Climbing trivia - a fun way to learn

This thread is already pretty difficult to follow as people are responding without posting the question they are responding too. This may be better in just a simple, "Here is a neat fact!" format instead of Q&A.

Dana Bartlett wrote:From what world class climber did a young imexperienced HMC crew scoop the first ascent of Huntington from? Terray?

Yup

Dana asked: A Canadian manufacturer made a camming unit that was spectacularly useless; its name was similar to that of the first camming units. What was it?

Wow. I have no clue. I do not know of one Canadian gear company (or I just don't know their from Canada). Good question.

Why did early (early = pre 1900s) mountaineers/climbers in europe avoid glaciers? In fact they were terrified to sleep on them as it was thought negative things would for sure happen. What were they so afraid of? Scientific based fear or a religion/belief based fear?

The Stoned Master wrote:Why did early (early = pre 1900s) mountaineers/climbers in europe avoid glaciers? In fact they were terrified to sleep on them as it was thought negative things would for sure happen. What were they so afraid of? Scientific based fear or a religion/belief based fear?

There be DRAGONS!!

Who was the first human to spend the night on the summit of Sagarmatha without O's and lived to tell about it?

"From what world class climber did a young imexperienced HMC crew scoop the first ascent of Huntington from? Terray?"

Eric Engberg wrote: Yup

I'm pretty sure this is wrong. Terray's party indeed made the first ascent of Huntington. A year later, the Harvard team climbed a substantially harder route on the mountain.

Terray then sent a message asking Alaska veteran Bradford Washburn (who knew members of the Harvard team) whether 4 unknown American college kids could really have climbed such a route. Terray was killed in a somewhat mysterious fall before receiving a response from the Harvard team offering proof of their ascent.

I literally finished "Mountain of My Fear" today.

"Which of these summits are climbers asked NOT to fully ascend. That's is they have to stop x feet below the summit proper. Why?

Changabang, cho oyu, latok 1, nanga parbat or kangchenjunga?"

Kangchenjunga. Accordingly, George Band, Joe Brown and others whose names I've forgotten stopped a few feet short on the first ascent in 1955. The reason is the belief that gods live on that summit. I think.

The Stoned Master wrote:Reinhold messner free climbed the first known 5.11a in europe. What route and where in europe? What year? Who was his partner? Hint: his partner would die on a 8000m peak years later and messner would catch a lot of shit for it. Truthfully my memory isn't perfectly clear on who his partner was, I "believe" I'm right. If I'm wrong. Oh well. Well get the truth then somehow.

In July 1968, Reinhold and Guenther Messner climbed the west face of the central pillar of Sass d'la Crusc. Messner's original line is rated UIAA VIII, which is usually translated into 5.11d. During the second ascent, Heinz Mariacher found a traverse that is in the 5.10 range and avoids the crux. No one else led the crux for at least fifteen years.

Guenther died in 1970. Reinhold also did the first ascent of another line on Sass d'la Crusc with Hans Frisch in 1969: The Great Wall. Reinhold devotes pages of "Seventh Grade" to both ascents. He regards the crux on the west pillar the hardest free-climbing move he ever made.

Flynn and Brenta good job! there are Gods in deed they say on that summit. reinhold and his brother were a badass duo.

what was Black Diamonds name before it was Black Diamond? why the change in names/energy? what year(s) did this all happen?

The Stoned Master wrote:what was Black Diamonds name before it was Black Diamond? why the change in names/energy? what year(s) did this all happen?

It was 1989 I think. They were originally Chouinard Equipment.
I'm pretty sure he (Yvon) was losing money and so filed for bankruptcy.
Peter Metcalf (who was an employee) bought him out, moved the company to Salt Lake and renamed it "Black Diamond"

nice dude! if i recall correctly the reason Yvon was losing money was lawsuits. why the lawsuits? i recall the reason being there were no "warning: climbing is dangerous" and some people sued since, well, climbing turned out to be dangerous and the suers were injured or killed (and their families sued). anyone else hear this/confirm this?

The Stoned Master wrote:I would like to learn something (or a lot) new today about climbing. Not just rock or ice but ALL climbing disciplines! My question to you all: what city was Mallory in when he uttered the famous phrase ”Because they are there”? Why was he there (what was he doing)?

So, I guess I'll tackle the very first question you asked:
Unfortunately you (along with most people) have miss quoted him.
The "original" quote ( although it TOO caused lots of controversy about whether or not he actually said it...or at least in that way....some say the reporter paraphrased his answer) was actually " Because IT's there". And it was in response to a New York Times reporter's question : " Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?"
It was asked right before his final attempt on Everest.

The Stoned Master wrote:nice dude! if i recall correctly the reason Yvon was losing money was lawsuits. why the lawsuits? i recall the reason being there were no "warning: climbing is dangerous" and some people sued since, well, climbing turned out to be dangerous and the suers were injured or killed (and their families sued). anyone else hear this/confirm this?

That's exactly right! There were several "product-liability" suits...plus he was also nota actually turning a profit....
I wonder why??? Certainly everyone loved/s his equipment...&.practically the only company doing it at the time...wonder why he wasnt making money off them?
He definately learned SOMETHING and applied it to his next business venture :-)
Definitely is doing better over at Patagonia hah

Hey Stoned Master, a got another Mallory question for ya:
What mountain was Mallory''s friend referring to when he asked him " Have we vanquished an enemy?" And what was George's famous three word response to that question?? (My favorite climber quote by the way)
For extra credit: what year was it?

alright Senda you asked a solid question. i did not know the answer. i pondered/deduced and couldnt get it.

i did learn the answer via the internet which was cool since I read alot I didnt know about Mallory like he put up a 5.9 around world war 1! thats gnarly. i didnt know he was free rock climbing like he was. also didnt know he didnt do that well in school (not surprising, look at his wanderlust/adventurist mind set)

the answer I found: Mont Maudit, 1916, and his reply was "none but ourselves".

that correct? i learned something new. thank you for posting such a solid question. if you think of more ask. if i dont know ill learn something new. its a win-win.

new question: whats the longest time spent (but still lived after the descent) above 26,240ft "the death zone" by a human? what mountain and when?

What are the three rules of mountaineering?
Who did John Miur call "doubly happy"?

Stoned, here's a question I don't know the answer to.

First some background-

Paul Preuss was an Austrian climber back around 1900. He was strongly opposed to pitons and actually believed that even using a rope was somewhat dubious ethically. He did solo first ascents of a number of difficult routes.

What was his most difficult solo first ascent and how hard was it?

There is a neat little story told about a time Royal Robbins and Warren Harding teamed up to climb at Tahquitz (THAT's big news enough...). Warren had lead a pitch and set up a belay. When Royal got there all but a "wafer" pin fell out and they were both hanging from it.
I once sent Royal a query via email asking what route and belay had this story taken place. He laughed at the question and complimented me for asking such a good question...but couldn't remember. Sigh...
I wonder if any of YOU know...

craghead, mark and crisco I will respond tomorrow. heading home and I have no internet at home. I did start to research Preusse(?) and he has become one of the most fascinating characters in climbing for sure. hes up there with fritz weissner, reinhold messner, jc lafaille, etc as a badass and a motivator for myself.

ill respond tomorrow.

if you dont know about this dude Preusse (i dont remember how his names spelled) LOOK HIM UP. well worth your time to read about him. amazing now, amazing then. by todays standards the dudes still a badass.

solid questions dudes, i love it. thank you.

Great topic.

Here's a more light-hearted, travel related question, that teaches a very important bit of info:

Which state did John Sherman identify as having the worst Mexican food?