Good bye Walter Bonatti

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the goat

climber

north central WA

Sep 14, 2011 - 11:29am PT

Great climber, great man. I'm curious though, the picture of him and Messner together make Messner look huge. How tall was Walter?

Marlow

Sport climber

OSLO

Sep 14, 2011 - 11:50am PT

RIP. Walter Bonatti was a role model among mountain men and far beyond his own generation. A life well lived.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Sep 14, 2011 - 11:52am PT

Goat, you can see in the photo of Walter with me that he's about
my height, or slightly less. I was about 5'10 then (am shrinking
in old age). I think the photo of Walter with Messner is
a perspective thing, a kind of optical illusion, though Messner
is indeed taller.

howdy

Social climber

Donner Lake

Sep 14, 2011 - 11:53am PT

So sad, but what a life. Proof that you can be an old, bold climber if you do it right...

Rest well dear Walt.

Toker Villain

Big Wall climber

Toquerville, Utah

Sep 14, 2011 - 11:55am PT

Interesting Pat. I first met Walter in 1984 also. I had lunch with him and Tony Sortelli and Fred Beckey.

It was great, Fred was actually starstruck. I was so glad Tony was there to translate.

When I saw him again I had memorized some italian phrases. Big mistake!
He started firing back at me high speed and I was lost.
Charlie was there and his spanish was sufficient to have a crude conversation though, but when his wife Rosanna joined us we had the best translator of all. A big italian movie star, she actually played Helen of Troy in 1954, the year Walter was on K2.

K2 was a pivotal experience for Walter, who dwelled on it repeatedly. I was so glad when he was vindicated in recent years.

guido

Trad climber

Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific

Sep 14, 2011 - 12:37pm PT

The most honest climber of his generation. Many of us grew up with Bonatti as our hero and his loss reminds me of the sadness felt when Terray departed.

the goat

climber

north central WA

Sep 14, 2011 - 12:56pm PT

Pat, thank you for clarifying the height thing. Kinda thought it was the camera angle, similar to the shot on top of El Cap after the 1st ascent of the NA that makes Chouinard look twice as big as everyone else.

Bonatti's vision and commitment were unparalleled, what a life.

Plaidman

Trad climber

South Slope of Mt. Tabor, Portland, Oregon, USA

Sep 14, 2011 - 01:04pm PT

I loved the heart and soul of that guy. He is still one of my heros. A serious badass and a great climber too! When the going gets tough I think about Bonatti.

philo

Trad climber

Somewhere halfway over the rainbow

Sep 14, 2011 - 02:51pm PT

RIP Great one.

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Sep 14, 2011 - 02:55pm PT

Was it Walter that said the great climbers die in their rocking chairs?

Toker Villain

Big Wall climber

Toquerville, Utah

Sep 14, 2011 - 02:58pm PT

Walter didn't stop adventuring. He went on safaris and river trips all over the world. He continued to climb too, but mostly on remote scrambles.

Largo

Sport climber

The Big Wide Open Face

Sep 14, 2011 - 03:06pm PT

the Stonemasters were largely influenced by Herman Buhl and Walter Bonatti. It was a highlight for many Stonemasters to repeat the master's routes in the Alps. Early on I remember trying to comb my hair like Walter.

A legend, or all mankind.

JL

Luca Signorelli

Mountain climber

Courmayeur (Vda) Italy

Sep 14, 2011 - 03:08pm PT

Walter didn't stop adventuring. He went on safaris and river trips all over the world. He continued to climb too, but mostly on remote scrambles.

Actually he continued climbing alpine routes at relatively high level even after 1965, but strictly following a "the public doesn't need to know about it" policy. His last hard climb in the Mont Blanc area was the Innominata Ridge (on the italian / Freney side) with some friend around 2006, when he was well into his 70's.

It's absolutely gutting to think that the last time I saw him and we chatted(at considerable length!) was just last April at a party in Courmayeur, and he was the picture of health, radiating good humour and energy all around.

Luca Signorelli

Mountain climber

Courmayeur (Vda) Italy

Sep 14, 2011 - 03:43pm PT

Pat:

at one point Walter said our meeting and time together in England
changed his view of "the younger generation." Interesting that
he would view me as part of the younger generation, when most
others saw me as representative of an era fading fast
into the golden dust.

He was following the then-standard Italian interpretation how climbing had evolved over XX century - Bonatti as the peak of the classic era, and everything following him - and in particular everything that had been growing in the Yosemite - as "anti classic", and thus anti Bonatti. Which is relatively ironic, considering that it's clear for anyone who has followed the history of US climbing that you guys were really following his steps - you weren't "anti classic" at ALL! Maybe with long hairs and different gear (which may have contributed to this misunderstanding) but still "adventure climbing", and not sport/hedonistic/risk free or whatever came after the 80's

I had the luck to discuss this quite a few times with him, and he made always clear that he saw himself - even in his prime in the late 50's - as the last of the old men, not the first of a brand new batch. His own was a stern "after me the deluge" view, because he felt that technology had took the lead after 1965, while his own had been the attempt to out-do the great climbers of the 1930's (Cassin but also Comici, Gervasutti, Soldà, Heckmair etc) but with just more or less the same gear(he had nylon ropes and Vibram instead of hemp and nailed boots, but admittedly there weren't game changing tools - and both Gervasutti and Cassin had used them). For instance, he frankly destested the whole idea behind piolet traction ("it's like aiding on ice") and he had little interest for any route opened that way.

But you're right saying that, after he began to frequent "younger" climber (i.e. anyone who had started climbing after he quit) he discovered that, even if the means were different, the spirit was more or less the same. He seemed to appreciate any attempt to revive the spirit of "total adventure, total commitment" that had driven him all his life (even after he left jet set climbing), but he still made clear cut separation between HIS alpinism and what had been climbing after him.

Marlow

Sport climber

OSLO

Sep 14, 2011 - 03:48pm PT

Largo,

I like your book, the Stonemasters, very much. I didn't know that the stonemasters were inspired by Bonatti and the alps, but I'm not surprised.

By the way the finsihing lines "Ultimately, Yabo had to jump off himself. Into the void went a rogue prince and a strand of memories I'll laugh, cry, and tremble about for the rest of my life" are among the best I have ever read.

Luca,

Thank you for the story.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Sep 14, 2011 - 03:56pm PT

Everyone who knew anything about climbing
was inspired by Bonatti. The name was running in
my circles from day one, with Kor and Culp
and all the others...
It would be interesting to repeat some of
Bonatti's achievements the way he did,
alone, the same "lack" of shoes, modern ice gear,
etc... Not sure it could be done.
What was it Messner said about the
North Face of the Matterhorn being a truly
great and difficult climb in that day
and the ways in which it was done?
To repeat it now would mean a whole lot less...

And thanks Luca for the thoughts... (edit) although
I'm not sure about your last paragraph,
which suggests he would have said the
same thing to any new climber he said to me...(maybe
you didn't mean that)?

JEleazarian

Trad climber

Fresno CA

Sep 14, 2011 - 04:11pm PT

He was a lifelong inspiration to me. I still have three of his blue-gated biners, which are now even more precious to me. He was a great climber and, more importantly, a great man. Rest in Peace, Mr. Bonatti.

John