Who was Curry Slaymaker?

He was not known for doing anything remarkable as far as I know before he went to Peru for the second time. He grew up in the small town of Rainier Oregon. He played sports in high school and went to a 2-year college before joining the Peace Corps. After completing his term with the Peace Corps, he was drafted into the Army and served in Vietnam. He then studied biology at Southern Oregon State College in Ashland - then returned to Peru in 1972. It's known that he climbed Mt. St. Helens during his late teens or so - but he probably didn't do any other serious snow or glacier mountaineering until after 1973 when I met him in Peru and sold him my ice axe and crampons.

What he did in Peru was quite remarkable. He wrote letters and talked to government officials about the need to obtain funding for the formation of the National Park. He stayed there promoting the park with apparently no salary for a year until the government came through with $100/month for his work. He personally surveyed to establish the park boundaries. He worked with the local people and presented his photos at many slide shows to build awareness that the mountains and their flora and fauna were a unique gift they needed to protect. The administrators of Parque Nacionál Huascarán in Huaráz consider that he was "the father of the park".


I have written a brief account of Curry's life, death, his work in Peru, and my experience in meeting him back in 1973. Click here to read this account.

Monday, July 6, 2009

On the Memory of Michael J. Rourke and John Curry Slaymaker

By Ramon Bramona Rams

At the end of year 1974, motivated by preparing for our OPERACIO QUECHUA 76 in the Cordillera Blanca, I made contact in writing with Michael J. Rourke.

He and John Curry Slaymaker were the Administrators of the "National Parque Huascarán" and were active mountaineers in the Andes. These two activities were complementary to perfection, as the major part of the 340,000 hectare park was within the mountainous zone. Connoisseurs like few others of the Cordillera Blanca, they dedicated much time and vision to help the expeditions that planned to visit the Andes to facilitate the purchase of supplies, contracts with porters, technical equipment etc, etc. In this way they helped many groups from all over the world, but at the same time they helped the people of the country to create a kind of Union for Porters intending to form this group of men into a new profession.

Michael was the contact point in relationships between the expeditions and the porters. His central acquaintance with the character of the people of Huaraz and his constant observation of the behavior of these strong men from his place of privilege was a difficult task. Men of strong personality and great compassion they had to win the confidence and the esteem of the people of the country, in spite of where they came from (the North Americans or "gringos" are not generally well accepted in Peru). Also he was developing an interesting work of a social and sporting type as President of the "Club Andinista Cordillera Blanca” of Huaraz.

On July 9, Curry and Michael together with two other North Americans rowed across the Laguna Parón (in a certain way inspired by us) to carry out a short stay in this part that was previously unknown to them. Michael came to greet us at our Base Camp and was interested to see how our porters, Honorato and Fortunato, were doing. On the following day they established their Camp 1 on the glacier of Artesonraju, but had to remain there on the 11th and 12th due to the bad weather.

On the 13th of July they climbed the Nevado Chico de Parón (5.550 m.) and in the attempt to make the second ascent of Nevado Grande de Parón (5.650 m.) the first rope team formed by Curry and Michael had an accident and they fell some 300 meters down the West slope and disappeared into the valley of Quebrada Huaripampa. The main work of the rescue was lead by people of the country, with support from an Israeli group and from part of 'OPERACIO QUECHUA 76. It did not yield any results and a week later between the difficulties and the dangers of the rescue, the authorities of Huaraz desisted from further pursuing the search for the bodies. A helicopter from the Chiclayo Base had reported seeing tracks of the fall of the two unfortunate climbers that ended in a deep crevasse in one of the roughest and most tortured parts of the glacier.

There our friends Curry and Michael will rest forever entombed in the perpetual ice of their second homeland, Peru.

The mountaineers of the entire world owe a debt of gratitude to men like Michael J. Rourke and Curry Slaymaker. May they rest in peace.

RAMON BRAMONA I RAMS

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