Famous mountaineering episodes

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 Misha 08 Apr 2020

How about recounting some mountaineering history? Famous episodes of accomplishment, survival or tragedy, that kind of thing.

I’ll start with The Belay.

In August 1953 an American team was attempting K2 and got to the Abruzzi Ridge when in deteriorating weather one of the team membere, Art Gilkey, came down with oedema. They started evacuating him by lowering him down. On the descent one of the team members slipped and pulled off his partner and they crashed into the other climbers’ ropes. Amazingly, one of the climbers, Pete Schoening, managed to somehow hold everyone with an ice axe belay. Unfortunately Art Gilkey disappeared during the incident. However the remaining six climbers survived.

 mcawle 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

Ooh this is a good idea.

My understanding is that Schoening managed to wrap the rope around the axe and brace it against a boulder.

Gilkey was actually lost after, I believe - my understanding is that they established a camp a short distance away after the fall, and left him secured in a sleeping bag in the interim. When they went back he was gone. Possibly avalanche although some of the team speculated that he had cut himself loose to give the others a better chance of getting down. Either way a sad story.

 profitofdoom 08 Apr 2020
In reply to mcawle:

The Haramosh tragedy, 1957 - see paragraphs 11 to 21 in the below link. It is a grim story:

http://footlesscrow.blogspot.com/2013/11/army-dreamer-portrait-of-tony-stre...

(Coincidentally paragraph 7 briefly mentions the death of Art Gilkey, described by the OP above)

 Harry Jarvis 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

Just the history of climbing on K2 has seen so many remarkable stories. How about the 1939 American expedition, which saw Fritz Weissner and Pasang Dawa Lama come so close to the summit, only to turn back when Pasang refused to go any higher in gathering gloom as night fell. It was considered that the final 250m or so that they had to complete the climb were relatively straightforward compared with the technical terrain they had already covered. 

The same expedition saw the tragedy of Dudley Wolfe's ignominious death when he was abandoned at high altitude, due in no small part to poor communications. Indeed, American expeditions to K2 seemed to be destined to suffer from poor communications. 

 Trangia 08 Apr 2020
In reply to profitofdoom:

> The Haramosh tragedy, 1957 - see paragraphs 11 to 21 in the below link. It is a grim story:

> (Coincidentally paragraph 7 briefly mentions the death of Art Gilkey, described by the OP above)

Plus 1.

I strongly recommend "The Last Blue Mountain" an excellent account of the tragedy. 

Post edited at 14:15
Gone for good 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

The saddest episode I have read about was Reinhold Messners account of climbing Nanga Parbat with his Brother, Gunther. Reinhold had set off on a solo bid to climb the Rupal face of Nanga Parbat. He climbed the Merkl couloir and was joined by his Brother at the top of the Couloir. They duly made the summit and started to run into difficulties on the descent. They made the first bivouac at the top of the Merkl gap but were unable to descend into the couloir as they had no rope and were dependent on the second party fixing the rope. The second party duly arrived but communication was difficult and the second party carried on to the summit leaving Reinhold and Gunther without a means to descend and without water or the means to melt snow. Eventually Reinhold decided to descend the Diamir face on the opposite side of the mountain.  He had read the account of Mummerys attempted ascent  of the Diamir face and knew it wasn't as technically difficult as the Rupal face. The descent began and was followed by a second bivouac. The next morning they reached the bottom of the Mumnery Rib and the major difficulties were over. Reinhold managed to chop a hollow into the ice which filled with little rivulets of water and he was able to drink for the first time in 4 days. At this point Gunther disappeared but Reinhold assumed he was just taking his time, drinking water when he could, after all they had more or less descended the face. He never saw Gunther again. 

"I had been making my way down since the sun had come onto the Diamir face. I had no idea where I was going. I was apathetic, aimless, empty.  I felt as if I had forgotten everything.  I had never been on Nanga Parbat - no,  never- and Gunther had never existed. There had never been anyone here, not even me  I felt ready to die. There was no reason to keep going, no point in searching any longer, no reason to live. Still with no answers to the questions that Gunther had posed during the night, I began to die."

 leon 1 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Trangia: Plus 2 on that. The Last Blue Mountain is an absolutely horrifying tale of sods law

 Pedro50 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Trangia:

> Plus 1.

> I strongly recommend "The Last Blue Mountain" an excellent account of the tragedy. 

And just reprinted by Vertebrate 

In reply to Misha:

What about some not so famous episodes? i.e. personal epics.

Al

 Derry 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Harry Jarvis:

The Ghosts of K2 (Mick Conefrey)is an excellent read if you've not already flicked through it. From the first attempts by the larger than life Crowley to the Duke of Abruzzi, and then the American catastrophes through to the Italian dramas.

I had never known about Weissners attempt, and felt truly sorry someone of his ability isn't held in the same regard as Hillary or Herzog etc. If he'd reached the top of K2, summiting the hardest 8000m peak over a decade before the next one was climbed, it would have been some feat (to put it lightly). I was gobsmacked they came so close, without oxygen in horrendous conditions.

Gone for good 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Derry:

Its an impressive story isnt it as much as Weissner was an impressive climber.

 John2 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

There are so many to choose from. Whillans and Bonington aborted their own attempt at the North Face of the Eiger in 1962 in order to rescue Brian Nally after Barry Brewster had been fatally injured. This led to an interesting thread on UKC a few years ago https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/rock_talk/barry_brewster-472970 .

Or there is the infamous episode of Doug Scott crawling down from the Ogre with two broken ankles in 1977 in the company of Chris Bonington who broke two ribs. They were accompanied to safety by Mo Anthoine and Clive Rowland.

Removed User 08 Apr 2020
In reply to John2:

Surely the most heartbreaking tragedy is the death of Toni Kurz on the Eiger. Joe Simpson made a very good film about it a while back.

 Rob Parsons 08 Apr 2020
In reply to John2:

> There are so many to choose from. Whillans and Bonington aborted their own attempt at the North Face of the Eiger in 1962 in order to rescue Brian Nally after Barry Brewster had been fatally injured. This led to an interesting thread on UKC a few years ago https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/rock_talk/barry_brewster-472970 .

That is a fascinating thread, and I must have missed it at the time - so thanks very much for the link.

Features a whole cast of characters - including the mysterious Goucho again.

 Philb1950 08 Apr 2020
In reply to John2:

They were actually rescued by Mo and Clive.

 John2 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Philb1950:

As I stated.

 leon 1 08 Apr 2020

 'Or there is the infamous episode of Doug Scott crawling down from the Ogre with two broken ankles in 1977 in the company of Chris Bonington who broke two ribs'

Wow Doug Scott is really missing a trick there He should get out and do a lecture about it sometime.

Post edited at 18:16
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 Matt Podd 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

Not an epic for us, but a tale of a lucky escape by the party behind us.

It was summer 1989 and Chris and I  had spent the night at the lovely Envers hut, run at the time by an amazing woman. We set off in the morning to climb the Ryan/Lockmater rib on the Aiguille de Plan. Getting to the base of the route was a nightmare ascending a heavily crevassed Envers Glacier. There was a huge bergshund at the base of the route and the only way to cross it was to climb round the back of a big serac on the down hill side. You could then cross and do a steep ice pitch to get to the base of the route. Chris had led this and I was following him part way up the ice pitch - hard with only one axe.

Another British party was following us; a North Wales Guide and his client. The guide climbed round the back of the serac which collapsed on him. I was watching all this and thought he had copped it. Chris couldn't see all this and It was hard to communicate with him. However the Guide was really lucky and had fallen into the bergshund, and was unhurt, but his rope was trapped by the weight of the ice. Luckily his client untied and managed to get an end of the rope too him and he climb out.

They were both safe and retreated back to the valley, and gave up on the Alpine season and went and climbed sun rock. Chris and I climbed the route and finished it with the Midi Plan traverse (in reverse). When we got to the Midi we had a very expensive beer each and thanked our lucky stars it had'nt collapsed on us. We then descended to the valley, which was the first time I had ever been in a cable car.

Misha: I have also climbed the South Pillar of the Barre des Ecrin - done in my first alpine season. Character building!

 Robert Durran 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

Matterhorn 1865 must be the most famous.

Feeney Pillar disaster.

 Sean Kelly 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

The account of Walter Bonatti climbing on the controversial Italian K2 expedition in 1954, and detailed in 'Mountains of My Life' is a pretty good read.

And as Bonatti later recounted in a Guardian interview...

"Why had the summit pair moved camp? "To kill us," Bonatti says bluntly. "It may sound far-fetched, but they were terrified we were in such good shape that we would be able to accompany them to the summit without using oxygen." Which would have detracted, of course, from their own oxygen-assisted summit."

Post edited at 19:27
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 Rick Graham 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Sean Kelly:

The Italians do seem to be able to very good at creating and sustaining mountaineering controversies. We could start a list...

With K2 , however, even though Bonatti , I recall, was bitter to the end, he did win the high ground, pun intended.

How many climbers could name the FA team on K2?

How many climbers could name the most famous, influential and accomplished Italian alpinist?

 GrahamD 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Removed Userena sharples:

> Surely the most heartbreaking tragedy is the death of Toni Kurz on the Eiger. Joe Simpson made a very good film about it a while back.

And Joe Simpson himself is no stranger to famous mountaineering episodes.

Removed User 08 Apr 2020
In reply to GrahamD:

True, which lends as commentary a degree of authority it would otherwise not have.

 Pedro50 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Rick Graham:

> How many climbers could name the FA team on K2?

> How many climbers could name the most famous, influential and accomplished Italian alpinist?

Without cheating: Compagnoni and Lacedelli (sp?)

Messner?

Post edited at 20:26
 Andy Long 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Rick Graham:

> How many climbers could name the most famous, influential and accomplished Italian alpinist?

A toss-up among Cassin, Bonatti and Messner.

 Rick Graham 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Andy Long:

> A toss-up among Cassin, Bonatti and Messner.

A top five could include Gervasutti and Garibotti. I think Rolo is dual Italian /Argentinian.

 Rob Parsons 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Matt Podd:

> It was summer 1989 and Chris and I  had spent the night at the lovely Envers hut, run at the time by an amazing woman. We set off in the morning to climb the Ryan/Lockmater rib on the Aiguille de Plan. Getting to the base of the route was a nightmare ascending a heavily crevassed Envers Glacier. There was a huge bergshund at the base of the route and the only way to cross it was to climb round the back of a big serac on the down hill side.

That same year we went to try the East Ridge of the Crocodile, which uses the same approach. Having woven our way up the glacier, we were just approaching the bergschrund when there was an enormous clatter from above: we looked up to see a torrent of rocks and ice coming our way. We thankfully got away with it - I took a big lump of ice to the leg which hurt like f*ck, but which fortunately didn't cause any lasting damage - and immediately made our excuses and left.

I've never been back for the route, and have since wondered how frequently it now gets done.

OP Misha 08 Apr 2020
In reply to mcawle:

Thanks for clarifying. Looking at the Footless Crow article linked above, there's a quote from Tony Streather saying they were trapped by a storm for 10 days. Surviving that in itself must be quite something, even without The Belay incident.

Post edited at 21:59
Gone for good 08 Apr 2020
In reply to mcawle:

Jim Currans book, K2 triumph and tragedy, covers the early history of climbing on K2 in good detail.  

 Pedro50 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Pedro50:

> Without cheating: Compagnoni and Lacedelli (sp?)

On checking, my spelling was actually correct. Worth reading "K2 The Price of Conquest" whereby Lacedelli owns up to the deception and completely vindicates Bonatti. 

OP Misha 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Rick Graham:

To be fair, Bonatti had grounds for being bitter as his good name was publicly trashed based on what eventually turned out to be a lie.

Speaking of lies, there was Cesare Maestri's claim to have climbed Cerro Torre with Toni Egger, who died on the climb. Not content with making up an ascent, he returned with a compressor powered drill and a multitude of bolts to put up the Compressor Route, which still didn't go the summit as he didn't fancy the summit snow mushroom. The compressor is still up there apparently...

Closer to home, there was the McCallum affair in the 1960s - the guy made up a bunch of first ascents on Gogarth Upper Tier back in the 1960s, which were promptly discredited. 

Still, the fact that such controversies are rare is a positive reflection on climbers generally being trustworthy.

 Pedro50 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Gone for good:

> Jim Currans book, K2 triumph and tragedy, covers the early history of climbing on K2 in good detail.  

His book "K2 The Story of the Savage Mountain" has more of the overall history and less about the 1986 disaster. Both well worth reading though.

 Dave Ferguson 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Rick Graham:

> How many climbers could name the most famous, influential and accomplished Italian alpinist?

Carlone Chestwig?

OP Misha 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Robert Durran:

> Matterhorn 1865 must be the most famous.

Probably!

> Freney Pillar disaster.

Indeed. The other Mont Blanc tragedy from around the same era involved two young alpinists dying in a storm on the Brenva Spur. This spurred the set up of a professional mountain rescue service in France. There's a summary here. Another exceptional story, involving a helicopter crash. https://www.chamonix.net/english/news/60-years-chamonix-pghm

Post edited at 22:53
OP Misha 08 Apr 2020
In reply to profitofdoom:

That's quite a story...

 pneame 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

> This spurred the set up of a professional mountain rescue service in France. Struggling to remember where I read about this...

Possibly Anne Sauvy's excellent and rather lovely "Mountain Rescue Chamonix Mont Blanc: A Season With The World's Busiest Mountain Rescue Service" which is where I read about it. 

 Ian Parsons 08 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

> Speaking of lies, there was Cesare Maestri's claim to have climbed Cerro Torre with Toni Egger, who died on the climb.

Although, of course, Garibotti's detective work suggests that Egger's accident quite possibly didn't  actually happen on Cerro Torre at all:-

https://pataclimb.com/knowledge/puzzle.html

OP Misha 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Ian Parsons:

Indeed, it was on a climb but which one! Maestri continued to defend his version of events even though people didn’t generally believe him. May be he convinced himself it was true...

 profitofdoom 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

> That's quite a story...

It is, isn't it. And more broadly I think that while we read the story of any climbing tragedy, it would be easy but horribly wrong to look at it and analyse it for mistakes the climbers made. But (while we can learn from others' mistakes) in my view none of us can ever ever do that i.e. pass judgement on others' errors, instead, we climbers must all say "There but for the grace of God go I". I bet no-one on UKC is mistake-free: myself, I've nearly killed myself 3 times through mistakes climbing, once was very very close

So reading about Haramosh 1957, I'm just thankful to still be alive myself. Not from my skill. From luck

OP Misha 09 Apr 2020
In reply to profitofdoom:

My main thoughts when reading something like that is how much else can go wrong and how could these people keep on going. I guess some kind of survival instinct must kick in but I’d probably give up the struggle a lot sooner...

We can learn from our own and other people’s mistakes but you can’t really judge people from what was a different age in mountaineering. Their resources (such as weather forecasts), equipment and to some extent skill set were completely different.

 profitofdoom 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

> How about recounting some mountaineering history? Famous episodes of accomplishment, survival or tragedy, that kind of thing.

Here's another good one that some might enjoy - THE CREAGH DHU HIMALAYAN EXPEDITION 1953. There were only two members, Hamish McInnes and John Cunningham. Here are a few excerpts:

"The trek started badly; the first day we were carrying I90 lb. each. The Sherpa, Nima, followed behind with his small pack.... [We] dispensed with the Sherpa who, on leaving, offered to give us his knife, fork and mug.... On the way we managed to purchase a sheep and a sack of potatoes and were all prepared for an assault on Pumori.... my sleeping bag, which was a thirty-shilling boy scout model, was even colder than I had expected.... John murmured, 'No wonder; it's like Aberdeen on a flag day'.... When we left Namche on the 16th of the month we had only eight rupees left....":

https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_1955_files/AJ60%201955%2...

 Lankyman 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

Wot? No mention of that most famous arena of high altitude triumph and tragedy? Who was the bloke who tried to climb Everest in ladies underwear? He failed by a country mile.

 John2 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Lankyman:

That was Maurice Wilson. His plan was to learn to fly, to fly from England to Tibet, to crash land high up on Everest and then to walk to the summit. He did get as far as crash landing on Everest, but given that he had no mountaineering experience beyond hill walking in the UK it is not surprising that his summit bid failed.

 Rob Parsons 09 Apr 2020
In reply to John2:

> That was Maurice Wilson ... He did get as far as crash landing on Everest ...

No, not quite. He did fly himself out from England to India though - which is a brilliant effort in itself. And then got to about 22,700 feet on the mountain.

The entire story is well told in Walt Unsworth's 'Everest.' I am in awe of Wilson's determination and single-mindedness.

Post edited at 10:31
 Rob Parsons 09 Apr 2020
In reply to profitofdoom:

> Here's another good one that some might enjoy - THE CREAGH DHU HIMALAYAN EXPEDITION 1953. There were only two members, Hamish McInnes and John Cunningham ...

For more on that, also see the account in the book "Creagh Dhu Climber: The Life and Times of John Cunningham" by Jeff Connor.

 John2 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Parsons:

Ah sorry, I misremembered the details of his actual attempt. What a colourful lot mountaineers were in the first part of the 20th century - Maurice Wilson, Aleister Crowley.

Gone for good 09 Apr 2020
In reply to John2:

> Ah sorry, I misremembered the details of his actual attempt. What a colourful lot mountaineers were in the first part of the 20th century - Maurice Wilson, Aleister Crowley.

Don't forget about Francis Younghusband (Soldier, Philosopher, mystic, visionary and spy) and  Martin Conway (art historian,  gifted writer and one of the seminal figures in British mountaineering) who in 1892 set a height record of 22600 feet whilst climbing a subsidiary ridge of Baltoro Kangri in the Karakoram. He named the feature Pioneer Peak.

Post edited at 10:46
 profitofdoom 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Parsons:

> For more on that, also see the account in the book "Creagh Dhu Climber: The Life and Times of John Cunningham" by Jeff Connor.

Thanks very much for that, much appreciated

Removed User 09 Apr 2020
In reply to John2:

A fine example of english eccentricity-does any other nation produce nutters of this quantity or quality?

 rka 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

Some man that Bonatti - retreat from Central Pillar of Freney always amazed me. https://www.summitpost.org/the-1961-drama-of-the-central-pillar-of-freney/8...

 Rob Parsons 09 Apr 2020
In reply to rka:

An excellent article; thanks.

OP Misha 09 Apr 2020

Another story of survival was Hermann Buhl’s solo FA of Nanga Parbat in 1953 where he had to spend the night stood up on a ledge at around 8k.

However that wasn’t the highest ever overnight bivvy - that prize goes to Doug Scott and Douglas Haston, Everest SW Face 1975 exped. Think they bivvied in a snow cave (presumably no bivvy gear as such) at the South Summit, 8750m-ish. They must have known they would have to bivvy when they decided to push on to the summit - a brave decision or perhaps a foolish one.

There seems to be a ‘no summit, no glory’ attitude in the Greater Ranges, even on fairly technical routes where the final push to the summit is a formality but one which takes time and effort (unless the descent is via the summit anyway). I wonder how many teams have come to grief as a result (I don’t mean ‘normal’ routes with the summit is the goal, where summit fever is more understandable). In the Alps a lot of technical routes don’t even go to the summit and this is perfectly acceptable. Not to mention people not even finishing the last few easy pitches (guilty as charged on a few occasions). Anyway, I digress...

OP Misha 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Parsons:

Do you recall if there was any particular reason for him wearing ladies underwear or is that a myth?

 Harry Jarvis 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

> Another story of survival was Hermann Buhl’s solo FA of Nanga Parbat in 1953 where he had to spend the night stood up on a ledge at around 8k.

A remarkable tale, well worth reading in Buhl's account of the trip. Astonishing to think that the expedition organiser Karl Herrligkoffer had earlier ordered Buhl and his climbing partner Otto Kempter to return to Base Camp, but they chose to press on against orders. The ascent was also notable for the fact that it was the only solo first ascent of an 8000m mountain, and for the 'assistance' of a cocktail of drugs. 

> However that wasn’t the highest ever overnight bivvy - that prize goes to Doug Scott and Douglas Haston, Everest SW Face 1975 exped. Think they bivvied in a snow cave (presumably no bivvy gear as such) at the South Summit, 8750m-ish. They must have known they would have to bivvy when they decided to push on to the summit - a brave decision or perhaps a foolish one.

Highest at the time, but I'm fairly sure I recall reading of a sherpa who chose to bivvy at the summit of Everest. I forget his name. 

And on the subject of Nanga Parbat, Sandy Allan and Rick Allen's ascent of the Mazeno Ridge and subsequent descent is another remarkable tale of survival. 

Post edited at 17:01
 Ian Parsons 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

I'm not sure how famous this one is - but it probably fairly comfortably qualifies as 'epic'; John Waterman's 145-day solo traverse of Mount Hunter.

http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197909100/Mount-Hunte...

 GrahamD 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

The first ascent of Annapurna just came to mind.  What with not knowing which mountain they could get to, the internal politics of the team and the memorable looping off frost bitten toes on the way out.

 Rob Parsons 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

> Do you recall if there was any particular reason for him wearing ladies underwear or is that a myth?


Maurice Wilson? I have seen that suggestion made on-line, but have no idea whether or not it's true. (Once in the public domain, a suggestion like that won't die, whether it's true, false - or just planted as a joke.)

His body was first discovered by Shipton's expedition the following year, and that team buried it in a crevasse. The Chinese then found a body in 1960, again believed to be Wilson - the body presumably having been ejected by the glacier somehow. Detailed accounts (and/or photos, if such exist) from those trips might settle the matter.

For me, as above, I am just in awe of the man's determination. It's one thing to speculate down the pub about learning to fly, getting a plane, flying out yourself to India, and then having a crack at Everest single-handed. But to actually go and do it. Wow.

 John2 09 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

'They must have known they would have to bivvy when they decided to push on to the summit - a brave decision or perhaps a foolish one'

I went to a Doug Scott lecture once where he said that one thing he bore in mind when deciding to carry on was Norton's ascent to over 8500 metres without oxygen during the 1924 Everest expedition.

OP Misha 09 Apr 2020
In reply to GrahamD:

And having survived all that, Lachenal died 15 years later in a fall into a crevasse below what were afterwards called Pointes Lachenal. Whereas Herzog lived to a ripe old age. 

 Strachan 10 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

The story of the FA of, and subsequent retreat from, Mt Lucania (St Elias Range, Canada), detailed in 'Escape from Lucania' is a pretty good one...

 Shapeshifter 10 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

Can’t remember the full story but Mark Twight, Barry Blanchard and a couple of other guys are retreating from the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat in a storm,  one of them is injured, there is some kind of cock up pulling the ropes on an abseil and they end up with only one rope and loads of abseils left. They’ve run out of food and gas and they miraculously discover a cache of food, gas and ropes left by a previous Japanese expedition etc etc. Top story - I think it’s in Kiss or Kill, Twight’s book (great book) but he also discusses it in the Enormocast Podcast. 

Simon McCartney and Jack Roberts on the SW face of McKinley - see McCartney’s book The Bond - best mountaineering book for years maybe  

 Lankyman 10 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

Again, memory fails me but was it Shipton and Tilman on Nanda Devi who so far forgot themselves that they shook hands? Groundbreaking indeed.

1
OP Misha 10 Apr 2020
In reply to Shapeshifter:

Yeah, The Bond is quite an epic. Haven’t read the book but the story was summarised somewhere (memory fails where). Seem to recall that Simon McCarthy gave up climbing after that incident.

Which brings to mind the first ascent of La Lyre in Six fer a Cheval in the French Alps by Thierry Renault. It was such an intense experience that he gave up climbing at the end of the season and turned to religion, though apparently he got back to climbing some years later. There’s a good interview with him at the end of the film La Sorciere Blanche, which covers another first ascent in the cirque.

OP Misha 10 Apr 2020
In reply to Ian Parsons:

> I'm not sure how famous this one is - but it probably fairly comfortably qualifies as 'epic'; John Waterman's 145-day solo traverse of Mount Hunter.

That’s just incredible, even with several food drops. The following passage seems like a good reflection of the experience:

“My morale was low at this point. I was forty-three days out and was obviously not going to reach the summit plateau with any reserve of food even on two-thirds rations. In addition, I noticed I was infested with lice. It was some comfort to know at least I was not alone. My gloomy feelings grew as my food supply diminished over the next forty-five days before re-supply.”

 Ian Parsons 10 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

Yes; it's a long time to be doing battle on your own - with or without the diminutive arachnid passengers! I quite like the almost throw-away line at the end of the piece:

"At 1:50 P.M., I walked onto the broad summit. Who would have known that it would take me another forty-three days to reach my fly-out site."

Second Ascent account:

http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198102200/Hunters-Sou...

If you can get hold of a copy of Mountain #78 you should read Pete Metcalf's classic account of this, 'Running on Empty'.

Of course Waterman met his end three years later, not altogether unexpectedly:

http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13198201900/Climbing-Al...

deleted user 10 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

Hard one to top...

http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP11/profile-trango 

The great epic of Trango Tower began on September 9, 1990. Takeyasu Minamiura, a thirty-three-year old Japanese climber, stood just under Trango's summit with his paraglider sail spread out on the snow behind him. He had just spent the past forty days soloing a new thirty-pitch A4 route on the east prow (Minamiura called his a "capsule style" ascent, but it is the closest to true alpine style that any first ascent on Trango has come), finishing the line that Wilford and I had started in 1989. As if pulling off one of the greatest big-wall solos of all time wasn't enough, he planned to cap his adventure with an airborne descent to the glacier, 2000 meters below.

After reaching the summit, he committed himself to the scheme with Samurai dedication, throwing off his haulbags, which were attached to a chute. Ominously, the gear flight went awry: his bags hit the cliff, then slid at warp speed down the gully to the Dunge Glacier. Low on food and with no ropes, Minamiura waited for a favorable wind for his takeoff. When a head-on breeze came around, he tugged on the riser cords of his rig. The canopy inflated.

But as soon as he stepped off the cliff, his chute collided with the wall. It deflated like a pricked balloon, sending him sliding down the south face of Trango Tower. Forty-five meters into his fall, the paraglider snagged on a rock horn, and Minamiura stopped. He hung at the end of a tangle of strings, wheezing from the impact, his feet dangling in space and his smashed eyeglasses bent around his face. The ice axe strapped to his back had prevented his spine from breaking.

He kept his cool, pulled out his radio and contacted his four Japanese friends, Masanori Hoshina, Satoshi Kimoto, Masahiro Kosaka and Takaaki Sasakura, who had just completed a twenty-four-day ascent of the Norwegian Buttress on Great Trango. Rather than asking them to rescue him, he told them he had had an accident and requested a helicopter.

The next morning, he disentangled himself from his parachute cords and traversed five meters to a narrow ledge. This place became his home for the next six days.

Minamiura's Mayday sent his friends scrambling. While two men went to look for him visually, Kimoto and Hoshina marched to a Pakistani army helipad at Payu, twelve miles away. On September 11, in a stripped-down Lama heli hot-rodded for high altitude, Kimoto and Hoshina flew to Trango Tower. The machine shook violently at 6000 meters, but they spotted Minamiura waving from his perch. Crosswinds prevented the pilot from landing or lowering a climber onto the narrow summit, and they radioed Minamiura that a heli rescue was impossible.

Instead, Kimoto and Hoshina embarked on a daring plan: they would be flown from the Dunge Glacier to the Trango Glacier, and from there climb the original British Route.

No one had repeated this route. When the Japanese started up it, they found canyon-like ice gullies and gaping chimneys festooned with ancient fixed rope. Fourteen years of ultraviolet degradation and stonefall had reduced the ropes to bootlace strength. Clasping ascenders to the tattered lines, they gingerly moved up. Often, they belayed each other on a separate rope and placed protection while jumaring the old cords. "Yes, those ropes very dangerous," laughed Hoshina when I met him in 1994.

While the rescuers battled weathered ropes and waterfalls pouring down the Fissure Boysen, Minamiura waited. On September 12 a helicopter dropped food and first aid, but Minamiura couldn't catch the package. The nights of September 13 and 14 were cold and sleepless. Minamiura kept in radio contact with Takaaki Sasakura at base camp, talking about the meals they'd eat back in Japan. His thirst was becoming unbearable.

On September 15 the helicopter dropped more food, but it too disappeared. Then, on the radio, the pilot alerted Minamiura that a can of cheese had jammed in a flake fifteen feet above the ledge. Minamiura knew that if he left his bivy he might slip off, but he was starving and climbed to the flake on wobbly legs. He immediately found the cheese and ate it. It was his first food in six days.

On September 16 Hoshina and Kimoto rappelled to Minamiura, having blitzed the British Route in three days. The trio continued down by the Slovenian Route. By September 18 they were back on the Dunge Glacier. Minamiura had lived on Trango Tower for forty-nine days, the last twenty-two of them without a break.

 John2 10 Apr 2020
In reply to SamSimpson:

Ah, Trango Tower. Before his successful ascent, Martin Boysen got his knee stuck in a crack not far below the summit and was unable to free it. His partner, Mo Anthoine, eventually descended with the intention of coming to his rescue the following morning. An hour or two later Boysen joined Anthoine at the previous camp having hacked away at his knee with a piton to free it.

 Sean Kelly 10 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

Not that well known today but this little escapade takes some beating.  It concerns the mountaineer Gertrude Bell and an early 1902 attempt on the then unclimbed N E Face of the Finsteraarhorn. Gripping stuff! It is still a serious ascent today and no walkover. Check the UKC logbook!

Here is a link https://seansmountaincamera.blogspot.com/2020/04/an-appreciation-of-gertrud...

Post edited at 21:15
OP Misha 10 Apr 2020
In reply to SamSimpson:

Yeah that's got to be well up there in the list of all time climbing epics and rescues!

 Dave Cundy 10 Apr 2020
In reply to SamSimpson:

As a former paraglider pilot, i think that if i'd done that, my club would have immediately awarded me 'Mug of the Year'!

Harsh but fair...

 jcw 11 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha

I suppose as one brought up knowing Alpine History all these stories are ultra familiar. I was much more interested in those accounts around the infamous triple bergschrund on the Envers side of the Aiguilles, which I have crossed three times.

However, here is another story to add to the collection, the second attempt of the Younggrat on the Zermatt Breithorn in 1928, 22 years after the first ascent, when four well known French climbers fell to their death on crossing the top couloir. Gisele Longchamp (> Pighetti) who did the first ascent of the Sans Nom Ridge on the Verte with Armand Charlet in 1926 knew them all and recounted to me and my wife Anne (see Peter Neame 23.01 Wednesday) how all the families (including the fiancée of one who never subsequently married) had gathered at the Gornergrat Hotel to watch them, and when they came out from lunch there was no one to be seen. 

One couldn't help but think of that horrible tragedy when in 1973 with Martin Harris we arrived to cross that couloir. Fortunately for us there was a lump of metal banged into the rock which provided a crude belay. 

 Rob Exile Ward 11 Apr 2020
In reply to rka:

Central Pillar - First ascent. That's a great series of articles; I had no idea that the attribution of the first ascent was so controversial. That Desmaison was a one, wasn't he! And good to see Maurice getting credit for his hospitality.

But above all, credit to one C Bonington, I've read most of his books and while of course the Central Pillar figures prominently, he certainly doesn't make anything of the resulting controversy. Respect.

 Airtime! 13 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

What about the Colby Coombs epic on Foraker. I'm a bit hazy about the details, Mark Westman told me about it a few years back in Kahiltna base camp.

Coombs and two partners were climbing the Pink Panther (I think) on Foraker and had to bail down the SE ridge from near the top in a storm. They got avalanched and Coombs wakes up a few hundred metres below with a broken ankle and back, one partner missing and the other hanging dead on the rope. Somehow he managed to assemble enough fuel to melt snow and then crawled and slid down the SE ridge over the next week before walking back to Kahiltna base camp on his broken ankle. Another demonstration of the will to survive.

 Fredt 13 Apr 2020
In reply to Misha:

Surprised nobody has mentioned Desamaison's 14 days stuck on the Grandes Jorasses.

"In 1966, Desmaison was expelled from the world's oldest and most prestigious mountain guiding company, the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix. This followed an "unsanctioned" rescue of two German climbers trapped on the west face of the Petit Dru by himself and the Briton Mick Burke and American Gary Hemming. The company, who had devolved responsibility for mountain rescue to the French National Gendarmerie in 1958, accused Desmaison of having undertaken the rescue as a publicity stunt. (His case was not helped by the fact that he had sold photographs of the rescue to Paris Match.)

But the most controversial event in Desmaison's climbing career occurred five years later during an attempt to pioneer a difficult winter route to the left of the Walker Spur. The climb, with the young aspirant guide Serge Gousseault, turned into a two-week battle for survival as stonefall cut both their ropes and Gousseault developed frostbite and could not continue.

When help finally came, Gousseault had been dead for three days, and Desmaison was informed by medical staff that "according to your medical check-up, you are dead". The incident led to bitter recriminations. Desmaison suspected Maurice Herzog (the famous Annapurna climber who was mayor of Chamonix) of obstructing a prompt rescue as "punishment" for his impetuous actions during the 1966 Dru affair. In response, Desmaison was accused of deliberately spending too much time on the wall in order to court publicity."

Post edited at 11:19
 Rob Exile Ward 13 Apr 2020
In reply to Fredt:

If ever you get the chance, read Dave Roberts True Summit. Gaston Rebuffat really, really didn't like Maurice Herzog very much...

 Mick Ward 13 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

I probably need to read True Summit again. Wasn't sure how much to trust Roberts' judgement, first time round. When his personal agenda spilled all over the page (a long way in), it was a bit of a shocker.

It's sad that Terray and Rebuffat fell out. When Rebuffat asked Madame Terray if he could be a pall bearer at Terray's funeral, allowing him his request was such a forgiving thing to do. I was fortunate enough to meet Madame Terray several times in 1975 and was hugely impressed with her. A formidable lady.

Mick

 Mick Ward 13 Apr 2020
In reply to Fredt:

> Surprised nobody has mentioned Desamaison's 14 days stuck on the Grandes Jorasses.

An horrific episode. Didn't the helicoper pilot (from Courmeyeur?) get in, pretty quickly, when the local pilots were saying it wasn't on?  I can't imagine leaving people up there when there was the faintest chance of getting them down. 

Mick

1
Gone for good 13 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Dave Roberts also wrote Deborah (1968) and The Mountain of my Fear (1970).

He made several notable climbs of Alaskan routes including the 1st ascent of the West face of Mt Huntington which is written about in The Mountain of my Fear. 

OP Misha 13 Apr 2020
In reply to Fredt:

Thanks for mentioning this one. There’s a summary of the events on what was to become the Gousseault route in Batoux’s book, though it doesn’t mention the controversy. From memory, Desmaison went back a few years later to finish it.

Post edited at 13:33
 Ian Parsons 13 Apr 2020
In reply to Mick Ward:

> An horrific episode. Didn't the helicoper pilot (from Courmeyeur?) get in, pretty quickly, when the local pilots were saying it wasn't on?

He was from rather further afield than that, Mick. Flew up from Grenoble and, despite never even having seen the Grandes Jorasses before, went straight there and touched down on the top; stayed there briefly then took off again, flew down to Chamonix and set  the cat among the pigeons. The rescue was completed within a few hours.

 Calvi 13 Apr 2020
In reply to Ian Parsons:

> He was from rather further afield than that, Mick. Flew up from Grenoble and, despite never even having seen the Grandes Jorasses before, went straight there and touched down on the top; stayed there briefly then took off again, flew down to Chamonix and set  the cat among the pigeons. The rescue was completed within a few hours.


It's all in one of my favourite books, Total Alpinisme.

 Mick Ward 13 Apr 2020
In reply to Ian Parsons:

Ian, there are no words...

Mick

 maxsmith 13 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Re Central Pillar of Freney, I recently read Mazeaud's account of the tragedy in his autobiography and also re-read Bonatti's version.  Bonatti and Mazeaud had resolved to finish the route themselves (in homage to those who died) and viewed all the first ascensionists as disrespectful for stealing 'their' route. However, they were particularly angered by the style in which the route was climbed by Desmaison's party. Piussi and Julien had previously used a helicopter to access the start of the climb, and I believe the group used the same tactic on their successful ascent. I don't believe this is mentioned in the excellent Summitpost account.

 Ian Parsons 13 Apr 2020
In reply to Mick Ward:

> Ian, there are no words...

Absolutely, Mick - although Desmaison had a few; approximately, and in translation: "he saved my life".


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