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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 8, 2018 - 07:05pm PT
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WHEN THE GIANT WAKES UP
The Story of the Vibram Sole
By Mirella Tenderini and Lindsay Griffin
Nearly everyone reading this will surely have heard of the VIBRAM sole. At some stage in their walking or climbing career, most will have owned a pair of VIBRAM soled boots. But how many of you are aware of the circumstances that led to their invention? Read on, as it is an epic on a par with Bonatti’s retreat from the Central Pillar of Frêney.
The 3,306m rocky pyramid of the Punta Rasica rises from the head of the popular Zocca Valley on the Italian or Masino side of the Bregaglia. The name is derived from ‘saw tooth’ and the summit monolith is a fine granite fin, which the bold will confidently layback, while the more timid resort to a sort of á cheval technique. Either way it is V- and the crux of most classic ascents. The peak was first climbed in 1892 from Switzerland via the South East Ridge by a team spearheaded by local guide, Christian Klucker. It was climbed again in 1906 from the Italian side by Antonio Castelnuovo and Anselmo Fiorelli via the West North West Face, now the normal descent route to the south. However, it is the esthetic and striking South West Ridge, one of the longest ascents on the Italian side of the range, that has become the great classic. Today it finds a worthy place in the Rébuffat series as one of the 100 Best Routes in the Bregaglia-Masino. It is often compared in length and difficulty to the Piz Badile’s North Ridge, but is undeniably a much finer route. By the mid 1930s it must have been an object of desire, yet it was not until 1935 that it finally fell to a crack team from Milan.
The Società Escursionisti Milanesi (SEM) contained many fine alpinists. However, the provincial attitudes of that era meant they operated independently from a growing band of equally talented climbers based around the small village of Lecco further north and driven by rising stars such as Riccardo Cassin. One of the foremost activists of the SEM was Vitale Bramani. He had already made the first Italian ascent of the Badile’s North Ridge and would go on to create a wealth of hard and high quality new routes in the range, including the serious and committing North West Face of the Badile. Another great pioneer of the period was the rich landowner, Count Aldo Bonacossa, who devoted his life to making almost 500 new routes in Europe and South America, a number rarely matched by any Alpinist before or since. Not for the first time the two combined forces and with Bonacossa partnering Carlo Negri, and Bramani climbing with his old friend Elvezio Bozzoli-Parasacchi, they dispatched the route in a competent fashion during a fine day in July 1935
Chatting with fellow club members a little later and full of the usual exuberance following a quality new route, Bramani and Bozzoli-Parasacchi suggested that Eugenio Fasana and Antonio Omio should join them for a second ascent. Fasana was immediately interested. A veteran of Bregaglia climbing, his many ascents in the region included the second of the Rasica’s West North West Face in 1909.
Word spread quickly and other members and friends were captivated by the enthusiasm for this project. Mountaineering was very popular at the time. It fitted well with the fascist cult of audacious pursuits. In addition, Italians have always been sociable climbers and ascents of some of the limestone spires of the Grigna by parties of 30 or 40 in number were not uncommon. There were many good alpinists in the SEM, so it is perhaps not surprising that by the weekend in question 19 people were up for the job.
Assembling after work on Saturday the 14th September, the group travelled in a hired bus from Milan to the village of San Martino, the gateway to the Mello Valley. The walk to the Rifugio Allievi is long, so it wasn’t until 11.00pm that they were unbolting the door to this cosy hut and beginning to settle in for the night. As was often the case in those days, a few local porters had been employed to carry up some of the gear, notably the very heavy ropes, and they would remain in the hut.
A mere 45 minutes walk the following morning was all that was needed to reach the foot of Rasica’s South West Ridge. Expecting to be down later in the afternoon, the party changed into rock shoes and left their boots and most of the rucksacks at the base of the route. Dividing into five teams, Bramani led off. Second on his rope was Piero Ghiglione, another well-known and accomplished mountaineer, third position was taken by Ninì Pietrasanta, one of the finest women alpinists in the first half of last century who was later to marry the famous Gabriele Boccalatte, and as last man, Fasana. The second rope included Bozzoli- Parasacchi and Omio.
The weather was typical of a fine September day, clear with vibrant colours, but already a little more chilly. As the first party climbed the last section to the razor block of the summit, heavy clouds moved quickly up the valley and began to envelope the mountain. They climbed to the top all the same and then started a rappel descent, the damp ropes beginning to stiffen as it rapidly became much colder. Above, Bramani could see the second and third parties reach the top but as the wind began to strengthen, he shouted across to the rest, urging them to go down. At 1.00pm he arrived at the huge rimaye at the base of the West North West Face. It was snowing hard and unable to find a way across, he waited for the second party to catch up. Both ropes were then tied together and a long rappel made over the deep chasm. At 5.00pm a group of nine climbers was safely down on the snow slopes below the rimaye and Bramani decided to leave the ropes (with a red rappel sling) to guide the climbers above.
Descending the steep wet snow, unroped, in rock shoes was none to easy. At one point Pietrasanta slipped in a potentially lethal place but fortunately managed to stop. Somewhat shaken, the party decided to take off shoes and proceed in just their rough woolen socks, which would provide a much better grip. Bramani, Bozzoli-Parasacchi, Mario Gelosa and Ghiglione broke trail towards the hut, while Fasana and the normally strong Omio followed on more slowly, helping Pippo De Lorenzi, Giuseppe Marzorati and Pietrasanta. These five were now completely soaked and freezing. By the time they negotiated the rimaye, Marzorati and Omio could hardly walk, so Fasana found a shallow cave and they all piled in for a terrible night with no food, water, spare clothes or boots. One of the legends that has grown around this story describes how later, as Pietrasanta began to deteriorate, Omio gave her his woolen clothes and spent the night in just a shirt.
At daybreak they tried to continue down but totally exhausted and with frozen feet and hands, found it impossible to move. Bramani, Bozzoli-Parasacchi and two porters, finally arrived with dry socks, boots, blankets and food. Somehow, during the night, five other climbers had made it back to the hut, but another, Vittorio Guidali, had sadly died in the attempt. Four were still missing. Bramani and one of the porters climbed further up to discover Del Grande, Sangiovanni, Vidali and Nella Verga, the only other woman in the group, already dead. The pair returned to find that while Marzorati had recovered sufficiently to be helped down, Omio had died.
It was in the aftermath of this great tragedy that Bramani set to work on designing a thick rubber sole that would give great insulation to the feet, be patterned in such as way as to grip on slippery ground and, to a certain extent, snow and ice, yet be light enough to use for rock climbing. The VIBRAM sole, named after its creator, was born. The now very popular Omio Hut in the Ligoncio Valley (the first stage in the Roma Path) was inaugurated in 1937 as a memorial to one of the more celebrated of the deceased and the whole tragic event comprehensively documented in the long-forgotten and nearly unobtainable "Quando il Gigante si Sveglia" (When the Giant wakes up) by Eugenio Fasana, published in Torino during 1944.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Shout out to Mirella if she reads this.
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Good history, Guido! Thanks!
I remember my first pair of Vibrams -the hype had me convinced they were magic and you could walk on anything. A powerful learning experience.
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kaholatingtong
Trad climber
The fake McCoy from nevernever land.
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I knew of Vitale Bramani, just not about, apparantly...
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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dipped that first pair in bronze ;-)
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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What a story!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Bramani set to work on designing a thick rubber sole that would give great insulation to the feet, be patterned in such as way as to grip on slippery ground and, to a certain extent, snow and ice, yet be light enough to use for rock climbing
In fact, the first Vibram soles, whose lug pattern remained unchanged for many years, were a rubber replica of the nailing pattern used for the mountaineering boots of the day.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 9, 2018 - 01:21pm PT
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How boring rgold, can't you just spin your mind around for once, lighten up and accept the beautiful story from "Quando il Gigante si Sveglia," even the name rings with nostalgia and romance and was written over 74 years ago.............
I'm a gonna aska Donini what he thinks of all this?
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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1954 Fort Mountain, GA. Vibram sole on J.C.Higgins work boots.
edit: Hmmm. Guess those soles are something else. Whatever was being sold in Atlanta shoe repair shops in the early 1950s.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Fantastic bit of history Joe!
I have read bits of that but the totality of the tragedy as related in that account is even more compelling.
The notion of climbing rock in nailed boots really sets my teeth.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Some years ago Joe Brown told me he and fellow climbers had difficulty moving from nailed boots to vibram soles on British rock, which frequently is wet.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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My sole bit of history to add to the Vibram story comes from my ownership of Northwestern Mountain Sports in Moscow, Idaho. In the mid-70's we were selling hiking & mountaineering boots like hotcakes, since they were then campus fashion. As I recall, we sold boots by Galibier, Fabiano, Lowa, & Vasque at the time. Despite having the lowest quality & the worst fit, the Vasque Hiker II was by far the best selling boot, since to many students, it matched their concept of a hiking boot.
Unfortunately, those boots had a major problem with their Vibram soles delaminating from the boot welt. Vasque was good about replacing the defective boots, but it was a pain to return them. I finally grabbed our Vasque sales rep during one of his occasional store visits & pointed out that on the other boots we stocked, the soles were screwed on with brass screws. I was never thanked or rewarded for sharing that knowledge, & a little bit of insider knowledge I also shared, but Vasque was soon screwing on their Vibram soles & the delamination problem ceased.
The little bit of insider knowledge I also shared was, the brass screws were actually brass nails with a little slot in their heads to make them look like more expensive & harder to install screws.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Sad story.
My first climbing boots were logging boots with vibram soles.. Probobly Red Wings??? these days I do prefer Vibram XS Edge over C4
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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How boring rgold, can't you just spin your mind around for once, lighten up and accept the beautiful story from "Quando il Gigante si Sveglia," even the name rings with nostalgia and romance and was written over 74 years ago
Sorry to have increased your tedium level, but I can't see why the fact that Bramani chose to imitate the successful nailing patterns of the time detracts in any way from the tragic romance of the story, nor how any nostalgia people might feel about those Vibram soles is somehow diminished by an understanding of why the original Carramato pattern looked the way it did.
Here's a picture of Bramani from Vibram's home page (the other climbers aren't identified).
Another interesting (to me) fact is that the Italian tire company Pirelli was involved in the development of the sole.
And an ironic note: after all these years, many people are back to the practice that gave rise to the original tragedy and subsequent invention, which is leaving one's mountain boots at the base and climbing in rock shoes.
I think the rock shoes of the day the Bramani party changed into were probably espradrilles, which were hemp rope-soled shoes.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 9, 2018 - 08:40pm PT
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We are all technocrats to the end without a real and sincere grasp of the true history because we will never know what the actual scenario was without having been there ourselves, so if you know more than the actual actors and time, fire away............
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Actually, nice add!
It is often compared in length and difficulty to the Piz Badile’s North Ridge, but is undeniably a much finer route.
Not sure that its held in as high regard these days...
Great history...thanks!
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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And an ironic note: after all these years, many people are back to the practice that gave rise to the original tragedy and subsequent invention, which is leaving one's mountain boots at the base and climbing in rock shoes.
A helicopter approach and fixed rappel route might contribute to that trend...ha ha...
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two-shoes
Trad climber
Auberry, CA
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John Gill's boots are almost certainly not Vibram soles. I believe, these soles to be an Austrian made Marwa rubber lug sole.
Most everyone in the USA pronounces the Vibram sole as Vie-bram, but the actual pronunciation, as I understand it to be, is Vee-bram.
The Klettershue model Vibram sole seemed to be the stickiest of the old Vibram's lug soles. The Voyageur being next, I would guess. Now, there are many new soles with propriety compositions for every make of boot it seems.
I believe the espadrilles mean nothing more than "slippers" in Italian. In fact, I think, sometime within the last 20 years I have seen roped soled espadrilles in Macy's, and looked pretty much just like the photo in the someone's post, above. They were still made in Italy. I understand, they are still the sh!t on polished wet rock, much like fishing shoes and waders soles.
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