COLIN G. CHISHOLM 1907-1990 Colin Chisholm died peacefully ...

C O L IN G. C H ISH O LM 1907-1990 C olin C hisholm died peacefully on January 7, 1990. He was alw ays an active m an, both physically and m entally. H is m any friends can be thankful that his illness was both short and free from excessive pain. H is health began to fail in N ovem ber but as late as two days before C hristm as, he was out and about having lunch w ith friends. His death cam e quickly but not before his fam ily and a host o f friends found com fort in his continued good spirits. His father and m other, D uncan and C atherine C hisholm , hom esteaded in 1888 near the tow n o f K ent, O regon. C olin was bom there and lived his first few years on the fam ily farm in w hat is now C hisholm C anyon. A fter his sister A nnie L aurie was b o m , they m oved to A rizona, w here D uncan C hisholm was em ployed on the south rim o f the G rand C anyon as a representative o f the Santa Fe R ailroad. C olin lived there until his early teens w hen he and his m other returned to Portland w here he attended Jefferson H igh School. In 1924, he forsook the school track team and w ent to w ork for C olum bia Steel C om pany, the W est C oast US Steel subsidiary. H e was office m anager for a num ber o f years prior to being transferred to San Francisco after W orld W ar II. In 1947, he left US Steel and returned to P ortland to spend the next 30 years w ith W oodbury and C om pany and M etra Steel. H is know ledge o f rolled-steel products was profound and he was know n and adm ired by people throughout the m etal trades. C olin began clim bing in the late 1920s and by the 1930s was am ong the forem ost local clim bers. He m ade over 100 ascents o f M ount H ood, including an early com plete clim b o f C athedral Ridge from the Barrett Spur Saddle and, w ith his cousin Jim M cR ae, the first ascent o f the Eliot H eadw all. He becam e a m em ber o f the A m erican A lpine C lub in 1950. H e had jo in ed the M azam as som e years earlier and was president in 1953. In 1961, on the descent o f M ount H ood via the C ooper Spur, a cram pon slipped on ice and he and his son Doug plunged over the headw all. T hey sailed dow n 2000 feet over two crevasses and landed in som e soft snow , not seriously injured. C olin estim ated the descent took 2 ½ m inutes; D oug thought it took 13 seconds. The route becam e know n as “The C hisholm T rail.” In 1981, he w alked from S rinagar to the Leh road in L adakh. T he follow ing year, he trekked around A nnapurna in N epal. A t 75, he was the oldest trekker know n to have crossed the 17,771-foot pass, the T horung La. He skied regularly even in his later years at M ount H ood M eadow s. D espite his business and outdoor activities, C olin alw ays had tim e for his

fam ily. A fter his m arriage in 1936 to Jean L ennard, their hom e soon included not only their three children but, i n due course, six grandchildren. They share his m em ory and all he did to m ake life pleasant for everyone he m et, his fam ily and friends both in the U nited States and abroad. L e w is L . M c A r t h u r