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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 1, 2009 - 12:58pm PT
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Fantastic images John!
Thanks for writing up your recollections. The Alps still exert a strong attraction, at least to me, a place where climbing originates. Doing the hard classic routes there would be the same as doing them in Yosemite Valley, with all the difficulties present as well as the ghosts of the First Ascent teams. Doing new routes takes it up a notch, as there is the sense that you are uncovering a thing unseen by those masters, or pushing the standard a bit beyond what had been accomplished.
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Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
Otto, NC
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Those are some great images. Thanks!
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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John-
Thanks for the wonderful photos. The one of Frank on top of the Frendo spur is about the best I've seen. As I look at the others however, I am still amazed that Frank was up on ice climbs like that. I have some photos of a trip we took up the Mer de Glace to the Refuge Couvercle which is a fun outing since one has to climb up steel cables and ladders to get to the refuge. There are also great views of the Grandes Jorasses along the way. I have one of me gazing up at that mountain just as Frank is saying, "You'd have to be crazy to climb that. Why would anyone want to be that cold and miserable"?
Clearly something changed between then fall of 1971 and the summer of 1979. I wonder if Frank got used to the cold after so many European winters or if he would have stayed with rock climbing if the Dolomites were closer, or if he started doing ice climbing because that's what his friends did? A man of many enigmas, though he certainly does look happy on top of the Frendo Spur. I feel much better knowing that he was so obviously enjoying himself right up to the end.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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John Cardy, Jean-Claude and John Rander,
Great contributions from all of you, especially the photos from 1978. What a wonderful memorial to Frank Sacherer has materialized out of cyberspace here, thanks to the initiative of Ed Hartouni.
I spent two summers in Chamonix in 1976 and 1977 and I wish I would have crossed paths with him. I did meet a couple of his colleagues, though. In 1976,Dewi Butler and I shared a bivouac on the Bonatti Pillar of the Dru with a couple of French physicist/climbers from CERN. It seems that there were a lot of serious climbers in that group.
Rick
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Rick L
Trad climber
El Dorado Hills, CA
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John-
The photos are wonderful and the remembrances help complete the story of Frank Sacherer. He had such an impact on multiple generations of Yosemite climbers. His climbs- Sacherer Cracker, Ahab, L Reeds etc. were an inspiration and a gold standard for us as fledgling free climbers. The ethic he followed cast a long shadow on all of us. I was fortunate to have been with Peter Haan when he freed the L Side of the Hourglass and I know Peter was very mindful of Frank's legacy- before (probably during) and after the climb. Thanks to Ed for starting this great thread and to all who have contributed.
Rick
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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I don't know....this has to be the most poignant thread ever here.
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Wow, so that's the shroud. What a beautiful thing. I can feel the yearn, even though I'm, unlikely to ever go there.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Thanks for the beautiful photos John.
Sacherer with a camera in hand, will miracles never cease? My favorite picture of all time of a most complex and beautiful man.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Can anyone tell me who Don Telshaw was and why he would have been Frank's witness at our wedding in Yosemite (I could have sworn it was Dick Erb?!) but the document says Telshaw who listed Fresno as his permanent address.I only vaguely remember him and can't at all remember his relationship to Frank which dated back to much earlier days.I don't believe I ever saw him again after that event?
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Jan
Don was somewhat active in the climbing scene in the early 60's and yes he was from Fresno. He worked for Curry Company, at the Lodge I believe. He did a number of routes with Denny and Sacherer. I did a few climbs with him but have not heard from in for many years. I ran into the wonderful minstrel John Adams at the Nose reunion in Nov and perhaps he can enlighten you as John also was in Fresno in those years and is again living there.
cheers
Joe McKeown
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Joe-
Thanks! I'm trying to put together a chronology of Frank's life and was checking through my various documents. I can't seem to find any photos and in any case, there were only a handful of people there. It took place in the meadow in front of the church at Yosemite, officiated by the minister of that church. I think we were in fact, the first of several climber weddings in the Valley.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Meanwhile here's another question.
I've read somewhere (in one of the climbing histories perhaps or some of the commentary that circulated with the campaign to save Camp 4) that there was a photo of Frank in what I remember as either Life or Look magazine, as part of an article on the national parks. They caught him shirtless and grubby as he returned from a climb and the caption was something like "Is this the future of our National Parks?". I'd love to have the reference to that article so we could look it up and scan the photo in. It would make a great juxtaposition with the references to him by the Nobel Laureate!
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Jan
you can reach Jon Adams at jonart@sti.net and I would also try Denny to locate Don Telshaw. I have Glen's e-mail somewhere, but will have to do a search.
The following is another photo from our trip up the Dana Glacier in the early 60's. Sacherer's first time on ice, along with Denny. Nice smile guys!
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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This is the most interesting thread I've read in a long time. I never met Frank, but Chouinard and others would talk about him from time to time in the Tetons more than forty years ago, describing his incredible ability to wriggle up virtually any fold in the granite. To read that he was also at the leading edge of his profession as a physicist is indeed impressive. He brought stature to "amateur" (nonprofessional) climbing . . . Are there parallels today?
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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John,
Of course you are the most immediate parallel, in terms
of being a renowned climber and highly respected in your
profession, although there are quite a number of
excellent climbers who were and are excellent mathematicians
or scientists. John Stannard is one example, a
genius level climber of course and physicist.
Tom Frost, of course, was a distinguished engineer, what
with all his designs and also won a national championship
in sailboat racing. You might be referring specifically,
though, to physics and to those coming up now in the
modern age. That's an interesting question...
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Please don't put me up there with Frank (or jstan, or ed) - I was a college math professor, a teacher who dabbled a bit in research, not a distinguished research mathematician or scientist.
In the 1950s and early to mid 1960s it was easier to have an impact on the evolution of climbing - as a nonprofessional - and be a dedicated, even renown scientist, engineer, or mathematician making important contributions. I don't know if that's still possible. Probably not, but I'm curious to learn of any celebrated scientist, engineer or mathematician who - at present - is also at a leading edge of some type of climbing. I would guess that each of these activities is currently so demanding that excelling in both is a rarity. Maybe not.
I don't keep up with what is happening in the climbing world, other than reading an occasional issue of a climbing magazine, or scanning forums like this one. So pardon my ignorance if I raise an issue that has been resolved.
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jstan
climber
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I fail to pass the test for contributing to this thread on both counts but my poor judgment wins through once again
Three comments, none earth shaking.
1. I am frankly uncomfortable when mention is made of myself in a sentence including the word “genius.” Perhaps we should admit none of us really knows what that word means. We are using it as an approximation. When use of it comes to my mind I find it much more accurate to replace it with the sentence, “We appreciate very much the contributions you have made.”
For example I very much appreciate the contributions made by Oli over the years, just as I appreciate the contributions he continues to make today. It may be he does not realize he is still contributing just as much as ever, but hey. Life is full of surprises.
2. Many of us have encountered “normal” people who ask very seriously, “What on earth do people get out of risking their lives when they go into the mountains?”
To answer such questions we, henceforth, need to carry that picture of Frank appearing above. It is a picture of a person who obviously, has never been happier.
3. Regarding the quote from Dr. Kaplan.
''Climbing mountains satisfies this competitive drive, it seems, where you might not be competing with your fellow climbers, but with the mountain itself.''
I think he gets almost to the point I have made on ST a number of times – never to the intended effect. Let me ask. Suppose you love to solve problems. If you are in physics which deals with the full scope of almost all problems as they are presented to us by nature itself, which problem would you prefer?
A problem created by Joe down the street?
Or a problem created by nature millions of years ago and unchanged by human hand?
In these crowded busy times many of us focus our attention on Joe down the street. A shame. The problems whose solutions truly are critical to our satisfaction and even our survival are presented to us, by nature itself.
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