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Guck
Trad climber
Santa Barbara, CA
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Jun 28, 2012 - 01:43pm PT
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Just spotted a few typos;
... l'Européen sait bien que l'Américain, qui a pendant plusieurs générations orienté matérialiste, ...
should read
... l'Européen sait bien que l'Américain, qui a pendant plusieurs générations orienté toute ses forces et son énergie dans cette direction matérialiste, ...
Dans une société pareille, il est facile de cause que l'alpinisme ...
should read
Dans une société pareille, il est facile de croire que l'alpinisme ...
...beaucoup de gues pour...
should read
...beaucoup de gens pour...
...veut tout changer a sone image...
should read
...veut tout changer a son image...
...complète, respecteur quelques règles légitimes...
should read
...complète, respecter quelques règles légitimes...
...il ne aussi guidé l'esprit d'aventure...
should read
...il est aussi guidé par l'esprit d'aventure...
5.- Pas trop de renseignements sur une course[?] avant ...
should read
5.- Pas trop de renseignements sur une voie avant ...
(The two words have a similar meaning)
ne cesse de présenter un avenir [?] plein de menaces ...
should read
ne cesse de présenter un avenir aussi plein de menaces
I did not catch that in my translation, which shpould be changed from
"...pointing to a future more full of threats than hopes ..."
to
"...pointing to a future equally filled with threats and hopes ..."
Voute nouveauté amène ...
should read
Toute nouveauté amène ...
Pour celui que garde ...
should read
Pour celui qui garde ...
Some expressions (eg. "exposer la viande") are slang and cannot be translated exactly.
In the French litterature, the hyphen is equivalent to parentheses in English.
The Yosemite equivalent of fifth degree rating is difficult to assess since it ranges from 5.7 to 5.9 in the table from J Long's book and is 5.6 in the green climber's guide to Yosemite. Given the rampant grade inflation and advances in technology, I used the upper range of John's figure.
I probably missed some typos, but time is short. Hopefully, this will help potential translators. Thanks Ed for typing the whole thing in French, with all the accents! I do not want to be nit picky, but spelling can be crucial for a potential translator. You are absolutely right that the translation is subject to some interpretation. I did my best to translate verbatim.
The piece was a landmark in European reading, and set climbing in a whole new direction. I am sure Gary and Tom Frost, who climbed together in Chamonix, exchanged a lot of ideas, part of them duplicated in Tom's best friend of the time; Yvon. The timing of their writings is not a coincidence, and I wish more climbers would read the pieces! Cheers!!
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jun 28, 2012 - 02:04pm PT
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I also suggested to Dom G. that he contact James Salter, the author of Solo Faces. Salter must have done some research or otherwise had particular knowledge of Hemming to have booted up a whole book using him as "a character". Salter is still alive too, in his eighties.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jun 28, 2012 - 02:50pm PT
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thanks Gluck!
I just corrected the errors you found... I found typing "in french" to be interesting as my muscle memory is in english...
not sure I got all the accents correct either.. that's very different from our usual english typing
I particularly liked: «d'exposer la viande» "expose the beef" which I'll try to work my climbing descriptions where ever "hang my ass out" would appear...
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Chris Jones
Social climber
Glen Ellen, CA
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Jun 29, 2012 - 06:49pm PT
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A few days ago I wrote;” He (Hemming) was so different than any of the other American climbers then active in the Alps, let alone the European climbers! Which is why his life is so fascinating.”
Dom wrote: “Interesting reflection on how he was different, Chris - I'd be interested in hearing more of your thoughts about how he was different, he seems to have really found his own voice when in France.”
On the theory that I had better put up or shut up.
I had the good fortune to get to know and climb with several Americans in the Alps during the summers of 1964 and 1965 - even if some of those climbs were just on the local Chamonix crags or at the Calanques. However, I only chatted with Hemming a couple of times. As I recall, he was staying outside the campsite. Furthermore, it seemed that he was not really fired up about any climbing projects. As one can gather from Tenderini’s biography among other sources, he certainly must have been on his game during the 1961 thru 1963 years. Now he seemed more settled, calm even. His clothes were quite worn down, his beard and hair were long, and he was tall and good looking. An old pack slung over his shoulder, he was obviously living on a shoestring. In contrast, European alpinists of the day were almost well-dressed. As I recall, the French we came across were either aspirant guides, or university students, or at least had jobs. They were not vagabonds such as Gary. The Americans were dead serious about getting some climbing done. Some were married, which was almost a shock at such a young age. They were a clean-cut bunch, excellent climbers - among the best in the Alps. The British fell into two groupings: the more traditional, university-educated crowd, and the hard-charging types in the Joe Brown/Don Whillans mold. Not a Gary Hemming among them!
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Grovehill
Trad climber
UK
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Gary Hemming had some interaction with members of the Alpha Club and visited some of them in the UK, it is detailed in
Echoes of a Dream by Alan McHardy
and
Alpha Males by Al Parker
By way of an aside both authors visited Yosemite,
Al Parker in 1968, he was in the campsite when Burke and Wood returned from the first british ascent of The Nose - page 226
Alan McHardy was there in 1973 - ascent of Salathe Wall with Paul Ross and George Homer page 165/173
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Dom Green
Trad climber
Sheffield UK
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 6, 2012 - 07:55pm PT
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Those UK references are gold dust - amazing.
Dom
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Grovehill
Trad climber
UK
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Hi, yes there are some more references in both books,
The Scotch Club Affair
Alpha Males - Chapter 14, The Scotch Club Affair
Pages 136 to 141 details the incident and how Gary Hemming phoned the British Consulate on behalf of the british climbers.
Echoes of a Dream. The incident is briefly mentioned in Alan McHardys book page 57.
The Dru Rescue
The Dru Rescue is briefly mentioned on page 95 of Echoes of a Dream and mentions/links the Anne Sauvy book " Mountain Rescue Chamonix - Mont Blanc". It reads as if the Dru Rescue exposed the shortcomings of the existing services.
Both are well worth a read
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 20, 2012 - 02:19am PT
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http://c498469.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/1964/81_Harlin_MontBlancFou_aaj1964.pdf
American Alpine Journal, 1964 p81
First Ascents in the Mont Blanc Alps
JOHN HARLIN
L’Aiguille du Fou’s South Face
IT HAD been three hours since the first wisps of high cirrus appeared from the west. The sky was now overcast and lowering. The summits of the Jorasses were put to sleep, and the wooly mass of cloud was getting blacker. Konrad began to rappel, and just as he touched the snow beside me a rumble sounded in the couloir between the Lépiney and Fou. Looking up, we caught sight of a mass of falling ice and rock. It struck above our heads, showering over us in an arch and roared down the 300 meters of snow below, setting off smaller avalanches on the way. I whistled with relief. After a pause for nerve, we set off down the couloir, the backs of our necks prickling and our ears straining for the return of that feared sound. Thus ended our first futile attempt on the Fou’s south face. It was made by Konrad Kirch and myself in the early summer of 1963.
Since 1952 there had been a number of attempts to force a way up the face, made by climbers of high reputation from many countries. The attacks concentrated on a great diagonal crack that traverses the face ascending from right to left. Two rope-lengths was the greatest distance made. Large quantities of coins de bois (wooden wedges) had been employed, those poor substitutes for the impressive aluminum or chrome-molybdenum pitons of the Yosemite.
Later in the summer of 1963 Tom Frost, Gary Hemming, Stewart Fulton and I gathered for another try. We waited and waited for good weather. Finally in desperation Stewart and I set off in doubtful conditions for another reconnaissance. In the upper couloir we found rock pitches of IV and V completely covered with snow, loose snow. By afternoon we had turned the huge barrier overhang at the bottom of the face proper with a strenuous pitch of VI. Because the extension of the route was questionable, we turned back as it began to rain. As we descended, I noted a thin crack system that led up and over the overhang directly, extending into what appeared to be a more feasible route above.
In the middle of July Gary, Stewart, Tom and I approached the bergschrund for yet another try. High cirrus and other ominous signs nearly caused us to turn back, but at last I was so busy climbing the ice wall of the slightly overhanging schrund that I forgot the troublesome weather. Our headlamps glowed and caused weird dancing reflections as we steadily gained altitude in the couloir. For security and speed I attached a fixed rope to a second ice axe at the top of every lead. Finally we were all standing in the early morning sun on a good but airy ledge just below the great figure-seven barrier-overhang that blocks the bottom of the face. Tom, our artificial-climbing expert from Yosemite, took the lead. He carried a beautiful selection of American pitons designed for the most difficult granite crack systems. These pitons embody a completely different principle. Made from tough chrome-molybdenum steel, instead of conforming to a crack by bending and deforming, they conform the way a spring acts. When the piton is extracted, it regains its original shape and can be used several hundred times. The strength of the steel allows practical pitons of razor-thinness to be constructed.
Tom was soon so far out under the overhang that his hauling rope hung like a plumb line far out from the face. We finally could pull our sack up. Ten meters separated the vertical hauling line from the face below the overhang. Rarely does one find a granite overhang of such proportions. (This lead took 26 pitons! - Editor.)
Above the overhang Gary took the-lead. Mixed artificial and free climbing brought us to the great diagonal crack on the route of all previous attempts. We had avoidled taking this crack from the bottom because it did not climb the south face directly and was a way of getting around the lower third of the face we had just climbed. Quantities of coins de bois had been left in the crack from previous attempts.
Darkness dictated a bivouac. A light rain started with not too distant thunder and lightning. Since Stewart and I had only a ledge approximately ten centimeters wide, we rigged a bivouac hammock to two rather awkwardly spaced pitons. When we got in, it broke and we fell through. This left us to spend the night in étriers, and a miserable night it was. In the morning we rappelled in rain down the diagonal crack, leaving fixed ropes and a quantity of equipment.
On still another attempt, although rain came as we were finishing the prusik up our fixed ropes in the diagonal crack, we decided to push the route further. The diagonal is difficult free climbing with little protection. Stewart, laybacking in the crack just below the large overhang that divides the diagonal, slipped and arched down hard on the one good piton he had managed to place. The rain and a bruised hand dictated a retreat. The sky was aflame with signs of bad weather as we made the approach for our final and successful attempt on July 25. Tom and Stewart had gone up the evening before with Dorene Del Fium and had bivouacked below the face. Gary and I left in the morning with Claude Guerre-Genton and Mara, my wife, and climbed the classical southeast ridge of the Blaitière as an approach. As we passed the first conspicuous pinnacle on this route, we could see Tom and Stewart getting off to a late start. At the bivouac spot we left the girls to bivouac and follow our progress from the breche cornice. When Gary and I started our prusik, Tom had already turned a sickle overhang in the diagonal and was working on the wider crack above. Stewart had previously laybacked up to a stance below the overhang. This represented a truly fine piece of work and will no doubt be a rigorous test for subsequent climbing parties. On the overhang itself Tom had managed a spectacular bit of engineering by using our very smallest two-centimeter piton and then our largest, a four-inch bongbong, two meters higher. Above this was a series of five coins de bois spliced or put together with large aluminum angle-pitons. Tom would stand off balance on tip toes on previously placed coins de bois and aluminum piton and place the next piton at arm’s length above. From a bad belay in slings, Tom set off again on extremely difficult artificial climbing, using knife-blade pitons to negotiate a conspicuously black overhang that barred the way to what hopefully would be our bivouac ledge. (This 150-foot pitch required 28 pitons. - Editor.)
When Tom arrived at the ledge, the joy in his voice told us that the ledge would be satisfactory, if not comfortable. Gary and I prusiked up a fixed line with the material for the bivouac while Stewart depitoned what is probably the most difficult artificial lead in the western Alps. AS soon as I reached the ledge, I started climbing the crack above the bivouac to prepare for the next day. Darkness caused me to rappel finally, and as my feet touched the ledge, the sky tore open and a storm broke. Before we could get into our bivouac sacks, the hail and rain had soaked us. Lightning was all about, striking the Fou and lacing the darkness with incandescent whiteness. This storm was of extreme violence; it turned out to be one of the hardest of the summer. In our sacks we ate and drank, marveling at the electrical display and wondering if the next flash would be marked for us. I discovered another unhappy fact. Our large canteen had leaked onto all my dry clothes and so there was no hope for a comfortable night.
In the morning an opaque grayness of cloud greeted our reveille. Gary quickly finished my lead of the night before. As I again took the lead, the clouds began to break, and one could catch glimpses of the fantastic landscape of soaring rock and ice to right and left. In placing pitons and in stretching for infrequent holds on that great smooth wall, life effervesced within me. I stole glances at the scene around me and caught sight of footprints over on the ice ridge near the Lépiney. Finally after running out the fifty-meter rope, I still had about six meters of free climbing to go to reach the belay and so I waited for Gary to move to give me the additional rope. The time afforded me a chance to study even more this beautiful, ethereal world as the clouds tore around us letting in the sun in occasional brilliant shafts.
At last I had to move again, for the belay had been readjusted. At a stance, far worse than I had predicted from below, I fixed the prusik line, and Tom started up snapping pictures as he came. Gary depitoned. Gary then completed the overhang overhead and, above, found that the route eased off in difficulty but increased in magnificence. Two pitches of V turned out to be some of the most enjoyable free climbing any of us had ever done.
We at last pulled ourselves onto the summit slabs. Here the summit of the Fou floated in the clouds and the towering cumulus all around at our level reminded me of many similar moments while flying. However, here one could actually feel the elements and be part of them. These sculptured forms, ever-changing like life itself, made mockery of our Fou. The south face of the Fou, perhaps the hardest climb in the western Alps, yet it could not compare to a soaring cliff of vapor with cracks and chimneys of translucent crystals never to feel a human hand.
The Hidden Pillar of Frêney
(Editor’s Note: John Harlin and Tom Frost were the American representatives at the Rassemblement International in Chamonix. As a part of this program, on August 1 and 2, they made the first ascent of the Hidden Pillar of Frêney (Pilier Derobé du Frêney) on the Italian side of Mont Blanc. This western pillar lies just to the left of the Central Pillar. The route description by Harlin follows.)
Route description: The approach to the Hidden Pillar from the Gamba hut is by way of the Col d’Inominatta, Frêney glaciers, Rocher Gruber, Co1 de Peuterey, Plateau Superior de Frêney and finally a diagonal couloir descending from the foot of the pillar passing under the Central Pillar to the bergschrund above the Plateau Superior. An alternate approach is from the Col de Forche and North Face of the Col de Peuterey. Either way one should plan on at least 10 hours, or considerably more if conditions are bad, before starting the climb of the pillar, This approach is one of the longest, most interesting and dangerous in the Alps. It should not be underestimated and constitutes a long and difficult climb in itself.
At the foot of the pillar take a vertical crack at rhe left hand edge, climbing jam cracks and laybacks to a good stance. From here the difficulty increases but the rock is of exceptionally good quality, permitting strenuous free climbing for two rope lengths. From there the rock eases in difficulty and the chimneys and cracks carry one slightly right toward the base of a large overhang. Chimneys choked with ice force extremely delicate free climbing to gain a large system of ledges suitable for bivouac. Climb these ledges right and up, thereby avoiding the large overhang, until a good stance is reached before the start of a delicate traverse into the couloir between the Central and Hidden pillars. Climb rock and nearly vertical ice for 5 meters until layback cracks and small flakes carry one slightly left and up for 40 meters of difficult free climbing to a broken area of snow and large blocks. (Bivouac area). A conspicuous red wall with shallow vertical cracks starts from the upper left hand edge of this area. Large portions of the wall overhang while the rest is vertical, (The Red Wall continues for 160 meters and is the area of greatest difficulty). Start the Red Wall with 8 meters of free climbing and then climb with direct aid to a small stance with one foot in étriers. The next lead is a combination of difficult artificial and free climbing. It bears left over two small overhangs (roofs), to a good stance where water may be found in late afternoon. Above this ledge there is what appears to be a pillar in low relief. Gain this pillar and the cracks above to a poor stance below an overhang. This is an extremely difficult free lead on small holds. From this stance climb the overhang and up a jam crack for 10 meters and then traverse left into a steeply overhanging chimney, with good holds, leading to a ledge. From here traverse up and right on ice, steep snow, and slabs to the couloir between the Hidden and Central pillars, Climb in the couloir and over an overhang of ice near the top. From here climb up and left on broken slabs until the summit of the Hidden Pillar is reached. From here climb the steep loose snow of the arête above for about 200 meters until the firm windslab of the summit ridge is reached. Follow the ridge to the summit of Mont Blanc de Courmayeur.
This climb is now the Frêney face “direct” and the most difficult route on Mont Blanc. The excellent quality of rock, the technical difficulty, the high altitude, and wild surroundings of the FrCney face combine to make a route of great proportions.
Summary of Statistics
AREA: Mont Blanc Alps, France and Italy.
ASCENTS: Aiguille du Fou, summit reached July 26, 1963 (Frost, Fulton, Harlin, Hemming) - first ascent of south face.
Mont Blanc, August 1 and 2, 1963 (Frost, Harlin) - first ascent of Hidden Pillar of Frêney.
PERSONNEL: Thomas Frost, Stewart Fulton, John Harlin, Gary Hemming
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 20, 2012 - 02:34am PT
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http://c498469.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/1970/inmemoriam1970_218-223.pdf
American Alpine Journal, 1970 p.222
GARETH H. HEMMING
1934-1969
Gary Hemming’s death has ended the career of a climber widely believed in Europe to have been among the best in the world. Less well known here - all his important climbs were in Europe - he had close to the same reputation in the community of American climbers. Although not a member of the AAC, his great record makes it appropriate to publish this obituary here.
He started climbing in the early 1950’s at Tahquitz Rock while living in Southern California. He soon met John Harlin, then at Stanford, and, while working in the San Francisco Bay Area, began climbing with him and others from the Stanford Alpine Club in Yosemite. He and I first met on a trip to Mount Rainier in 1957 that included John and Hobey DeStaebler, that was designed, in John’s words, to teach us ice climbing techniques "suddenly," in preparation for a trip we made later that summer to the Battle Range in the Selkirks.
Gary was uneasy and unhappy in the United States and a trip to Europe was the start of a new life for him in an environment freer, for him, of the restraints he sensed so acutely. He climbed in England and then in the Alps, attended the University at Grenoble sporadically, and tried to complete the aspirante guide course in Chamonix in 1961, failing in this for his refusal to dispose of a magnificently unruly beard. He climbed from time to time with Americans and began to eye the very important climbs. He made an attempt on the Walker Spur in winter but was forced off by a particularly ugly storm. This was a climb he completed late in the summer of 1961, the first American ascent of the face. It was a route that fascinated him and several years later he spent some effort in planning a solo ascent to be completed in a single day. It was possibly beyond his powers and the attempts depressed him.
He introduced Yosemite climbing techniques to the Alps starting with a fine new route on the west face of the Petit Dru and, in 1963, with Harlin, Tom Frost and Stuart Fulton, completed a route of great difficulty on the south face of the Fou that had turned back some of the best European climbers. He completed spectacular solo ice climbs on the Aiguille Verte - the Coutourier Couloir - and on the north face of the Triolet.
In the late summer of 1966 two Germans were trapped on a ledge on the standard route on the west face of the Dru. Gary stepped in to lead the rescue expedition and received enormous publicity for his skill in carrying out the rescue. It is not common for Americans to lead French rescue groups - it has happened perhaps just this once.
He climbed with strength and with style and, as his technique improved and his experience increased, he was able to carry out a succession of ascents that made him as well known as any American climber in Europe excepting only John Harlin. As the years passed however, the inner struggles that his friends observed surface from time to time in moody withdrawal or violent outbursts became increasingly intense and finally were too overwhelming to be controlled. When he died, in the Tetons, where some of his earliest climbing was done, it was by his own hand.
HENRY W. KENDALL
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 20, 2012 - 02:59am PT
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http://c498469.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/1963/376_kendall_walkerspur_aaj1963.pdf
American Alpine Journal, 1963 p.376
The Walker Spur of the Grande Jorasses
HENRY W. KENDALL
THE GREAT north faces of the Alps have exerted a pecuhar fascination for climbers since the time when climbing techniques became sufficiently advanced for ascents of these routes to be considered seriously. Their combinations of length (and grandeur), technical difficulties and generally poor weather represented to many people the ultimate challenges of Alpine climbing, requiring stamina, a broad variety of techniques and, in some cases, considerable luck to be climbed successfully. Of the six north faces described by Gaston Rébuffat (in his book Starlight and Storm) the Eigerwand is perhaps the most famous. The history of efforts on that face, some successful, so many ending in bitter tragedy, have been the subject of a book (The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer). The face is characterized by great hazard, greater than that found on any of the others. Of the other five north faces, two, the Piz Badile in the Engadine, and the Cima Grande di Lavaredo in the Dolomites, are pure rock climbs. The last three are mixed climbs having both rock and snow and ice in proportions that depend on the season. These climbs are the north faces of the Dru, the Matterhorn and the Grandes Jorasses. Of these the greatest in size, and perhaps the most magnificent, is the face of the Grandes Jorasses. Of all six it is the most difficult technically and, consequently, the only one that has not yet been climbed in the winter.† It has been climbed a number of times in the summer however and there are a number of accounts of such ascents.* A further account of an ascent would not be warranted were it not for the fact that growing interest in Alpine climbing among American climbers makes it useful to publish a complete description of such a big climb in a journal accessible to those tempted to try an ascent. The European climbers, before starting on a major ascent, "do their homework" by assembling what in France is called a "topo". A topo is not a topographic map but is as complete a route description as
†Climbed on January 25-31, 1963 by the Italian guides Walter Bonatti and Cosimo Zapelli.
* For example in: Starlight and Storm by Gaston Rébuffat E. P. Dutton New York 1957;
Die Drei Letzten Problema der Alpen by Anderl Heckmaier, F. Bruckman Munich 1949:
Les Conquérants de l’Inutile by Lionel Terray, Editions Gallimard, Paris 1961.
can be gathered by talking to other climbers who are familiar with the route. A topo is not a supplement to the usually inadequate guidebook description of a major climb-it supplants it entirely. The White Spider contains sufficient information to allow one to construct a topo for the Eigerwand. Gary Hemming had done his homework for the Walker Spur on the Grandes Jorasses and done it well before I met him in Chamonix in the middle of August, 1962. We made two attempts on the principal route on the Grandes Jorasses north face, the Walker Spur, the second being successful. Afterwards we constructed a new topo for the route, based in part on Gary’s earlier and by then quite battered topo. The present article is intended to serve as introduction and commentary for this topo for those climbers who may not have either the time, the language skills, or the wide acquaintance necessary to construct one for themselves.
The Grandes Jorasses has a long summit ridge forming a part of the French-Italian border. The ridge marks the top of the great wall of the north face of the Grandes Jorasses, along whose foot the Mont Mallet glacier runs for over a mile before forming the principal source of the Leschaux glacier, Two particularly striking pillars or spurs reach from the Mont Mallet glacier to two of the half dozen points or summits that lie on the summit ridge, the Michel Croz Spur ending at the Pointe Michel-Croz (13,280 feet), and the Walker Spur which reaches the true summit of the Grandes Jorasses at the Pointe Walker (13,790 feet), Both spurs reach the summit ridge in single unbroken rises.
As early as 1928 there were attempts to force a way up the face. These took place primarily on the Croz or central spur, as it is shorter and somewhat less difficult than the Walker Spur, and is one of the limited number of routes that avoids to a considerable extent the great hazard from rockfall that exists in the couloirs that cut the face. Climbing techniques were still not sufficiently advanced, however, and little progress was made. In 1931 two different German parties attempted the couloir between the spurs; two climbers were killed. In 1932 nearly half a dozen parties, among them Toni Schmid who had first climbed the north face of the Matterhorn, were turned back by the lower smooth slabs of the Walker Spur. In 1933 and in 1934 parties succeeded in pushing further up the Walker Spur, The 1934 attempts were made simultaneously in late July by four parties, three of whom descended in the face of bad weather when about 2000 feet from the summit. One German rope attempted to continue the climb but was forced to retreat from a point higher on the face after a bivouac. One of the climbers fell and was killed in the descent, the other taking two more days in completing the descent alone.
In June of 1935 after a spell of warm weather which put the north face routes in good condition, the Germans Peters and Meier succeeded in their attempt on the Croz Spur.
In August of 1938 the Italians, Cassin, Tiztoni, and Esposito completed the ascent of the Walker Spur. They required three days and their route, with one minor alteration, has remained the only one opened on this spur.
The route was not climbed again until after the war, in the summer of 1945, when the French guides G. Rébuffat and E. Frendo achieved it; again three days were required, with two bivouacs on the face. On this ascent Rébuffat climbed directly up from the headwall above the first ice traverse, a variation to the left of the first ascent route and somewhat to the left of the crest of the spur. This difficult variant, called the "Fissure Rébuffat" or the "Dièdre de 30 metres", is now included as part of the standard route. The following year the guides L. Terray and L. Lachenal made an ascent during which, in bad weather, they became lost and traversed too far to the right of the crest line. They were forced into the couloir high up on the face, the same couloir that had years before claimed the German party. The line they forced on the upper third of the face, in the couloir, on loose, unstable rock was difficult in the extreme and very dangerous. It is called the Terray "Escape" and it was a very narrow one.
By the summer of 1962 about twenty parties had climbed the Grandes Jorasses by the Walker Spur. All attempts to climb it in the winter had been turned back by the combination of winter conditions and the normal difficulties of the route although by that time all the other north faces had been the scenes of winter ascents, in some cases more than one. One of the attempts on the Walker Spur, in the late winter of 1962, had been made by friends of mine, John Harlin and Gary Hemming, who with Hobey DeStaebler and me had made a trip in to the Battle Range in British Columbia in 1957.
By the time I encountered Gary in middle August, he had already had the opportunity to complete a number of climbs in the Chamonix area, among them a fine new route on the west face of the Dru. Gary has a good command of French and when I met him was finishing up at the aspirant-guide school in Chamonix.
Our first attempt on the Walker Spur was intended to follow the standard two-day schedule. We left the Leschaux Refuge about 1:30 A.M. shortly followed by a Swiss party of three and a French party of two, A spell of fine weather had brought, as it turned out, over a dozen people to try the ascent of the Walker. We were carrying bivouac equipment and had pared down the weight of our equipment so either of us could lead without having to swap packs or to haul them. We roped up just before a clear windless dawn and started climbing as soon as there was enough light to see by. By 7:30 we were high enough so we could see massed black clouds on the horizon toward Geneva, although it was clear and sunny in the mountains. We had, by this time, seen other climbers ahead of us on the route who had apparently bivouacked not many pitches from the bottom. The weather soon deteriorated with a speed that is characteristic of the Alps. Within a few hours the route above us was entirely hidden by a chill mist, the blue sky was gone and a cold biting wind had started. Everyone turned back except one English party who were high on the face. The retreat required nearly seven hours and was accompanied by considerable rockfall. Aside from the obvious utility of hard hats (everyone wears them except the French), we had learned also a lot about the route up to the "Dièdre de 75 metres", our project to lead with packs on, and the lesson so unfamiliar to American climbers: the necessity for great speed.
During the next attempt three days later, we had the route essentially to ourselves for we had been able to work out a timetable that avoided other climbers but which cut the climb into two satisfactory segments. We left a base camp not far from Montenvers at eight A.M. after a good night’s sleep. We roped up at one P.M. carrying packs which had been lightened even more than for the earlier attempt. In six hours, just as the sun set, we reached the Frendo-Rébuffat bivouac site, a little less than half way up the climb but with considerably less than half of the difficult climbing complete. We had both decided to bring crampons and axes for the two upward ice-traverse pitches below the crux pitch of the first day, the Fissure Rébuffat, for the traverse of the "Bandes de Neige" after this crux pitch and for the descent into Italy. It was a wise decision.
The bivouac area is narrow and uncomfortable, and our topo failed to show the good sites three or four pitches further up. Although the temperature was well below freezing we had fine weather with clear skies and little wind. We were slow starting the following morning because of the cold-in August the morning sun doesn’t shine on that part of the route. The weather held fine during the day and we reached the summit about twenty minutes before sunset having climbed for over an hour in the late afternoon sun. Of the second day’s climbing the most difficult sections were found on the "Tour Grise", the most dangerous ones on the "Tour Rousse". The chimney on the "Tour Rousse" apparently cannot be avoided but it is rotten unstable rock and difficult to protect adequately. Once the exit from this chimney has been reached not only are good bivouac sites immediately at hand but there are no further difficulties ahead.
We descended the Italian side of the Grandes Jorasses using our headlamps and reached the refuge just after midnight, The descent is complicated and cannot be found easily without either prior knowledge or a guidebook description. It does not require a rope except during travel on the glacier.
The fine weather that held before and during our ascent had insured that the route was in excellent condition and as a result the climb had proceeded easily and without incident. The rappel about half-way up the route leaves a party at a place from which retreat would be difficult. A sudden bad storm catching a party en route on the upper half of the climb could easily create a serious situation from which escape would be very taxing. Such a possibility constitutes an important potential hazard and one that has to be considered in selection of food and equipment. (Terray gives an interesting account of his escape under such circumstances.) The consequence of this and other Alpine circumstances mean that it is hard to grade the difficulty of the various pitches in a meaningful way. A sudden freezing rain can change a grade 4 friction pitch into one that is impossible to ascend and hazardous to descend. In the topo we have, for the sake of consistency, made the assignments assuming the route to be in good condition and snow or ice, where indicated, is probably permanent and less extensive than might be met in other circumstances. The assignments of the difficulties should clearly be regarded as lower limits, Because of these uncertainties we felt it was not worthwhile to use the Yosemite decimal system but we have shown the correspondence between it and the French roman-numeral system. Climbing time as shown is based on an ascent with good conditions.
There is no question that the Walker Spur is on one of the most magnificent of the Alpine north faces and that an ascent lives up to expectations. We both enjoyed the climb enormously.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 20, 2012 - 03:06am PT
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http://c498469.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/1963/375_robbins_petitdru_aaj1963.pdf
American Alpine Journal, 1963 p.375
A New Route on the Petit Dru
West Face Direct
ROYAL ROBBINS
IN JULY, Gary Hemming and I made a new route on the northwest shoulder of the Dru, one of the most striking peaks in the Mont Blanc massif. This route, about 1600 feet long on a 3000-foot face, terminates when it meets the regular west face route at the famous 90-Meter Dihedral. The route is very direct and involves almost no snow and ice climbing. There is considerable direct-aid work and several areas of difficult free climbing. We placed 96 pitons and removed 94.
One abortive attempt preceded the successful effort. On this occasion we passed a comfortable night at the 1000-foot level only to be awakened in the morning by showers and a strong south wind, Lightning counseled descent, which we accomplished without much fuss simply by rappelling straight down to the glacier, leaving a fixed line over the hardest pitch.
The successful ascent was started a few days later and completed in 2½ days. The weather favored us with two perfectly cloudless warm days. It broke on the third day with strong winds and snow showers, but nothing of real consequence. We reached the Bloc Coincé, a large detached block at the base of the 90-Meter Dihedral, in the early afternoon of the second day, then proceeded up the west-face route to where it meets the north-face route. We climbed the north face to the Bonatti Pillar and followed the Pillar route to the voie normale, whereby we reached the summit at 11:30 A.M. on July 26, 1962. On the Bonatti Pillar we met two young Swiss, Erich Friedli and Hans Peter Trachsel, superb alpinists who gave us a humbling lesson in how to get rapidly off a mountain under alpine conditions.
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Guck
Trad climber
Santa Barbara, CA
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Aug 29, 2012 - 11:39pm PT
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Steve, The item is not available any more as I already bid for it.
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Dom Green
Trad climber
Sheffield UK
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 18, 2012 - 10:23am PT
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I have a copy of this, it's a great precis of the rescue.
I am sorry that I haven't posted any updates of late- I have a bunch of leads to follow up now and I'm also trying to work on all the other commitments of life/young family/work etc.
Dom
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Sep 21, 2012 - 01:31pm PT
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I started climbing in San Diego with Hemming, Jerry Gallwas, George Schlieff, Barbara Lilley. Those were the movers of the time in the Rock Climbing Section of the SD Sierra Club chapter. I don't think either Gary or Jerry had been climbing long - I believe Jerry was 18 and Gary not much different. Our nursery was not Tahquitz, but Mission Gorge, but we filtered out to Joshua Tree and Tahquitz whenever possible, and eventually to Yosemite.
Gary wasn't an instant genius at climbing. None of us were. He and I went onto an overhanging pinnacle at Mission Gorge to practice belaying. I was the belayer, he the live bait. I anchored in BESIDE me, got into the standing hip belay, and he took ten feet of slack and stepped off. Next thing I knew I was hanging out almost horizontally stinking of burned skin and fear, and he came to a stop a couple of feet above the rocks. Good learning experience.
Jerry, Gary and I went out to the shop of a climber - a Navy man - named Omar Conger. He had a small forge there. We experimented making pitons, even making ones to fit specific cracks at times. The metallurgy left something to be desired. With the early pitons, you could use them about three times before the head snapped off. If you see some rusting blades back in Tahquitz cracks, they might well be ours.
I remember watching him follow his first aid lead at Tahquitz and remove the piton he was standing in.
I have a memory of belaying him while he did the Horn at Tahquitz. There was a big detached slab on the traverse just before the Horn, and when he got on it it slipped off. He went riding it down like a sled, shouting "rock!" and "Yahoo!" until I plucked him off.
When we first went to Yosemite we were told there had to be a SC Qualified Leader with every party. We didn't have any. So Gallwas, Hemming and I got together and drew up a qualified leader test. It wasn't bad, either - we learned something in the exercise. And we declared ourselves qualified leaders. I think Barbara, too.
Jerry and I and Gary went up to try the Arrow tip after a couple of years, and the Supt. told us Jerry had to have a letter from his parents. So Gary and I decided to try YPB. I think it had been done only once or twice at the time. So we went up with a late start and thrashed very clumsily, caught by dark on the main buttress ledge. It was Easter, and cold, and we weren't prepared. There was a little fallen wood on the ledge and we made
a fire and spent the night huddling together. (If you find traces of charcoal there, it was us.) In the morning, Gary started the lead off the buttress and fell twice. (We were using the primo shoe of the time, Converse tennies.) That pissed him off, and the third time he just flew up it. He climbed best when he was stirred up.
Gary went to Europe and I lost track of him, except for the news items like the Dru. He came back to the US when I was the Wonder Lake District Ranger at Denali. He had come in through Anchorage and came up to visit. He wasn't the same guy. It was great to see him but he had a pretty negative attitude about almost everything. He made no effort to control his language, and it was a bit of a nervous strain to introduce him to anybody who wasn't a climber. He also said that he was disgusted with the Alps - "There's sh#t on every ledge. I'm ashamed to be an alpiniste", he said.
One time he dug into his pack and showed me a small revolver. "I carry this to defend myself from the cops," he said. I didn't know whether to take him seriously. We know how he used it.
Memory is fallible, but those are bits I think I remember.
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Alan Rubin
climber
Amherst,MA.
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Sep 21, 2012 - 02:45pm PT
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Great anecdotes. This is The Taco at it's best!!!!!
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BooDawg
Social climber
Butterfly Town
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Sep 21, 2012 - 06:37pm PT
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GREAT POSTING, Wayne! It is stories like this that bring life to the people and events of day and years long gone bye! Thanks so much for sharing your stories.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Sep 21, 2012 - 06:45pm PT
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Yeah, no kidding Wayne. A very important perspective and reminiscence, to say the least. Thanks a great deal!!
PH
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