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climber bob
Social climber
maine
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Nov 16, 2017 - 05:45am PT
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Daryl Hatten, Bill Denz
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Nov 16, 2017 - 08:42am PT
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Hermann Buhl
He was Messner before Messner.
And don't forget Norman Clyde.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Nov 16, 2017 - 09:13am PT
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Patey and Brown(!alive!). Pratt. Those three figured in most/all climbing stories in my formative climbing years. I guess Whillans. (my bias to rocks and away from mountains shows)
Porter should qualify, but I don't think he's on many people's radar.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 16, 2017 - 09:31am PT
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Patey from Olde Blighty and Harding - they put the ‘f’ in folksy.
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Nov 16, 2017 - 10:56am PT
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Warren Harding: Plenty of classic stories of his exploits on and off the rock, true badazz, vision to see the line up El Cap.
Bachar: Legend status around the world. Strong ethic standards. Helped develop technology that changed the standards in climbing. Light years ahead of his time with the Bachar/Yerian.
Lynnie Hill: She's Lynnie! "It goes boys!"
Alex Lowe: one of the BEST all around climbers, modest, good person.
Jim Bridwell:..........
Peace
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 16, 2017 - 11:17am PT
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I would also nominate Sir Edmund Hillary for the work he did in Nepal.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Nov 16, 2017 - 11:36am PT
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Sheesh!
It takes THIS long!
ROBBINS & KOR!
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Nov 16, 2017 - 12:18pm PT
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Yo Toker! I couldn't believe that either.
the reasons that the few who make the cut do is the way that those few flew below the radar, were more obscure, I love our Heros , Folk hero co-notates a less documented (in writing) type of glory; to me any way.
The earliest driven climbers ... those inspired souls who had to climb, for there to be life. . .
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couchmaster
climber
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Nov 16, 2017 - 01:33pm PT
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Mark Hudon
Libby Sauter
Tom Frost
These folks and their types of people are heros. Not because they are excellent climbers, although there is that as Sauter currently co-holds the woman's Nose record I believe, but that they are excellent human beings who reach out to others in need and shine a solidly bright and positive light all the rest of us turds can try and follow.
They go out of their way to make the world a better place...and they climb. Add Neebee to the list even if she doesn't climb.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Nov 16, 2017 - 01:44pm PT
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Jacques Balmat: "On studying Mont Blanc from the top of Brevent, Balmat had sensed that climbing the snowy slope to the right of the Rochers Rouges might lead to the top. That is where he now headed. Despite his youth, he displayed a mature experience on snow and he was obviously sure-footed. Since it would have been too dangerous to angle across the face in an effort to join the upper slopes to the east, he headed straight up, cutting little holds with the iron tip of his alpenstock. Thus he arrived above Rochers Rouges; just ahead, a gentler, safer slope led toward the summit. But already he could see Courmayeur in Italy - an extraordinary moment of victory! It could be argued that from that moment Mont Blanc had been tamed. Unfortunately, a spherical cloud known as the "dunce cap" had clemped down the mountain, and Balmat did not know exactly where the summit was. He decided to head back down. Step by step he redescended the gigantic ladder of ice. Night caught up with him, and he knew that a large crevasse waited below. Suddenly, he took the most heroic decision of his career - he would spend the night on the glacier, something that had never been done. Without realizing it, Balmat expanded the range of tactics for conquering Mont Blanc. He proved that a night on a glacier was not lethal.
But what a night! A cold sleet fell, and Balmat had no bivouac gear. He spent the night sitting on his leather sack, clapping his hands and stamping feet, not letting himself fall asleep, demonstarting amazing will power. Altitude and fatigue drove him closer to a sleep from which he would never awaken. It was his fourth consecutive night out-doors - two on the rocks in his previous attempt, one climbing the mountain from below, and now this one!
In the morning, he briefly considered heading back up, for victory was in his grasp. He no longer had the strength, however, and could hardly see. He headed back down into the valley, went home, ate, shut himself in the barn and slept for twenty-four hours.
Balmat kept his attempt secret. One day, he learned that Dr. Paccard had decided to mount a new expedition. Paccard was a dangerous rival; he had already conducted several reconnaissance trips, was affluent, and enjoyed a considerable reputation. Jacques Balmat sensed that if he made the ascent entirely on his own, no one would believe him. The whole valley would be against him out of jealousy, and everyone else out of spite. On the other hand, if he climbed with Paccard, he had an unimpeachable witness, whose word no one would doubt. Balmat went to Paccard and told him about the route. Paccard certainly had a great deal of respect for Balmat, since he was drawn to the adventurous nature of the young man, born in 1762 (the year Saussure first launched the idea of climbing Mont Blanc). The two men saw eye to eye. Paccard devoutly wished to climb Mont Blanc. He reckoned that the success of a local man would redound to the credit of the whole valley, and he proved to be right." (Roger Frison-Roche and Sylvain Jouty)
Melchior Anderegg: "When Anderegg was born in 1828 just outside Meiringen in the hamlet of Zaun, mountaineering had barely started. His father was a farmer and Melchior’s early years were dominated by traditional mountain activities: tending cattle, cutting and processing timber and hunting chamois. The latter activity, along with crystal hunting, gave Swiss guides the kind of physical skills and self-assurance that translated easily into guiding work.
Melchior, for reasons lost to history, didn’t take over the family farm. Aged 20, he took a job at the Grimsel Pass Inn, now flooded by a reservoir, possibly because his cousin was manager. His early guiding work is also lost, because his first führerbuch, the book in which his guiding jobs were recorded, was stolen.
In 1855, Thomas Hinchcliff, one of the founding members of the Alpine Club, hired Melchior to take him over the Strahlegg Pass and was impressed. He introduced Melchior to his friends, notably Leslie Stephen, author of the mountaineering classic The Playground of Europe, father of the novelist Virginia Woolf, and founding editor of the Dictionary of National Biography. All three men climbed the Wildstrubel together, and in 1859, Stephen and Anderegg climbed the Rimpfischhorn, a major first ascent.
The list of Melchior’s significant new climbs is remarkable: the Grandes Jorasses, with Horace Walker, the Zinalrothorn with Stephen and F Crauford Grove and the Dent d’Hérens, again with Grove and several others. Most impressive of all was the first ascent of Mont Blanc’s Brenva Spur, although it was a good job that his less cautious cousin Jakob was in the lead for the crux ice ridge. Melchior always put safety ahead of success.
Charles Hudson, who died following the first ascent of the Matterhorn, said Melchior was “for difficulties, the best guide I have ever met.” Yet it wasn’t just Melchior’s mountaineering skill that endeared him to his many English friends. Tall and powerful he combined all the advantages of great strength – physical and mental – with a reserved courtesy and consideration for his clients."
Francois Devouassoud: "Francois Devouassoud was admitted to the Compagnie des guides de Chamonix in 1849. Amongst those who sought his services in the Alps were Freshfield, W. A. B. Coolidge, Francis Fox Tuckett, Horace Walker, Adolphus Warburton Moore and Charles Comyns Tucker. Devouassoud was treasurer of the Compagnie des guides de Chamonix for ten years, but refused the post of president.
Claire Engel offers the following portrait of Devouassoud, based on the account of Freshfield: Devouassoud loved exploration and always felt at home in the mountains, whether in Sikkim or Algeria or on the Rowenzori. Though he started guiding very early, in 1849, he knew how to manage a rope and how to proceed on snow slopes. He was able to save the lives of several of his employers. He was at his best on ice. But this grave, refined man, who had a keen sense of humour and taste for culture, was not only an excellent leader on a mountain, he was an ideal companion on long expeditions."
Hermann Buhl: "The life of the parents is the book their children read. There are those who are always destined to go first. Their path is a lonely one, surrounded by unknown obstacles and dangers, yet they never lose their confidence. One of these men was Hermann Buhl. His vision was called Nanga Parbat, an 8125-meter peak in Pakistan. It turned into his mountain. Seven expeditions had already failed,and its snows had become a grave for thirty-one climbers. The Austrian reached the summit in 1953, without the use of supplemental oxygen, after a legendary solo climb. He was the first human up there, and for a moment, he got to see the world as only the Gods can. Then he went back to the world of people." (Alpinist.com)
Pierre Allain: "And to tell the truth it isn't solely with an eye to mountain routes that we visit Bleau and climb there, it's above all because we make a game of it, one that in and of itself arouses our passion. It's good training? All the better, but even if that weren't the case, for the majority of us nothing would have changed. Every week we would find ourselves, just as assiduous, just as persistent, climbing a route that resisted our assault, and just as satisfied when it finally succumbed through our efforts and technique. Like the games played in stadiums, there is rivalry among climbers, a friendly one, but a rivalry none the less. If, leaving the classics, we venture so far as to try one of "Cuvier's last great problems," and after many a "go" one of us triumphs over this prestigious four or five meter first ascent, he is momentarily just as proud as he would be had he just succeeded on some new route up the flanks of some great alpine summit. Whereupon, his friends get worked up for the second, the third, etc.
That's of no interest, you say? Perhaps, but the same goes for the tenth of a second taken off the time for the hundred meters, or the extra kilo lifted overhead by the weightlifter – a car or a crane can do much better! To this passion for climbing, we can add the pleasures of camping and the benefits of thirty hours of clean air, during which, forgetting the cares of the office, workshop or sales counter, each Saturday we find once again and with the same intense satisfaction – you might even say the same need – the special atmosphere of our rocks and its group of habitués. This is where we often work out our summer projects and dare to speak of certain bogeymen, considering such ventures natural, even if it means revising our judgment once in the field, in accordance with a formula I have long made my own – audacity in conception, prudence in execution."
Walter Bonatti: "At Chamonix in August of 1964, I was almost out of both vacation time and climbing partners. Not wanting to hang around in town, I volunteered to carry supplies up to the Leschaux Hut for Dougal Haston and John Harlin, who were to attempt the then-unclimbed ice face, the Shroud, on the Grandes Jorasses. A spell of improving weather was drawing a galaxy of climbers to the Leschaux Hut. Apart from Harlin and Haston, Pierre Mazeaud and his Italian partner Roberto Sorgato were there for the Walker Spur, as were Walter Bonatti and his Swiss partner Michel Vaucher, who were to attempt the unclimbed Pointe Whymper. (Years later I learned that Rene Desmaison and partner were bivouacked out in the nearby boulders, hoping to steal a march on one team or another). I was in awe of all these guys - they were legends in their own time. Bonatti was known to British climbers not only for his stunning ascents, but very much for the tragedy on the Central Pillar of Fresnay. That story had riveted not only the climbing world, but all of Europe. And of course Pierre Mazeaud had been with him on that climb and horrific retreat, where four of the party of seven died. They appeared to have a very friendly rapport. Mazeaud, quite the soul of the party, was handing out cigars to everyone. Bonatti and Vaucher seemed to emanate calm. As people turned in for bed, the mood in the hut was apprehensive. History was in the making. I was so gripped that I don't think I slept - and all I had to do was walk down to the valley in the morning. I was wide awake when Bonatti leaned over to Vaucher and said: "Michel, c'est l'heure." "Oui," came the reply, and with that they packed their sacks, took a swig of water, and were away. Later that day I scanned the face, but saw no sight of them. Down in the valley, the talk was all off the worsening weather and what was happening on the Pointe Whymper. None of us then knew of their epic struggle, with cut ropes, rockfall, and injury. But once again Bonatti prevailed. I have never forgotten those hours at the Leschaux Hut, nor Walter Bonatti. They changed my life." (Chris Jones)
Anderl Heckmair: "To climb in the cleanest and smoothest way possible - that was my desire. How others climb is their business, and nobody else has the right to interfere. Most people abide by rules because they want to be accepted. I was only truly content when I succeeded in completing a climb the way I had envisioned it. Naturally, there is satisfaction when a climb is acclaimed by the experts, but basically, this was not as important to me as the recognition by my friends."
Armand Charlet: "[He was] head and shoulders above anyone else. His name has been associated for almost fifty years with the toughest climbs in the range of Mont Blanc. All those who have been with him in the mountains have been struck by his impressive, almost tragic face, his intelligence and culture, and above all by his speed and poise when climbing" (Claire Engel)
Gaston Rebuffat: "We should refuse none of the thousand and one joys that the mountains offer us at every turn. We should brush nothing aside, set no restrictions. We should experience hunger and thirst, be able to go fast, but also to go slowly and to contemplate."
Bruno Detassis: "Climbing can only be explained as a great passion. I obviously wasn't devoted to the mountains continuously; I had to work, I had a family—just like everyone else—but I felt this great passion burning inside me...and I gave it my time with enthusiasm. I didn't like using too many pitons, and so I needed ability and preparation. I was always prepared, and I only ever attempted what I felt capable of climbing free. I loved free climbing: it gave me an indication of my possibilities. Free is a source of great satisfaction for climbers: it's a yardstick of personal ability. And I always searched for this, in all my routes. I always interpreted liberty as being one thing, while the submission to someone else's commands — which I never liked — was something completely different. And so, when facing wars, when facing suffering, I always tried to smile. Perhaps this is my true life force."
Lional Terray about Bruno: "L'homme le plus noble que j'ai jamais rencontré"
Joe Brown: "Excerpts from Tom Patey's "The Legend of Joe Brown" quoted from memory, I remember there was more...
Like a human spider clinging to the wall,
suction, faith, and friction, nothing else at all...
Watch him grin when the holds are thin,
on the overhanging wall, he's known by every nig-nog as the man who'll never fall...
But the secret to his success is his most amazing knack,
of hanging from a fist jam, in the over-hanging crack..." (Watusi)
Jo Montchausse: "I don’t appreciate confrontation or competition very much, but I am fascinated by the challenges that make it possible to know oneself better, to assert one's convictions and to realize oneself. Pure block, high balls, dynos or traverses are only conventions that allow us to express ourselves, to renew ourselves, to distinguish ourselves from others and these conventions in time, are sensitive to fashion. I have tried everything with passion, but the taste for risk and dynos requires qualities that do not last long in a climbing career, my turn is over. Traverses may seem less prestigious because the difficulty is not concentrated on one or two extreme movements, but on a long series of difficult movements. The appreciation of the difficulty is ultimately very subjective: Usain Bolt or David Rudisha, solo drums or solo piano, adrenaline or lactic acid?"
Voytek Kurtyka: "Mountaineering is a complex and unique way of life, interweaving elements of sport, art and mysticism. Success or failure depends on the ebb and flow of immense inspiration. Detecting a single rule governing this energy is difficult – it arises and vanishes like the urge to dance and remains as mysterious as the phenomenon of life itself."
Bjørn Myrer Lund: "During the years I started climbing, the stories connected to three Norwegian climbers were the strongest fascinations or motivators. The three were Arne Næss Sr, Peter Wessel Zapffe and Bjørn Myrer Lund. Among them the Myrer Lund stories were strongest, be it Myrer Lund leading the slopy and not well protected route Sunset Boulevard (7) at Kolsås, feared by everyone else, or Bjørn coming tumbling down Terroristen at Dalbokollen. Wherever Myrer Lund went, the stories were growing. Bjørn is Mr Kolsås-Eastern-Wall himself, living close to the cliff and often seen there climbing. He has spent the last years recovering after nearly losing his life during a 2012 climbing expedition. From what I've heard, he's recovering well." (Marlow)
Patrick Edlinger: "A late evening in 1984: The Norwegian Broadcasting Center is showing the film "With life hanging from the fingertips". The film shows Patrick Edlinger, a strong, blond French climber with a headband who climbs without a rope 200 meters above the ground on a high limestone wall in Buoux, Provence. A fourteen year old kid from Hurumlandet, Norway, is sitting in front of the TV screen. He is about to be seriously shocked. And after a while also inspired, though he still don't know. Edlinger's stoical, uncompromising, indian and nearly mystical creature, the characteristic well schooled climbing style with high footmoves and turnout, his white hands, his own laconic French voiceover, the light blue, nearly transparent limestone, the wind, breath, the sky. The soundtrack of the film turning dry, creaking, cold, minimalistic, the courage close to pure madness. Everything about the film is deeply fascinating for the 14 year old kid and the images are burned into his memory and body. He sits as stuck to the screen. He is able to set the new VHS machine on record. After one week he has seen the film around 70 times." (Geir Harald Samuelsen)
Catherine Destivelle: "Catherine was predestined. She began taking to the mountains at a young age. At 12 she was already a member of the French Mountaineering Club and, as a true Parisian (she was born in Algeria), she started climbing in the Fontainebleau forest, where most of France’s best mountaineers have spent time in their formative years. In 1973, aged just 13, she asked her father to go and see the Oisan massif. He accompanied her to La Grave and collected her 10 days later. She had done everything on her own. At 16 she repeated the Voie Couzy - Desmaison on Pic d'Olan and Voie Devies - Gervasutti on Ailefroide Occidentale. Then came the early 80s and brought with them a new wave of climbing of which she became a main player. In 1985 she was the star of the first climbing competition at Bardonecchia. A success that she repeated in the next two competitions. In those first competitions she was the woman to beat, along with America’s Lynn Hill and Italy’s Luisa Iovane. During these years, she was also a prime player at the crags. As the first female she climbed a 8a+. The year was 1988, the crag Buoux and the route was the legendary Chouca first climbed by Marc Le Menestrel. In 1990 she made a solo ascent of the Bonatti Pillar on Petit Dru in 4 hours. Next up was the first female solo ascent of the three great North Faces of the Alps: Eiger in 1991, Grandes Jorasses in 1993 and the Matterhorn in 1994. In June 1991 she also established a new route up the Petit Dru, needing 11 days to breach aid climbing difficulties akin to the impossible (and aleatory) A5. In 1994 she summited Shisha Pangma (her only 8000er), and in 1999 she made a solo ascent of the dizzying Hasse - Brandler route on the North Face of Cima Grande di Lavaredo in the Italian Dolomites." (PlanetMountain)
"We are now all sitting on top of the narrow summit, our legs dangling in the abyss. Catherine is beaming, obviously happy simply to be there...."
Heinz Mariacher: "Climbing enriched my life like no other activity. Climbing and mountaineering are a wonderful school of life: it’s a path that has heart and soul. I have never been an extraordinary athlete—at best I was more open-minded and mentally less limited than most climbers in my surroundings—but that didn’t matter, because climbing was a very personal challenge. It was like a second life lived within a different world; it was a lifestyle, a philosophy, and a form of meditation. My approach to the mountains and climbing was organic because it served no other purpose than to enjoy life and freedom.
I've been around on the rocks for a very long time, such a long time that I still had the opportunity to climb with some of the pioneers of classic freeclimbing in the mountains, long before the spread of modern sport climbing.
The mindset and enthusiasm of my predecessors was very close to my own and I don't think that today's generation feels that much different. Even if climbing has become very popular and is getting transformed to a real sport, there are still young and enthusiastic climbers who are seeking the unknown and are fascinated by the original spirit, by the idea of personal freedom far from the limits and regulations of a mass society."
Patrick Berhault: "20 years old he had already shown signs of becoming an exceptional climber; who had displayed remarkable levels of fitness and proficiency by climbing some of the hardest routes in the Verdon valley in heavy mountaineering boots. Following his adoption of rigorous training (and a pair of lightweight rubber rock-climbing boots) in 1978 he was transformed from an exceptional climber into one of the greatest.
By 1979 he was leading rock climbs of a technical difficulty never achieved before on long, multi-pitch climbs in France. Their grades ("7a" and "7b") are still regarded as highly difficult, even by top climbers armed with modern high-performance footwear. More remarkable still was his ability to climb solo, unprotected from the consequences of a slip, up routes only just below his roped leading ability. He not only achieved this with control and style, but also at great speed - a characteristic that would become something of a trademark throughout his climbing career.
Berhault began linking hard rock-climbs, soloing up one and then, to the horror and amazement of onlookers, descending another, before carrying on up an adjacent one. He soon took this skill into the Alps, climbing long, serious mountain routes in unprecedentedly fast times, such as the North Face of Les Droites in five and a half hours, a route which normally took days, not hours, and required bivouacs. Berhault's seemingly out-of-this world speed and stamina would subsequently earn him the moniker "ET".
And, like his cinematic alter ego, Berhault soon took to the air. He began employing hang gliders to link hard alpine climbs on different mountains in so-called enchaînements. In 1981, together with Jean-Marc Boivin, he climbed the South Face of Le Fou, and then flew to the base of Les Drus and climbed it by the difficult American Direct route, thereby linking two test-piece climbs in a single day. The practice would later grow into something of a competitive fashion among the leading players of the day but, as ever, Berhault had been a trend-setter.
By the mid-Eighties Berhault found himself to be just one star in a rapidly expanding galaxy of extreme climbers who became French household names. The exploits of such luminaries as Patrick Edlinger, Jean Marc-Boivin, Christophe Profit, Patrick Gabarrou, Pierre Beghin and Catherine Destivelle became ever more outrageous and daring and were boosted by exposure on television, newspapers and magazines, as the non-specialist media took an increasing interest in the activities of these apparent supermen and women.
Paradoxically, Berhault remained unimpressed by the cult of celebrity, and was happy to let others, such as his great friend Patrick Edlinger, take the brunt of the limelight. Most notably Berhault was unconvinced of the validity of "competition climbing" - the professional circuit of stage-managed artificial climbing courses which developed into a lucrative spectator sport in many parts of mainland Europe. Just before the official organisation of competition climbing began Berhault was among a group of 19 prominent climbers who were concerned about the effects of commercialisation on their sport and signed a "manifesto" deploring the initiative. But, when competition climbing became a successful business, he remained the only signatory not to succumb to the lure of prize money. "I'm not prepared to sell myself for financial gain," he said: The most important thing is friendship, freedom, your immediate environment and the love you have for what you're doing. If money is not put in its proper place, it takes on a very bitter taste."
Lynn Hill: "What a mission! Never before - neither as a journalist or as a climber, have I known such an excitement, on the verge of being nervous. I googled wildly to read me up on her achievements, she who became immortal in climbing history more than 20 years ago when I was just a kid who climbed. In retrospect, I have tried to analyze this trembling excitement of meeting a 54-year-old, light gray-haired lady who is the mother of a pre-teen, and the conclusion is: This is about feelings, not about reason. Lynn Hill's career and achievements touches us deep into the roots of something mysterious and magic that makes climbing so special and causes people to cultivate the vertical as a way of living. Lynn Hill was one of those who opened a new land for us others. She represents something to stretch for, something to dream about, something of the greatest inspiration." (Sindre Bø)
"For me, free climbing the Great Roof of the Nose was an opportunity to demonstrate the power of having an open mind and spirit. Though I realized that I could easily fall in my exhausted state, I felt a sense of liberation and strength knowing that this was an effort worth trying with all my heart. I had a strong feeling that this ascent was a part of my destiny and that somehow I could tap into that mysterious source of energy to literally rise to the occasion. (…) The Nose was much bigger than me, it wasn't about me, it wasn't about my ego, my gratification it was actually something that I wanted to do.”
"It goes boys!"
Wayne Merry: FA of El Capitan: "Merry, a seasonal ranger and naturalist, joined Harding after the first winter when members of the initial assault team quit for various reasons.
Letters in soup cans. "We were scared to death half the time," said Merry, who stuffed love letters to his fiancee in soup cans and hurled them off the wall. "There were days I didn't know what I was doing up there." Merry's primitive form of air mail worked. He and his wife, Cindy, will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in the spring. The climbers had ample reason to worry. At one point a hemp rope snapped just after Harding had climbed it, prompting the climbers to switch to nylon for the rest of the trip. A ledge near the top is now known as the Glowering Spot because it is where Harding's partners found him glowering after being hit in the head by a piton. During the final push, Harding drilled 28 bolts into the 100-foot-tall overhanging summit headwall. The 14-hour burst of energy allowed the three men to reach the top and make history. "It stunned the whole world and sent a shock wave through mountaineering," Duane said Friday. "The Europeans came into the valley after that achievement and the emphasis on mountaineering shifted. For that brief shining moment, Americans were the best climbers in the world...
Merry went on to start the Yosemite mountaineering school and rescue team and now lives in British Columbia." (Peter Fimrite, Yosemite Climbing Association, Nose Reunion Nov. 2008)
Jim Donini: "Having climbed with Jim in the early seventies I can assure you that he is human. He is also one of the most focused climbers I have ever known, and that focus has warped into the myth. That said, I had huge amounts of fun in Yosemite with him, and learned to become a better climber because of him. In retrospect, I see that he has taken many climbers under his wings over the years, and enriched many lives by sharing his climbing prowess. He is an excellent example of what humans become with focus, knowledge, and a love of life." (C4/1971)
No heros, more like fascinating role models...
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BLR
Trad climber
Lower Eastside
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 16, 2017 - 06:08pm PT
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Thanks, all. Wonderful stuff.
Not sure how much more life this thread has, but additional thoughts/questions for future posters based on what I'm learning:
1. Alive or dead? Folklorists I've interviewed thus far consider the living fair game. (Many of you have anted up plenty of 'em.) Examples of historical American folk heroes who were legends in their own time: Davy Crockett, Bonnie and Clyde, Jean Lafitte. Fast-forward to 2017: the hacker community venerates their best and most notorious - Kevin Mitnick, for example. I'd argue that both John Muir and Fred Beckey qualified when they were alive. Jan Conn - not yet mentioned - still lives. Does this symbol suggest folk heroism, or am I off-base here?
2. Barely known and seldom-seen local and regional heroes certainly qualify, due to climbing's former club culture, and concentration of communities around particular climbing areas, especially before the advent of the road trip, well-distributed climbing guides, the Internet, etc. I especially liked the Gill and Holloway mentions but how about folks like Mt. Woodson's Rick Piggot? Way better-known, but what about New Hampshire's Guy Waterman?
3. Wouldn't route names provide a clue here - especially the ones named by others for key protagonists?
4. Folklorists pay as much attention to how legend is transmitted as to the legend itself, favoring stories passed down person-to-person because all stories morph, and the telephone game phenomenon is important to researchers of this stuff. (Apparently they analyze the delta between the original and current versions of a legend.) Formal written accounts - biographies, memoirs, films and video snippets, etc, are salient, but only as a point of departure for additional peer-to-peer storytelling and sense-making. (Example: the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film.)
So think about how you heard about some of these legends. Around a campfire or picnic table? That's where a real folklorist would be collecting data.
5. That said, some folklorists are positing that content shared on social media threads and Supertopo-like forums are fair game for research. Check out Dwight's post on this Holloway thread, which seems to me to be of the sort that might be interesting to a current or future climbing folklorist: http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2152890/Jim-Holloway
6. Folk heroes crystallize the culture -- the norms, symbols, customs, beliefs, fears, etc -- of the community that swaps stories about them. So another way to think about this is, who most exemplifies the culture of the community? Anti-heroes fair game.
7. Would love to hear from folklorists, or English profs, historians, cultural anthropologists reading this. If you're not inclined to chime in here, please ping me @ brad@sustainableplay.com
8. Thanks again for the input. I've always appreciated this community.
9. Right back at ya, Tami. The world's climbing folk heroes now in play.
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ryankelly
climber
Bhumi
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Nov 16, 2017 - 06:21pm PT
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Where will your article likely be published?
Our folk heroes deserve quality publications
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aspendougy
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Nov 16, 2017 - 06:32pm PT
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Tenzing, Hillary's companion would have to qualify as one for the Tibetan people. I agree Lynn Hill.
Back in the late 60's one of the old timers said that John Gill was "The Paul Bunyan of Climbing". He posts here in such a down-to-earth way, but doing hard bouldering a generation ahead of his time.
Lastly, Chuck Pratt who embodied the best and the highest of that era.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Nov 16, 2017 - 06:34pm PT
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Barely known and seldom-seen local and regional heroes certainly qualify
I presume that these would be hard to learn about.
I first saw Steve Arsenault in the late 60s across a table at Emil's, a legend itself, at the Gunks. It wasn't the few stories I was told about him that impressed me. It was something in his presence that I can't define.
I also met and climbed a little with Guy Edwards. Again, if you could capture such a person in words, I'd love to see it.
Usually when Fred Beckey's name appears I think of what John Krakauer said in the Outside piece titled Warning: Fred Beckey is Still on the Loose.
"Fred long ago stripped his life to its chassis."
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crankster
Trad climber
No. Tahoe
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Nov 16, 2017 - 06:36pm PT
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Fred Beckey
Warren Harding
Reinhold Messner
Lynn Hill
John Bachar
Royal Robbins
Galen Rowell
Norman Clyde
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Nov 16, 2017 - 10:03pm PT
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John Otto
Harvey Carter
Kor
Jim Beyer
Jay Anderson
Jeremy's mom
silvia vidal
dave turner
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Nov 16, 2017 - 10:11pm PT
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John Lauchlan
Guy Lacelle
Jean-Marc Boivin
Xaver Bongard
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WyoRockMan
climber
Grizzlyville, WY
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Nov 16, 2017 - 10:14pm PT
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Barely known and seldom-seen local and regional heroes certainly qualify
Jim Kanzler
Brian Leo
Dougal McCarty
The rest of the Dirty Sox...
Bill Dockins
Jack Tackle
Pat Callis
Dwight Bishop
Todd Cozzens
Stan Price
...
and of course Alex.
EDIT: All of these characters had a significant impact on SW Montana/N Wyoming climbing. Their names are on all the prime lines and most of them are still "sporty" despite advancements in technology and the proliferation of "stronger" climbers.
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nah000
climber
now/here
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Nov 16, 2017 - 10:24pm PT
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blahblahblah on a couple more:
guy lacelle: if you've been even a semi-serious ice climber in the last thirty years, you probably know about some of his feats even if you aren't sure exactly what his name was and you never read a word directly written about him.
kor: meant to mention him in my first post. basically climbing's answer to paul bunyan. heard he was 7'6" tall and if you weren't fast enough while seconding, he just hand over hand hauled you up... ha! but mostly, the legend lives on because when you go climb one of his routes, you have no choice [in many instances] but to Respect the paths he blazed so many moons ago.
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Splater
climber
Grey Matter
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Nov 16, 2017 - 10:31pm PT
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since you ask us intardwebs,
Batten
JdF
Prowsolo
Wilson
Lostarrow
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