Terris Moore (April 11, 1908 – November 7, 1993) was an explorer,

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

, light plane pilot, and the second president of the University of Alaska.

Early years and education

Moore attended schools in Haddonfield, Philadelphia and New York, and was a graduate of

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

in Massachusetts. He then received an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

and the degree of Doctor of Commercial Science from the Harvard School of Business Administration. He taught at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

for two years, then returned to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

to author textbooks on taxes and work as a financial consultant.

Early career

Moore's career as a mountaineer started early, with an ascent of

Chimborazo Chimborazo () is a currently inactive stratovolcano in the Cordillera Occidental range of the Andes. Its last known eruption is believed to have occurred around 550 A.D. Chimborazo's summit is the farthest point on the Earth's surface from t ...

and the first ascent of

Sangay Sangay (also known as Macas, Sanagay, or Sangai) is an active stratovolcano in central Ecuador. It exhibits mostly strombolian activity. Geologically, Sangay marks the southern boundary of the Northern Volcanic Zone, and its position straddlin ...

, both in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

, in 1927. In the early 1930s, he made the first ascents of Mount Bona and

Mount Fairweather Mount Fairweather (officially gazetted as Fairweather Mountain in Canada but referred to as Mount Fairweather), is the highest mountain in the Canadian province of British Columbia, with an elevation of . It is located east of the Pacific Ocean ...

, both major Alaskan peaks, with Allen Carpé, and he also made the first unguided ascent of

Mount Robson Mount Robson is the most prominent mountain in North America's Rocky Mountain range; it is also the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. The mountain is located entirely within Mount Robson Provincial Park of British Columbia, and is part ...

in the Canadian Rockies.

Most famous climb

These ascents led to his most famous climb, the first ascent (with Richard Burdsall) of Minya Konka, a peak in

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, China. Their small party (also including Arthur Emmons and Jack Young) also carefully surveyed the peak and settled a controversy about its height. In making the ascent the summit pair climbed thousands of feet higher than any other Americans had previously.

Consultant and other work

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Moore served as a consultant to the U.S. military on arctic and mountain conditions, and as a member of the Alaskan Test Expedition in 1942. In that capacity he made the third ascent of

Mount McKinley Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the thir ...

. After the war, he was president of the New England Society of Natural History, which was deeply enmeshed with the

Boston Museum of Science The Museum of Science (MoS) is a science museum and indoor zoo in Boston, Massachusetts, located in Science Park, a plot of land spanning the Charles River. Along with over 700 interactive exhibits, the museum features a number of live presentat ...

, headed by

Bradford Washburn Henry Bradford Washburn Jr. (June 7, 1910 – January 10, 2007) was an American explorer, mountaineer, photographer, and cartographer. He established the Boston Museum of Science, served as its director from 1939–1980, and from 1985 until his ...

, also a noted climber of Alaskan peaks. Moore served three years as the president of the University of Alaska, starting in 1949, and during that time he also established records for high-altitude airplane landings. Moore Residence Hall, which along with Bartlett Hall are two 8-story buildings anchoring the upper dorm complex on the Fairbanks campus, was named for him. Student radio station KSUA has its transmitter and tower atop Moore Hall.

References

* Robert H. Bates, "Terris Moore", ''

American Alpine Journal The ''American Alpine Journal'' is an annual magazine published by the American Alpine Club. Its mission is "to document and communicate mountain exploration." The headquarters is in Golden, Colorado. Subtitled as a compilation of "The World's M ...

'', 1994, pp. 317–319. * R. Burdsall, T. Moore, A. Emmons, and J. Young, ''Men Against The Clouds'' (revised edition), The Mountaineers, 1980. 1908 births 1993 deaths American mountain climbers Williams College alumni Harvard Business School alumni People from Haddonfield, New Jersey Leaders of the University of Alaska Fairbanks United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century American academics {{Explorer-stub