Baird Buchanan: A Mountain Man

By Scott Nicholson

For Baird Buchanan, Boone’s 3,000-plus feet of elevation is not always high enough.

This summer, at 78, he likely became the oldest person ever to climb Mount Hood in Oregon. While such records are hard to verify, it’s on the books at Timberline Mountain Guides, which has been leading Mount Hood ascents for the last 24 years.

Baird Buchanan

This summer, at 78, Baird Buchanan likely became the oldest person ever to climb Mount Hood in Oregon. While such records are hard to verify, it’s on the books at Timberline Mountain Guides, which has been leading Mount Hood ascents for the last 24 years.

While Buchanan downplays his achievement, he lights up at the memory of climbing the crisp glaciers. The ascent started at 6,000 feet in elevation at the Timberline Lodge and peaked out at 11,249 feet, on the ridges that maintain constant ice.

Active in his senior years, Buchanan started hiking regularly in the mid-1980s when his son became old enough to accompany him. He grew interested in climbing when he read a book about the north face of the Eiger, a famed mountain in Switzerland that was featured in the Clint Eastwood movie “The Eiger Sanction.”

His first serious climb was in 1990, and since then he’s scaled peaks in the Grand Tetons, the Canadian Rockies, the European Alps and Scottish Highlands. He even attempted the Eiger, but only made it 600 feet before the mountain warmed in the sun and began raining chunks of stone and ice, known to climbers as “mountain artillery.”

Buchanan moved to Boone in 1977 with his wife Harriet, a professor of English at Appalachian State University. He’d finished a career in the furniture industry and while in Boone became a self-described “house husband.” However, he didn’t spend all his time vacuuming carpets and washing dishes. he stayed active and physically fit, and trains before any major climb.

The ascent of Mount Hood began at 3 a.m., which is necessary because chunks of ice can break loose and endanger climbers during the warmer parts of the day. Parts of the trek required crampons, which are spiked footwear attached to books, and ice axes, along with safety ropes.

The peak is also pocked with fumaroles, openings in the summit that belch steam and sulfur due to volcanic activity. Buchanan said weather on the mountain can change quickly, and sudden winds can swell to 60 or 80 miles per hour. Temperatures there have been known to drop 60 degrees in a few hours.

While Buchanan’s climb was without serious incident, it’s the same place where three climbers were killed in December, probably because of limited visibility. Two bodies remain unrecovered and Buchanan speculated that they may have fallen into fumaroles. Two days after his ascent, five climbers were caught in a “whiteout” and had to call for rescuers.

Buchanan knew about Boone before moving to the area, having earned his Master’s Degree from ASU in 1955. In addition to climbing with a few locals, he has recently taken up “land rollerz,” a type of inline skate that has large wheels engineered for better balance and a safer journey over rough terrain.

Buchanan said he’s taken “slogs,” which are climbs that are little more than tests of endurance. More serious climbing requires training and equipment, as well as an experienced guide.

“Every two or three years I go off on one of these,” Buchanan said. “I don’t know how many more I’ll be able to handle.”

He recently went on a climb with friends, including Hanes Boren, owner of Footsloggers in Boone. Buchanan joked that the junior member of the expedition wasn’t up to the task of scaling serious summits. “He’s 55,” Buchanan said. “He’s too old to climb now.”

Buchanan’s early experiences in climbing were largely involuntary. As a member of the U.S. Army’s Second Infantry Division, he served as a platoon leader in the mountains of Korea, where he was wounded while leading a night patrol in 1953.

Buchanan shakes off injuries quickly, though damage to two fingers have limited his ability to grip a rope. For that reason, he avoids rock climbing, but still trusts his body to follow the commands of his heart and mind.

He joked that his wife has been supportive of his adventures, but only because she said, “When you go, I hope you go fast.”

After coming down from Mount Hood, Baird said he had no problem with the altitude, thin air or catching his breath, but he was physically exhausted. He told the guide, “I think I’m going to hang it up now.”However, after a time, the old hunger starts creeping back in and Buchanan isn’t as firm on his promise. After all, the only reason to climb a mountain at any age is because it’s there.