Volume 10 Number 3 May, 1998

Newsletter of the High Altitude Mountaineering Section of the Colorado Mountain Club

In This Issue

• May Program
• EXCOM News
• Book Review: The Climb
• Wildcats in France by Dick Falb
• Aconcagua by Tom Urban

In May, well-known mountaineer and author Gerry Roach will present a slide show of his climbs of two peaks very few have ever done.

To reach the summit of Mt. Vinson, at 16,076 ft., the highest point in Antarctica, Gerry had to contend with a rather brisk breeze: 100 miles-per- hour and minus 50 degrees F. After sitting out a five day storm, he reached the summit at 1:30 AM on Friday, December 13th, 1985 and became the second person to climb the seven continent summits.

Carstenz Pyramid, at 16,003 ft, is the highest mountain not on a continent. It is the eighth summit. Political instability in Indonesian-controlled Irian Jaya has kept many people from climbing this peak, which Gerry climbed in April, 1994. It is now closed again. While New Guinea's winds were warmer, a jungle approach and interactions with the local Dani Tribe, just recent escapees of the stone age, introduced challenges of a different variety.

Don't miss this entertaining presentation of two rarely climbed peaks! The slide show will be in the CMC's new accommodations in the freshly remodeled

EXCOM News

The EXCOM of HAMS met on March 26, 1998. The following is a summary of topics and events discussed:

* Schools. Ken Yarcho reported that 15 students took part in the activities for this year's High Altitude Mountaineering School. Three students from '97 and 5 from '98 have completed their requirements for HAMS.

* Expeditions/Outings. Jim Rickard presented a proposed trip to Pakistan for 4 weeks in July/August 1999. The trip will include attempts of some less-technical peaks in the lower Biafo Glacier. It was approved as a HAMS expedition. The trip leader will be Steve Slater. The EXCOM also discussed the Park Service and CMC policies pertaining to Rim-Rim-Rim trips.

* Section News. HAMS membership is now up to about 821!

* Research. Paul Wilson reported that the state CMC is now supporting our list servers on the NET. HAMS is looking for commercial sponsors for these servers. We add about 2-3 new subscribers per week and are currently at about 100 total per list.

News Briefs

An Assistant Instructor, John Mills, was inadvertantly left off of the list last issue. Many thanks for your time and effort (and freezing your butt off).

So far, three students from '97 and five students from '98 have petitioned and been certified to graduate from the HAMS school. They deserve congradulations for all the time and effort that they put into completing the school and seminar. They are:

There are many more out there who are eligable to graduate but need to turn in their paperwork. Remember, for those out there who want to get their certificate and to officially graduate, you need to send to Ken Yarcho a copy of your card for passing an avalanche course. Read your student handbook for details.

We would like articles from members about trips, health and sports medicine reports or book reviews. It keeps the newsletter interesting if members contribute. Send items to Kris and John Wallack, 11508 Broken Arrow Drive, Conifer, CO 80433 or leave them in the HAMS section folder at the clubhouse.

Book Review: The Climb

by Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt

If Jon Krakauer's book is the guided client's story of the well known 1996 Mt. Everest climb, then The Climb is the guide's version. The book draws heavily from the tape recorded recollections made by nine climbers in base camp only five days after the tragic storm.

The struggle that took place on the South Col during the storm is reconstructed from the climbers recollections as well as Anatoli's. The recordings describe how the light that was thought to be Camp IV as Schoening, Gammelgaard, Beidleman and Groom struggled through the blizzard, turned out to be Anatoli's headlamp. Anatoli brought them to Camp IV and helped them with oxygen. At 1AM, with several climbers still out in the blizzard, Anatoli and Groom pleaded unsuccessfully for help with a rescue effort.

Anatoli finally went out alone in the storm. He made it all the way to the Kangshung face, and finding nobody, returned again to the camp. He questioned Schoening and Gammelgaard again, and again tried to muster a team from Hall's camp. Having no better response than the first time, at 2AM Anatoli ventured out alone across the Col for another attempt to rescue the remaining climbers. This time, only thirty yards from the last search, he spotted a headlamp. Anatoli found Madsen, Pittman, Fox and Namba. Beck Weathers was nowhere in sight. By 5AM, Anatoli had helped Madsen, Pittman and Fox to the camp and he was completely exhausted.

Beyond the storm and rescue, the book offers insight to the realities and workings of the adventure guiding business. Perhaps best of all, the book provides Anatoli's perspective of the climb. The puzzling account of Krakauer's and Outside's disinterest in making corrections to inaccuracies leave one feeling pleased that Anatoli had his chance to tell his story.

Note: Anatoli Boukreev, well on his way to climbing all fourteen 8,000ers, died in an avalanche in December, 1997.

John Wallack

Wildcats in France

(From Europe's Highest to the Alp's Highest)

Last August, 13 lucky HAMS members had a fantastic trip to Russia and Mt. Elbrus, as reported in Thin Air by trip leader Steve Bonowski. After summiting Europe's highest, two of the crew, Paul Wilson and Dick Falb, left the homeward bound HAMS team in Frankfurt and headed out to cover both bases with an attempt on the Alp's highest, Mont Blanc (15,770').

We were joined in the Frankfurt airport by Paul's wife Julie, and long-time HAMS activist Jerry Mack. Jerry arrived fresh and rested from an overnight trans-Atlantic flight. He came directly to Frankfurt from instructing in the summer session of the HAMS school in Canada.

The four of us proceeded by train from Frankfurt to Basel, Switzerland ($98US) and the youth hostel for some much needed rest. Day two was spent on the Swiss rails, Basel - Bern - Kandersteg - Sion - Martigny, the latter being the Swiss origin of the "Mont Blanc Express" narrow gauge to Chamonix. The ride across Switzerland N to S through the Berner Oberland and down the Rhone valley to Martigny is a worthwhile event in itself. A little over 2 hours on the MBE brings one to the Chamonix valley (3,820'), the birthplace of modern mountaineering and the cradle of alpine tourism. Tourism! Imagine Vail and Estes Park packed into a 12 mile long valley just 3/4 of a mile wide. Add thousands of tourists from all over the world and you have an accurate vision of Chamonix in August. That's the bad news. The good news is, it's worth every minute in the valley and environs. There is spectacular scenery, unlimited mountaineering opportunities, and a taste of French atmosphere. Arrive on August 15^th, as we did, and even more people are in town for the annual "Fete des Guides." This festival includes street parades and the blessing of ropes and ice axes.

With "Vail and Estes Park" in the same valley, Chamonix has a complete range of accomodations, from ultra luxury to really cheap. The "Gites" are dorm beds in small rooms with dinner and breakfast available and are a good value. We chose the Gite Le Chamoniard Volant at about $31US. It's a 10 minute walk from the center of things. It is run by two friendly fellows who spoke good English to Gringos (without malice), served excellent food, and were very helpful. One pleasant surprise in Chamonix was that all shop keepers, hotel clerks, and the tourist information office were more than willing to speak English and be helpful. Our entire group couldn't have mastered over 10 words total in French but we did fine.

There are now two "standard" routes for Mont Blanc, the traditional Gouter Hut route and the starting at the Refuge des Cosmiques via the Aiguille du Midi trams ($35US round trip). The latter, which we chose, is slightly longer but avoids difficulty in getting space in the Gouter and the great risk of stone fall below the hut. And, the Aiguille du Midi trams are a great thrill ride in themselves; ideal for non climbing companions to see you off in style. The two-stage tram is as packed as the rest of the town. Make reservations ahead for a specific day and time. Reservations are necessary at all of the huts. Call in advance (see below).

Once at the upper tram station, with all of the pictures taken and snack food eaten, push your way through throngs of white-knuckled tourists gaping over the edge. Walk to the ice tunnel which leads to the knife-edge ridge which starts the Cosmiques hut route. It is an exciting start for a great climb. Steep, very narrow snow at the start mellows out to a standard glacier traverse to the hut about an hour away. Non climbing companions with good glacier travel skills and all the gear can have a great outing by going as far as the hut - as Julie Wilson did. Tired of dirty, smelly huts with surly keepers? Try the Refuge des Cosmiques. It is only about 8 years old, is spotless, offers great food, a friendly English speaking staff, a head-on view of much of the route, and................flush toilets. No running water for washing or drinking so take up all your drinking water for the entire stay. Beer, sodas, and bottled water are for sale - at a price. It is a few hundred feet below the 12,600' Aiguille du Midi. They assign dorm rooms by wake up time; 1:00am, 3:00am, or 7:00am (for those who summited the previous day).

We wisely chose 1:00am and were fed, watered, and roped up and ready to climb by 2:15. We were joined by Rich Ely, a Coloradan living in Bern, that Paul met via the Internet. We followed the long string of head lamps into the night across the Col du Midi and up the first of the three giant steps; the W ridge of Mont Blanc du Tacul (13,937'). Jerry Mack was in the lead and reached a fork in the track where half the lights went right, half left. What to do? We chose the left track and Jerry led a very steep section of rotten snow which broke loose and sent him backwards in a nasty fall onto his head and neck. Caught by Paul, Jerry assessed the damage and after some discussion decided to continue. Rich Ely took the lead as we tried the right hand option. It crossed a flimsy snow bridge (seen in much greater detail on the descent) and traversed directly above a major crevasse system until mellowing out in a steep but secure uphill plod.

The early morning hours passed with the bright lights of Chamonix on the right, and lightning storms far to the east in Switzerland. Daylight brought us to another steep step above a crevasse part way up the W ridge of Mont Maudit (14,648'). The group overcame this barrier without incident and continued on to more steep snow with a good track to the crux of the climb (especially on the descent); the final 150 feet to the top of the ridge. Steep and icy, but with some good steps, we keep moving to top out on the Maudit ridge, with a head on view of the last third of the climb and the N face of Mont Blanc. A long traverse on steep snow led to the N slopes of the peak and an endless series of switch backs to the summit. We arrived at about 10:45. We are not alone. The beautiful day brings out the hordes, most of them arriving on the summit at about the same time. We forgot them as we enjoyed the spectacular views. To the N all the famous peaks and ridges of the Chamonix valley, to the S into Italy, to the E into Switzerland and the unmistakable profile of the Matterhorn, and straight down 12,000 vertical feet to main street. Yes, that is the summit you see from downtown Chamonix. After the usual pictures and congrats we started back down.

The crux descent off the W ridge of Maudit is a major bottleneck. Four or five parties were waiting for the narrow, icy slot, with some protection already in place. After over an hour, our turn came and Paul added more protection while descending down and around to the narrow crevasse lip of a landing spot. Rich brought up the rear, belaying the rest until his turn came, then climbing down with an axe belay from below. More than 2 hours burned and still a long way to go. The remainder of the descent was mostly routine glacier plodding, with several potential dangers. At certain times, Maudit and Tacul can develop slopes with serious avalanche danger and the afternoon can, and did, bring heavy clouds and lightning. We hurried over the Tacul ridge with electricity in the air and 2 ½ foot snow pickets sticking out of our packs. Then, the plodding began in earnest with the last 1 ½ hours in a 2 foot deep track, with slush and balling snow in the crampons. We came back across the flimsy snow bridge and the Col du Midi, up the last several hundred feet to the Cosmiques and a smiling Julie Wilson.

We got back at about 5:00pm. It had been a 15 hour day, including the major delay on the Maudit ridge. Jerry clocked 5,500 vertical feet on his Avocet from all the gain and loss over the 2 major ridges, both out and back. It was not hard to decide to spend another night at the wonderful Cosmiques, with good food, cold beer, and a 7:00am wake up, rather than rope up again and trudge on (and UP) to the tram station - in the hopes of making the last tram to town. A very determined party, with no delays en route could make it, probably.

Descending from Mont Blanc summit, looking N along traverse of W face of Mont Maudit. Aiquille du Midi D middle left.

Another advantage of staying a second night at Cosmiques and descending the next morning is having plenty of time for pictures on the re-climb of the knife-edge snow ridge to the upper tram. We stopped and strolled at the tram mid-point and enjoyed spectacular views of the entire valley, especially up along the upper tram route to the Aiguille du Midi. Back on the trams it was push and shove in the finest European tradition. Everyone was glad to return to the friendly fellows at the Gite and their excellent food. All in all, it was a very enjoyable outing. We then cleaned up, dried our gear, went shopping, and packed up for Zermatt, Switzerland and a go at the Monte Rosa. (That's another story!)

THE FINE PRINT

To write for information include the name and address, plus "74400 Chamonix, France"

Remember, if you call, central Europe is 8 hours ahead of Mountain time.

Where we stayed:

Gite Le Chamoniard Volant
45 Ru de la Frasse
74400 Chamonix, France
Phone 33 04 50 53 14 09 (33=country code, 04=city code)
FAX 50 53 23 25

Chamonix Tourist Office:

pl. Triangle de L'Amitie'
Phone 33 04 50 53 00 24
FAX 50 53 58 90

Aiguille du Midi tram reservations:

phone 50 53 40 00
Info=50 53 30 80

General information on current climbing conditions, route dificulties, etc.

Office de Haute-Montagne
Maison de la Montagne
74400 Chamonix
Phone 50 53 22 08

Guides and climbing school:

Bureau des Guides
Maison de la Montagne
74400 Chamonix
Phone 50 53 00 88

Hut information and phone numbers for all Chamonix area huts:

Chalet du Club Alpin
136 Av Michel Croz
Phone 50 53 16 03
FAX 50 53 27 52

GUIDE BOOKS FOR MONT BLANC AND THE VALLEY

• Mont Blanc Courses Neige et Glace by Mario Colonel
• Mont Blanc Massif Vol I Selected Climbs by Lindsay Griffin
• Mont Blanc Range Vol I, Alpine Club of London ed Robin G. Collomb
• Chamonix Mont Blanc A Walking Guide By Martin Collins

ACONCAGUA

Setting up the logistics of an international trip can be very time consuming, but it is a much needed task to be completed before venturing forth. Travel agents, airport and hotel personnel spoke a fair amount of English which helped the planning process. If anyone tells you that most people in South America speak broken English, they must not have talked to anyone beyond the people mentioned above. It is amazing though, what you can accomplish by pointing at maps, using hand and body language, trying a few words of Spanish and pointing at other peoples plates of food! Overall the trip went smoothly. The team members were: Tom Urban, James Albersheim, Mark Oveson, Gene Stewart, Boris Krivuk, Alex Preiser, Mike Shiffman, Bob Becker, Clark Jackson and Amy Steele.

The standard route up Aconcagua (22,841 ft.) is not technical. It does have elements that make it difficult - always having to purify the water, cold weather, double carries to each camp, wind, no bathing and high altitude - all have an affect on a person physically and mentally. Almost everyone had a loss of appetite, diarrhea and headaches. Half of our group of ten reached the summit. The rest fell short of the top due to various reasons ranging from a head cold to high altitude sickness. We also had one case of cerebral edema. On a good note, everyone hiked to and slept at new personal altitude records.

Upon arriving at base camp, we learned that due to fierce winds no one had summited for the past two weeks. We celebrated New Years Eve at 14,000 ft. by blowing party makers without passing out! The snow placement this year had an unusual twist. Around base camp there were 6 - 8 tall seracs. The higher we hiked, the less snow we encountered. After carrying all of our gear to camp Nido de Condores at 17,600 ft., we learned from other campers that there was no snow the rest of the way to the summit. That meant we had carried crampons, ice axes, gaiters, etc. just for the fun of it!

About ¾ of a mile across a gully from base camp is Hotel Refugio. We spent one night there on the way out. For $15, we had a very good meal and it didn't come in a bag and it wasn't freeze dried. We celebrated Mike Shiffman's 60^th birthday and some team members also played a game of ping pong at 14,000 ft! Many things can change on an expedition within the course of a day. There is an 18 mile hike out from base camp. Due of the length of the hike and the different hiking speeds, the team became spread out. There are several river crossings that must be made. The first person from our team to reach the river, crossed at one point at 1:00 pm. The second member was about 10 minutes behind and could not cross at the same point. When the rest of the team arrived about 45 minutes later, the river could not be crossed on foot. Luck was with us though as a muleteer and one extra mule with a saddle showed up. So, for $5 per person, we rode the mule across.

Our hotel in Santiago was four star. It was a far cry from a tent and outhouse 3 days earlier. While in Santiago we visited the Zoo, ate seafood at a four star restaurant and explored the city by foot and subway. One night on the way back from dinner, we took the bus from hell. We determined that the drivers are not union, but instead are paid by the number of miles they can cover in a shift. It was a white knuckle affair. We also had time to visit the beach at Vina del Mar.

When talking about mountaineering, success is defined by living to tell about the trip and returning with the same number of digits that you left with. We had a successful trip!

Return to HAMS.

Last Modified May 9, 1998 by Keith Jensen .