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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Feb 23, 2017 - 06:46pm PT
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8,000m peaks, a beautiful model, espionage and a "mysterious disappearance." Wow, what a story!!!!
I hate to pour cold water on all of this, but......
In 1980 I was part of a small expedition attempting a new route on the SE ridge of the East Peak of Tirich Mir, 7694m. (We were not successful.) On the approach, while hiking along the right side of one of the glaciers, we came across some human remains. Not a lot, some torn clothing and a few bones. We assumed that these were from a solo American climber (a climbing magazine editor or somesuch) who had disappeared on TM a few years earlier.
On our return to Islamabad at the end of our attempt, we reported this finding to the Pakistani authorities, before flying home. Somehow, somewhere the story got mixed up. The day before I got back the Spokane radio stations and newspapers (and likely others) were reporting that I had been killed in the Himalaya. This caused some concern.
As Mark Twain once said "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Fortunately!!!!
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2017 - 06:55pm PT
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Great posts you guys. Yes Largo, I agree about Jeff Long. I was hung from one end of the story to the other.
Ghost is killing it as usual with that wry grin on his mug....
hamie, wow! Glad you're not dead!
But, it couldn't have been him, he died fighting with the Mujahadeen, didn't you know?
Despite the best efforts of his friends and family, Fritz was never found. Bil Dunaway is convinced he died on Tirich Mir. Pennington went on to write a book about her search for Fritz, concluding that he’d been recruited by the CIA, then died in Afghanistan during the jihad fighting of the early eighties. Whatever the case, Stammberger’s spirit lives on to inspire North American glisse alpinists.
Straight from Janice Pennington's Wiki Page!
Her first marriage was to Glenn Jacobson, second to German mountain climber Friedrich "Fritz" Stammberger, who disappeared in Afghanistan in 1975 while mountain climbing. After years of searching, she finally discovered that Fritz was actually helping the CIA establish mountain bases along the Afghan-Pakis border, and had died during a battle with USSR forces
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crankster
Trad climber
No. Tahoe
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Feb 23, 2017 - 08:52pm PT
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Met him at Gretel's Restaurant on Aspen Mountain (now Bonnie's). He had skinned up. Nobody did that back then, or very few. He talked about the film he was currently editing from his Makalu expedition, "The Death Zone", I think it was called. I saw it later; remember a vivid image of a yak or similar animal being sacrificed. He was with some of his employees from his print shop. They said Fritz had a sign on the front door that said "Closed, 6-12 inches". Basically, if it was a powder day they shut down and went skiing. He was like a mountain god, Clint Eastwood with an accent. I distinctly remember him skiing away doing a perfect European wedel. He disappeared the next year on Tirich Mir.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Feb 23, 2017 - 09:23pm PT
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Survival ^^^^^^ Thanks, me too. Likely not a unanimous sentiment.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2017 - 10:15pm PT
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Tarbuster sighting!! Good score on the FB page, I have to check that out.
Crankster, you seriously met Fritz? Wow.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 23, 2017 - 10:25pm PT
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he made the first descent of the North Face of Mount Blanc in France
What the hell is the "North Face of Mount Blanc"? And we need it pointed
out that it is in France?
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BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
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Feb 23, 2017 - 11:53pm PT
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Fritz was made Publisher Emeritus of Climbing Magazine after he disappeared in the Himalayas.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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Feb 24, 2017 - 12:19am PT
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night shift checkin' in...
just read the whole thread: good stuff survival, et al.
had never heard of this guy... i wonder if with more time and "freedom of information" whether anything more definitive will turn up regarding the spy theories... interesting if rather than being like the polish mountaineer who was suspected of spying and, iirc, was a consummate team player during the polish winter himalayan renaissance, the west's version was more of a solo character. weirdly and poetically fitting if true.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2017 - 01:53am PT
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Jon, that's too funny. Dang it, now I have to get a copy. Because as Frank Zappa said "I love monster movies, and the cheaper they are, the better they are. Like being able to spot exposed wires on the flying pterodactyl or a 2x4 on the monster as they push it out of the cave. Now that's cheepness." (Frank actually spelled it that way)
Nah000, yeah it's weird, like a real Colorado Eiger Sanction thing eh? Wasn't Heinrich Harrer accused of some espionage while he was living in Tibet? And the Brits with their Great Game shenanigans against the Russians in the Himalaya? Some of that stuff was real. And Pennington's eyeballs in that E clip? Money.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 24, 2017 - 06:03am PT
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I first read about Fritz in 76 or 77. May have been an article in Mountain Gazette, talking about his disappearance. IIRC, it wasn't CLIMBING. It featured a picture of him doing summer training, shirtless & in white tennis shorts, running up what looked like a ski hill.
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crankster
Trad climber
No. Tahoe
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Feb 24, 2017 - 06:12am PT
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Survival, yeah he was a nice guy. Seemed like someone who floated above everyone else, someone who, when he entered a room, had all eyes on him. Not cocky, just super confident.
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Dave Johnson
Mountain climber
Sacramento, CA
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Feb 24, 2017 - 06:28am PT
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I ski-bummed in Aspen '73-'76. A buddy ran the printing press for Fritz at Aspen Printing. Climbing magazine was printed there at the time ('74) and I'd earn a few bucks cash from Fritz hand-collating the pages on tables before it was folded and stapled. Fritz wasn't hard to miss around town, nor was his wife. I think she had a dress or jewelry shop.
Seemed to me Michael Kennedy was the editor, Bill Dunaway the publisher and Fritz printed Climbing, could be wrong but maybe the "publisher emeritus" was a tribute added after his death.
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steve shea
climber
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Feb 24, 2017 - 08:09am PT
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We all knew Fritz. The ten or so climbers in Aspen in the late 60s early 70s. He would occasionally climb with one of us and those of us who were alpine skiers would see him often on Ajax Mt. Really a good guy, fit and tough. He was always training for something. He skied all winter without gloves and carried a pack every where. He would ski up Independence Pass with a heavy pack, gloveless on his rest days. We used to ski up the Pass as far as the Grotto Wall to climb on some sunny days and would often see Fritz chugging up to the top. He'd yodel up to us and be off. Independence was closed in winter.
Everybody in town knew who he was and that he took off for far away mountains in the off seasons. But what really brought it home for the town was when he skied the North Face of North Maroon Bell! Long before the French and "ski extrem". I don't know about the later stuff but he was no more coo coo than any other climber when I knew him. We skied Grizzly Peak together one spring, Fritz could've done laps on it.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2017 - 08:32am PT
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Great post Steve. Coo coo was only meant for attention grabbing and tying in to the spy thing.
He did generate some controversy though with Cho Oyu and some people on Makalu. Intense people have a way with controversy.
Then things got hinky with his wife going all 007.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 24, 2017 - 09:21am PT
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BJ's read the book? You just won the prestigious Supertopo member of the day award!
He maybe had a draft card, so he obviously worked for the CIA? Whew! Even though others had draft cards, and others died in the mountains, but that's not possible...
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 24, 2017 - 09:24am PT
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One wasn't 'drafted' into the CIA, trust me, it's invitation only. His ex is a kook.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Feb 24, 2017 - 09:26am PT
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Weren't there rumors of an American Himalayan expedition that served as a cover for planting nuclear powered something-or-others (spy devices???) on the Chinese side of the Himalayan crest?
Late 1970s? Early 80s? CIA-sponsored?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 24, 2017 - 09:30am PT
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Ghost, that's above yer pay grade. It was certainly not even possible for Fritz given his
citizenship status.
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