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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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