By Dale Cole

 

Some 65 years ago, Summit Magazine was hoaxed by Harvey Manning and Dale Cole, not once, but twice (and possibly more times). The practical jokers submitted two articles that were published: the first described a major design change in the traditional sleeping bag (July 1959) and the second was an attempted first ascent of No Name Peak (May 1960).

Far from fading away, these articles keep reemerging as credible climbing accounts, most recently by Summit Journal (whoops). Since these hoaxes remain alive after all of these years, perhaps an explanation is called for. 

What got a distinguished author and a would-be professor and future scientist to embark on such an endeavor? 

Unfortunately, Harvey is long deceased and can't verify, contradict, or add to this explanation. So, the reasons rest completely in the good words of Dale Cole. Here is his explanation.

 

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Shortly after the end of the Second World War, the climbing world began changing quickly. Equipment was evolving away from the army surplus supplies that many of us had acquired (quite cheaply) and been accustomed to. Meanwhile, climbers were taking on more challenging routes and exploring unclimbed peaks that had been restricted due to the Depression and war.

In many ways, the climbing journals were reporting this new world of climbers and equipment as it was happening. And it appeared to us that the material printed was neither edited nor reviewed for authenticity. 

One of Mannings’ concerns was that “the true value of the mountains was being lost through a space-race type quest for new routes and personal glory” by this new breed of climber. For example, ridiculous, egotistical statements appeared in print by authors of first ascents, such as "here the uninitiated would have turned around.” 

The fact that the journals published these ego-driven articles made me wonder, were the journals just a vehicle for their stories or were the journals every much the culprit as well?

 

As the story goes, in August 1959, a quartet of Portland climbers set out to attempt one of the “Last Great Problems” of the North Cascades, the 2,400-foot east face of “No Name Peak.” The wall was only “discovered” two years prior by Arthur Short while working for the Forest Service in a remote offshoot of Ross Lake in Washington. Photo by “Paul Williams.”

 

While it was clear that there was little that we could do to influence the new breed of climbers or equipment manufacturers, we thought we might wake up a climbing magazine and perhaps lead to more responsible journalism. Then again, perhaps we only wanted the world to know how we felt about “the true value of mountains being lost” as we saw it.

Our second article was on No Name Peak, a mountain that did not exist by that name in a location that was nearly impossible to reach. We deliberately had our attempt to reach the summit fail to entice the new breed of climber to undertake the climb. We were also curious if this obvious hoax would pass the scrutiny of a climbing journal, for indeed, there were numerous Northwest climbers who were familiar with the area and would know instantly that something rather major was amiss. How wrong can one be?  

Our article was neither edited nor reviewed for its authenticity, but published as submitted. In fact, the new publishers of Summit Journal, some 65 years later, remained convinced that the article "No Name Peak" was authentic and reported it as such. 

Many climbing groups, after reading our hoax, ventured their way up No Name Creek and attempted to summit. Again, these efforts were reported in Summit Magazine articles. One of these articles even claimed to have found a piton we had left where we turned about. This raises the obvious question: did Harvey and I accomplish what we intended to do, improve editing and reviewing by an alpine climbing magazine, and teach the new breed of gung-ho climbers a lesson? 

Obviously not. But it put a broad smile on our faces and another reason to drink Harvey's home brew and toast the "world as the world is not."

 

 

Why we submitted an article on the sleeping system is somewhat more complex. 

New camping and climbing equipment was coming on the market. Some of it was a definite improvement over army issues available in the surplus stores, but that was not always the case. Nearly always, this new equipment was priced far higher, and some failed to meet our expectations in design. 

For this reason, the Cole family — father, sons, climbing friends, and wife — all became active designers and manufacturers of equipment where they believed changes were needed. A sleeping bag with definite improvement over the army mummy bag was designed, and four were made. The very first tent with an exclusive external support system was designed and assembled. An ice picket with far better holding ability was designed, and a prototype shown to a well-known sportin goods retailer. At the meeting, the company said they were uninterested, but then had one of their subsidiaries manufacture it and placed it on the market almost immediately. 

My sons decided to form their own company, Cole Alpine Manufacturing, and a number of products came out of this arrangement. To list a few: an accessory strap which sold well over 2 million units and snowshoes that were used in the rental program by REI.

Eventually, low-priced alternatives from offshore sources and the use of "consolidators" by many retail outlets reduced sales, and the company was recently closed when my son decided to retire. I point this out only to show that there was considerable interest in the design of outdoor equipment by the Cole family, and a concern when inferior products came on the market.  

Thus, when Gerry Conningham designed and marketed a sleeping bag that appeared to us to be poor in concept and high in price, we turned to "old reliable" and submitted to Summit Magazine an article describing the obviously ridiculous "Sleeping System."  

We did this to point out that just because something was new and different, that hardly made it better. Not to our surprise, Summit published the article, and our concept received instant criticism from the manufacturer, Gerry Cunningham. Via a letter to the editor, he argued that our design was flawed. 

 

One of the many Letters to the Editor submitted by Cole & the Gang. This one, from the October 1959 issue of  Summit, is a response to Gerry Cunningham of Cunningham, Inc. a well-known sleeping bag manufacturer, who was critical of the Sleeping System design in a letter printed the previous month. It is signed, "D. Cole, Chairman Sleeping System Cougar Mountaineers Issaquah, Washington." Cole writes, "although Cunningham 'personally prefers' his system, the sleeping system committee long ago decided that a scientific approach rather than a personal preference should prevail in gaining new insights into the age-old problem of 'how to keep warm.'" Cheeky.

 

We were delighted that he, along with Summit, was taken in by our hoax. Not wishing to leave well enough alone, we wrote a series of letters to the editor praising the system's functionality and potential low cost. We had these letters appearing as if they were written by a minister, a Boy Scout leader, and a camp counselor. 

Perhaps the best one we wrote was addressed as if it came from a professor from Caltech. We had him carefully describe the physical chemistry of the system and, through elaborate calculations of the energy lost and gained, demonstrated that the system would indeed work: the energy gathered from the breath was transported to the extremities through tubing, which underwent a chemical reaction along the way by passing through a desiccant, was sufficient to keep the body warm. 

Again, Summit published all these fictitious letters to the editor. It could certainly be suggested that we were delighted in having our fancies published. However, did it accomplish our intention of having the outdoor enthusiast become a bit more critical of outdoor products being introduced to the market? Probably not. 

But its design lives on. Recently, I received an inquiry from an author writing a book describing the evolution of climbing equipment and asked if I could send him a copy of my patent drawings of the system.

 

...

 

So, what did we accomplish by creating these hoaxes? 

• Did we get Summit Magazine to practice more responsible journalism? That was not evident in any obvious way. 
• Did we get the climbing community to be a bit more skeptical in believing what they were reading? Clearly not, in that they still write exaggerated accounts of their own climbing accomplishments. 
• Did we get the climbing journal to publish articles that were professionally edited, clear of grammatical mistakes, and exaggerated statements? Not according to my wife, prior to her passing a decade ago, who was the managing editor of a major scientific journal.  
• Did we get better-designed and more functional outdoor equipment on the market?  Better gear and clothing is now available, but I doubt we had little, if any, influence on this. 

What amazes me most is not that these hoaxes were published initially, but continued to be embraced and regarded as authentic in the many years since they were first published. We went far out of our way to set the record clear in an obituary at Harvey’s passing, and certainly, Katie Ives, former Editor of Alpinist, in her book Imaginary Peaks, has set the record straight.

While I am now 94 and hardly keen on changing the world, let alone the climbing enthusiast and journals they read, I am certain there are other Harvey Manning’s and Dale Cole’s lurking in the shadows, content enough to do what we did for no reason other than to have a smile on their face.  

 

 

Dale W. Cole is a mountaineer, gear tinkerer, and former professor in the College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington. He received a Ph. D. in forest soils from the University of Washington in 1963 and was recognized for his research in mineral cycling in forest ecosystem; processes of elemental leaching in forest soils; forest ecosystem response to fertilizers and municipal wastewater and sludge; soils and land-use planning. His papers are stored in the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. 

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Feature Image: Dale Cole showing off a backpack he designed for ventilation. "It looks flimsy, but in my youth I carried 100 lbs. with it," he says. Only two were made. Editor's note: he does looks prankish, no? Photo courtesy of Dale Cole.