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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 21, 2012 - 11:16pm PT
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This is the final chapter of the American Route story on the Petit Dru.
Robbins and Gary Hemming caused a big splash with their effort in 1962 which was the first major climb by an American team in the Alps.
The "Direttissima" was the last addition in 1965 and reported in the 1966 AAJ. Pure nostalgia since 2005 when the 90 Meter Dihedral fell off!
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jan 22, 2012 - 11:31am PT
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Thanks Stevie! This was one of the big turning points wasn't it?! Not long after, seven months actually, we lost our boy from Redwood City---Harlin--- to a frayed rope on the Eiger Direttissima project-- 1965. It is a kind of fun, as an aside of course, to recall that Harlin's middle name was Elvis. We all know of course his son, Harlin III, is the Editor-in-Chief of the American Alpine Journal, a noted mountaineer in his own right and a prolific author.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 22, 2012 - 01:45pm PT
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Hopefully some parties that did the route will chime in. Usually Brits would be the first to repeat a climb like this one. Who did the first few repeats?
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Ian Parsons
climber
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Jan 22, 2012 - 03:50pm PT
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The German team of Geisenberger and Reisacher repeated the route in 1972; this was probably the second ascent (refs. Mountain # 27 and 53). The Poles Piotr Malinowski, Marian Piekutowski, Zbigniew Wach and Jan Wolf made a winter ascent 25 feb - 5 march 1976, following an unsuccessful attempt the previous winter; probable third ascent (photo-article Mountain #53). Roger Mear and I (yes - Brits) made an ascent in the summer of 1981; I've no idea whether this was the fourth or whether there had been other ascents in the interim, although our activity certainly attracted the interest of a helicopter which, having once spotted us, returned each day (quite a few, I'm afraid!) to check on progress (photo-article Mountain #86). In the following years it became the target for free attempts and achieved that status sometime in the mid-1980s; I think two or three teams got very close, and I'm not sure who actually completely freed it - although I seem to recall that Eric Escoffier, Thierry "Turbo" Renault and Marco Pedrini were probably all somewhere in the mix. The free rating was runout 7b, ie presumably about 5.12b R.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 22, 2012 - 04:21pm PT
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Welcome Ian and thanks for the route history!
How did you find the climbing when you repeated the route?
Did you do the South Face of the Fou?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 22, 2012 - 05:39pm PT
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Number 98 on Gaston's 100 Finest Climbs in the Mont Blanc Massif!
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Ian Parsons
climber
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Jan 22, 2012 - 08:08pm PT
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Hi Steve
I'll stir up the memory cells and get back to you with some details - 30 years is a long time! I never did the Fou, although I have a feeling that Roger did; early 1970s, probably. (I don't know how well known Roger is in the US; his CV includes a new route on the east face of Huntingdon, first winter ascent of the Cassin on Denali, and FA of Deborah East Ridge - the one that Dave Roberts described so graphically!)
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 29, 2012 - 06:56pm PT
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Ian- Thanks for the reflections and background on Roger Mear.
I ask about the Fou to try and establish which American route was most difficult from this period.
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Ian Parsons
climber
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Jan 29, 2012 - 09:34pm PT
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Hi Steve, and apologies for the delay; to be honest, every time I've come onto the ST site in the last week I've been distracted by goings-on in Patagonia - which have been far more interesting and inspiring than anything we may have managed 30 years ago!
First off; Roger did the Fou in 1971. I haven't spoken to him, but I came across an obituary notice for the guy he did it with, Wilf Tauber, in the "Cerro Torre edition" of Mountain, #23. Off the top of my head I would say that the Dru was probably the bigger deal; as far as we knew we were trying pretty much the hardest big rock route in the Alps at the time, and nothing that Roger said afterwards suggested otherwise. With hindsight it's fairly obvious that a probably overwhelming contender lurked a bit further up the Mer de Glace in the form of Yannick Seigneur's Directe de l'Amitie, and in the Dolomites in 1981 a certain Igor Koller was getting busy!
Marco Pedrini and Sergio Vicari recorded an ascent of the Harlin/Robbins on 9 July 1983 (which we would call 9/7/83, but you call 7/9/83), mostly free but with a few points of aid; Pedrini, you will recall, made the first solo ascent of the Compressor Route, which I gather has been in the news lately! A completely free ascent on 22 July 1983 was recorded by Pascal Etienne, Eric Escoffier, Christophe Profit and Thierry Renault.
At the time we had very little information about the route. There was a fairly brief pitch-by-pitch description in an edition of the ACG annual bulletin - 1966, presumably - and a route description in the French language Vallot Guide of the time, quite possibly distilled and translated from Harlin's original by somebody who hadn't actually done the route. Neither of these descriptions covered the ground up to the Grey Ledges, although the Vallot Guide mentioned two different starts up the lower tier which roughly, although (from memory) not exactly, correlate with Harlin's account above. Although both Harlin/Robbins (on the FA) and the FFA team approached from below, gaining the Grey Ledges via the first bit of the 1952 Magnone West Face route, I think it became normal in the short span between the FFA and when the mountain started falling down "big time" to approach by rappelling down the couloir from the Flammes de Pierre ridge and reaching the Grey Ledges, again, by the Magnone route.
From the outset we approached this as a bigwall - which is one reason it took so long. As far as we knew it was like El Cap, but in the Alps, and without access to up-to-date local knowledge we didn't realise that there might be a lighter, faster way; although our own subsequent suggestion - that by pushing it another grade or two a lot of it might go free - might actually have encouraged events a couple of years later. So we set off fairly encumbered with three ropes, a full pin rack, a pretty full nut rack (which was mostly what we used) food and fuel for a long time (and actually, down at the Charpoua hut afterwards, one of the best bits of the whole trip was being able to feed some excellent [and very hungry] Spaniards with whom we'd shared the descent!), plus a large rucsac and a haulbag.
It didn't start particularly well; if you're averse to knee damage, certainly. Having driven into the valley and camped just below Argentiere on, I think, the monday, we caught the nearby telepherique up to Les Grands Montets on tuesday afternoon. The idea was that, with loads such as ours, it would be much easier to descend the appropriate couloir to the glacier under the Nant Blanc Face of the Verte and thence to the Rognon des Drus, than to flog up there from Montenvers. This was largely true, save for my unfamiliarity with descending slushy couloirs with a large haulbag. After much grumbling and prodding, a short distance from the bottom I "cut loose" - involuntarily - shot over the bergschrund, and postholed one of my lower limbs into deep, wet snow; wherein it set, as in concrete, while the rest of me plus haulbag, tendons and ligaments a-stretching and complaining, tried to continue their downward trajectory. Fortunately everything stopped before the onset of midterm damage - although the jury's still out on longterm - but, in the short term, I hobbled down to the Rognon with a rapidly expanding knee.
Such infirmity might have compromised our chances of success on the morrow, had that not already happened. Exhausted from the day's labours, and deserving a little comfort, it was disheartening to find that, due to a slight cock-up at the local hardware store or wherever, our earlier request for white gas/gaz blanc/essence etc had been misunderstood for whatever "methylated spirit" is in French - that's right: meths - just about the only fluid substance on the planet that an MSR won't burn! Fortunately we managed to decide, between us, that it was largely Roger's fault; so the next day, while my knee and I had a recuperative lie-in, he headed apace to Chamonix and returned in the early afternoon clutching the secret of fire.
Ok Steve - it's now 0232 local time, and sleep is imminent; next instalment in a day or two.
Ian
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pneame
Trad climber
Tampa, FL
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I know there's an audience of at least 2 waiting for the next installment, Ian. No pressure or anything....
I'm feeling the pain from trying to make your leg like a chicken's, having done much the same myself a long time ago.
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enzolino
climber
Galgenen, Switzerland
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Are you sure that the rock fall involved also the "Direttissima Americana"?
I thought only the Bonatti route was involved in the rock fall ...
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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Here's a photo taken on the 12 September 2011, Enzo:
This was the day after the latest 'big' rock fall. Since then another large lump fell off the top lefthand side of the scar - from that area of stepped overhangs.
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Ian Parsons
climber
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Hi Enzo
I think the first set of major rockfalls some years ago mostly affected the routes between the Harlin/Robbins and the Bonatti Pillar - in particular the French Direct (Bruel, Profit, Giot, Sachetat; 1982) which was replaced shortly afterwards, albeit briefly, by a Russian route; the Harlin/Robbins appeared to be just about still there, though I've no idea whether it had any ascents in that time, and I don't know exactly what state the Bonatti was left in. The more recent rockfalls appear to have obliterated everything in this area; so Harlin/Robbins, French/Russian Direct , Gross Route, Absolu, Destivelle, Bonatti Pillar, and presumably the lower section of the 1952 Route. Of course the other "American Direct", the Hemming/Robbins, was I think barely affected, if at all, and as far as I know is now the standard route on the West Face.
Ian P
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Ian Parsons
climber
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Hi Pneame
Just working myself up to it - filing end-of-January tax returns has left me somewhat drained!
Ian P
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enzolino
climber
Galgenen, Switzerland
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Thanks!
But I've seen in some itelian forum that the American route has not been affected by the rockfall. But I'll look for more reliable information and I'll give you a feedback.
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Ian Parsons
climber
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Ok, thanks - but I suspect that they've simply got the two American routes mixed up. In the course of refreshing my memory over the past couple of weeks I've spent some time studying various high-definition photos of the Dru on the Summitpost website, and the major features of the route - ie the large roofs and the big groove system up the lefthand side of the French Direct's Red Pillar - just aren't there anymore; neither, of course, is the pillar! There are a couple of roofs that I thought might be the remnants of #s 1 and 3 (the biggest ones), until I checked their positions against unaltered ground further left and realised that they were at completely different levels.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 12, 2012 - 01:38pm PT
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Nothing quite like a moving playing field! Yow!
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Ian Parsons
climber
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Feb 13, 2012 - 08:03am PT
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This is quite interesting, but I'm not sure whether the link works. It mentions fourth, fifth and sixth ascents in 1977, 1979 and 1980 - making ours the seventh or later. Of particular note is the fifth, over only two days in july 1979, by C.Clement and M.Robinson, names which are completely unfamiliar to me in an alpine context. They obviously look/sound English - ie American/Canadian/Brit/Antipodean/South African - although I suppose Clement could be a French name. Any ideas? Maybe a specific enquiry post would be appropriate; this looks like a very significant ascent that has largely slipped under the radar, being apparently two days quicker than the previous fastest - which was actually the first ascent!
http://www.sudeckikw.pl/strony/artyculy/petit_dru_diret_harlina.html
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Ian Parsons
climber
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Feb 15, 2012 - 08:41pm PT
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Hi again Steve. This is getting a bit drawn out - apologies - but from my point of view fascinating. Quite possibly we have here a major route of which we can not only document the early ascents, but all of them! Although this probably gets easier as we move further right (on the face); I bet Absolu never got a repeat, or the Voie Destivelle.
I'm assuming that the link I posted doesn't work. It's an article on a Polish website, and appears to contain a translation of the AAJ account posted above, together with a listing of ascents (and attempts) up to 1984. Herewith (including a few bits from other sources):
 10-15 August 1965; Harlin, Robbins. (1st ascent)
1972; G Geisenberger and Reisenacher in 5 days. (I previously recorded the latter as Reisacher - from mountain #27; I don't know which is correct, but it's important.) (2nd ascent)
Feb 1975; winter attempt by Czok, Kowalewski, Nowosielski, Wach and Wolf.
Feb 1976, winter attempt; Afanassieff, Desmaison, and Flematti.
25 Feb - 5 march, 1976; Piotr Malinowski, Marian Piekutowski, Zbigniew Wach and Jan Wolf. (3rd ascent, 1st winter ascent)
21-26 July 1977; JC Marmier, P Monzat and P Royer. (4th ascent)
28-29 July 1979; C Clement and M Robinson - "only 22 pitons". (5th ascent)
Winter 1980; Esteve, Levy, Marmier and Jeguier - "more than 30 days". (6th ascent, 2nd winter ascent)
Summer 1981; Roger Mear, Ian Parsons - 7 days (or a defensive 6.5!). (7th ascent)
1982 (but another source says 9 July 1983); Marco Pedrini, Sergio Vicari - free attempt with a few points of aid. (8th ascent)
22 July 1983; Escoffier, Etienne, Profit and Renault - FFA, 7a+ at the second roof, 2 x A0 (so, presumably, not quite free). (9th Ascent)
1984; the "Rosjan Two", which has probably suffered in translation! (10th ascent)
1984; W Babanow, solo. (Presumably this is Valeri Babanow). (11th ascent, and 1st solo)
It's not quite definitive - our ascent wasn't mentioned (I'm not complaining!) so others might have been missed as well; but French input has certainly been researched, and I guess they would have known about most of what was going on. I assume that Babanow was the main source - there's a photo of him on the route (presumably either a self-shot or PR set-up, unless it's actually taken elsewhere).
Hope this is all of interest; at some point I'll resume my tale!
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Ian Parsons
climber
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Feb 15, 2012 - 09:00pm PT
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By the way Steve; I assumed it unnecessary to point out that Rebuffat's route # 98 - the Hemming/Robbins "American Direct" - isn't the one that we, and you, are talking about here. Then I noticed your reference to the demise of the 90 metre diedre - which is on the Hemming/Robbins and, I think, still there - whereas, as noted a few posts back, just about everything recognisable on the Harlin/Robbins appears to have gone.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 15, 2012 - 10:32pm PT
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Ian- Thanks for that clarification on the 90m Diedre being intact and not the source of the rockfall.
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ground_up
Trad climber
mt. hood /baja
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Feb 16, 2012 - 11:11am PT
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bump... for classic big boot climbing
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pneame
Trad climber
Tampa, FL
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Feb 22, 2012 - 03:14pm PT
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The Clement and Robinson names seem to ring a bell - brits, I believe. Either I'm channeling a mountain magazine article / news story or I'd met them (most likely on Snells in the mid 70s).
I'll have to dig in my back-copies and see if that triggers anything
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 22, 2012 - 03:20pm PT
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Thanks for that clarification on the 90m Diedre being intact and not the source of the rockfall.
Steve, I gots a fiver that says the 90m Diedre ain't there in 5 years.
It looks to me like that whole side is peeling away.
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Ian Parsons
climber
UK, England
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Feb 24, 2012 - 11:30am PT
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I've dug up the original route description that we used from the 1966 ACG Bulletin. (The ACG - Alpine Climbing Group - was/is a sort of radical young wing of The Alpine Club; there was a minimum entry level in terms of big/hard routes achieved, and I think if you failed to keep up the pace you became a "retired" member. Being neither young nor radical - not at the same time, anyway - nor indeed a particularly good climber, I never had cause to trouble their admission system.) Herewith:-
WEST FACE DIRECT OF THE DRUS
Technical description from the Grey Ledges up
J. Harlin and R. Robbins, 10th-13th August, 1965.
1. Climb a chimney and then diagonally left on small ledges to a diedre (V sup. and IV).
2. Climb the diedre which borders a grey rock scar on the left and then over a roof to a stance in slings(A3, 13 pegs).
3. Continue on the wall above to a ledge (A3, 7 pitons).
4. Continue up a sloping ramp to the base of an overhang (A1 and IV).
5. Piton straight up and over 40 metres of continuous overhangs (very strenuous) belay on sloping ledges (A4, 32 pitons).
6. Climb to spacious bivouac ledge slightly right of a roof (A2, IV, 4 pegs).
7. From the bivouac ledge return down and left to crack system. Climb the overhang system direct to a ledge (VI, extremely dangerous because of loose flakes and blocks (20 pegs, sky hook moves).
8. Continue straight up to top of huge flake on the right (A3, 25 pegs, sky hook moves).
9. Move out onto the overhanging face on the right to avoid roofs. Expanding flakes make this very dangerous. Straight up to a ledge below a great roof. (A4, 30 pitons, sky hook moves.)
10. Mixed artificial and free climbing using knife blade pitons and large bongs, bring one to a jamming crack that leads to a chimney that splits a great roof on the right. The jamming crack and the chimney are free climbing (10 pitons, A3, VI).
11. Above the great roof climb a chimney and crack system (VI, A4, 10 pitons).
12. Pass a rotten overhang on the left. Belay in a gully (A2, V, 10 pegs).
13. Climb the gully for seven metres to a jamming crack on the right, pegs. Large flakes and on with sky hooks and chock stones to a sloping shelf and then on to the top of a large flake. (A4, V sup. 13 pegs).
14. Above the flake ledge follow a crack slanting up left into a jamming crack and then an overhanging chimney (V sup., 4 pitons).
15. Climb an overhang to the top of the chimney and directly up a crack and chimney to a belay ledge (A1, V sup., 4 pegs).
16. Continue to the top of the Bonnatti [sic] Pillar.
46 metre ropes were used usually with full length run outs.
That's pretty much verbatim. "Peg" and "piton" are obviously interchangeable, and have been. The three main roofs are the ones on pitches 5, 9 and 10.
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Ian Parsons
climber
UK, England
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Feb 26, 2012 - 11:58am PT
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Mountain #84 - March/April 1982 - contains an item about which I had completely forgotten; the reported fifth ascent of the Harlin/Robbins by the Czech team (possibly, of course, now Slovak - as yet I don't know which) of Doubalik, Stehikova and Paulicek. No date given, but it immediately follows a report in the same edition of a variant to the 1952 route by Profit and the Escoffiers which, according to Piola, was done on 2nd September 1981; it seems a fair guess therefore that the Czech ascent was during the same summer, although possibly, with the increased time that it sometimes took for news of Eastern European activity to reach the western climbing press, the previous one - had this been in winter I think that fact would have been mentioned. We now know, of course, that there appear to have been at least six ascents before this one - so clearly not the fifth; seventh or eighth is the current tally, depending upon whether their ascent was before or after Roger's and mine. At some point I'll type up a revised version of my earlier chronology, unless anyone knows how to do a simple edit + re-post.
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Ian Parsons
climber
UK, England
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Feb 28, 2012 - 09:15pm PT
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Back again, Steve, for Part Deux; Rognon des Drus, wednesday afternoon.
Following Roger's return there was still much of the day left which, according to the Protestant work ethic prevalent on both sides of the pond, then and occasionally now, should be put to good use. There was, however, a problem - and not a particularly small one. Traditionally, access to the routes on the west face - ie the 1952 Magnone route and the Bonatti Pillar - was achieved by means of rapid progress, and I mean "rapid", up the couloir which borders the face on its righthand side and ultimately peters out in the rocks of the Flammes de Pierre ridge ("peters" isn't intended as a pun, by the way); I don't know whether this is its correct nomenclature but I have long known this as the Bonatti Couloir, and will continue to refer to it in this way. Among the roster of gullies and stone-shoots that you didn't want to be in when the sun got up, this one was prominent; setting off up it mid-afternoon therefore, encumbered not only by a kitchen sink but, figuratively, a whole rack of them, didn't seem the best plan. We accordingly rested on our laurels, and whatever other faunae were to hand, and awaited the morrow.
If the link works this picture, taken in 2008, shows part of the west face. Contrary to what I wrote here pre-edit, having got the pictures mixed up, it's obvious that the route has completely disappeared above the Grey Ledges; below that level, however, enough remains unaltered to the left of the scar to be of use in the next bit of this chronicle.
http://www.summitpost.org/aiguille-du-dru/405909/c-150757
The snow basin bottom-centre is in fact in the Bonatti Couloir, a short distance up, at the point where the First Terrace branches off to the left; this appears in the photo as quite a steep ramp, but that's mostly due to foreshortening. At the terrace's apparent top lefthand end is a small snowfield, above which is visible a snow-covered ledge atop a feature not unlike El Cap's Footstool. As a point of reference the seventh belay of the Hemming-Robbins is towards the left end of that snowfield - except it's usually just a terrace!
With a normal British start, as opposed to an Alpine one, it was certainly daylight by the time we got going. We crossed the bergschrund and moved slowly up the couloir to a point just out of shot below the picture where it narrowed to a runnel a few feet wide; Roger led up this and headed off left out of the firing-range, then I followed, a sort of haul-man bag-person. It was probably less than a minute after I left the narrowest bit that what I subsequently described as a "train" went the other way - granite with attitude! We shuffled hastily along the terrace and dumped the gear somewhere under where the snowfield is.
We didn't really have a plan for the next bit; it was a case of "make it up as you go". Our route description only started several hundred feet above us, on the Grey Ledges. In the course of his earlier attempts Harlin had done a couple of different starts, neither of which he used on the first ascent, which lay, as far as we could tell, down to the right above the scene of our previous shuffling. Not far to our left lay the next section of the Hemming-Robbins; we obviously didn't want to go up there. After a certain amount of ho-humming and other prevarication we settled on a groove/crack system a little way right from the righthand side of the "Footstool", and thus applied ourselves.
"Ourselves" sounds like a team effort, but in fact Roger had to sit around and find his own entertainment while I took my time leading the first pitch; I know I must have taken my time because there wasn't much daylight left when I had finished! It seems incredible, but floundering up a couloir with some baggage and leading a pitch - a free one at that - had managed to take all day. For the record we rated the pitch at UK 5c, or about 5.10; I can't remember whether we made a start on the next one but, either way, we fixed ropes and retired to bed. This was located at the highest point of the terrace and tight up against the back wall, even tighter shortly thereafter when a salvo of debris arrived from on high with the hint that nocturnal helmet-wearing might be a good idea. Had it not already existed, I think we might have coined the term "fitful" to describe our slumbers!
Back soon - don't go away!
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pneame
Trad climber
Tampa, FL
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Feb 29, 2012 - 09:25am PT
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Nice Ian! Worth waiting for. I'm looking forward to the rest...
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Ian Parsons
climber
UK, England
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Feb 29, 2012 - 11:12am PT
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Hi Peter
I've just realised that I initially managed to describe a picture other than the one posted; I had found one from 2005 - presumably before the major rockfall of that year - which showed quite a lot of the Harlin-Robbins still there, but in my late-night stupor actually posted a rather later one which rendered my accompanying comment total rubbish! I've since used the edit facility to alter the text and left the picture unchanged as it shows the lower bit quite well. It's also possible, indeed maybe probable, that the dates to which I've been referring tell us when the various photos were posted, not when they were taken!
Your picture, on the other hand, does a rather better job of showing the upper section. It clearly shows the big scar of the 1997 rockfall biting a chunk out of the lower part of the Red Pillar, and higher up the smaller 1992 scar which seems to be right where the second roof was and of which I was largely unaware; this was probably the first part of the route to be significantly altered, although I've no idea whether the damage would have rendered it unclimbable. The first big roof is still visible, and although the traverse out right above it to reach a long ledge on the pillar (shared with the French Direct and the Gross) disappeared in the 1997 fall, this was actually a bivouac detour from the main line and not a necessary part of the route. The third and final roof is out of shot at the top, and I presume was still there when you took this.
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pneame
Trad climber
Tampa, FL
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Feb 29, 2012 - 05:10pm PT
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pneame
Trad climber
Tampa, FL
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Feb 29, 2012 - 05:15pm PT
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The stitch really is ugly - much better to de-stitch it
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 29, 2012 - 05:19pm PT
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Are people still doing the W Face Direct? It would seema little crazy but
it does seem to still be intact for the moment.
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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Are people still doing the W Face Direct?
Yes they are. But for how long? That rockfall scar is eating its way nearer and nearer... If you look at my photo again you'll see how narrow the remaining rock is between the scar and the niche. Since that photo was taken there's been another sizeable fall (I think 12,000 m3) from the left side of the scar - in that area of stepped overhangs. Just a matter of time till it goes, I reckon.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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What some people will do for thrills. Maybe they're trying for the last ascent?
I'm changing my wager offer:
A fiver that the Niche ain't a niche within five years.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 1, 2012 - 01:22pm PT
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Life in the gunsight...
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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Ian, you say 1982 or 83, Marco Pedrini and Sergio Vicari. Are you sure it's Sergio? Could it be Silvio?
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Ian Parsons
climber
UK, England
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Jan 18, 2014 - 08:56pm PT
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Yo - hope you've all had a good couple of years! Sorry Jon - I don't know for definite whether it's Sergio or Silvio; my sources (and probably Wikipedia) say the former, but I'll have to check.
I intend to continue where I left off in a bit; but I was originally distracted by something, and I'd like to resolve it if possible.
The chronology that I dug up from a Polish website - a language with which I am unfamiliar - suggested that the route had received its fifth ascent from C Clement and M Robinson, using "only 22 pitons", 28/29th July 1979. This sounds pretty impressive; at least two days faster than an experienced team of French alpinists two years earlier, and indeed similarly faster than the team - including the definitive Yosemite master of his day - who had made the first ascent. At a rough guess it's vaguely comparable to a two-day ascent of the Salathe in the late-1960s, by a team nobody had heard of; did that happen? The answer, of course, is that yes - it could well have happened; climbing history is full of such things.
The problem with the Dru is that its west face has/had two "American Direct" routes; (I'm going over very old ground here) the "American Direct Start to the West Face - Hemming/Robbins" and the "American West Face Direttissima - Harlin/Robbins". People have been getting them mixed up since the latter was done in 1965. Simply put, I've no idea whether the Clement/Robinson ascent is actually just a very competent and speedy achievement on a routine hard route, or something rather special.
I've contacted a few people in the UK who were (very) active alpinists in the 1970s; none have been able to shed any light. It occurred to me that - just possibly - M Robinson might be Dr (I think) Mark Robinson, he of Lotus Flower Tower FFA fame (of which, incidentally, my good friend Jon [Jaaaan, of this parish] did likewise in about 1980). Does anybody know him, and is able to ask? I noticed that he was present at some sort of Gunks reunion in 2008; was anyone here present? I suppose the crucial question is: "If you did the American Direct in 1979, which one was it?"
Many thanks for your indulgence, and even more for your interest!
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Ian Parsons
climber
UK, England
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Jan 18, 2014 - 09:17pm PT
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Hah! Not relevant to the thread, but I notice that Ampter, Sacks and Cronk were also there. I don't know them, but we briefly met on Baffin in 1978; they had walked in, having been unlucky with the ice break-up time, as we were walking out. Happy days...
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 26, 2015 - 01:04pm PT
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Steve Amter posts here occasionally if you want to contact him.
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moggela
Mountain climber
germany
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sorry, half of the Dru face and Bonatti fell down, years ago.
we did the second ascent of Harlin & Robbins climb on west face of petit Dru in 1972, August. We had 4 bivies on the face and fine weather, best spell of the season.
We did an entry in GHM climbing record at Chamonix the day we returned.
The correct spelling would be Georg Geisenberger & Hermann Reisach.
A few lines upon some of my activities you would read in AJ 2001.
regards, Hermann
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Ian Parsons
climber
UK, England
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Excellent, Hermann; and apologies for spelling your name wrong - twice! This thread needs a bit of input from somebody else who has done the route; my own account rather ground to a halt - so far - before we had barely laid hand on rock. Do you remember many details of the route - the exact line you took, and where you bivied? Once above the Grey Ledges (on the 1952 Magnone Route) we bivied on the long ledge on the right just above the first overhang (also used by the French Direct and, I think, the Gross); on a very small ledge between the second and third overhangs; and on a small gritty ledge three pitches below the hole that leads through onto the south side terrace, having tensioned left in the dark to escape an icy chimney and popped round the corner onto the North face! Did you reach the Grey Ledges via the 1952 route, or climb one of the various more direct lines up the tier underneath. For the historical record can you add any details about subsequent ascents, in particular any that haven't yet been mentioned? And do you know anything about the recorded ascent in 1979 by Clement and Robinson; my attempts to find out any more about it or them have been completely unsuccessful.
Welcome to the party!
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Tamara Robbins
climber
not a climber, just related...
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Hey guys! I've been working with Ascent a bit on an upcoming issue featuring the Dru. Steve and Ian, hope you don't mind if I point them towards this thread.... ? Or, you may already be in contact with them?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 2, 2015 - 10:33am PT
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Hey Tamara- Duane knows how to find me easily so no worries there.
These threads are out in the public domain by design to do as much good as possible.
I love it when a good one catches fire again...
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Ian Parsons
climber
UK, England
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Absolutely no problem, Tamara; as Steve says, it's already out there. And it's his thread anyway, not mine; I've just cluttered it up a bit!
I had a reply from the editorial office a couple of years ago following an enquiry from me about a piece in an earlier issue; with a bit of luck they'll still have my email address on record, if required.
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Tamara Robbins
climber
not a climber, just related...
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copy that, guys... ;)
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moggela
Mountain climber
germany
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hallo Ian,
nice to meet you so quickly.
I have some notes and a few fotos (slides 35 mm) of the climb, I have to look for, I also made my own topo.
Our Dru undertaking started August 7, we returned to the valley on August 11, 1972.
first thing I remember I got in contact with Royal Robbins (RR) beforehand and his answer was a short letter and a piton list, very useful indeed. What we did not know was RR.s hauling tecnic, so we did it the hard way.
second we did not get the brandnew Hexes from Chouinard, which RR suggested.
We did a training climb of 6 pitches a couple weeks before, where we have tried our new Chouinard piton set (alloy steel) and it was about the same aid work as on the Dru face. I like to name it "handwerk". Those 6 pitches nailing and "unpegging" took us a long day. So we knew about our next job. Only few of the local climbers had tried this face before, making only one pitch and so far I know until now nobody repeated it. you can look at this overhanging face on "Roter Stein" almost from the windows of Neuschwanstein castle. This is the country where we used to live. Georg lost his live on a trip to Bolivia, 1979, walking through Condoriri group.
I remember very well the bivy sites on the Dru face, but need to realise the right wording. Again, we did 4 bivies on the face.
First bivy at Rognon (not counting). We came down from the cablecar station from Grands Montets.
The other morning we climbed the couloir, than several pitches of rock steps on and over freshly broken granite blocks diagonal to the left. At OHM* office we were told last rockfall was only some days before and there is no trespassing. Beneath loose blocks, it was very sandy. we almost were to return. Finally we arrived stable terraces, were we made up bivy, it was about midday, say 8 hours work under heavy load, carrying 20 liters of water. This place was not the grey terraces of the old west face, as Georg knew from his climbing the Magnone some years before. Nothing was left after rockfall from this part of Magnone route.
When you were asking upon grading: I remember a topo in THE AJ*, issue 1992/93, p.257 from Cave & Jenkinson. I would agree with this grading.
Geisenberger did the Brandler-Hasse (Lavaredo) twice and argued for the same difficulties for both, if you have to do your own piton work. Cave & Jenkinson give a topo of the Brandler-Hasse in the same AJ issue, p. 249. I did Brandler-Hasse only once.
Here I will compare some facts:
-On Brandler-Hasse and Harlin-Robbins you have to climb the same amount of pitches (15), done on the same amont of pitons (180). Do not forget taking the amount of pitons those days was for aid climbing.
-First ascents are only seven years apart. Both took four days of climbing, after preperation work. Brandler-Hasse used soft iron pitons, also needed some drilling. The Lavaredo team were aficionados and amateurs. RR & Harlin brought fom US alloy steel pitons, angles and bongs. RR had a huge experience in big wall tecnic & using this tools.
-At the most difficult parts both climbs follow vertical to overhanging crack systems. Of course I know the difference between Mt. Blanc granite and Dolomite rock. When you look at the vertical sections both break into similar cracks for climbing. Most of Mt. Blanc granit breaks into blocks. In later years I have learned about granite exfoliation and other joints, as flaring and flexible flakes.
-But on P. Dru the problem is rockfall. Within 50 years half of the face fell down (probably) due to permafrost melting. I would think in those years it changed also from season to season. We did not encounter the loose rocks which Harlin describes. Those pitches below the roof were expanding flakes, open on the lower side, the loose stuff had fallen off.
Geisenberger did Hemming-Robbins the other year, in 1973, August. So he had a good measure doing the grading. I did the North face two or so years later, again on the Dru. We did not discuss grading, as Harlin-Robbins was overall one of our most impressive climbs. This season we went on climbing. The week before Harlin-Robbins we did Bonatti Piller and P.Jorasses west face, and Georg the week afterwards did Walker Spur with a girl friend.
1972 summer in Chamonix was very fine weather and we believed in the OHM meteo desk, where we went daily when in the valley.
Not so much we visited Bar National, the sacred place.
We were very fit this summer, as I remember we did Abram-Schrott on Roda di Vael (Dolomites) in a couple of hours, this was some days before we went to Chamonix.
*THE AJ, The Alpine Journal, London
**OHM: Office de la Haute Montagne, Chamonix, Place de l'Eglise
regards 2
Hermann
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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Come on Ian, finish your story!
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moggela
Mountain climber
germany
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more on the subject will come. there is no hurry, the face felt down. everything is pure and only nostalgia.
regards Hermann
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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there is no harry, the face felt down.
Whilst this is undeniably true, it's worth noting that Ian started his tale on 29 January 2012...! Now I've climbed a lot with Ian over the years and am well versed with his unhurried approach to most things, but three years is pretty slow even by his standards!
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moggela
Mountain climber
germany
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hi Jaaan,
sorry for the delay, I found this site just on first of May, 2015.
You will get a short but nice story, soon.
until the 50th birthday of the climb are some weeks left, i just realised the date ~~50~~ at this moment.
cheers
Hermann
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Hermann-Great to hear details about this historic route from one who climbed it.
What we did not know was RR.s hauling tecnic, so we did it the hard way.
Ouch! You're saying that the second jumared the rope with a giant pack or haulbag? Yikes! You guys were made of sterner stuff.
1972 summer in Chamonix was very fine weather and we believed in the OHM meteo desk, where we went daily when in the valley.
(not so much we visited THE bar, what was the name of the holy place?)
The name of the sacred pub was the Bar Nationale. Here is how it looked in 1976.
Here also is the OHM from that same year. Nearby was a tiny patisserie, where if the meteo bulletin indicated "orages" (storms), one could console oneself with a flans pātissier or a profiterole.
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moggela
Mountain climber
germany
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thank you for your compliment, we friends really did it the hard way, if we did not know it better.
But none of our friends get in company with us onto this Dru project.
Thanks for the fotos of OHM and the sacred place, the Bar National.
So we get some color and patina with the story.
You have in good memory, the patisserie was also a favered place at Chamonix.
Tecnic: we hauled the big pack on a seven Millimeter (7mm) Kernmantel line, but we had not a second pair of jumars. So the first, sometimes together with the second, did the hauling almost hand over hand using the biner as a pulley and fixing it with prusik. low tec, hard work.
cheers
Hermann
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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sorry for the delay,
Ah, you've misunderstood my comment, Hermann. I was referring to Ian Parsons, not you!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 21, 2015 - 10:31am PT
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Fantastic article on the history of the Drus in Alpinist #50.
Hot off the press!
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Tamara Robbins
climber
not a climber, just related...
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Jun 10, 2015 - 10:26pm PT
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forgive me for being a numbnuts... my original post in this thread should have read "Alpinist" not "Ascent".
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Feb 11, 2016 - 01:53pm PT
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cool info. I am currently teaching at the same high school with the son of Marian Piekutowski (who is mentioned in this thread several times)--Alex Piekutowski.
Some impressive winter climbing to be sure!
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2017 - 08:51pm PT
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Bump for Royal's climbing in the fabled Alps...
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