Return to Mount Kennedy is not about Mountaineering.
Yes, there are stills and video from the historic 1965 First Ascent by Bobby
Kennedy and Jim Whitaker as well as the 50th Anniversary attempt by
Whitaker’s two sons Leif and Bobby and Kennedy’s son Christopher. There are
snow fields, crevasses, snowshoes, crampons, ice axes and various shots of
Mount Kennedy, but this film is not a mountaineering film. Rather, it is about
how a mountain in the Canadian St. Elias Range served to introduce and
eventually bond two generations of families, the families of Bobby Kennedy and Jim Whitaker.
I remember reading about the first ascent of Mount Kennedy
in my Dad’s old July, 1965 National Geographic when I was still a
teenager. I read Jim Whitaker’s memoir A Life on the Edge when it was
first published. I recently reread those three National Geographic articles
as well as an article in the April 9, 1965 issue Life as I awaited the
delivery of Return to Mount Kennedy.
Watching Return to Mount Kennedy rekindled memories and feelings associated
with the assassination of JFK in 1963 and RFK in 1968. It reminded me of some
of what I had read in Whitaker’s memoir but had forgotten about. It served as a
testament to how mountains and mountaineering can forge lifelong friendships
that transcend generations. It served to reignite my own desire to venture
forth into the mountains. It made me proud to be a member of REI since 1974.
I loaned an old copy
of National Geographic and my Return
to Mount Kennedy DVD to a co-worker with some Mountaineering experience.
After watching the video, she agreed that this was not the film she was
expecting to see, but she still liked it. A little younger than I, she was also glad
she read the three articles in National Geographic before watching the
film as it gave her some historical background to the film.
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