Murder of the impossible
If you are at a loose end after a day hillwalking or climbing in Snowdonia then why not pop into Plas y Brenin for an evening lecture? The staff give illustrated lectures every Monday, Tuesday and Saturday evenings at 8pm and these are free, open to the public (you don’t have to be on a course) and there is no need to book in advance. Just turn up, grab yourself a pint from the Snowdon bar and follow the horde into the lecture room next door.
We did just that and settled into our seats to listen to Neil Johnson recount the first successful, all British assent of Cerro Torre in Patagonia.
Walter Bonatti, the Italian born climber who set new standards in post-war Alpine climbing had declared Cerro Torre “impossible” and from the photos Neil displayed it was easy to see why.
However, in 1970, Bonatti’s countryman, Cesare Maestri climbed a route on the south-east side of the mountain, the "Compressor Route", so-called because he used a petrol-driven air compressor weighing 70kg (yes 70kg!) to power a drill and place 350 bolts up a blank section of rock – thereby murdering the impossible.
Neil kept us spell bound for an hour and a half with his tale of repeating the route in 2005 but I came away with three enduring memories of the lecture.
Firstly the simplicity of life on an expedition – long periods of boredom interspaced with short periods of pure terror. The normal day to day activities of life and decision making are stripped away and as Neil puts it you are left with:
“move your hands, move your feet,
move your hands, move your feet,
eat,
move your hands, move your feet,
move your hands, move your feet,
sleep”
Secondly, climbing ethics – Maestri bolted the climb and even left the compressor, now rusting, roped to the blank vertical face 35m below the summit. It is all too easy to sit in your armchair and criticise this approach but Neil describes the moment when he reaches it and, without hesitation, stands on it as a man made ledge – pure relief – “ethics are for the elite like Messner”
Finally, the horror as Neil dislodges a large chunk of ice from the compressor which falls onto two climbers below, knocking his boss unconscious and breaking the ribs of another.
A gripping, humorous and inspiring lecture.
You can read teammate, Steve Long’s account of the trip here
We did just that and settled into our seats to listen to Neil Johnson recount the first successful, all British assent of Cerro Torre in Patagonia.
Walter Bonatti, the Italian born climber who set new standards in post-war Alpine climbing had declared Cerro Torre “impossible” and from the photos Neil displayed it was easy to see why.
However, in 1970, Bonatti’s countryman, Cesare Maestri climbed a route on the south-east side of the mountain, the "Compressor Route", so-called because he used a petrol-driven air compressor weighing 70kg (yes 70kg!) to power a drill and place 350 bolts up a blank section of rock – thereby murdering the impossible.
Neil kept us spell bound for an hour and a half with his tale of repeating the route in 2005 but I came away with three enduring memories of the lecture.
Firstly the simplicity of life on an expedition – long periods of boredom interspaced with short periods of pure terror. The normal day to day activities of life and decision making are stripped away and as Neil puts it you are left with:
“move your hands, move your feet,
move your hands, move your feet,
eat,
move your hands, move your feet,
move your hands, move your feet,
sleep”
Secondly, climbing ethics – Maestri bolted the climb and even left the compressor, now rusting, roped to the blank vertical face 35m below the summit. It is all too easy to sit in your armchair and criticise this approach but Neil describes the moment when he reaches it and, without hesitation, stands on it as a man made ledge – pure relief – “ethics are for the elite like Messner”
Finally, the horror as Neil dislodges a large chunk of ice from the compressor which falls onto two climbers below, knocking his boss unconscious and breaking the ribs of another.
A gripping, humorous and inspiring lecture.
You can read teammate, Steve Long’s account of the trip here
1 comment:
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