UKC

Tom Livingstone and Pete Graham recently made a winter ascent of the Walker Spur on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses. Finishing on the last calendar day of alpine winter, the pair took three days to climb it and found sustained difficulties and tough conditions on the 1000m route.

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In reply to UKC News:

Pete's blog is very good and well written, particularly on the topic of suffering. Definitely worth some of your time.

https://petergrahamclimbing.wordpress.com/2016/03/23/winter-walker/

In reply to Wood for Trees:

Clearly an impressive personal achievement but is this news? The first winter ascent was done in 1963 by Bonatti and Stevie Haston did the first winter solo in 1993 in eight hours. I can see how an article about this might be interesting and inspiring but newsworthy? Not trying to be a bastard about this but just asking a question.

James

In reply to james mann:


Impressive achievement from the 5 year old Haston.

In reply to james mann:

You say it's interesting and inspiring and I agree I would say newsworthy aswell! Multiday winter alpine is getting done less and less in my estimation. It's hard and difficult to find conditions especially if your not based in the alps!

Take a look on Camp to Camp and find how many people are logging mutli-day winter alpine ascents on routes like the walker! I know they get done but less than before.

When I read about there ascent first on facebook I noted they received congratulatory messages from a number of leading activists from the current and the preceding era which is a measure of noteworthiness / Newsworthiness in my opinion.

In summary for me it doesn't have to be a first ascent or repeat to be newsworthy. This rare winter ascent of the walker will inspire others and for that reason I think it is very newsworthy!

p.s. the forum post the ascent prompted on alpine winter grades is quite amusing
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=637231

In reply to Wood for Trees:

Unroped on a glacier, don't let that other thread see this one!

In reply to james mann:

Firstly, I'd say it doesn't matter whether it's categorised as news or something else, I think you agree it's worthy of being highlighted so no reason not to put it on the front page. Despite this I'd say it is still newsworthy in the same way that repeats of Indian Face were considered newsworthy last year despite that route being nearly 30 years old, it doesn't get done often. Finally, as others have pointed out, not many UK climbers are doing this sort of alpinism despite it being something many are interested in (and possibly, nominally, aspire to).

I must say I thought you were mistaken when you said Stevie Haston only took 8hours to solo it but that's what's being said everywhere. That's astonishing, about 175meters vertical per hour!

In reply to planetmarshall:

That did make me chuckle! I deserved that.

James

In reply to geezer:

Christ. It's amazing what people can argue about!

In reply to Tyler:

I guess you have to put it into the context of the time with the speedcentric soloing and enchainments being done by profit, boivin, escoffier and others during preceding years. I heard that mr haston had soloed the droites north face in 4.5 hours in 1984. Speed really drove alpinism at this time.

James

In reply to james mann:

Absolutely agree with you that this is not an internationally significant Alpine ascent, and it's a fair point you raise too - so don't worry about being a bar steward! In the same way as the Waker isn't cutting edge, repeats or first ascents of E8s aren't either, but we sometimes report those too (not always).

It's a tricky one to decide what to put up on the site sometimes, but good photos, a strong story, interesting characters etc all add up to make something 'worthwhile' from a reporting sense, as does out and out impressive climbing too of course, so an E12 would go up even without any comments, or images!

With this one I had thought Natalie was going to include a few other winter Alpine ascents from Brits too, but maybe we can do a bit of a round-up, I'd certainly find it interesting.

Oh, and well done to the lads for the route too!

J

In reply to Jack Geldard - UKC Chief Editor:

Jack, it doesn't have to be out and out cutting edge to be interesting. Carry on just as you are, you're doing great.

In reply to jon:

Thanks Jon - appreciate that! Hope Provence is treating you well!

Jack

In reply to Jack Geldard - UKC Chief Editor:

Is TD+ not cutting edge nowadays?

In reply to UKC News:

A good tale, well told, with interesting photos, of a thing that isn't done very often. To me it was both newsworthy and interesting.

In reply to james mann:


In the interview he gave for the Enormocast, he says 6 hours of actual climbing separated by a bivi. No food, no water, no windproof, and only a 300g sleeping bag Brrrrrrr....

In reply to james mann:


I suppose news is what we might find interesting. I was well aware of Stevie's ascent (and, I think, Catherine Destivelle soloed it before him, albeit with some aid. T'wouldn't worry me but I think Stevie reckoned his ascent was in somewhat better style).

But - a winter ascent of an iconic Alpine route? To me - and, it seems, to many others on here - that's interesting. Obviously deciding what's 'news' is subjective but they seem pretty fair on here.

Anyway, good effort by the guys wot did it - those bivvies looked grim!

Mick

In reply to Mick Ward:

Am I right in thinking that Andy Parkin did a winter solo prior to Stevie (and Catherine D)?

In reply to Mick Ward:

I wasn't suggesting that the walker isn't an interesting, challenging and worthwhile adventure to do or to write about just that news tends to mean that it is something truly groundbreaking that has been done. In the olden days in magazines there would be articles about interesting destinations and ascents, new routes info and news tended to be reserved for the truly hard, important events or controversy. The slower production of copy meant that true news was easier to whittle down especially if it happened in the peak. (Bit snipey this perhaps)

Anyway great effort to Tom and Pete and good to see big quality objectives being tackled by Brits. To anyone interested in reading more about the face in winter desmaison's total alpinism is a must. Some of the most truly frightening and harrowing mountain writing in existence.

James

In reply to james mann:

Yes I bought that before my first trip to the Alps thinking it was an instructional manual, as are result of reading it I've spent every trip above the tree line assuming I'm only 72 hours from an icy death as that seems to be how every chapter ends!

In reply to Removed User:

That's a good question; I've got an idea that you're right. Haven't seen Andy for decades. (Hope he's OK.) Somebody on here must know.

Mick

In reply to Removed User:


Yes, but with aid. SH's was the first free.

In reply to james mann:

What exactly is News, anyway? Perhaps UKC should take its cue from the main headlines, and we can read mostly about the economics of gear retail, BMC infighting and people dying in unfortunate ways.

In reply to UKC News:

What a strange thread. Of course this is news. It's a rare winter ascent of an iconic climb in what were obviously far from ideal conditions. Who said only internationally significant first ascents deserve to be reported on this forum? I read the post through to the end, enjoyed it a lot and offer hearty congratulations to the successful pair. Kudos.

In reply to james mann:


And nowadays news too often seems to be the "fast food" of speed stunts and otherwise gimmicky ascents. So this story about people getting properly stuck in to a hard climb is very welcome. As others have said, multi day alpinism seems to be somewhat out of fashion (even though it is self evident that anything seriously hard will take more than a day), so I think this is newsworthy for that reason alone.

In reply to UKC News:

Well it's not news in the sense that it's first time ever, but it's definitely newsworthy and interesting, which is more than can be said of 'foreigner climbs six new moves up a ten foot boulder and lives'.

In reply to Mick Ward:

I think in Stevie's Eneromcast interview he mentions Andy Parkin had previously done it - but with some aid. So Stevie's would have been the first free solo in winter.

In reply to Wood for Trees:


Yes, one of the better things I've read in a while.

In reply to UKC News:

3 days..... thats a bugger
Do these DRONGO'S not no that its easy in summer.

And does Stevie (my way is the best, im a big ****) Haston's count as a winter ascent if he could use his bare hands!?!

In reply to ebdon:

I'm almost certain that Stevie said his ascent was the first free solo in winter. But his ticklist is so amazing that it's dizzying. Not that he goes on about it; he doesn't. But I think the Walker was special for him.

I love the story of him chatting to a guy sitting next to him on a plane - Cassin! They both had good memories of the Walker.

Mick

In reply to james mann:


Yes.

To anyone interested in reading more about the face in winter desmaison's total alpinism is a must. Some of the most truly frightening and harrowing mountain writing in existence.


I would really love to read this but my local library does not have a copy of this £35 book, shame.

In reply to buffalo606:

Has his 'Les Forces de la montagne' been translated into English ? its a look back over his life published in 2005 covering most (all ?) of his well known exploits, plus more.