Henry Snow Hall Jr.

Henry Snow Hall Jr. (3 June 1895 – 29 March 1987) was an American mountaineer and patron of the American Alpine Club. He was also a trustee of the Boston Museum of Science.

Early life Hall was born June 3, 1895, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was educated at St. George's School (Rhode Island) and graduated from Harvard College with the Class of 1919. In World War I he was an infantry officer.

Mountaineering Hall's mountaineering took him to the Caucasus Mountains, the New Zealand Alps, the European Alps, Africa, Mexico, Japan and Colombia. although he himself was not on the summit partly because he volunteered to help another member, who had frozen his feet, down the mountain from 17,000 feet. Mount Clemenceau , in the Park Ranges of the Canadian Rockies in August 1923. Mount Blackhorn and Mount Razorback in the Niut Range of the Coast Mountains, in August 1932. Mount Monarch in July 1936 and Silverthrone Mountain with the Mundays a few weeks later. He made most of his ascents in the 1930s with the guide Hans Fuhrer. (Even in the 2020s approaches to the mountain areas of the Coast Range are very difficult, often involving hazardous river crossings and commonly being choked with dense undergrowth, they "require strength and persistence" Then in June 1947 Hall visited the Muskwa Ranges with Noel Odell, Frank Smythe and others, where they made the first ascent of Mount Lloyd George .)

Hall also made several expeditions to reconnoitre and to attempt Mount Waddington : in 1931, 1932 and, with the Mundays, in 1933 and 1934. On 14 August 1934 the party reached the top of the north-west summit but concluded that they could not continue to the main summit (which is little more than 30m higher) because "the rock tower is next to unclimbable".

In mid-July 1941 he set out with Bradford Washburn, Barbara Washburn, Benjamin Ferris, Sterling Hendricks and William Shand to attempt the first ascent of Mount Hayes in Alaska. On 29 July they managed to reach 12,650 ft. via the North Ridge but a storm was approaching and, with the summit only a little over 1000ft higher and just half a mile away, they decided they should descend to safety. On August 1 the party made another attempt, Hall remained in camp but the others were successful in making the first ascent of Mount Hayes. The route up the North Ridge wasn't repeated until 1975, it "is considered one of the great landmarks of Alaskan mountaineering because of its great technical difficulty at the time".

He was the first Honorary President of the American Alpine Club (1974), after having served as president (1950–1952), secretary (for 15 years) and director. and it was "in Henry's library and livingroom that many great American mountaineering accomplishments were generated and planned". and is now regarded as "one of the world's finest collections of mountain-related artifacts, archives, rare books, maps, and media". It is now named the Henry S. Hall Jr. American Alpine Club Library.

The Boston Museum of Science received a bequest of $3 million from Hall's estate which was used to setup a permanent endowment fund, the Henry Snow Hall Jr. Fund, with the income generated to be used for the development of new exhibits.

Hall married Lydia Lyman Storer in 1920. Their daughter, Edith Paine Hall Overly (1921–2018), later became a trustee of the Boston Museum of Science.