Eiger Northface 1965 - a forgotten brittish ascent?

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 flatiron 04 Jan 2022

Hello everyone,

on the page  https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Timeline_of_climbing_the_Eiger,                         I came across a notice of a (at least for me) completely unknown ascent on the Eiger North Face in 1965, made by Mitchell Millar, a scottish mountaineer:  

1965 (August): Harry Stewart, Mitchell Millar (UK) Al & Tad Katzmarek (Polish) reach the Ramp, Stewart and Katzmarek cousins retreat, Millar solo to summit.

This would be the 3rd British ascent of the classic route, after Bonington/Clough (1962) and Haston/Baillie (1963). Neither Harrer nor Hiebeler mentioned this ascent in their books, which is quite astonishing.  After all, Mitch Millar performed a daring solo from the ramp to the summit (in the same month, Mitsumasa Takada did a similar solo during the first japanese ascent, after his partner Tsuneaki Watabe fell in the exit cracks. Takada reached the summit and made it down to the valley, only to learn that Watabe had taken a deadly fall to the base of the wall in the meantime).

Millar obviously later worked as an architect. I tried to track him down, but to no success.

Can anyone provide me with some information about this amazing climb? Does anybody know of Mitch Millar or his climbing partner Harry Stewart? I couldn’t find an account in the Alpine Journal or the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal. So any help would be greatly appreciated!

 felt 04 Jan 2022
In reply to flatiron:

I'd start looking at the source of this information before anything else. It has no cited reference, which immediately makes me wonder whether it's true, although it's fair to say that few of the ascents on that page have a reference either.

The information about the ascent was originally posted on the Wikipedia Eiger page. In Oct 2020, part of the history of climbing the mountain was split off to create a new Timeline of climbing the Eiger wiki page. But this information predates that split. If you look at the following link, it provides all of the edits since the Eiger main page was created by Red Wolf in 2003. Somewhere in there you'll find the person who added the info, and that might be your first clue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eiger&offset=&limit=1000...

 Robert Durran 04 Jan 2022
In reply to flatiron:

It is such an extraordinary story regardless of nationality that I would be very doubtful about it being true.

 Rob Parsons 05 Jan 2022
In reply to felt:

> ... Somewhere in there you'll find the person who added the info, and that might be your first clue.

What I find is https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eiger&type=revision&diff..., with the information in question having been added by user 'Mitchellmillar' on 27 December, 2013.

 Rob Parsons 05 Jan 2022
In reply to Rob Parsons:

I'm curious now.

Mitchell Millar (who seems to be the same person, from the bios) has an entry at http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=407617, and also a LinkedIn entry at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitch-millar-4a58a91a

I don't use LinkedIn myself, but maybe that's a point of contact.

 Damo 05 Jan 2022
In reply to flatiron:

I have no idea about this particular ascent, it might be a wind-up or similar, but it does remind me of when Frank Elliot died a decade or so back and there were questions about whether he had in fact made the first British ascent of the north face of the Eiger. I knew of him through his various Antarctic climbs in the early days of FIDS (later BAS) so was contacted for further info. The Eiger FBA turned out to be untrue, though interesting, not just in the story but in the sense that such things had gone unknown for decades by many 'in the know' in the UK climbing scene:

"...he often visited the Alps and again achieved several firsts, one of which was the first crossing of the Eiger North Face, a feat which was to lead him to the summit of the Eiger where he had to help a Swiss party in difficulties, which delayed a descent, the cause for an overnight stay in an emergency bivouac dug in to a snow cave. During the night an avalanche swept poor Frank out of the cave mouth sweeping him down 1,000ft into a great snow cwm. There he lay until his companions found him next morning; they had believed him dead but thankfully they got him to hospital in Grindalwald where he spent ten days recovering mainly with broken ribs."

http://www.kentramblers.org.uk/Anniversary/FrankElliott.htm

 Slackboot 05 Jan 2022
In reply to flatiron:

Can't help with your query I'm afraid but a few years ago I saw this on the Eiger Timeline Wiki page:

'1962: Two young climbers finished the climb just after Clough and Bonington (who overtook them); their names were withheld to avert a flood of ascents of the Eiger's north face. They were very young, their equipment was rudimentary, and the letter they left their parents galvanized police action; the police were waiting for them on their return.'

I was fascinated by who the two unknowns were so I emailed Chris Bonington's office asking if the great man had any more info about them. His secretary replied promptly saying he had no recollection of the event and that I shouldn't believe everything I read on Wikipaedia.

 I only mention this because of the Eiger connection to your post and the fact that I am always interested in 'unknown' climbers and now you have just added another to my radar!  Looking at Wiki today the above entry is still there, still with no citation.

Post edited at 07:05
 Ian Parsons 05 Jan 2022
In reply to Slackboot:

I don't think there's any mystery about their identity; Harrer names them and credits them with the 32nd ascent in The White Spider - the level of detail differing between editions - and Roth relates the bit about the police in his book: two young Swiss called Werner and Paul. I imagine that Bonington was unaware of the police involvement - assuming that Roth's account is correct - so it didn't register. One would guess that Roth's book - Eiger: Wall of Death - was the source for the Wiki entry.

 Slackboot 05 Jan 2022
In reply to Ian Parsons:

Thanks for the info. That sheds some light on it. They must have been very adventurous youths. I wonder what they did with their lives after the Eiger?

 Trangia 05 Jan 2022
In reply to flatiron:

> Millar obviously later worked as an architect. I tried to track him down, but to no success.

Did you contact RIBA?

 65 05 Jan 2022
In reply to Trangia:

One wonders if Jimmy Marshall knows of him or anything about this, being both a Scottish architect and (very) elite climber of a similar era.

OP flatiron 05 Jan 2022
In reply to Trangia:

Hm, thanks for your reply, what is RIBA?

OP flatiron 05 Jan 2022
In reply to flatiron:

Thanks for all your messages. Very interesting that Mitch Millar obviously posted this entry on the Wiki page by himself.

I tried to contact him via LinkedIn, but unfortunately he didn't answer.

 Slackboot 05 Jan 2022
In reply to flatiron:

re. What is RIBA?

Royal Institute of British Architects or something like that. They will have records of him.

Post edited at 16:24
 Ian Parsons 05 Jan 2022
In reply to flatiron:

While you're here, and on a similarly intriguing topic: is any more known about Haidegger's attempt/recce since Triumphe und Tragödien was published? Although it seems almost incredible it doesn't appear to make much sense as a hoax either.

OP flatiron 05 Jan 2022
In reply to Ian Parsons:

Hi Ian,

Emil Zopfi wrote a very good piece about Haidegger for the NZZ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) in 2012: https://www.nzz.ch/der-eiger-war-sein-heiligtum-1.17485648

Here the most interesting part (although the whole text is worth reading):

Fifty years later he wrote in the SAC Weissenstein's section sheet: “Weeks earlier I was on an exploration tour of the Eigerwand on my own and reached a height that is roughly in the middle of the wall. I retreated the same day and withdrew without causing a stir. I wanted to come back later for the first ascent. When the Austrians and Germans approached and the matter was played up to N.S. propaganda, I dropped the Eiger plans. "

OP flatiron 05 Jan 2022
In reply to Ian Parsons:

Hi Ian,

Emil Zopfi wrote a very good piece about Haidegger for the NZZ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung) in 2012: https://www.nzz.ch/der-eiger-war-sein-heiligtum-1.17485648

Here the most interesting part (although the whole text is worth reading):

Fifty years later he wrote in the SAC Weissenstein's section sheet: “Weeks earlier I was on an exploration tour of the Eigerwand on my own and reached a height that is roughly in the middle of the wall. I retreated the same day and withdrew without causing a stir. I wanted to come back later for the first ascent. When the Austrians and Germans approached and the matter was played up to N.S. propaganda, I dropped the Eiger plans. "

 Ian Parsons 05 Jan 2022
In reply to flatiron:

Ah, thanks. Yes - I'd already found that. I think it's the only source I've seen that suggests he got up and down again all in the course of the same day - which makes the whole thing even more impressive.

I've been peering through a magnifying glass at the image of his dotted line drawn on the photograph from Abenteuer Eiger, and also at the original in my copy. With the other marked routes converging at the same point - your eponymous feature on the face - I find it hard to discern exactly were his line finishes. You mention the idea that he might have got to a point beyond the Death Bivouac ["Danach wäre er sogar noch weit über das Todesbiwak hinaus gekommen...."] but the image doesn't seem clear enough on its own to suggest that. Is it more obvious in the original or have I missed something else?

[Apologies for the thread drift; it's all fascinating stuff!]

OP flatiron 05 Jan 2022
In reply to Ian Parsons:

You're right, we obviously could have done a better job with that particular photo. Personally, I don't think he climbed beyond Death Bivouac, which is basically what he wrote in the source I mentioned ("reached a height that is roughly in the middle of the wall"). Since Heckmair and his partners didn't find any material left behind above D.B., I don't think he reached the Ramp. But he was brilliant alpinist for sure!

 Rob Parsons 05 Jan 2022
In reply to flatiron:

> You're right, we obviously could have done a better job with that particular photo.

What's the photo you're referring to?

 Ian Parsons 05 Jan 2022
In reply to Rob Parsons:

Hi Rob

It's a photo in the book 'Eiger: Triumphe und Tragödien 1932-1938' which itself depicts the final plate in Haidegger's copy of Hiebeler's 'Abenteuer Eiger' - a photo-topo with the lines of the Heckmair, Harlin and Japanese routes marked - on which Haidegger had drawn in a faint dotted line showing the route that he'd followed up to the Flatiron in 1937. It's one of the few bits of evidence that the attempt/recce took place.

 Rob Parsons 06 Jan 2022
In reply to Ian Parsons:

Got it, thanks. (And I see what you mean about using a magnifying glass!)

 JB 06 Jan 2022
In reply to Rob Parsons:

A little off topic but I've always enjoyed this really atmospheric description of an ascent by two Irish climbers in the 90s....

http://www.climbing.ie/exped/eiger/eiger.html

 DaveHK 06 Jan 2022
In reply to JB:

> A little off topic but I've always enjoyed this really atmospheric description of an ascent by two Irish climbers in the 90s....

I remember reading that too, it's very good.

 RJML 06 Jan 2022
In reply to flatiron:

I’ll preface this with I’m not sure how useful or reliable this will turn out to be,  however, I dived into a google rabbit hole last night and found the below reference in a book called ‘MAHKOTA HIMALAYA’ by Anton Sujarwo.

This was accessed via Google Books here: 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1lymDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA452&dq=Tad%2...

The book is in another language (google suggested Indonesian?) so I translated a section of it using google translate. Page 451 contains the following passage:

‘1965: Two British climbers; Harry Stewart and Mitchell Millar, and two Polish climbers; Al Katzmarek and Tad Katzmarek made it to the slopes of the Eiger North Face. Stewart and the Katzmarek duo decided to back off, but Millar continued his solo climb to the summit.’

As a published piece of literature you would hope that it had a reliable source?

 Suncream 06 Jan 2022
In reply to RJML:

Since that was published in 2018, I wouldn't be surprised if the source for the book was the Wikipedia article. It doesn't contain any additional information.

 felt 06 Jan 2022
In reply to flatiron:

> Thanks for all your messages. Very interesting that Mitch Millar obviously posted this entry on the Wiki page by himself.

If we are to believe user names, it looks like John Harlin (III) posted on the same page as well, in Feb 2011.

 Ian Parsons 06 Jan 2022
In reply to felt:

> If we are to believe user names, it looks like John Harlin (III) posted on the same page as well, in Feb 2011.

I doubt that there's any reason for disbelief in this instance; his revisions concern his father and his father's eponymous route, plus other US climbers.

 felt 06 Jan 2022
In reply to Ian Parsons:

Yes

 Rob Parsons 06 Jan 2022
In reply to Suncream:

> Since that was published in 2018, I wouldn't be surprised if the source for the book was the Wikipedia article.

I agree. In addition, the odd spelling of the name 'Tad Katzmarek', which should presumably be 'Tadeusz Kaczmarek' (i.e. 'cz' rather than 'tz'), seems possibly diagnostic.


New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...