William Earl "Smoke" Blanchard was an American mountaineer, climber, trekking leader, guide, world traveler, writer, Buddhist, and a truck driver.
12 Facts About Smoke Blanchard
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Smoke Blanchard was born in Montana and moved to Portland, Oregon in his early childhood and discovered a love for mountains in the shadow of Mount Hood.
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Smoke Blanchard spent his formative mountaineering years on Mount Hood during the mid to late 1930s.
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Smoke Blanchard was present during the "Golden Age" of climbing on Mount Hood, and under the tutelage of Gary Leech became a proponent of climbing solo and establishing new routes on the mountain.
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Smoke Blanchard had two children from a previous marriage, Glen and Lorelle, and Smoke had one son, Robert, from a previous marriage.
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Smoke Blanchard was widely known in the Himalayas by porters, cooks, trekking Sirdars, and fellow guides.
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Smoke Blanchard was so accepted into this small fraternal group that he became acquainted with both Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
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Smoke Blanchard was one of Clyde's last great friends in life and saw to the man's needs during the illness and decline that led to his death.
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In 1972, Smoke Blanchard led a group that included his son Robert and Jules Eichorn to the top of Clyde Peak to scatter Clyde's ashes from that summit.
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Smoke Blanchard was in a relationship with a young Japanese woman named Keiko Ishikawa.
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Smoke Blanchard's friends held a memorial service for him in the Buttermilk Rocks near Bishop as the summer climbing season wound down and before the Asian trekking season started, allowing all of his friends, fellow guides, and loved ones to be there.
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Smoke Blanchard was cremated and his remains were scattered up in Big Pine Canyon, California between the fourth and fifth lakes in the Eastern Sierra that he so loved.