Barry Corbet, 68; Member of 1st U.S. Team to Climb Everest
Barry Corbet, 68, a member of a climbing team that forged a new route up Mt. Everest in 1963, died Saturday of natural causes at his home in Golden, Colo.
Besides being a pioneering alpinist, he was a climbing guide in the Tetons of northwest Wyoming in the 1960s, a filmmaker and a skier who saw his promising outdoor career end when he was paralyzed below the waist after a helicopter crash in 1968.
Corbet is best known in Jackson Hole for Corbet’s Couloir, a double-diamond run named after him on Rendezvous Peak. The couloir greets skiers and snowboarders with a 10-foot drop, and it remains a test piece for mountain riders worldwide.
Corbet was born in Vancouver, Canada, and attended Dartmouth College.
His pioneer climbs include South Ridge of Baxter’s Pinnacle, one of the most popular routes in Grand Teton National Park. He was a member of the 1963 Everest team -- the first team of Americans to conquer Everest -- though he gave up his chance to reach the summit to other climbers, assuming he would be back. But he never got the chance.
Corbett produced or co-produced more than 100 films and was editor of New Mobility, a magazine on disability culture and lifestyle.
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