1993 Honorary Member Profile : Joe Collins

"Mr. Conservation," "prize-winning photographer," "peak bagger"-all apply to Joe Collins, who has climbed over 600 peaks in 13 of the Western states, Canada, and four European countries. His crowning achievement, Joe says, was "over 12 years on the Board of the North Cascades Conservation Council, which, along with the Sierra Club, was the leading force responsible for the creation of the North Cascades National Park in 1968." Joe, who was a longtime club conservation chairman, put on programs for an "untold number" of clubs; public schools; colleges in Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, all "mostly at my own expense." He organized a group of more than 20 to testify at hearings in Seattle, and cajoled many into writing letters of support.

Joe's modest "All I am is a weekend climber" belies his energy. He remembers a "typical" weekend: Leave 9:00 p.m. Friday, breakfast at Banff at 7:00 a.m., hoist pack at 10:00 a.m. at Moraine Lake and hike to Sentinel Pass, set up camp and climb Mt. Temple, arise at 4:00 a.m. Sunday to climb Eiffle, break camp and hike back to cars by 5:00 p.m., arrive home by 1:00 a.m., and be at work setting diamonds by 8:00 a.m. Monday. "I've done that too many times to count," he says.

He claims more than 40 major Cascade ascents in Washington, Oregon, and California. He has climbed the highest peaks in the Western states, except for second-highest in Nevada and Wyoming. He organized and led a four-man, ten-peak European expedition in the late '60's-21 days for $750.00. On one 16-day trip to the photogenic Southwest, he climbed 10 peaks and drove 4,000+ miles through six states, averaging 400 miles a day driving one of his famous old Buicks, at a cost of $150.00. "I've seldom spent more than that on a trip," he insists (and he still doesn't own a tent or a down jacket). At age 48, Joe climbed Mt. Robson in the Canadian Rockies on a three-day weekend. At 63, he topped Bugaboo Spire in British Columbia on a two-day weekend. The Asulkan Traverse in British Columbia's Glacier National Park netted seven summits in two days.

"I introduced the Club to two-day weekend climbs of major Cascade peaks," he recalls. When Joe joined the Mountaineers in 1953, these were scheduled for three-day weekends or summer outings. "I also initiated trips to areas long neglected: Glacier Park, Mission Range, Sawtooths, Seven Devils, Wallowas, Kokanee Park, and graduation climbs on Mt. Athabasca."

There have been narrow escapes. Joe remembers the Mt. Robson descent in a blinding snowstorm when he and Chris Kopczynski couldn't place an ice screw to anchor a critical rappel. They poured water to make a bollard. Chris descended first on the frozen 150-foot rope. It held. Then Chris yelled, "Don't let go the rope because it doesn't reach the bottom!" (Joe also recalls John saying, "Riding with John is the most dangerous part of the trip!")

Marathon weekends are part of another pursuit: his collection of a "couple thousand" autograph books. He recalls leaving home at 9:00 p.m. Friday, listening to the rabbits bouncing off his speeding Buick near Burns, rolling through Reno and Death Valley, and making Liza Minelli's 8:00 p.m. Saturday show in Las Vegas. He writes "about 300 or 400 letters a year" requesting signatures in books. When planning some Sierra climbs, Joe wrote Bob Newhart, explaining that he wanted to meet him, but had no time to stand in line in Las Vegas for a ticket. Joe sacked out behind a sign on the Strip, showed up at the casino, and found that Newhart had reserved a front row seat. "I just had to meet you," Newhart said when he came to the table. Friendship blossomed. Later, Joe took Newhart's boy, a Gonzaga student, with him to Glacier Park. Placido Domingo sent a handwritten apology when he returned Joe's book after 2-1/2 years, explaining that he had placed in a trunk at the Met and found it when moving.

Joe has collected most of the greats in his mountaineering library of more than 300 books through American Alpine Club meetings and public programs, as well as the mail, but his fascination with show business luminaries goes back to teenage days. In 1946, during his first tip to New York from hometown Winnipeg, Joe bought a ringside seat next to George Raft for the Joe Louis-Billy Conn fight. He pursued the shows relentlessly, meeting Ingrid Bergman, Rex Harrison, Jessica Tandy, Orson Welles, Sir John Gielgud. He spent an hour sitting on the steps of the Cotton Club with Nat King Cole and another hour with Lawrence Olivier.

Joe, who quit high school in Winnipeg at 15 when his Dad died, labored in a box factory (for $.10/hour), sold papers and magazines, worked days in an aircraft factory and nights in a bowling alley. He views work as a means to the "most important part of a man's life: what he does in his spare time."

Danger caused Joe to quit his job climbing around cleaning railroad cars in Canada and ultimately come to the United States and Spokane. He finished a two-year jewelry design and manufacturing course at Peoria's Bradley University in five months. The dean gave him five job choices: St. Louis, Omaha, Cleveland, Kansas City, or Spokane. "I set a compass for a radius of 300 miles to figure out what I could do in a weekend," he says. "There were the Pacific Ocean, Glacier Park, the Canadian Rockies...So I wrote to Tenef Jewelry Manufacturing Co. in Spokane." He and Stella were on their way.

"I never saw a mountain until I moved to Spokane," Joe reveals, "and my wife was responsible for all this climbing." In 1951, while driving across Washington, "I saw a white cloud in the distance. It was Mt. Adams." Jumping out with his camera, he "looked at Stella, my dear adoring wife of one year, and said, 'I'd like to climb that!' She looked in disdain and said, 'You can't climb that!'"

Less than two years later, 26-year-old Joe was on Rock Peak, his first Mountaineer summit. Mt. Hood was next. "The only exercise I get between climbs is breathing." Soon on the Mountaineers' Board of Trustees, and publicizing the Club with newspaper photos and articles, he contributed to the format of today's Mountain School and Kinnikinnick, with many Collins' photos. He was editor of the Club's 1961 color annual, Peaks and Valleys. Innumerable slide shows entertained members and raised funds. "I worked hard for the Makalu expedition," he recalls. Currently, he comments on members' photographs and selects top pictures for the Chalet.

Always willing to help new and old Mountaineers with climbing area information, Joe has taken various members on extended trip to the Southwestern desert, Colorado, and the Sierras of California. I once had 26 jobs for six organizations," he says, including the vice-presidency of the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs.

Spokane Camera Club program chairman for 35 years (and also president and bulletin editor), he won so many salon awards he was asked to cease competing. His photos have appeared in brochures for the Ridpath Hotel and the Chamber of Commerce and in annual reports for Washington Water Power and Old National Bank. He taught photography at University High School and to Boy Scouts earning merit badges. He credits himself with starting John Roskelley's photographic career.

Joe and Stella have two married daughters: Elaine, a local paint company executive secretary, and Diane, a San Diego medical technician with children aged 4 and 1-1/2.

Retirement in 1993 after 42 years with Tenef, where he "never missed a day of work," has given Joe time to "try to get my basement room in order and find my birth certificate before I die." He claims progress as he organized 175,000 slides and over 25 bookcases in his Spokane Valley home. "You can actually sit on the couch and see the carpet for the first time in 15 years."

"I owe the Spokane Mountaineers a great debt," Joe emphasizes. "The Club shows you what you can do-and that gives you confidence to do things you didn't know you could do. I gained friendships maintained for 30-40 years. I've done things I would never have done if I hadn't joined. Every trip is a great experience!"

Lorna Ream