| DPS HISTORY: The birth of the Desert Peaks Section | |||||
| by John Robinson | |||||
Next fall the D.P.S. reaches its twentieth birthday, completing a full generation of climbing in the great American desert by members of the Sierra Club. The section was born in the fall of 1941, the result of an interest in the desert ranges of California by a top Sierra Club climber of that era, Chester Versteeg. It was while climbing in the Sierra Nevada that Versteeg became interested in the desert ranges. Looking east from Whitney and other Sierra summits he could see range after range of desert mountains, some towering almost as high as the Sierra itself. When snow closed the passes into the Sierra that fall, Versteeg decided to explore the Inyos himself. It was while climbing New York Butte that he thought of the idea of a climbing group specializing in ascending desert summits. Other interested Sierra Clubbers, including Virgil Sisson, Niles Werner, Freda Walbrecht, and Bill Crookston, joined Versteeg and the Desert Peaks Section was officially born in October, 1941. Membership in the section, which at that time had no dues, no officers, and no meetings, was open to those Sierra Club members who had climbed all seven of the qualifying peaks. This first list of qualifying peaks consisted of White Mtn., Waucoba Mtn., New York Butte, Cerro Gordo, Telescope Pk., Maturango Pk., and Coso Pk. All but the last one are still on the list. After a second scouting trip in October to New York Butte by Chester Versteeg, Virgil Sisson, and Larry Jeffries, the first official DPS outing was held. On November 15-16, 1941 Niles Werver led 10 climbers to the summit of New York Butte. Those ten climbers were Niles, Braemo Gigas, Harry Paley, Pat Carmical, Katherine Smith, Freda Walbrecht, Bill Crookston, Carl Durrell, James Tow, and Harry Greenwood. Today, 20 years later, Niles and Freda are still active! The war years (1941-1945) put a temporary damper on DPS activities, but in the immediate post-war period the section expanded its undertakings to include the desert ranges of the entire Southwest, rather than just those visible from the Sierra. In 1947 Parker Severson designed the DPS Emblem Pin. That year work began on a guide to the desert peaks. Four years later Bill Henderson published the first edition of the guide. The section continued to expand in both membership and number of qualifying peaks under the able leadership of Bill Henderson, Bob Bear, Parker Severson, and Lloyd Balsam in the early '50s. Today the DPS has 49 qualifying peaks (with the possibility of 4 more being added at the next meeting) that encompass three states and Mexico, and its program of activities is greater than ever before. Walt Wheelock is working on a complete revision of the Desert peaks Guide to include all the desert ranges in the Southwest. This is proof positive that the section is not a passing fad as some once believed. As long as the desert remains a wilderness frontier for enjoyment of the great outdoors the DPS should continue to grow. |
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