MTR.2009.2 Othello Phillip Dickert Papers

Owned by Lowell Skoog
Last updated: Apr 18, 2018
3 min read

Mountaineers catalog number: MTR.2009.2

These notes are by Lowell Skoog. See also MTR.2009.1 Othello Phillip Dickert Photographs and MTR.2018.1 Agnes Dickert Papers.

Box 1

Obituaries

  • Craft, Matthew, "Agnes Dickert, 1908-2003: Farm girl put her skills to use climbing mountains," Seattle P-I, May 23, 2003.
  • Mapes, Lynda V., "Othello P. Dickert was avid climber," The Seattle Times, Jan. 2, 2005, p. B5.

Newspaper Clippings

  • "Penetrating the 'No Man's Land' of the Cascade Range: The Mount Terror Region," Seattle Times, Sep. 18, 1932, p. 8. (Degenhardt, Martin, Strandberg in Southern Pickets)
  • "Most-Climbed Mountain in the U.S.," Seattle Times, Jul. 2, 1939, rotogravure section. (Mount Hood)
  • "Mountaineers May Train Soldiers: Rainier Ice to be 'Drill Field' For Army Training," Seattle Times, Aug. 30, 1941, p. 14. (Photos by Pat Sinkey)
  • "Federal Way climber dies in Himalayas," Seattle P-I, Aprl. 6, 1990. (Nancy Jackson)

Technical Handbooks

  • Anwendung des Seiles ("Use of the Rope"), a handbook of mountaineering techniques published by the Bavarian Alpine Club in 1930. (It is likely that this handbook was translated by either O.P. Dickert or Wolf Bauer for the original Mountaineers climbing courses in 1935-36.)
  • Schmitt, Fritz, Bergsteiger Biwak ("mountaineering bivouac"), Bergverlag Rudolf Rother, Munich. (Date unknown, probably 1930s.)
  • The Technique of Alpine Mountaineering, Walford and Son, Buckingham, England. (Date unknown, probably 1930s. Translated from the edition published by the Uto Section of the Swiss Alpine Club.)
  • Winter Sports Catalog, Lillywhites Ltd., London, England, 1931-32. (Fascinating illustrations and descriptions of period equipment and clothing.)
  • Chambers, William E. and Count Walter Freisauff Von Neudegg, The ABC of Downhill Skiing, E.A. Wright Co., Philadelphia, PA, 1937.
  • Fire Fighting Overhead Notebook, U.S. Forest Service (Region 6), 1940.
  • Instructions on Detection and Smokechasing in the North Pacific Region, U.S. Forest Service, 1943.
  • Instructions on Forest Fire Fighting, U.S. Forest Service (Region 6), 1943.
  • Climbers' Notebook, The Mountaineers, Seattle, WA, 1946.

Mountaineers Climbing Courses

  • Bauer, Wolf and O.P. Dickert, Final Examination for Intermediate Climbing Course, The Mountaineers, 1936. (O.P. Dickert's completed exam.)
  • Notes from 1935 through 1938 Mountaineers climbing courses. In these notes I found the following poem by Wolf Bauer ("ponderings on ending monotonous climbing classes"):
    HAVE YOU TRIED

    Have you ever sat with your comrade in strife
    Like a lazy god on a sun-warmed peak?
    No matter your niche down below that's called life
    Up here you command and you find what you seek.

    Have you ever felt of a free swinging rope
    Of a crampon that bit, or a piton that held?
    Have you looked with despair, and then with new hope
    When a tug brings assurance of a brotherly weld?

    Have you ever steered through an icefall by night,
    Or bivouacked by storm on a slippery ledge?
    Have you ever sought blazes by candlebug light,
    Or dug for the lost in an avalanche wedge?

    Have you ever thrilled to the feel of a hold,
    Walked on airy aretes with the sky white and blue,
    Or looked back at the summit just turning to gold?
    If you have, you will know why the climber is true.

    Why true to his comrades, his learning, his gear.
    Why true to the mother who bends his ear.
    But if you have never, climb up and scale high,
    And return to me, fellow, then we'll talk, you and I.

Miscellany

  • The Mountaineer Song Book, Compiled by the Tacoma Mountaineers, May 1922.
  • Sloan Peak summit register with entries from Jul. 20, 1932 through Aug. 6, 1961. First page is missing and I've deduced the summit location from various entries. Second entry claims to be 8th recorded ascent of the peak.
  • Ogata, W. E., Kiman Kudo Reveals the Secrets of Jiu Jitsu, Los Angeles, CA, 1935.
  • A Round Robin Greeting to O.P. Dickert from the 1939 Mountaineers Summer Outing in the Teton Range. (The greeting is signed by over 100 people and is stored in the original mailing tube.)
  • Darvill, Fred T., Jr. M.D., Pocket Guide to the North Cascades national Park and Associated Recreational Complex, Mount Vernon, WA, 1970.
  • Correspondence by Agnes and O.P. Dickert with various people about outdoor subjects.
  • Other ephemera.

Â