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This year sees the internationally renowned Swiss mountain sports company celebrate its 150th anniversary, which makes it one of the most tradition-rich companies in its field. The 150 contributions in this anniversary
publication highlight the history of mountain sports with illuminating
150
9.9.2011
YEARS STORIES
AS_Mammut_Umschlag:Jubi-Buch
behind-the-scenes look at the Mammut brand. The 150 stories are written by and about Mammut athletes like Stephan Siegrist and Josh Wharton, mountaineering legends like Reinhold Messner and Oswald Oelz, alpinists like Adolf Ogi and Bernhard Russi, journalists like Karin Steinbach Tarnutzer and Caroline Fink, and mountain photographers like Robert Bรถsch and Thomas Ulrich. Spanning all the disciplines and epochs of mountaineering, the 150 contributions all express a single, simple philosophy: Mammut do not only sell jackets, ropes and carabiners; they sell dreams, too.
www.mammut.ch
ISBN: 978-3-909111-88-6
Mammut Sports Group AG
portraits of some of the most important key players, and an exclusive,
150
YEARS STORIES
Hybrid-Shell Combining soft inner materials with sturdy outer materials supports exactly and only where necessary. This makes for a snug fit and good wear comfort.
Reinforcements Give the shoe its lasting shape and protect the foot and materials.
Footbed Six-piece EVA (ethylenevinyl acetate) footbed features antimicrobial activated-carbon elements, an insulating aluminum layer and stabilizing heel cup.
Carbon shank Ultra-lightweight and stiff, suited to crampons. The core is made of aluminum composite.
BREAKDOWN Reto Rüegger l Frauenfeld/Switzerland 150 Pairs of Mamook GTX take the equivalent of three weeks’ holiday in production. If you take all the individual components of a pair of Mamook GTX and lay them out, they stretch 12.4 meters. Multiply that by all the Mamook sales since Mammut first started manufacturing
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footwear (spring 2009) and you get 124 kilometers, equivalent to the distance between Berne and Zurich. A Mamook GTX boot is made up of 103 individual parts. Multiply this by all the Mamook sales since Mammut first started manufacturing footwear (spring 2009), and you could give every inhabitant of Geneva a part (= 206,000 individual parts).
Foam provides padding and individual shape as well as a comfortable fit and cushioning.
The materials used to make a Mamook GTX have a total surface area of 0.6213 square meters, and therefore 1.2426 square meters a pair. If you multiply this figure by the number of Mamook boots manufactured up to summer 2012, the total surface area would be 12,426 square meters, equivalent to two football fields.
Toe and heel caps Made from heat molded sturdy thermoplastic. They help the toe and heel zones keep their shape and give protection. Gore-Tex®-Insulated-Comfort-Footwear Lining Top quality, molded lining made from PTFC (polytetrafluorocarbon) is 100% waterproof, guaranteed. This model is fitted with an additional insulating layer.
Poro-wedge Ultra-lightweight, durable EVA midsole wedge provides excellent cushioning.
Caroline Fink talked to 1980s climbing celebrity Johnny Dawes about climbing on gritstone. Johnny, as one of the best gritstone climbers of all time, you know every inch of gritstone in England’s Peak District. Can you tell us what makes the rock between Manchester and Sheffield so special? Well, you can’t really compare routes in the Peak with other crags. Gritstone is much rougher, compacter and more rounded. This makes the routes really tricky and very technical. Some of them are
“A LITTLE BIT CRAZY”
difficult to protect, which makes them very dangerous. It also makes them a little bit crazy.
Johnny Dawes l Peak District/England
You were the first to climb some of these “slightly crazy” routes at the hardest grades in the 1980s. What does it take
jority of the easier routes on gritstone don’t need bolts. They have
to be successful on gritstone?
wonderful cracks and holes and can be protected with friends, nuts
The way you use your sense of gravity is more important on gritstone
and hexs. This is the way they have always been climbed.
than on other rocks. You can’t simply ensure that you can do the moves by being strong. The security comes from knowing what the
There is a longstanding tradition of climbing on gritstone.
move really is, not from being strong enough to do the move really
Can you tell us a bit more about the history of the area?
easily. I also think that a dynamic style is very important for climbing
Climbing first started here at the end of the 19th century. Things real-
on gritstone. You get to holds which you can just about hang on to,
ly kicked off after the Second World War. People still had old bits of
but where you can’t pull any harder on them to get the next position.
equipment left over, for example ropes, which they used to climb the
So sometimes, you’ve got to “unweight” the body to get some sort
cliffs in the Peak District.
of movement . . . one move is used to do the next one. So I think we took dynoing a little bit further.
And this involved mainly working class men from Sheffield and Manchester?
In descriptions of your climbing, it is often said that you in-
Yes, exactly. This was the exact opposite of most mountaineers at the
vented the “dyno”.
time, who were members of more elitist organisations, such as the
This is a bit of an exaggeration. But it is true that we really helped to
Alpine Club. The 1980s were a further important stage in the devel-
push the boundaries of dynamic climbing in the Peak District in the
opment of the Peak District – it was a second heyday. My generation
1980s.
basically climbed everything left that was considered “unclimbable”.
Dynos on unbolted rock, sometimes with only marginal protection. Weren’t you ever scared of taking a bad fall? Fear . . . (pauses to consider) . . . it’s not like “fear!” and completely los-
And you weren’t exactly members of the upper class either . . . No, that’s true. We were students and workers. We didn’t have any money. In actual fact, we should probably thank Margaret Thatcher
ing it. It’s more the case that you are completely aware of the situa-
for her neo-liberal, free-market policies of the time. Thanks to her,
tion . . . you work out what to do and then you do it. This doesn’t make
there were no jobs, which meant that we had more time to climb. It
you afraid, it makes you concentrate. You are forced to concentrate
was an amazing time for young climbers in the Peak District; it was a
on climbing your way out of trouble.
really creative period that was full of energy.
Even today, there are no bolts on gritstone anywhere in
What is there left to climb on gritstone today?
the Peak District. Why is this? The rock itself is capable of
There’s really not much left. There is one old quarry with some pos-
taking bolts.
sibilities. It has around twelve routes that have never been climbed.
That’s true. It would be perfectly possible to bolt gritstone routes.
They are all really desperate, even on top rope. But if there are
But the rock doesn’t give you a bolt, so it should be left alone. Let’s
climbers out there who are good enough – then they’ll be more than
be honest here: if you climb from the bottom of a cliff to the top, then
welcome here. The routes are just waiting to be climbed.
this is “rock climbing”. If you put bolts in, then its “bolted rock climbing”. Personally, I think that calling it “sport climbing” is just sexing it up really. With the exception of the really dangerous routes, the ma-
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CLIMBING IN THE FREEZER Stephan Siegrist l Torre Egger/Patagonia
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We had set ourselves a real challenge: the first ever winter ascent
were pretty tired from the efforts of the past few days and had not
Sueños between Torre Egger and Punta Herron. Two completely
of Torre Egger, the most demanding peak in the Patagonian Cerro
quite shaken off our jet lag. Nevertheless, we fought our way out of
new pitches brought us on to the Titanic Route, which was first
and then stick it on top of a mountain where extreme winds freeze
Torre group, which is seldomly climbed even in summer. The plan
our tiny expedition tents to stand under a clear, star-lit sky. We had
climbed in 1987. The face got the sun for just a couple of hours,
it to the rock. Now you have a Patagonian ice mushroom – it’s like
was to go alpine style, light and fast, without fixing ropes in advance
not decided yet whether to start climbing or to use the good weath-
which was enough to cheer us up and warmed our hands. This was
climbing in a giant freezer. The mushroom was the final barrier be-
or stashing gear up on the face. Once started, we intended to climb
er to transport more equipment to the foot of the face. The weath-
especially welcome as the next section involved a long crack.
tween us and the summit. They are generally a real nightmare as
all the way to the summit.
er report indicated that we would have only one chance to reach the
As you might expect in full winter conditions, it was filled with ice.
you basically have to tunnel up unprotected through vertical frozen
On July 27, 2010, Thomas Senf from the Bernese Oberland,
summit, if everything went according to plan. From past expedi-
I was constantly forced to hammer the ice away to find a hold or
powder snow. We needed daylight for this last pitch and anyway we
Mario Walder from East Tyrol, Daniel Arnold from Central Switzer-
tions to Patagonia, I knew that this might be our only good weath-
place protection. The climbing was difficult but incredibly beautiful.
were all exhausted. So we dug ourselves a seat in the steep snow
land and I reached base camp at El Chalten. This is the starting
er window.
Thomas, a highly-respected alpine photographer and a strong
and spent the next four hours in our sleeping bags with the bivouac
tiply the ice hundreds of times over, shape it like a giant mushroom
point for the various base camps in the Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre
We decided to go for it. No one spoke; we all knew what had to
climber, provided some extra excitement when he tried to remove
tent pulled over our heads to protect us from the wind, which had
group. After hearing that a period of high pressure was coming in,
be done before we could start up the face. Using our footsteps from
a 2 by 2 meter chunk of snow from a corner on the route. It prompt-
picked up in the meantime. As we dozed uneasily, each of us was
we decided to pack up and get moving as quickly as possible. We
the previous day, we collected the remaining gear and reached
ly fell 7 meters, taking him with it. There was no damage done apart
haunted by dreams of being caught by a full Patagonian storm just
reached Camp Bridwell, our base camp, the following day on skis
the start of the climb on Swiss National Day at ten in the morning.
from breaking his sunglasses.
short of the summit.
with our heavy rucksacks and then skied back that same evening.
The conditions were perfect. There was no wind, a low sun shone
The sun was setting as we started the long traverse. The wind
Slowly, it started to get light. The wind did not let up, cirrus
It was snowing heavily. Mario was having problems with his knee.
in an incredibly blue sky, just as Karl Gabl, our Austrian meteorolo-
picked up and it turned bitter cold. There was nowhere for a good
clouds scurried across the sky, a sign that the weather was about
The pain was so bad that he was forced to pull out of the expedi-
gist and the Weather God of all Mountaineers had forecasted. The
bivouac and spending a long, cold night hanging from the face was
to change. We had no intention of turning back so close to the top
tion before it had even properly started. We left the next day with-
initial pitches led us in a straight line up the ice to where the glacier
definitely not an option. We climbed on through the night. This put
and got moving as quickly as our cold and stiff fingers allowed. I
out him to transport the remaining equipment needed for a winter
broke off between Cerro Standhardt and Torre Egger – an ideal
us ahead of schedule, which, given that the weather can rapidly de-
knew from a previous expedition that there was supposed to be an
ascent on sledges to Camp Bridwell.
place to set up camp, just as we had planned. “Ice Master” Dani
teriorate in Patagonia, could make all the difference. What would
ice corridor up through the mushroom somewhere on its southern
climbed the next two pitches with me belaying him, while Thomas
normally be easy climbing up the ramp proved extremely challeng-
side. If it was still there, it would allow us to reach the summit quick-
set up camp.
ing. The narrow band of rock that led up through the vertical granite
ly and more easily. We were in luck, it was still there. At midday on
The fresh snow, cold conditions (temperatures down to minus 25 degrees) and short days (it got light at 09:30 and was dark by 18:30) made it hard work pulling the equipment. We spent the next
We had brought sleeping bags and bivouac tents with us to see
night back under the East Face of Torre Egger (Camp Bridwell) and
us through the cold and windy winter nights. It took considerable
then moved our first load of equipment to the foot of the wall, wad-
will power to crawl out of them in the morning. We tried to ignore
At 03:30 A.M., after 22 hours of climbing, we reached the foot of
ing through snow that was waist-high in places. We then marched
the fact that the summer in Switzerland would be something
the summit ice mushroom. These ice formations, typical for the
back for three hours to spend a very cold night at Campo Niponi-
like 60 degrees warmer than it was in Patagonia! On August 2,
Cerro Torre group, are seldom encountered elsewhere in the world.
no. And woke in the early hours of the next morning, as usual. We
we climbed two pitches of an unfinished route to the Col de los
Take a freezer which gets defrosted for the first time in years, mul-
face was covered in ice and powder snow. This made climbing by
August 3, 2010, all three of us stood on top Torre Egger, only a week
the light of our head torches a rather delicate affair.
after we had left Switzerland. I have spent a total of 12 months over the past 18 years climbing in Patagonia, but this was the first time I had been fortunate enough to reach a summit as quickly as this.
87
tains of India recharges the batteries, leaving you better prepared for any challenge the urban jungles of New York, London, Paris or Berlin might throw at you. This course of therapy is not entirely free of risk. I have lost more
CLIMB UNTIL I DROP Oswald Oelz l Around the world
I still live a pretty in-
than 25 friends over the years. These are people with whom I have
tense life and have no
climbed on the same rope as, in whose company I’ve been privi-
intention of dying any
leged to appreciate that life is a beautiful gift. They have been buried
time soon. I plan to climb for at least another 20 years; in fact, I in-
by avalanches, have disappeared, fallen or died from high altitude
tend to climb until I drop. I have enough potential destinations to
cerebral edema. They have journeyed on ahead to another place.
last me the next two hundred years. It’s going to happen some day
Whether all these things were a price worth paying remains a mys-
though; I’ve noticed that the obituaries in the papers are often about
tery to me.
my generation. I have never been slow to grasp an opportunity, but
The Grim Reaper has had me in his sights and only narrowly
at the end of the day, I’m going to have to leave a long list of unfin-
missed me on more than one occasion. Close shaves involving
ished projects behind.
falling rocks, avalanches, and pulmonary edema or breaking bolts
Climbing the pocketed cliffs of Oman, snow bivouacs in Lunana
have made me appreciate my life in a more conscious manner. We
in northwestern Bhutan and sheep-shearing and trekking in the
climb to experience intensity, not because we have a death wish.
Dolpa region of Nepal have all helped provide a real contrast to my
“The secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness
career in medicine as the director of a hospital. For me, climbing
and the greatest enjoyment is: to live dangerously! Build your cities
has always been a complementary archaic lifestyle that has served
on the slopes of Vesuvius!” said Friedrich Nietzsche, the German
to counterbalance the over-regulated plastic world that we live
philosopher. In my opinion, mountaineering is a wonderful alterna-
in. Life affords us comfort, a high standard of living, a more than
tive.
doubled life expectancy, as well as allergies, cancer-inducing che-
The reason why we do these things is perhaps rather different
micals and obesity. We have destroyed the natural rhythms of the
than we would think. Take, for example, Diego Wellig’s answer when
world, our nights are constantly illuminated, and we are not sup-
asked why he wanted to climb 8,000 meter mountains. “Because
posed to experience rain, cold or storms. There are no bears and no woolly mammoths left to threaten us. Food is now abundant and no longer has to be hunted or cultivated. Diesel and aviation gasoline save us from walking, layers of concrete, metal and other materials seal us off from the world outside. Electrical cables and radio networks transport billions of banalities across the globe on a daily basis. Everybody sends text messages, but only a few people seem to be actually able to talk. All this is forced into an ever tighter corset of regulation; safety regulations have become the new terrorist networks. I am no longer supposed to consume the brains of my own lambs and in the near future, it will be illegal to leave offal to the foxes. Virtual worlds, safety standards, regulations and heteronomy make life more comfort-
there are no 9,000 meter mountains.” The same applies to George
able and also serve to fill the practices and pockets of the psy-
Leigh Mallory, who told a journalist in 1924 that he wanted to climb
choindustry. The primeval world in which we developed was a very
Everest “because it’s there.” Both of these answers express how
different sort of place. Like our ancestors, we were mainly occupied
futile and unanswerable the question is.
with finding food, keeping warm and fighting over women. If a bear spotted you, you had to either flee or turn and fight.
I continue to enjoy each day I get to climb; feeling for a hold, the sun beating down on the back of my neck, the rising thirst and the
Climbing involves returning to the conditions experienced during
soaking snow. I feel that my own experiences on the Jabal Misht in
the millions of years of human evolution. It is essential to find a safe
Oman, the Cholatse in Khumbu, the Heiligkreuzkofel in South Tyrol
place to bivouac, to build a fire to melt snow, to be able to cook
and the Triemli Hospital in Zurich are best summed up by the Swiss
potatoes with parmesan and to have sharp weapons (crampons).
playwright and novelist Max Frisch in his own inimitable manner in
This is where the regenerative potential of wilderness experiences
“An Answer from the Silence” (1937), where he writes: “Why don’t
lies. Climbing in unknown regions makes flashmobs, the taxman or
we live when we know we’re here just this one time, just one single,
the size of your automobile irrelevant. Trekking in the high moun-
unrepeatable time in this unutterably magnificent world!”
“You don’t climb a difficult and poorly protected route because you want to die; on the contrary, you do it because you want to live life more intensely.” 88
Oswald Oelz
A QUESTION OF LUCK
91
Jean-Yves Michellod l Verbier/Switzerland Extreme skiing down steep slopes – that was my thing. As a pas-
muscles in my thighs as well as some of the nerves could be revived
to forget the past – not draw a line under it but move on to other
sionate freerider, I especially liked to climb a peak and pick a line
because my spinal cord had not been severed, just squashed.
things. In other words, free your mind and do what you can despite
down it that looked totally impossible. I worked as a safety officer
After four or five months, I started to stand up and walk between
your disability.
at the Verbier Xtreme Snowboard Race for three or four years,
two parallel handrails. Through constant training, I was also able to
The fact that I had skied so much before really helped. I was
so I knew my way around pretty well. When the event organizer,
regain a sense of balance, so that today I am able to walk without
scared of course before my first ride on the skibob. To be able to
Nicolas Hale-Woods, decided to open up the race to skiers in
crutches. Since I could not move my feet at all, they used splints to
turn the thing, I have to pick up some speed and slide through the
2004, I asked if I could take part. He invited me to compete and I
fix them to my ankles, which is why I walk with a slight stoop.
turn. But I picked it up quickly and one day I actually skied down the
won the race first time out – I was 27 at the time. That was the be-
At the start of my rehabilitation, my goal was to be able to lift my-
pistes at Verbier again, without falling. Powder was a bit tricky with
ginning of my freeriding career. But I never wanted to be a profes-
self out of bed and into the wheelchair without any help. As I re-
the skibob as it tends to sink in – especially for my friends who had
sional sportsman, living off sponsorship entirely. I don’t have
gained some mobility in my legs, the hope grew that one day I might
to lift me out of it 30 times a day! There was only one way round the
enough of a business head for that. However, my profession as a
be able to ski normally again. But it was such a struggle to walk that
issue – go faster. Now I enjoy powder skiing just as much as I did
mountain guide gave me enough spare time to hurl myself down
I realized it just wouldn’t be possible. So I looked for a viable alter-
before the accident. I am even quicker than the able-bodied skiers
steep slopes.
native and discovered that it was possible to ski in a seated posi-
because I don’t get thigh-burn like they do – you almost have to
On March 12, 2006, everything changed. I was skiing down a
tion. I came across Dualski on the Internet, a French company that
force me to stop. I enjoy the speed: it’s like being on a kart track.
45 degree slope on Mont Fort, in Les 4 Vallées ski region, and set
manufactures ski equipment for disabled people. They made me a
I can even carve turns at full speed. Despite sitting in a seat, I feel
off an avalanche that took me with it for 300 meters and slammed
kind of skibob, and in January 2007, eight months after my acci-
totally free.
me into the rocks. I broke all my ribs and fractured my back in
dent, I started to ski again.
several places; one of these was on my 12th vertebra. I was pretty
Para-freeriding, as I call it, is very different to ordinary skiing.
So I have ended up leading the life of a professional freerider after all. I have been lucky, all my partners have stuck by me, and be-
much broken in two. They operated on me immediately and
I sit on a carbon frame that is connected by a shock absorber to the
cause I continue to do film work I am almost more well-known these
patched me together with metal plates. After a week in hospital, I
substructure; this, in turn, is mounted on two skis so that you are
days than before. I get around a bit, too. I was in Chile and Russia,
was transferred to Sion for rehabilitation.
more buoyant in powder. You can use any model of ski with the bob.
and I am on the panel of judges for the Freeride World Tour. I am no
I had always said to myself that the worst thing that could ever
I also have two small arm supports to help with balance. Apart from
happier than before my accident, but I can still ski and travel. I think
happen would be to have an accident that left me paralyzed from
these aids, the skiing itself is pretty much the same, except that
many people would gladly swap places with me – not my wheel-
the waist down. When my worst fear came true at the age of 29, I
I can’t snowplough to brake.
chair, but my life.
was in a bad mental state for a few days. But at the time, I had a
When you have skied your whole life and suddenly, from one day
I have always been passionate about skiing and it was skiing
3-month old daughter, and as a father, your priorities are different.
to the next, you cannot even stand, you feel like you are starting
that gave me something to work towards. And to work up to – on
You cannot allow yourself to think of the end. What really helped
from scratch again, especially with the skibob. The toughest part
May 7, 2009, with the active help of numerous friends, I managed
was that, in spite of everything, I noticed that I was making a little
was going back to where I always used to ski, where everyone knew
a five hour ascent on crutches from the Vallot Hut to the summit of
bit of progress. The doctors started from the premise that it would
me from before and felt sorry for me. But I got over that pretty quick
Mont Blanc. The snow conditions were perfect, so I became the
be a great achievement if I was ever able to use crutches to get from
too. It was not long before I was having fun again. I think that is
first person to skibob down the North Face of Mont Blanc.
my bed to the bathroom. I was incredibly fortunate that some of the
the important thing when you have been in an accident; you have