Good bye Walter Bonatti

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Luca Signorelli

Mountain climber

Courmayeur (Vda) Italy

Sep 29, 2011 - 05:10pm PT

Pat:

You definitely fit in ;)

Cheche

Big Wall climber

Mexico

Sep 30, 2011 - 12:45am PT

IMG_0211.JPG
Walter bonati fue uno de los escaladores que mas admire

Chief

climber

The NW edge of The Hudson Bay

Sep 30, 2011 - 02:29am PT

Walter was a revered and nigh mythical inspiration to most of us.
While we were generally short on the specifics of what it meant to emulate his approach, his name was synonymous with integrity, boldness and impeccable individual style.

With greatest respect,

RIP Mr. Bonatti

Charlie D.

Trad climber

Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra

Sep 30, 2011 - 09:00am PT

A spirit bigger than life, RIP Walter Bonatti
Thanks Luca for sharing your beautifully written glance at his extraordinary life.

Best,

Charlie D.

climber

Boulder, CO

Oct 18, 2011 - 09:25pm PT

Several noted, in error here, and one corrected regarding the "Bonatti" carabiners.
Actually, they are "Bonaiti" with the error intentional, to trick buyers into thinking he had any connection with the company capitalizing on his reputation.
It obviously worked, but I'm pretty sure he never made a dime from that business; probably too polite to sue.
I can't recall any other climber so unequivocally quitting their extreme game so publically as he did. He could obviously keep climbing safely at a standard above most others, but carved out a career as an adventure journalist instead, apparently without regret, and like Cassin and Messner, lived quite a long time after others died in the mountains. Hard to choose which end is more fitting, I suppose, but I recall some other famous climber who thought that dying in the mountains would negate a lifetime of hard ascents, because it would imply your successes were due to foolhardy recklessness, rather than talent or calculation.
"Raise your cup, drink it up, drown your sorrows,
and sow your wild oats while you may,
For the toothless old tykes of tomorrow
Were the tigers of yesterday." Tom Patey RIP

Luca Signorelli

Mountain climber

Courmayeur (Vda) Italy

Oct 20, 2011 - 04:19pm PT

@AE: actually, Bonaiti (from 1977 onward the name of the climbing gear branch is KONG) is a very old (established 1830) and respected company who has always dealt with making steel devices (mainly safety tools, door locks and steel strips/cables). They began making climbing gear (mostly krabiners but also pitons etc) well before Bonatti was famous. They may have enjoyed a bit of indirect publicity because of the similarity of the name, but believe me, that was accidental!

Also, Bonatti was all but lawyer-shy if he felt anyone was trying to double cross him or steal from him. Not someone you would have liked to mess with...

Chris Jones

Social climber

Glen Ellen, CA

Oct 21, 2011 - 09:12pm PT

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.

Mighty Hiker

climber

Vancouver, B.C.

Oct 21, 2011 - 09:36pm PT

Thanks, Chris - it sounds like you were at an impressionable age then.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Oct 22, 2011 - 12:35am PT

Excellent post, Chris.

Marlow

Sport climber

OSLO

Oct 22, 2011 - 04:28am PT

I could feel the thrill while reading: "Michel, c'est l'heure."

Luca Signorelli

Mountain climber

Courmayeur (Vda) Italy

Oct 22, 2011 - 05:01am PT

@Chris Jones

You may like to check this - it's a 8mm movie shot on August 10,1964, from a guy who used to live Courmayeur, showing Walter's arrival in Val Ferret after climbing the Whymper rib with Vaucher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AkixyQHWrg

Marlow

Sport climber

OSLO

Oct 22, 2011 - 09:57am PT

Addio Walter - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=K8nThRL0-n8

survival

Big Wall climber

A Token of My Extreme

Oct 22, 2011 - 10:19am PT

Holy buckets of history Batman!

Thanks for that post Chris. I was a little gripped 45 years later waaaay over here in New Mexico!

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Dec 24, 2011 - 01:16pm PT

Grand Alpinism bump!

Inspiring story Chris!

Rick A

climber

Boulder, Colorado

Dec 24, 2011 - 05:48pm PT

Missed Chris' story when it was first posted. Amazing to think of so many of the great alpinists of that time all together and vying for unclimbed, plum lines on the Jorasses.

Luca's obituary surveys Bonatti's great climbs and is lucid account of a remarkable life:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=4098

Toker Villain

Big Wall climber

Toquerville, Utah

Dec 24, 2011 - 07:02pm PT

I have 3 Brad Washburn prints including his all time favorite, the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses.

It was shot in August of 1958.

I look at it and think of Walter having to fourth class because the rope was cut and tied together in 5 places, of a hundred meter tower cutting loose and just missing them,...

Sheesh!

Marlow

Sport climber

OSLO

Jan 28, 2012 - 04:27am PT

FINIS TERRAE, WALTER BONATTI (1999)

Walter Bonatti, l'un des alpinistes légendaires de notre époque, nous emmène vers les sommets vertigineux de la Cordillère des Andes. La Patagonie et la Terre de Feu, irriguées par d'immenses plaines de glace se précipitant dans l'eau au milieu d'un fracas de fin du monde, sont surmontées par les « hurlements pétrifiés » du Balmaceda, du Fitz Roy et du Cerro Torre. Alternant des scènes historiques filmées par Alberto de Agostini à l'assaut de ces montagnes alors inconnues, et les progressions de Walter Bonatti dans ces lieux à couper le souffle, Fulvio Mariani réalise un film fascinant tourné dans les décors sublimes des glaciers Upsala, Viedma, sur le Hielo Patagonico Sur, jusqu'au sommet du Cerro Torre. FINIS TERRAE, réalisé en 1999, est servi par des images magnifiques et par la somptueuse musique de Enrico Caruso et Philip Glass.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlcdya_walter-bonatti-1_sport?ralg=meta2-only#from=playrelon-12

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xakyb6_bande-annonce-du-film-finis-terrae_sport

http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B004CYY5YW/ref=pe_4231_28534761_snp_dp