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Show : Vials ZEPH. YR/DEC-JAN 2008 Olaus. I listened, but at 16 or 7 I was too naive to take any of it very seriously. I do remember Fred saying that when his father died he went to the town’s purveyor of caskets and had a conversation. Fred claimed that he saw nothing but dollar signs in the seller’s words of sympathy. Why is it that the only thing I recall from that long exchange between two passionate defenders of belief? Could it be that Fred stepped down from abstractions to an encounter, two humans caught in a situation? Next day we built the log walls high enough to take closely set stringers for roof supports, then heaped boughs on the stringers, a sort of pleasant weaving job. We packed up From MARTIN MURIE and crossed the pass into Cascade canyon, headed for Jenny Lake. Hours of stillness, very little conversation, faint whispers of three pairs of feet on the dark earth, mile after mile in black night, mountain cliffs not disturbing us with spectacle. I never learned whether that cabin held up against heavy snowfall or whether Fred ever used it to shelter dudes. As I remember it, his career as mountain guide didn’t last very long, but in the previous winter he had asked Olaus and Larry Haines, Teton county photographer and physicist and me to help him take two clients up middle fork of Cascade canyon. Early morning, getting ready for the trek Fred dumped a pack down at my feet. skerihog@ “That's yours, Martin.” I hefted it, set it down, it went “clunk.” That pack bulged with canned food, the heaviest load I’d ever had to sling onto my young, unconditioned back. I thought Fred was kidding, but he wasn’t. The two clients had nothing but sleeping bags and personal effects in their packs. So, there we were, bearers headed into Teton timberlines with all the comforts for a pair of young, strong guys rich enough to pay for the service. I am sure those two would have had a much better adventure, more to talk about back home, if we had simply left that damn tent home, and those food cans and simply dug a hole in the snow, built alittle fire, cooked a simple meal and bedded down. westelcom.com LOSING SOLITUDE SE Skipping ahead to Cold War days, three of us, Mark and Bill and me, decided it would be a lark to ski across the Teton range in December. I thought I knew those mountains like THE WAR WAS OVER. Grant Hagen and I dropped in on Fred Brown at his house near Wilson, at the foot of Teton pass. We went outside and sat on the ground in the shade of the house and Fred said, “Good to have you guys back.” We mumbled, “Good to be back.” Silence. One of those leafy, pungent Jackson Hole days. It was very, very good to be home. Remembering that day, I catch whiffs of wildness in the mountains. Yes, peace was upon us. Wars followed. Wars are with us now. But back then we had life to live, and survivor's guilt as a burden and we knew there would be peace in our time. Didn’t turn out that way, but I want to tell you more about Fred. Silence. One of those leafy, pungent Jackson Hole days. It was very, very good to be home. Remembering that day, I catch whiffs of wildness in the mountains. Yes, peace was upon us. . »+:Wars followed. Wars are with us now. the back of my hand, but mountains are devious creatures, especially when they drape VOL Yor, xOny OWN Ne ta, a WAR “IN EUROPE IS ENDED! SURRENDER IS UNCONDITIONAL; V-E WILL BE PROCLAIMED TODAY: OUR TROOPS sis OKINAWA GAIN DWE 0-DE DE DRI ee ines Reach Vilageos 3 See eo il i De RNAS GIPTLATE. CAPTULATE. ONOW |ALL FRONTS American, Russian and French Ganerals Accept Surrender in Eisenhower a Reims Schoo! Headquarters, tas GHIEP OP STAR ae POR WERGT Germany Orders AY Mistry Farce 19 te Arms-Troops in Norway Give Up sae I heard much later that he was directly related to John Brown of Harpers Ferry. I can’t vouch for that. but] can say with assurance that Fred was a rebel. That didn’t sit well with & : ips ies on i sere itn tant feos PRAGUE ae CCRPT SURRENDER ee mountaineer, he also had cowboy skills and he looked at life in these United States with is ere headguettirs of tien! Uelght D, Re a ca ‘& foreal or oe Wild Crowds Greet News (SAE BAN ON IP ic Myo Meesied ual abs ou ded In City While Oth oo a"ne - wie oe ed fer the Suprtiae Gen. Walter a skeptical eye. He had eaten beetle grubs, found them good, and he learned mountains. Fred had spells of being irresponsible, not always finishing a project, not always keeping to an agreement. Well, nobody's perfect One fine day Fred and Olaus and I drove over the pass into Idaho then north along the west side of the Tetons and climbed to timberline. Conversation along the way was how to separate moose tracks from elk tracks. Fred pointed to a cliffside where we would build a three sided cabin, using the cliff as fourth side. Fred felled trees, Olaus and I limbed and notched them. The work went well, but then Fred’s back went out on him. It had happened before. He stretched out on the ground and puta flat stone under his back. He held on to something while Olaus pulled hard on his feet. Fred got up. and walked around, as good as new. By evening we had a half-built cabin to stand back from and estimate what it would take to finish it. We built a fire and cooked supper. Fred and Olaus got into.a friendly, but intense, argument about the rights and wrongs of society. Turned out that Fred was a self-taught socialist and he tried his best to get some agreement from oe widistal Allied antutenment wil be Pedock i eles taht ius de Gyalte atoo veil eae sting.) Sila en eee € oePee b tated eimany ated if they aa be aexried owt by Germ; uae : i al islet (ch began the war with a nithlese Kecament cat with #h appeal te the victors for oe ae it anil aetied Forces. flex Piva ened he full murrendin, Geter ence a{ ‘apenk wall resale ace “With tits algnature,” He anid fe aoft-apoken etiam Hike Batman vercile and armed frrene ae NOW AVAILABLE BREAKOUT A NOVEL BY MARTIN MURIE A cross continent struggle to save people and other endangered species. $15 co Order direct from Martin Murie ORDER SIGNED COPIES DIRECT FROM MARTIN MURIE: LOSING SOLITUDE: cowtown....$14.95 A contemporary Western. Bedell Smith, 13 :sisopeott tes be eevee Thien atl by an. Feancoie Seven for i u “Hes self-educated.” That was true. Cross-country and down-hill skier, ski jumper, irae cate and, naturally, a novelty in our remote valley. In one of my rants in this Zephyr space I mentioned that he accounted for Fred’s rebellious, grub eating ways with this sentence: and Tunes on Radio Today By ROWARDLe at the well-educated refugee from Nazism who came to our valley some time before Pearl Harbor. He was a decent person, master of at least three languages, a European sophisti- ee invade a , WINDSWEPT: Birdwatchers & a biker from Montana bue with _ corporation extremists in Medicine Bow, Wyoming....$14.95 BURT’ S WAY: Environmentalists labeled ‘terrorists,’ keep a’ chuggin’ on the Quebec/New Y ork border...$12 RED TREE MOUSE CHRONICLES: Forest animals on assignment; SERIOUSLY INSISTENT: 80 p:pages of activist cxitique $7.00 Plus Postage---§2.20 for the first book, $1.00 for the second. Ryaite| your order to; Ean MURIE a7 Oia ts North Bangor. NY |