Trivia Challenge: The Answer

Last month I posed this question: What well-known American climber had the initials HBFC on his helmet, and what did they stand for? The answer is Ed Cooper, and the initials were for Herman Buhl Fan Club.

Cooper, who did major new routes on El Capitan, in the Cascasdes, and at Squamish and the Bugaboos, writes in his new book Soul of the Heights that he had a second set of initials on his helmet, but for many years he couldn't remember what they stood for! It was a mouthful: FSSSCCPNS. It wasn't until 2003, when someone sent him a photo of the summit register from Mt. Garibaldi in BC, that his memory was refreshed. Cooper had signed the register in 1961 and spelled out the acronym. FSSSCCPNS stands for Francis Sydney Smythe Solo Climbing Club , Pacific Northwest Section. Ah, but who was Smythe?