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    CLIMBING AND MOUNTAINEERING EXPLOITS - 20 True Life Accounts
    CLIMBING AND MOUNTAINEERING EXPLOITS - 20 True Life Accounts
    CLIMBING AND MOUNTAINEERING EXPLOITS - 20 True Life Accounts
    Ebook128 pages2 hours

    CLIMBING AND MOUNTAINEERING EXPLOITS - 20 True Life Accounts

    By Peter Stratton

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    About this ebook

    The exploits of a mountaineer drawn from 20 years of experiences from around the world includin the Alps, Himalayas, Mexico and the British Isles. The book describes epic climbs, misadventures and near misses, too many for comfort, which the author has been involved in. There are accounts of hardship, endurance pain and triumph. The book is written to be enjoyed by both climbers and non-climbers; an exhilarating and inspiring book by any measure.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPeter Stratton
    Release dateSep 18, 2017
    ISBN9781549776601
    CLIMBING AND MOUNTAINEERING EXPLOITS - 20 True Life Accounts

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      Book preview

      CLIMBING AND MOUNTAINEERING EXPLOITS - 20 True Life Accounts - Peter Stratton

      INTRODUCTION

      I first became interested in mountaineering as a young boy, heavily influenced and inspired by the climbing exploits of the great mountaineers, Chris. Bonnington, Doug. Scott, and Dougal Haston.

      After joining the British Army at age 16, I was quickly given the opportunity to go rock climbing and it was not long before I went to the Alps to take a look, just a look, at the great mountains of Europe, including Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn and the Eiger. I was hooked, and quite soon I was spending all my pay on pulling together my own climbing equipment and I then started to look for opportunities to go rock climbing and mountaineering both in the U.K. and the Alps.

      Being an extremely over confident and ambitious young soldier I applied to join an Army Himalayan Expedition that I had seen listed on the units orders notice board. The screening process for the expedition highlighted my need to gain more experience in order to be successful in this application, and this pushed me to go climbing far and wide as often as I could be released from my work duties. This was to be the start of a twenty-year long obsession with the mountains, mountaineering and rock climbing.

      Now, reflecting on my climbing experiences over those years, and in order to write this book, has been a hugely enjoyable experience. It has brought back to life so many memories, some good, some bad, some painful and some humorous. In this book I have chosen twenty of my favourites, including some of the more interesting climbs or events  where I alone as a solo climber or with a partner have pushed hard to achieve our chosen objective, be it a rock climb or a mountain summit, or, have just experienced something different in the climbing and mountaineering environment that is worth writing about.

      I have attempted to draw on experiences and classic routes which I hope that the climbers and mountaineers reading the book will find interesting. For the non-climber I have tried to describe some of the techniques used when climbing as a part of the account. I have also tried to put into words what it is actually like to be on a rock climb or to experience being high on a mountain, challenged by the elements or the terrain.

      Over the years there have been many near misses, probably too many on reflection, and I know that I should consider myself fortunate to still be here in order to write this book. Unfortunately some of my friends and acquaintances have not been so fortunate and too often I have seen the helicopter leaving the mountain taking the unfortunate with it.

      Injury now means that my climbing days are over, they are behind me, and I have moved onto new challenges. For those of you just starting out, enjoy every hour of every day that you can spend in the mountains, and remember, enjoyment does not necessarily only come from climbing hard routes, the important thing is to enjoy the climbing at what ever grade you climb or are most comfortable with. Initially I wanted to climb as many of the big mountains in the Alps and the Himalayas as I could, but, I soon realised that climbing without crowds and without bureaucracy was more important to me and that was why I started solo mountaineering. As well as the physical pursuit of climbing I would also spend many days and nights in the mountains just enjoying being alone and surrounded by their beauty. On one occasion I spent 36 hours in a high meadow opposite the north face of the Matterhorn just to watch it through all its changes of colour, mood and appearance. Just being in the mountains is a magnificent experience, perhaps this perception can only come once you have experienced and endured pain on the mountain and can begin to respect and admire the mountains majestic strength and potential.

      Peter Stratton

      TOUR ROND NORTH FACE 12,440 feet (3,792m)

      As a twenty year old British Army soldier I had travelled to Chamonix to gain experience in Alpine style climbing, which is climbing mixed rock and ice routes. I needed more experience as I had just made the reserve list for an Army Mountaineering Association Himalayan expedition and I needed to beef up my climbing C.V. to stand any chance of getting onto the main team. I had recently spent two weeks in the Alps at my first Joint Services Alpine Meet (J.S.A.M.) where the Army, Air-Force, and Navy come together to climb, I had then gone back to work for two weeks before going back out to the Alps for even more mountaineering; I was crazy about climbing and spent all my spare time and money on the sport. I had arranged to meet another Army climber in London so that we could travel out together by train, but he did not turn up (John, you know who you are); so I went on alone and fortune played her hand for me once again.

      This far my Alpine experience was confined to a two week trip as a seventeen year old to trek around Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn and the Eiger, no climbing just a look with my mouth hanging open in awe at these magnificent peaks. I also had two weeks on the JSAM meet a month earlier doing minor peaks and rock climbs, but, I was enthusiastic and undoubtedly over-confident, characteristics that have served me well over the years.

      So I find myself alone in Chamonix without a plan. I knew from my extensive arm-chair mountaineering experience that The Bar National was meant to be a major haunt for British Mountaineers in Chamonix, so that’s where I went. Sitting at a table in the bar with a consolation beer I was pondering over my maps and guide books wondering what I could do on my own. I had already written an advert for a partner and placed it on the notice board in the bar but in reality I did not think it would lead anywhere. Then a British guy asked if he could join my table, he saw that I was reading the local mountaineering guide book and we got talking. His name was Richard, he was a climber a few years older than me and he was also alone in Chamonix at that time. It is strange how friendships are formed as 36 years later we are still friends and have shared many experiences in the mountains, on the rock faces and in many bars in as many different countries. We agreed that we should join up and that we should go to climb the North Face of the Tour Ronde on the French/ Italian border close to Mont Blanc. This mountain had a special attraction for me as two of my friends had lost their lives whilst descending this mountain only a few months earlier.

      Richard, ever useful, had a car and we drove through to the 7.2 mile long Mont Blanc tunnel to Italy, this tunnel runs right through the Mont Blanc massive and is a convenient way for climbers to access the other side of the hill; a magnificent piece of engineering, according to Richard, but definitely impressive. In Italy we parked up and took the cable car from La Palud to the Torino Hut station high on the ridge bordering Italy with France at an altitude of 11,075 feet (3,375 m). This is spectacular country, even for the non-mountaineer. On the French side it is ice and snow and mountain peaks, the stuff of biscuit tins, and when it reaches Italy it ends with enormous overhanging cornices followed by steep rocky faces and slopes all the way to the valley floor; a major contrast between the two.

      At the Torino Hut the friendly hut warden greeted us and began to check us in for the night. The normal practice was to hand in your Alpine Club card in order to secure a discounted rate, tell them how many nights you would be staying and what meals if any you need whilst there. You pay at the end of your stay and only then do they give you your Alpine Club card back. During the check in process the warden needs to know what climb you intend to do, he can then billet you in a bunk room with climbers who are leaving at a similar time; most serious alpine climbs seem to start at horrendous times in the middle of the night to ensure good ice conditions. We confidently told him that we were going to climb the Tour Ronde by the North Face, his reaction was concerning. He made us pay in advance and gave us our cards back on the spot – he seemed convinced that we would meet a grisly end and the only chance of him seeing us again would be in the mandatory body bags dangling beneath the recovery helicopter. Suddenly it was hard to swallow as I had run out of spit.

      Being British means many things and we are not put off by a little risk, adversity or a challenge, we were still very much up for it, and we settled down in the canteen for our last meal as condemned men. The hut was very cosy and warm having a massive ceramic tile covered heater, a large canteen/day space with a bar where you placed your food and drink orders and lots of tables and chairs for whoever turned up. After dinner it was a thorough sort through of our climbing gear and then to bed in a bunk room with about a dozen other climbers.

      We knew that the following day would be a long one and that we would be up at about 1am to have a light simple breakfast with hot chocolate or coffee before setting off. The bunk room that we were allocated was long and thin, we were allocated the two bunks nearest the door and you could just make out a line of bodies on bunks stretched out the length of the room. How anyone can get to sleep in a room like this is something I cannot understand, a dozen or so male climbers, it was like a scene in a zoo, with all sorts of body noises and the snoring can be loud enough to win an Olympic event if there was one for snoring.

      We needed sleep, the 1am start did not seem far enough away at this point and neither of us could relax enough to achieve slumber, and then a climber at the far end of the line broke into a very loud, grunting snore that nothing would conceal from our ears; a hopeless situation. Richard had had enough of this, he did not suffer fools lightly, so he quietly picked up a climbing boot that belonged to the climber next to us, he motioned for me to duck down and then he flung the boot as hard as he could at the head of the guy doing the snoring and then we pretended to be asleep. The guy got

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