George Irving Bell - Mountaineering

Mountaineering

Bell was an avid and accomplished mountaineer and participated in some of the most notable American expeditions of the 1950s and 1960s. His first climbs were during his high school years, in the Tetons, and he was an active participant in the Harvard Mountaineering Club. In the 1940s, he made first ascents of four peaks in the area around Mount Waddington in the Coast Range of British Columbia, on an HMC expedition. During this period, he also climbed in the Tetons, the Wind River Range, and the Cascades.

Bell then moved to more significant objectives, organizing the expedition in 1950 that made the first ascent of Yerupajá, 21,769 feet (6,635 m), in the Cordillera Huayhuash of Peru, one of the most difficult and dangerous peaks in the Andes. Bell did not make the summit, but reached an altitude of 20,600 ft (6,300 m). He returned to Peru in 1952 to make the first ascent of another steep and difficult peak of the Peruvian Andes, Salcantay in the Cordillera Vilcabamba. He made two significant return trips to Peru in 1954 and 1956.

Bell also climbed in the Karakoram of Pakistan, participating in two very notable expeditions. In 1953, Bell took part in the Third American Karakoram Expedition to K2 and was one of five climbers who fell on during a failed attempt of the first ascent of the peak. Their fall was arrested by Pete Schoening in one of the great feats of mountaineering. Bell went on several more Himalayan expeditions and made the first ascent of Masherbrum, the 22nd highest peak in the world, in 1960.

Bell's son, also named George, is also a climber.