I just read a book entitled "The Kangchenjunga Adventure by F.S.Smith. He wrote it in 1933 to tell the story of a 1931 summit attempt on the world's 3rd highest mountain.

In the Preface, Smith takes the time to thank all those who supported the expedition including commercial sponsors.

In one instance he writes:

"I take this opportunity of expressing grateful thanks to the Imperial Tobacco Company at Calcutta, for the gift of over 100,000 cigarettes"


I wonder if I can get the New Belgium Brewing Company to contribute ten cases of "Fat Tire" to my next expedition.

New Belgium sponsors our local mtn. bike race (Bearlodge Classic) as well as the Ice Fest in Cody. They are very nice people. I like Fat Tire and 1554. So maybe things haven't changed that much, you just got to start hanging around with the right crowd, man. Hell, you don't even have to climb any ice to participate in the Ice Fest. In fact, the two are mutually exclusive at some point! The bike race, you have to start, but you know, shit happens, and it can happen pretty close to the start line as well as in the middle of the course. New Belgium doesn't care if you finish or not, they will still give you beer. They are very nice people. Maybe things have changed - they've gotten better!

In Luis Trenker's book, "Meine Berge" (My Mountains) from 1935, which is a sort of "How to Climb Mountains" book, illustrated with superb mountain photos (B/W) from all over the world, he also describes the 'obligatory' "summit cigarette" - with photos.

Hey, man, nothing like a good smoke at high altitude, much lighter than dragging along a bottle of Tequila....