Pacific Northwest Climbs & Outdoor Adventures of Helen M. Newcomb and A.H. Hudson, 1929-1937.

[Bremerton, WA]: N.p., 1929-1937. Original oblong folio album (13 x 10 1/2 inches) of black faux morocco containing approximately 325 photographs and real photo postcards showing the mountaineering adventures and other outdoor activities of Bremerton, Washington residents Helen M. Newcomb and Augustus (Gus) H. Hudson. Photos in the album range in size, with the largest number being 3.25" x 5.5", but also including ca. 10 large-format images or multi-photo panoramas. Some photos are detached and laid into the album. Most of the photographs are captioned and the captions get longer towards the end. There are some sections that have group captions as well. A fascinating album detailing various ascents in the US and Canada.Helen and Gus were active members of The Mountaineers (a Seattle-based outdoors club founded in 1906) who spent much of their leisure time hiking and climbing. Dating when the album begins in 1929, the pair were married in November, 1934. Most of the album covers the time prior to their marriage, showing places they visited and climbed in Washington, British Columbia, Alberta, and Montana. They participated in organized Mountaineers outings with many other hikers (including the 1929 summer outing to British Columbia and the 1934 summer outing to Glacier National Park), as well as trips of their own. They climbed Odaray and Wiwaxy (Yoho National Park, BC), Mt. Ellinor (Olympic Range, WA), Mt. Baldy (WA); Mt. Victoria (on the border between BC and Alberta), Mt. Clitheroe (Tonquin Valley, Alberta), Mt. Castleguard (Alberta, near the Columbia Icefield), and Reynolds Mountain (Lewis Range, Glacier National Park), and visited Lake McArthur, Maligne Lake, the Saskatchewan Glacier, the Brazeau River, and many other remote and breathtaking locations, all of which are nicely captured in these images. Some of Gus's photographs from their travels were published in The Mountaineer. In addition to climbing, we see the couple sailing, skiing, horseback riding, and camping. At the end of the album are a small group of family photos (including, it appears, Gus and Helen's newborn baby) and a few images taken at Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier in 1937. The tile page (in manuscript) reads "Helen M. Newcomb, Summer, 1929" while the cover (in gilt) reads Photographs by "A. H. Hudson." These various climbing trips were decidedly not just hiking trips in disguise. In one photograph we can see Helen using rope and other gear on Mt. Wilbur in Glacier National Park. Helen must have been unconventional at the time: in one picture she is even wearing a tie. Helen and Gus were both skiers as well (a bit rare on The West Coast in the 1930s). The album starts off with a photograph of Helen at the source of the Columbia River in British Columbia 1929. A massive album on an interesting subject.