Rick Reese grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he spent countless hours climbing with friends in the Wasatch Mountains. He is an experienced mountineer. He was a climbing ranger in Grand Teton National Park in the 1960s and has served as director of Community Relations at the University of Utah, co-chair of the Bonneville Shoreline preservation group, director of the Yellowstone Institute and founder the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.
The Rick Reese mountaineering audio collection (1980-1996) contains oral history interviews which preserve the stories of the pioneering of climbing and skiing in the Teton Range.
The materials are arranged chronologically by interview date.
Audio-visual materials can be fragile and require specialized equipment to play back. For this reason, access to audio-visual materials is provided through digital copies, and it might take longer to provide access to items that are not yet digitized. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law, condition of the material, or by donor.
See also the Rick Reese papers (Accn 1424) and the Alpenbock Club records (Accn 2296) in the Manuscripts Division of Special Collections.
Processed by Elizabeth Shuput in 2007.
DeLap discusses his ascent of the Grand Teton on August 23 1923, the third ascent, made with Quin Blackburn and Andy DePirro. The first and second ascents were made by William Owen, Frank Peterson, John Shive, and Franklin Spalding in 1898.
Interview conducted by Rick Reese in Bozeman Montana.
Leigh (1929-1991) was a historian, researcher, guidebook author, and talented photographer. He was an accomplished mountaineer and climber, spending a tremendous amount of time in the Tetons and the Andes. In this interview, Leigh directly correlates the decrease of traditional mountaineering to the raise of competitive climbing. They discuss climbing ethics of old and how they have changed with the development of the sport.
Leigh discusses his publications regarding the history of the Teton mountain range, particularly his book
Interview conducted by Mathew Goewert in Palo Alto, California.
Petzoldt discusses everything that he and Brown had in common, activities that they participated in, and their friendship. Fred Brown, Paul Petzoldt and Eldon (Curly) Petzoldt were the first to descent Rendezvous Mountain which is now the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. This was the first winter ascent of the Grand Teton. They skied to the caves in Garnet Canyon and carried loads of gear up to the lower saddle. From there they ascended to the summit via the Owen Spalding route. Fred later became the president of the ski club and helped form the Jackson Hole Ski Association.