American mountaineer. She became the first woman to climb Denali (Mount McKinley) on June 6, 1947. She was the wife and climbing partner of mountaineer and scientist Bradford Washburn.

Early life Barbara Washburn, née Polk, grew up in the Boston-area suburb of West Roxbury, Massachusetts. She attended the Boston Girls Latin School and graduated from Smith College. As a young woman, she took courses at Harvard University and worked as a secretary for Bradford Washburn, then the director of the New England Museum of Natural History (now the Boston Museum of Science). When the Washburns announced their engagement, Barbara Washburn resigned from her job at the museum. They married on April 27, 1940, honeymooned in New Hampshire,

Mountaineering and first ascents

Mount Bertha Shortly after marrying Bradford Washburn, Barbara Washburn was asked to accompany her husband and a team of six others on an expedition to attempt the first ascent of remote Mount Bertha, a mountain in the Fairweather range of Alaska, during the early summer of 1940. As the expedition's leader, Bradford Washburn envisioned a relatively casual affair. Besides Barbara Washburn, who had no mountaineering experience, a 16-year-old Lowell Thomas Jr. came along at the request of his father, Lowell Thomas. According to Bradford Washburn's later recounting, "His father figured that if Barbara was going it must be easy". Once in Alaska, the team ferried heavy loads up through a series of camps along the flanks of the mountain. She recalled of that time, "I had no real feeling about being a pioneering woman on a serious Alaskan expedition. I only knew that as the only woman, I had to measure up." On the first attempt at the summit, the team climbed too slowly and had to turn back 1700ft from the top. On the way down, Bradford Washburn decided that they should rappel down an open crevasse to save time. For the second summit attempt, three team members, Lowell Thomas Jr., Alva Morrison and Lee Wilson, decided to remain in camp. The remaining five, Barbara and Bradford Washburn, with Maynard Miller, Michl Feuersinger and Thomas Winship, but had not yet had a first ascent. Bradford Washburn later recalled it being one of the few expeditions the couple did with no additional angle, such as map-making or scientific discovery, but simply for the fun of it, in fear that the war would irrevocably alter their circumstances and prevent any future adventures. With a three-month-old baby, Washburn was initially reluctant to go on the trip, but was eventually persuaded. Bradford Washburn's parents would care for the infant Dorothy "Dottie" Washburn in their absence. The Washburns assembled an experienced team, including Ben Ferris, Sterling Hendricks, Bill Shand, Robin Montgomery and Henry Hall. A climber from a later expedition to Mt. Hayes would describe this section as "so narrow and the snow so soft that you could not put your feet side by side." Bradford Washburn's biographer, David Roberts, questioned the rationale for Washburn's lead, writing that "the crux pitches on a mountain such as Hayes should have been led by the best climber, which in this case was Brad. He weighed only about thirty pounds more than his wife. [...] Had Barbara slipped off the ridge, or broken loose a cornice or even a chunk of the ridge, she would have taken a long, horrific pendulum fall down the sheer precipice on either the east or the west side. Even held on belay, she might have seriously injured herself, and it would have been no easy matter to get her back up to the ridge." Operation White Tower drew together complex interests. The New England Museum supported scientific, surveying and photographic endeavors during the climb. The U.S. Air Force, interested in cosmic ray research and high altitude camping, helped with logistics, while the Alaska Communications System set up the team with radio support. The National Park Service allowed the use of a ranger station, while Chief Ranger Grant Pearson accompanied the expedition. Four representatives from RKO also took part in the expedition to capture photography, film and written accounts of the climb.

In the end, 17 people would take part in the actual expedition: Carl Anderson, George Brown, Hakon Christensen, Robert Craig, William Deeke, Sgt. James Gale, William Hackett, Robert Lange, Earl Norris, Grant Pearson, Leonard Shannon, Harvey Solberg, William Sterling, H.T. Victoreen, Bradford Washburn, Barbara Washburn and George Wellstead. Washburn was the only woman on the climb. Washburn, Hackett and Lange were the first to reach the summit, on June 6, 1947, followed by Deeke, Craig, Gale, Browne and Bradford Washburn.

As the only woman on the expedition, Washburn became the first woman to climb Denali. She typically accompanied her husband on his expeditions, and contributed to his work at the Boston Museum of Science.

With her husband, she completed a large-scale map of the Grand Canyon, published as a National Geographic magazine supplement in July 1978. For that achievement and others, the Washburns received in 1980 the Alexander Graham Bell Medal from the National Geographic Society. In 1981, the Washburns produced the most detailed and accurate map ever made of Mount Everest.

Washburn's memoir is The Accidental Adventurer: Memoir of the First Woman to Climb Mt. McKinley by Barbara Washburn, Lew Freedman, and Bradford Washburn, Epicenter Press, May 2001.

Personal life Barbara and Bradford Washburn raised three children, Dorothy, Edward and Elizabeth.