Oliver Perry-Smith America's First Climbing Ace AAJ 1964

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Clint Cummins

Trad climber

SF Bay area, CA

Aug 15, 2013 - 10:14pm PT

documentary about climbing in Saxony back in the 1960s when some of these guys were still around

There is at least Steve Roper's nice article of climbing there with Fritz Weissner, which you posted from Ascent (1974) http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1018427/Dresden-Classic-Steve-Roper-Ascent-1974
and the magazine article/photos lower on the page from when Henry Barber, Steve Wunsch and Rick Hatch climbed there a couple of years later and met Berndt Arnold, the local hardman at the time.

But you probably meant seeing/hearing Oliver Perry-Smith on film - that would have been cool, even if it wasn't a video of him climbing....

jgill

Boulder climber

Colorado

Aug 15, 2013 - 11:00pm PT

OPS's frequent partner was Rudolf Fehrmann, who's climbing skills were probably on par with those of Oliver. When Germany went to war, Fehrmann, an attorney, became a military judge. He used his influence to keep some of the climbing areas near Dresden open to climbers. He was captured by the Soviets and imprisoned at one of their camps, where he expired supposedly from natural causes. I seem to recall he was in his early 60s.

It's good to see this thread revived. Many historical references on this site concern feats performed after 1950, and quite frequently in California. Perry Smith and a few others are truly the fathers of our sport, but to compare their accomplishments with those of later climbers is misleading. "The past is a foreign country . . . they do things differently there" ("The Go-Between" by Hartley)

Alan Rubin

climber

Amherst,MA.

Aug 16, 2013 - 09:11am PT

I think that Fehrmann's later career was not quite as begnign as indicated in John's post above. According to Messner and other sources, he was rabidly anti-semetic, an active Nazi official, and was imprisoned awaiting trial for war crimes (I don't know the specifics)when he died after the war.

This doesn't change the fact that he was the leading figure in the Dresden climbing scene for over a decade, both in terms of his actual climbing accomplishments and his expounding in print on the philosophy and rules for climbing in that region--rules which are still largely followed today.

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 17, 2013 - 12:32pm PT

Anyone have a photo of Rudolf?

jgill

Boulder climber

Colorado

Aug 17, 2013 - 02:47pm PT

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Topic Author's Reply - Aug 18, 2013 - 10:20am PT

Does Fehrmann mention OPS in his book?

Rick A

climber

Boulder, Colorado

Aug 18, 2013 - 12:10pm PT

Wow, great thread Steve. Thanks as always for your efforts to educate on the history of our sport.

I am reading Jim Perrin’s Shipton and Tilman dual biography, which was just published this year. It is very enjoyable and concerns the British exploration of the Himalaya during the decade of the 1930s. Perrin is a wonderful writer and a top historian of climbing, and some of the joys of his books are the comments and digressions that he puts into the copious footnotes. In a discussion of Shipton and Tilman’s rock climbing prowess, he compares them to the top climbers in the rest of Europe and he has this to say about Dresden climbers:

The achieved standards of rock-climbing on outcrops in the Elbsandsteingebirge, south of Dresden…was by far the highest in the world in the period between 1920 and 1960, and was not paralleled elsewhere probably until the late 1960s or early 1970s, when Britain and the USA began to establish a brief hegemony in the sport through a handful of rare talents—Henry Barber, John Bachar, Jim Bridwell, Ron Fawcett, John Allen and so on.

Brokedownclimber

Trad climber

Douglas, WY

Aug 18, 2013 - 12:25pm PT

Fehrmann and OPS have several fine routes in the Dolomites which are still eagerly sought out and repeated today: Stabelerturm, the center of the 3 Vajolet Towers, and the Gulia di Brenta.

wayne burleson

climber

Amherst, MA

Mar 29, 2014 - 07:49am PT

Just returned from a few days in Elbsandstein. Much respect! Photos coming soon.

Lasti

Trad climber

Budapest

May 26, 2014 - 09:56am PT

Hey Wayne, where's the TR?

BUMP for more SANDSTEIN
Lasti

Brokedownclimber

Trad climber

Douglas, WY

May 26, 2014 - 10:33am PT

What is revealed by our view into the past European climbing is how far behind the best German and Italian climbers we were in the 1960s and even into the 1970s. The sonorous pronouncements alluded to by donini earlier, about "the first 5.9," are laughable in retrospect.

Based on my first experiences in the Dolomites (1963 & 1964), and subsequently compared to my first trip to Yosemite in 1965 had me wondering about just what was going on? In retrospect, 5.7 and 5.8 climbing was commonplace UIAA Gr.V and V+. I inadvertently climbed a route on Cima Ovest in 1964, without bringing etriers and climbing everything clean and free: Via Demuth-Lichtenegger-Peringer, which is in the current guidebook as a 5.10b. That route was established before W.W. II in 1933; currently listed in the Bernardi Guidebook as Route #32. My partner, a Brit, Lew Brown, called it a "a very Hard VS" in British terms. It was also my first introduction to using nuts as protection.

During my 2013 climbing trip to the Dolomites: The standard there has risen a lot, mostly due to much improved footwear, harnesses, and availability of cams.

Added in edit: as P.S. to Patrick Oliver; he was referring to his "scrambles" around Boulder in the 1940s when he made his comments about "no ropes." All his Elbsandstein antics, and those in the Dolomites were roped.

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Topic Author's Reply - May 8, 2015 - 10:46am PT

Giant Bump...

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Topic Author's Reply - Dec 6, 2015 - 01:51pm PT

Bump for an iconic talent active a century ago...

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Topic Author's Reply - Jul 24, 2016 - 11:51am PT

Wild style bump...

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 8, 2017 - 04:14pm PT

Saxony bump...

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Topic Author's Reply - Jan 20, 2018 - 07:56pm PT

Classic history bump...

jogill

climber

Colorado

Jan 20, 2018 - 08:30pm PT

I wonder about the accuracy of comparing grades of climbs on soft sandstone over several generations. Some might be a bit harder today than when originally done. Just a thought.