All language subtitles for Bag 2017

why he didn't stay with him
or bring him down?

After this thing,
things changed.

[Nick Clinch]
It's a huge difference
between second guessing somebody

and being there

when you have got
to make that decision.

You have got to do this,
and these are the factors.

[Jim] The first time
I heard about Fred was,

I was just a young kid.

He was a little
different but, you know,

nature is diverse
and so is humanity.

My life was more, I guess
you would say, structured.

And I would definitely say

that Fred's life
was unstructured.

[Timothy] His contemporaries,
they founded companies,

they were like movie stars
for a while,

they were glamorous.

They were like the astronauts
of mountaineering,

and Beckey was left out.

[Tom] To imagine Fred being
the first American
to climb Everest

and substituting
him for Whittaker

I can't imagine Fred

to be the... the sort of
the public persona

of the expedition.

It's a hell of a responsibility
and I'm glad it was Jim

who I think could manage it
and thrived on it.

[Helmy] Who was Whittaker
other than he climbed Everest?

But these are guys
that get to talk to
the President of the USA,

and are big heroes,
you know,

because they're the first
Americans to climb Mt. Everest.

[Jim] I was never attracted
to any dirtbag style

I wasn't that far
out of the box.

My whole life
wasn't climbing.

It was Fred's
whole life, actually.

I would have liked
to have gone...

I'm sure.
But, since I wasn't invited,

all right, so you weren't.
You know, sorry.

Sorry.

[Timothy] There's these
pivot points in life

where you could go one way
or the other.

Beckey had about 10 of them,

and at every turn, he stayed
in the climber bum,

dirtbag lane,
he never turned off.

He never took
the exit to respectability,

he never took
the exit to an easy life

he never took the exit
to branding Fred Beckey.

Would he have liked to?

I mean, the proof is
in the life.

[Fred] Can't say I've had
any regrets,

at least I haven't
thought about it.

I really don't like to dwell
back on the background.

You did what you did,
forget it. You know,
look forward

to something new.

[Conrad] So, he missed out
on these big expeditions

and these trips at the time
were what professional climbers
were doing.

You were either part
of one of these big trips

or you were out there
forging your own path.

And Fred was
forging his own path.

[Alex] While the Everest
expedition spent a whole
season climbing one peak

and only a handful
made it to the top,

Fred spent the same amount
of time

doing dozens of first ascents
all over North America.

[Timothy] You could take,
in isolation,

probably a dozen Beckey peaks.

Any of those dozen
would make a career.

But then, expand that
by a factor of ten,

and Beckey was just
knocking them off
one after the other.

It was like,
tell me a place
that's unclimbable,

and I'll be there on Saturday.

He was astonishing people.

[Ed Cooper] In those
early days,

Fred seemed to be climbing
almost all the time.

In fact, many of us wondered
where he got all the money

because he never seemed
to have a job or work.

[Don] No one really knew
much about how he made
his living

or what he did.

[Yvon] He had no money,
I mean, he was working,

I think as a paper salesman
in those days...

[Eric]
When I first met him,
he sold insurance

and he usually had
a company car...

[Steve] He didn't work at all.

I don't know quite
how he did it.

Then the big rumor...

came along, there was this
plane crash on Slesse,

and the rumor was that there
was all this gold aboard.

Fred was trying to get people
to go into Slesse with him.

Some of us began to think,
well, you know,

maybe he actually got in there
and got hold of that money.

And that's why he was able to,
you know,

spend all his time climbing.

[Alex] He put away money,
and we never will find out

how much, but he put it
away in stocks...

[Fred] How much do I have
on the market?

That's all?

Well, I can't buy
anything with that.

OK, great, Thanks.

How about this
macaroni and cheese?

[Dave] What do you say
when someone asks you
what do you do for a living?

[Fred] It depends who it is.

If I don't want to
talk to that person,
I just tell 'em, "Adios."

None of their fucking business!

[Timothy] When I got to know
him, he was sort of twitchy

whenever he was at sea level.
He doesn't do well

when he's not in thin air.

Yeah, I wish
they'd make the law,

"Car first. Pedestrians,
fuck 'em."

Like China,
Bangkok or Europe.

Here, the fuckin' people
walk out across street

and don't even look!

[Timothy] It's like he was
in prison or something

when he was in the city.

The mountains
are the only thing

that made him comfortable.

-[beep]
-[Fred] Hey, this is Beckey.
Can you rent a car?

But we've got to
get out of here.

The weather might
come in on Sunday,

and it'll fuck
the whole damn trip up.

-[beep]
-Beckey again!

I called you
over and over.

The whole trip is not going
to work unless we get going.

[beep]

Hey, this is a crisis.
This is Fred.

You have got to be here
on the 12th, on Saturday!

That was our agreement!

You cannot be here
as late as Monday!

We are losing
the whole weekend.

[Rick Ridgeway] He called me
up couple weeks ago

to check in on how the book
was coming along,

and I said, "Well,
how are you coming
along on the climbs?"

He said, "Oh, I got
weathered off last year,
but I'm getting all geared up,

we'll get it done.
We'll get it done
before press time."

[Fred]
Don't take movies of me, I look
kind of ugly this morning.

[Jeff Wenger]
Ah, you look great.

-[Jeff] Hey!
-[Fred] Anybody want agua?

-[Jeff] Sure,
I'll have a little.
-[Fred] Yeah, it's free.

-[Jeff] How many times
have you been up here?
-[Fred] Too many.

Just, things just haven't
clicked.

Sometimes my fault,

sometimes the weather.

OK.

[breathing heavily]

Good lead.

I'm not doing very well.

Shitty.

[Todd] I do see Fred
get really defeated

by not physically
being able to do it,
because mentally he still

thinks of being able
to climb this stuff.

He still wants
to climb Lucky Streaks,
and believes he can.

Hope I climb
better than this tomorrow.

Fuck.

I didn't set any
speed records on that, man.

Kind of fun, though.

Hope I didn't embarrass
you guys too much.

[Jeff] You did great, man.

I don't know,
I feel a little clumsy.

[Todd] Very quickly
after the defeat
and the self doubt

he's real quick
to just turn right back around

and somehow just erase
all that from his brain
and start fresh

that he wants to climb
Lucky Streaks again.

Ah, maybe I'll go back
next year, we'll see.

If I do, I think I'm just
gonna go up and climb

three pitches
and just bail out.
Fuck it.

[Jim] One thing
about alpine climbing--

if you can't handle
rejection or failure,

don't even go there.

[music playing]

[Jim] We were in Bishop,
California.

It was a Saturday night,

and we all went to
a country western bar,

and there were lot of women.

Fred's there,
and there's this table

with about nine attractive
women in their, maybe thirties.

He'd go over, and he'd
tap one on the shoulder,

and she'd look up at him,

you know, he's
35 years older and...

"Hey, uh, hey, would you like
to dance?"

And, "No."

And then, "Ok." You know,
he'd go to the next one,

"Hey, how about you,
would you like to dance?"

"I don't think so."

But he went right
around the table to,

about the fifth or sixth one,

and the most attractive even.

And she said, "Sure,
I'll dance."

And they went up,
and they disappeared,

and we never saw him again
for three days. [chuckles]

Persistence pays off.

[Fred] Something like that?

-Yeah. It's good.
-[Annie Musselman] Yeah.

[camera shutter clicks]

You want me to smile
or grouch or...

[woman laughing]

[laughing] You're great.

-[Fred] You're tall,
what are you, 5'8"? 5'9"? 5'8".
-[Annie] 5'8", yeah, and a half.

[Fred] You haven't done
any rock climbing at all?

-[Fred] It's all right.
-[Annie] Kinda scary.

-[Fred] Yeah, sorta.
-[Annie] You don't think?

-[Fred] It is scary.
-[Annie] Yeah.

[Fred] But lots of of other
things are scary.

[Annie] Yeah, that's true.

[Corey] Fred Beckey
in his late 80s

is more motivated
for expeditions

and has more ideas
for what he would like to climb

than any other climber,

and it's because
he's thinking about this stuff

24/7 for 80-plus years.

[Yvon] Still now,
he's not staying in motels,

he's sleeping
on the side of the road

and hasn't changed at all.

[Fred] OK.

I guess we're out of here.

I probably won't get back
till July 12, 14th, maybe.

-[Dave] Mm-hmm.
-I'm not sure, you know.

[Barry] One way you knew
you made

the North American
climbing landscape

was you'd get your first
Fred Beckey phone calls...

[beep]

[Fred] Fred Beckey,
let's get together on a climb.

Actually I'm taking off,
I hope today.

I'm trying to get something
together to go to Canada...

Yeah, I'm hot to
go on this thing

as soon as
we can get mobilized.

[Don] In a way,
you look forward

to communications with Fred,

and in a way you looked
a little bit with dread

at the next time
he's going to give you a call.

Right now, I don't know
what I'm doing except tomorrow.

I have no idea.

Are you in Alaska?

OK, you just got back?

I've been trying to get hold
of you, as you probably know.

[Steve] He was persuasive,
yeah. He'd get you the phone.

He'd analyze the weather--
the "weddah," as he called it.

[Fred] Called the weather
man, it's supposed to be good.

What do you think
of this awful summer weather?

I was trying
to call Canada today

and I may call some ranger
up there like the ice fields

and get an idea
what is really happening.

[Jack Tackle] How many
thousands of people
have gotten a call

in the middle of the night,
you know, "What's the weather
doing there?"

"Well, Fred, it's fucking dark
out, I don't know.

[Fred] I think conditions here
are pretty darn good right now.

The weather's excellent.

Actually got room
for another guy.

Three would be perfect.

[Alex] He would do his best

to convince a guy
to go climbing.

[Fred] You're pushing
your luck sometimes,

like you might
get high blood pressure
by just working too hard.

[Alex] He'd hound you
until you caved in.

[Erik Harz] He will not
rest until you call him back.

There's no blowing off Fred.

[Fred] Shit!

[Erik] Especially if
he knows where you live,

like, you don't know,
he could just,

-like, show up at your house.
-[Fred] I'm Fred Beckey,
remember me.

Hey, we're right
in front of your house!

Fucking system, I got
to do something about this.

I'm on your street,

but I don't know
where your place is.
Gonna stop by.

Well, are you the one
with the fence?

[Todd] If you've ever seen
Fred's filing system

it's a series
of different cards

rubber banded together,
in different areas.

Phone numbers scratched out,

more current phone numbers,
addresses,

what days a person has off.

I've seen him fill
this out on the phone.

"So, what days
are you off again?"

And, "Oh, Thursdays
and Fridays,

I can climb with this guy."

He thinks nothing of making
that late night phone call.

He just pulls in and just would
throw his sleeping bag

down in our driveway
and crash out.

I remember having
kids walk past

in the morning going to school.
One of the kids said,

"Why do you make your grandpa
sleep in the driveway?"

[Alex] In the early '60s,

Shiprock only had
one route on it.

So, any other ascent

would result in a first ascent,
and that was Fred's forte.

So he tried to recruit
Eric Bjornstad and me

to do the climb with him,

and Eric agreed
to go with them and I didn't.

[Eric] When we went to Shiprock
in the early '60s,

the lady that I was
going with at the time

had tattoos over
about 80% of her body.

And Fred just hated her.

[Fred] I really don't even
know why he brought her.

She was not a climber.

What was she gonna do
there all that time?

You know, I think
it was a really bad choice.

[Eric] I spent 20 days on the
Southwest Buttress of Shiprock

with Fred and this lady,

and finally had a falling out
with Fred.

[Alex] When Eric decided
to quit,

Fred just couldn't handle it.

And of course
they were out there

in Fred's Thunderbird.

Fred wouldn't even take Eric
to the bus station,

so, Eric and his girlfriend
had to walk across the desert.

[Eric] We hiked back
out to the highway,

which was several miles,

and then hitchhiked
back to Seattle,

and Fred would dog us

he would follow us in the car
staying within view...

and then as we'd get let off,

he would drive by slowly.
[chuckles]

And he did that
all the way into Oregon.

He then got on the phone,

you know, every few hours
and would call me

at my office, and so when the
phone would ring,

the boss would answer the phone

and it'd be long distance

and it'd be a long discourse
of how great the climb is,

and how good the conditions are.

"Oh, yeah, Eric,

you know, lost interest,
you know,

there was no big problem."
Which was all a lie.

My boss started
getting angry with me

because, you know,
I was getting paid by the hour.

I figured, hey,
I've got a raise coming,

So, I kind of

asked my boss for the raise,

and when he didn't
give me the raise,

it was a good excuse
to quit and join Fred.

[Fred] When Eric
and I were there,

it was too windy,
too cold.

And when Alex came,
everything changed.

It got too warm.

[Alex] We were within 200 feet
of the summit

when Fred decided
that we couldn't go any further

because we only maybe had
a cup of water left

in our last bottle.

He was adamant
about going down,

and I was adamant
about going up.

And Fred, I think, almost
had a nervous breakdown.

Eventually I felt exhausted
just arguing with him

and I said,
"OK, let's go down,

but I'm not coming
back up again."

And he said, "That's fine."

[Fred] Luckily I'd been
in touch with Harvey Carter,

who I'd climbed with before.

[Eric] Harvey came out
and met Fred at Shiprock,

and within half a day
they reached the summit.

So, the first ascent
of the southwest buttress

was Fred Beckey
and Harvey Carter.

But Alex had spent
a whole week on the climb

and I'd spent 20 days
on the climb.

[Don] We have
an important announcement.

We're standing
on the summit of Mt. Seattle.

[Don] The culture of that time
was one of personal pride.

If you were a climber,
you kind of felt

that you were
a little bit special.

[Eric] It was very appealing
to do something

that few other people could do.

And back in the 60s it was
pretty esoteric, you know.

Why people climb now
I think is totally different.

[Peter] Some people talk about
the sport of mountaineering,

or the sport of climbing,
and for me it's just,

what sport is
so much about is rules.

You have to follow the rules,

I think what defines being up
in the mountains and climbing,

is that there is no rules.

[Ed Cooper] It was a fierce
competition in those days.

We didn't really
get along well.

I had my ideas
of what I wanted to do,

and he had his ideas
of what he wanted to do.

The first ascents
were the thing.

[Fred] Cooper might
have been one that...

he was interested,
maybe sometimes interested

in the same climbs I was,

and that's fine!

You know,
there was some competition.

But sometimes
I joined him on climbs, too.

[Ed Cooper] It became
a little bit of a game.

He wouldn't tell his partners
where they were going,

in case the weather turned bad
and they never got there,

then he wouldn't tip 'em off

about this first ascent
that he wants to do.

[Alex] Fred was only
focused on climbing,

and his partners had to be
dedicated the same way.

And he never felt sorry for you

if your climbing ended
up in a divorce.

[Dave] He's had to leave
a few burning bridges behind,

in order to live the life
that he's wanted to live.

[Eric] He went through
dozens and dozens of climbers.

He would have
falling-outs with them,

and he was a difficult
person to be around,

but I got along well with him

because I admired Fred
for his climbing ability

and just overlooked
the other faults

that he might have had.

[Nick] Now, climbers are
a pretty single-minded bunch.

But he's more single-minded
than the single-minded bunch.

People thought I was a fanatic,
they thought my friends
were fanatics,

and that's nothing,
nothing compared to Fred!

[Ed] He would kind of
talk almost constantly.

[Yvon] Fred will wear you down.
[chuckles]

He'll repeat the same thing
over and over again,

and that can drive you nuts.

[Alex] There were three
subjects that he would
talk about.

Of course, the first one
is mountains. The other,
of course, weather.

And the other subject
was women--

women he'd dated,
women that he wanted to date.

Women he should have dated.

Those were the three subjects
that you were stuck with

when you were
in a tent with Fred.

[Dave] You think
people considered you

sort of
a renegade climber?

They probably think
I'm pretty independent.

That's all right,
I don't care what they think.

I could care less.

[Timothy] There was a school
of thought that he was unsafe,

that what comes with being
a spectacular pioneer

is recklessness.

People died climbing with him.

[Dave] Have you lost
a lot of friends
in the mountains?

[Fred] A few, yeah.
Dick Berge on Mt. Baring.

That was a bad one.

And we lost Charles Shiverick
in an accident

on Mt. Serra
in the Mt. Waddington area...

or Waddington Range.

Very unfortunate.

I feel very, very,
very bad about it.

Many climbers have lost
some of their best friends
climbing.

it's not for everybody.

It definitely is not.

[Timothy] There is
an element of luck

involved
in these risky sports.

They never pinned the blame
specifically on him

for these deaths.

It was more like,
he lived and they didn't.

They took the fatal wrong step.

But, there was enough there
for the gossips

that he developed
a bad reputation.

[Fred] If risk appealed to me,

I'd go out in the jungle
and you know, hang around the
lions.

[Ed Cooper] He was,
to my knowledge,

never injured seriously
in an accident.

That's quite a feat

with all the climbing
that he has done.

[Layton] You were guaranteed

going back in the mountains
with Fred,

you weren't gonna get lost
at least.

He knew exactly
where he was all the time.

He'd spent enough years
in the mountains to know

that if you were gonna
continue doing this sort
of thing and survive,

well, you gotta be careful.

[Yvon]
The reason I'm alive today
is probably because of Fred

and the things I learned
alpine climbing with him.

There were probably 250
serious climbers in America.

I didn't know who Fred was
when I first met him,

but then I started
realizing that

he's one of the few guys

that actually searched out
hard alpine climbs.

[vintage narrator] Beautiful
Mt. Edith Cavell in Canada.

Many have wanted to scale

the North Face
of this mountain,

but no one has
ever dared it before.

[Yvon] When we tried to sign
out with the park warden,

he wouldn't sign us out,
he said, "It's suicide."

And so we said, "OK, we're
gonna go do it anyway."

[vintage narrator]
7:00 a.m., the men set out,

to risk their lives,

and there it is.

Are they worried?
You doggone right, they are!

But the goal is greater
than fear.

[Barry] It's an
interesting combination
where you have Yvon,

the young Yosemite specialist,

apprentice to the master
mountain climber.

[vintage narrator]
Not many of us can endure
such a prolonged struggle.

But Yvon and Fred and Dan
keep their goal in mind.

[Fred] We knew we could
climb the peak as far
as the difficulty goes.

The danger is rock fall
and possible avalanches.

We had a bad lightning storm
that pretty much frightened us.

So, that night we bivouacked
500 feet below the summit.

[vintage narrator]
Suddenly, the struggle is over.

And they become the first men
in history

to climb the dangerous
North Face

of the summit
of Mt. Edith Cavell.

There'll be time to
congratulate themselves later,

when they return
to the everyday world

where congratulations matter.

[Yvon] We got back down,

and there was a note on our car
from the warden that said,

"Good work, boys."

[Fred] After we climbed
Edith Cavell,

Chouinard and I went
to the Bugaboos

and that's when
we had our eyes set

on the South Tower of Howser.

That's the ultimate
in climbing,

is to do a first descent
on a beautiful line.

[Conrad] Fred's
a climber's climber.

He chose to do good routes
that were challenging,

that were aesthetically
beautiful.

[Jim] He has an artist's eye
for the lines.

[Corey] What Fred has given
back to climbing

is thousands of routes.

[Jim] There's probably
no human being on the planet

that has more routes
named after him.

The Beckey this,
the Beckey that,
the Beckey Direct,

the Beckey... [laughs]

[Steve Gunn]
* Hey mister shadow wreck

* Cruel and dusted mind

[Jim] He was
a very good researcher,

which gave rise whether or not

this mythological notebook
actually exists.

[Todd] You've always heard
about this black book
that Fred Beckey has.

[Dave] Of all
the unclimbed peaks

that he still wanted to do.

[Peter] It's become legendary
in American climbing.

People whisper that somebody
found the black book.

[Todd] The black book...

[Fred] There's no black book.

That was in the haul bag
until Tehipite Dome.

No.

I don't know
of any black book.

I would never have put
a black book...

Why would I put a black book
in a haul bag?

I mean, it doesn't make sense.
People make up stories.

I've never had a black book.

[Alex] He didn't need
a black book.

He remembered every mountain
that he ever saw pictures of,

or climbed,

or from the summit looking over
to the next range.

He knew what
he wanted to climb,

and he remembered
those details.

[beep]

[Fred] Hey, listen.
I'm planning on heading down

for Russell and Whitney
in a few days.

But we wanted one more climber,
we need somebody,

but so far we've had no luck.

I've called about 35 people,

this is the only way
I can do it this year.

It's the only way.

[Yvon] The fact that he still
has these high standards

of routes that he wants to do,

and he's really, we all know
he's really not capable of
doing 'em.

I don't think it's ego,
I think he's just an idealist.

Fred loves the mountains.

And he still wants
that lifestyle

of having
his car full of gear,

just in case.

He's a climber.

He's not gonna give up
till his last breath.

[Jim] You know, you damn well
wouldn't want your kid,

to grow up to be Fred Beckey

because of
this exclusive focus,

this unnatural focus.

[Timothy]
Other people have moved on.

They had normal lives,
they had families,

they had wives,
they have grandkids now.

They have their place
in history. Fred never did.

In some cases,
he may be a sad lonely man

who doesn't have anything.

But I think he also
appreciates the fact

that he can still
do what most of us can't.

[Dave] There's almost
this morbid

fear of being the one
who's with Fred when he goes.

Am I gonna be the one
who's known

as the guy
who killed Fred Beckey?

-[Dave] I can grab
your pack, Fred.
-[Fred] Ah, that's OK, buddy.

I feel guilty.

[Dave] Hey, Fred!

-[Fred] I got a guilt trip.
-[Dave] No, the main thing is
that you get up high.

-It doesn't matter
how you get there.
-Yeah, it does.

[Yvon] When I see him,
I think, "Gosh,

he's so much smaller
than I remember."

I remember him being
so much taller and straight.

Now he's getting... you know...

Like all of us,
he's getting there.

[Dave] What do you think?

[Fred] I don't know, man.

Don't take movies of me, shit.

I used to just run up here.

Maybe not run but...

You better save your battery.

I'm aware that you're trying
to make a movie,

you want to get
some climbing footage?

You want to get a movie about
climbing, not backpacking.

Me walking uphill,
crossing creeks.

I mean, OK, but how much
of that is valuable?

I don't know.

[Dave] How you feeling, Fred?

I don't know.

I just...

Let me lay on my ass here
for a minute.

Fucking lungs.

I mean, fuck,

I can't believe it's taken
three days to get here.

I don't think I can
cut the climb, I got
no fuckin' energy.

We're goin' so fuckin' slow,
I'm embarrassed.

It's ridiculous.

I don't know
what the fuck is wrong.

Yeah, maybe we just
ought to might bail.
I don't know.

I just don't know
how I'm gonna feel.

I hate to do it.
It pisses me off.

-[Dave] Should we get going?
-Yeah.

It's probably the smartest move.

I never deliberate this much.

Either I'm gonna do something
or I don't do it.

[Steve] Well, I think today,
Fred, with his age,

that he keeps going,
and he's kind of living

on memories and living
on a dream,

that he can still do it.

I say more power to him.

You know, if he does fall off
a steep trail or something,

I don't think he'd have
it any other way.

It's hard to tell,
was he just driven

because through what he did
would become immortal in a way?

Which it will.

[people chattering]

Come on, be more like Beckey.

-Take care. Yeah.
-[man] Good to meet you.

-Don't lose the books.
-I won't, don't worry!

In recent years,

there have been a number of
people who have recognized him

for what he is,
the last of a dying breed

of wilderness explorers.

[cheering & applause]

[people laughing]

I was perfectly OK,
until about three years ago.

Up in the Canadian Rockies,
I started feeling funny.

Don't know what it is.

I'm probably lucky to be alive.

And I've got a whole rack
of medicines

that the doctor wishes I would
take, but I don't do it.

Everything from A to Z,
which probably- vitamins,
vitamin C,

which would probably help.
I probably should do it.

You want any candy?

Definitely get some donuts,
I like donuts.

Trying to gain some weight.

The best donuts are
the Canadian ones,

but they don't have 'em here.

Favorite kind of donuts
are jelly donuts,

some kind of raspberry or jelly
or something,

or those donuts that have
cream puff inside of 'em.

They're pretty good.

We're here
in Canyonlands National Park,

near the sight of Moses.

This is the first time
I've been back since 1972.

I welcome the chance to climb
in a different environment

and the Utah desert
is about as different,

from my background.

I thought
it was very beautiful.

And unusual, I-

it took me a while
to get used to the rock.

I used to come out here
for climbing practice.

I think I was one of
the earliest people
to climb on the rock.

[Conrad] Fred is sort of
alone here in the States,

and who's his family?
Who's his support network?

You need to have community
to stay healthy.

Fred's family is
the climbing community.

[beep]

Right now,
I have a driving problem--

the drivers license people
don't think I'm a good driver.

Maybe I'm not,
but I think I am but whatever.

It's difficult because

I'd like to get somebody to go
skiing with this weekend,

and I'm not even sure
who I have.

I may not be able
to find anyone.

Are we going ski touring
tomorrow on Blewett Pass...

Can you please call me back?
I hope this works out.

But do call me,
I'm waiting

and would like
to hear from you.
Bye Bye

You wanna go down by the beach?

My brother was two and a half
years younger than I was.

He did everything I did.
One time,

my brother and I found
a couple of logs,

and we nailed boards together

and we made kind of
a makeshift raft,

and then went and paddled
across over to Vashon Island.

[Helmy] We went a hell of
a long ways out.

freighters and ocean liners
would come along.

[Fred] One ship did come by.

This ship created
waves and wakes.

I was worried that it
might shake the raft apart.

It's about three miles
over to Vashon Island.

We stayed on the island
maybe a night.

We abandoned
the raft over there.

We took the ferry boat back.

I think maybe
we were pushing the limits.

I think we were
pushing our luck.

I sure wouldn't dream
of doing it today.

[Helmy] I don't talk to Fred,
you know,

'cause he's always
too hard to reach.

[Dave] Have you
talked to Helmy?

[Fred] I made a trip there,

we had some
communication problems.

He's having
a tough time hearing.

[Helmy] He came to visit,
you know, over here,

but not to see me,

but to go into the Dolomites.

He changed his lifestyle.

He's just totally interested
and immersed in music,

which is OK,
but I think he overdoes it.

[Helmy] I'm proud of him.
He's a real hero.

And he's the most modest

damn person in the world,
you know?

There must be
a lot of people

that are just plain
resentful or jealous...

'cause Fred is different,
you know?

[Fred]
Wanna pick up a duck?

[Dave laughs]

They either hate the guy
or fear him, or love him.

[Fred] I don't know
if I'm contributing.

I'm not sure I am.

I hope I'm contributing
a little bit

to mountaineering education,

people's knowledge
of the mountains.

I think the dirtbag thing,

I don't know
where it really started.

I don't feel
that I've been a dirtbag.

I've always had a car.

And I've always had a purpose.

The first ascents I've done,

going to Kate's Needle
and Devil's Thumb,

Mount Hunter, Mount Deborah
in Alaska. The Waddington trip

I don't think you could call
that dirtbagging.

[Dave] So, do you feel
like you did everything
you wanted to do?

[Fred] Never, no.

I just scratched the surface.

Obviously, with climbing,
it's endless.

You know, you can make
a hit list

of things that you want
to climb or places to visit.

I'd love to go to Majorca,
the islands in Greece,

I haven't even been to
Thailand.

And even in North America,

there are mountains
in Colorado, Wyoming,

Montana that I haven't even
climbed, Mexico,

all of South America,
I've never done anything there.

You can't do all these things.

But I don't regret
having done it,

it may be better to look
forward to it,

maybe I'll get there
sometime.

I'd like to unwind
and get younger,

but I guess nobody's
figured that out yet.

[Dave] You have any single
one thing you value
most in life,

-[Dave] that you value
the very most?
-[Fred] Stay alive.

[Todd laughs]

That's important.

[Timothy] When we study
individuals who break
the mold,

we should not just study
artists and scientists

and authors and architects.

We should include Fred Beckey
among them.

Beckey was
trained classically,

but then he just
smashed the model.

Sometimes it just calls
for a single-minded bastard.

[Alex] So many of us grow up
and are stuck in dead end jobs

and can't get out of 'em.

You see this person
who has pursued his passion

and has pursued
it passionately.

And we all know instinctively,

that's what I should have done

from the time
I was 18 years old.

[Fred] You know, I could
say to heck with it
and go play golf.

Take up cards.

Sit around the picnic table.

It's a lot more fun,
a lot easier.

But I guess I have
a certain amount of motivation

or drive to go out
and do these things.

Why, I can't explain it.

I'd rather do something
than do nothing.

Put it that way.

-[wind blowing]
-[panting]

[Jeff screams] Come on,
Fred, get up there!

-[Dave] Yeah, do it!
-Yes!

Yeah! Woo! Yeah, buddy!

Nice, Fred!

[Fred] Lots of fun.

[Vasiliki] What I believe
about most people

is as they get older,
they don't necessarily
get any wiser.

In fact, rarely.

They just become more so
what they've always been.

And I think, probably,
with Fred, it's the same thing.

He is...

...etched in stone.

[music playing]

[Steve Gunn]
* There's a constant motion

* Makes you feel
like the ocean *

* Hey there nature driver man

* You are a welcome guest

* Man with that wicked eye

* Will lead you to your rest

* Moving through the seasons

* And I'm hoping for the best

I remember once climbing
at Cal Dome with Fred Beckey,

and there was this swarm of
bees up ahead on the trail.

So we all shouted to Fred,

"Hey, Fred, you know,
there's bees up there!"

You know,
Fred couldn't hear shit,
"What?"

And he walked
right through the bees,

and, you know,
one or two must have stung him,

and he kind of
just like slapped himself

and grunted
and just kept on walking.

And all the other guys
were like,

"Fuck that, we're not gonna
walk through the bees."

So, they start, like,

bushwhacking
to cut the switchback,

and I sort of in my own mind,
I thought,

"Man, if Fred Beckey's
like eighty-something
years old.

If that guy
can walk through the bees,

I'm gonna walk
through the fuckin' bees.

Like, I'm pretty tough,
it's no big deal."

So, I start marching
up through the bees,

and a bee went
right up my shorts

and just got me
right in the scrotum.

and I just couldn't...

There was nothing you could do.
I mean, it's a natural
reaction.

I ripped my shorts off
and I'm trying to kill the bee,

and all the guys are
like laughing hysterically,

like, they just think
it's the funniest thing.

And it really hurt.

And Fred's
completely oblivious.

We get to the base of the crag
about 20 minutes later,

and I say to Fred, "Did you
get stung by any bees?"

"What?"

"Bees, like,
did any bees sting you?"

"I dunno. Maybe, maybe."

And looked at his hand
and there was, like,
a stinger

still in his hand,
and I just thought,

"Goddamn, like, this guy,

he is so passionate

and so freakin' tough.

And that other stuff,
like pain,

doesn't affect him,
apparently."

[Steve Gunn]
* Highway is fully stacked, *

* think we'll turn around.

* Go down another road

* and through a
different town. *

* Feel the direction like

* a rock upon the moon.

* Come on the overpass

* and hope to get there soon.

* Hope to get there soon.

When he said,
"I really wanna climb

the East Buttress on Whitney."

I was like, "Well, why not?

The guy's a legend,
let's go have a good time."

And as we're going
down there, he's like,

"I think I've got it this time,
I can climb,

it's just, I have trouble
sleeping at altitude."

And being a problem solver,
I'm already thinking,

"well, how can I help this guy
achieve his dreams?"

And so, the first day
we hike up,

and we get to camp that night
and it's cold,

and he pulls out
this inappropriately
light sleeping bag,

with a tiny little
Therm-a-Rest.

Like, the guy's
not gonna sleep.

I couldn't
sleep in that thing.

Every so often, if people have
trouble sleeping at altitude,

you know, a little sleeping
pill kind of helps.

So, I grind up a little bit
of this

sleeping tablet into his tea,
and he drinks it,

and I don't tell him
anything about it.

We wake up the next morning,
and he's like,

"Dave, I feel great,
I'm ready to charge!"

So that night, there was no
appropriate time

to slip him the mickey.

So, I said, "Fred,
I've got a confession,

I put a little sleeping pill
in your tea last night,

and that's probably
why you slept well,

we should do it."
And he's like, "What!"

He was just convinced that,
that's not the thing to do.

So, he didn't sleep a wink,
woke up miserable,

and we didn't get a chance
to climb Mt. Whitney that trip.

Dave Nettle had given me
a great tip,

Just sneak a little bit of,
like, a sleeping pill

into Fred's drink,

Sure enough, gave it to Fred
and watched him get drowsy

and then, you know, got him
into his sleeping bag

and, it sounds like I'm drug-
like we drugged the guy, but

um... well, we kinda did.

But the point is, he jumped up
that morning, he was refreshed,

he slept well, put his pack on,
hiked up to the base

and climbed
the East Face of Mt. Whitney.

[Steve Gunn]
* There's a constant motion

* Makes you feel
like the ocean *

* Hey there nature driver man

* You are a welcome guest