James R. Wade ’59 led a winter ascent of Mount Princeton in 1964. (PAW Archives)

Over the years, many Princetonians have made the gallant trek up the 14,204-foot-high Mount Princeton in Colorado. The “intrepid” William Libbey, Jr. ’77 (1877, that is) made the first recorded ascent less than a month after graduating, PAW reported.

Part of the Class of ’72’s summit contingent. (Bob Wright ’72)
Part of the Class of ’72’s summit contingent. (Bob Wright ’72)

More recently, 33 classmates from the Class of 1972 embarked on a trek up the mountain; 24 made it to the top for what must have been a breathtaking mini-reunion. Mt. Princeton is the fourth highest summit in the Collegiate Peaks of the Sawatch Range of the Rockies. It edges out Mt. Yale next door but is 222 feet shorter than Mt. Harvard. No matter, because as PAW reported in 1964: “Mt. Princeton is universally conceded to be the handsomest.”