Adventure: Because It Was There

Back at base camp, at 9,000 ft. on the Yukon Territory’s Mount Kennedy, the mountaineer peered red-eyed through a three-day growth of beard, stripped to the waist in the — 10° cold, gave himself a rubdown with the contents of a cup of hot water. Then he settled down to a dinner of chicken soup, T-bone steak, instant mashed potatoes with butter, Madeira wine, vanilla ice cream and coffee. Shortly thereafter, New York’s Democratic Senator Bobby Kennedy crawled into his sleeping bag for a nine-hour snooze.

Bobby had acquitted himself well on an exploit he had undertaken rather reluctantly. Months ago, the National Geographic Society asked then Attorney General Bobby and his brother, Massachusetts’ Senator Teddy Kennedy, to join in an assault on Mount Kennedy, a 14,000-ft. peak that had never been climbed. Part of the St. Elias Range, it was called East Hubbard* until the Canadian government renamed it in honor of the late President. Both Teddy and Bobby agreed to join the expedition, but then Teddy suffered a broken back in an airplane crash and had to withdraw.

The Image. For Bobby, that took a lot of the appeal out of the project. He had never climbed a mountain before, and as a newly elected member of the Senate, there was the question of whether he shouldn’t stick to his business on Capitol Hill. But news of the expedition got out, and now it became a matter of preserving that dare-all Kennedy family image. His wife Ethel explained, with as much insight as humor: “I think he wants to take his mind off the fact that he’s not an astronaut.”

Thus, early last week, Bobby was airlifted by a Royal Canadian Air Force helicopter to the 9,000-ft.-high base camp on Mount Kennedy. With him were Seattle Sports Shop Proprietor James W. Whittaker and Ellensburg Glaciologist Barry Prather, both members of the successful American Mount Everest expedition in 1963. After an hour’s elementary instruction for Bobby, the three, roped together with Bobby in the middle, set out to the high camp at 12,000 ft. The weather closed in, and it was a hard upward grind.

To the Pinnacle. At one point, Kennedy slipped into a deep crevasse, was rope-hauled out by Whittaker. The trio slept out at the high camp, next day completed the assault. Bobby himself took the lead for the final 50 yds., and arriving at the pinnacle placed there a copy of Jack Kennedy’s inaugural address, a packet of PT-boat tie clasps, similar to the ones that the late President used to give visitors and voters. He also planted the Kennedy family flag—a shield showing three gold helmets on a black background, topped with a hand holding four gold-tipped arrows. Bobby meant to leave the flag there, but his colleagues warned him that the winds and snows would destroy it within 48 hours. He removed it, furled it and brought it back home.

Whittaker and Prather had nothing but praise for Neophyte Kennedy, but in the eternal spirit of internal Kennedy-family gamesmanship Brother Teddy was quick to point out that Bobby “is not the first Kennedy to climb a mountain. I climbed the Matterhorn, which is higher [14,780 ft.], and I didn’t need the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.” That was all right with Bobby. “I didn’t really enjoy any part of it,” he admitted frankly, “but I can understand why people like climbing. They are a special breed of men.” Henceforth, he added, “I’m going to stay on the first floor of my house. I have nine children.”

*After Gardiner Greene Hubbard (1822-1897), first president of the National Geographic Society.