New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #33

Corbett's best friend was fellow Exum guide Jake Breitenbach. Jake perished on the '63 Everest expedition, buried under a massive icefall on the Khumbu glacier. A few years later his body appeared and Barry recovered it and buried Jake at a place in the region.  I knew Jake better than I knew Barry. He was a delightful person, friendly and kind - and an excellent guide. I recall visiting Jake and his wife, Lou, in the small rustic wooden cabin where they lived in Jackson Hole. He and I may have done a Teton climb together, but my memory fails. When the news that he had died came out there was palpable grief in Jackson Hole. He was only 28.

George, I've read that Barry died of bladder cancer, refusing chemotherapy. After I rediscovered Baxter's Lost Pinnacle and Yvon and I and others had been up the actual short spire, Barry opened up the entire ridge leading up to the top pitch and the longer climb became very popular for guiding, I believe.

John Gill wrote:

Nick, I think that is Paul Petzoldt, not Leigh Ortenburger who wrote Teton Tales. I met Paul back in the 1950s when he shared the guide service with Exum. The history of the guided services in the Tetons would be interesting. I knew several guides, including Barry Corbett and Dick Pownall. I'll never forget first meeting Pownall and Dick Emerson - a climbing ranger - at the Jenny Lake boulders where they would stoop down and powder their hands in the forest duff before trying a problem. I had a small block of chalk and showed them how well it worked. 

Corbett had a very interesting life. He died at the age of 68. I met him when he had been admitted to Dartmouth and scored the highest grade ever recorded on their entrance exam. He was tall, relaxed and handsome, and at some point starred in a commercial for a cigarette company. Nevertheless, he chose a life as a guide, climbing and skiing, and participating in a new route on Everest in 1963. With his calm demeanor and presence of mind he became the perfect guide for Exum. Later, he married a Rockefeller of some sort and owned  a lodge in Jackson Hole, then was divorced and lost access to all that money. Barry became an excellent photographer, but was a victim of a helicopter crash in 1968 that left him paralyzed below the waist. He spent a long time adjusting to his new status, and became an advocate for gaining methods of mobility for the disabled, eventually creating the magazine, New Mobility. He also became a concert-level pianist. Below, JFK congratulates Barry and teammates on the Everest expedition.

Ironically, Barry had been involved in the legendary expedition of the 1960s conducted by the CIA to plant a nuclear device on top a Himalayan peak to spy on China and had participated in an award ceremony where he was given a medal, then had it immedately taken back. RIP Barry

I interacted with a few Exum guides and rangers at the beginning of my climbing journey.  I climbed the upper Exum Ridge with Dick Pownell, and Jake Breitenbach, the East Ridge of Owen with Bill Byrd, and for me the piece de resistance, the SW Ridge of Symmetry Spire with Barry Corbet. A 5.7 rock climb after what had been mostly scrambling was an eye-opener.  I'm no longer sure of exact dates, but about 1958--1962.  I also knew, at least a little, Sterling Neale, Pete Sinclair, and Ralph Tingey.

Folks interested in the Teton-centered American climbing scene from 1959--1970 will find Pete Sinclair's book We Aspired--The Last Innocent Americans to be an absorbing read. https://uofupress.com/books/we-aspired/. There is an account of ascents of Alaska and Mexico, but most of the narrative centers around the Tetons, and the lives of the climbing rangers and guides.  I have to admit that I am fascinated by the meaning of the subtitle, but I don't think I've understood what Pete was driving at and have always intended to reread the book.

Among other harrowing tales is the account of an epic rescue on the North Face of the Grand and an equally epic rescue of a stormbound stranded AMC party on the Otter Body route on the Grand Teton.  The latter episode represented one of the most egregious failures of mountain leadership ever. It was the death knell of an extensive and ambitious AMC leadership program, as the person responsible for the disaster, Elllis Blade, had achieved  the highest level, an Unlimited Leader, in the AMC hierarchy.

Jake Breitenback died in a cornice fall on Everest in 1963.  Fifty years later, his ropemate Dick Pownall recounted what happened to an audience of 400 in Jackson.  Jake's widow was in the front row.

John —

You’re correct that Barry died of cancer. He chose not to fight because of all of his other problems. And I wonder if the bladder cancer might have been a result of his long disability.

I’ve climbed Baxter’s via a few different routes, including the direct ridge from the bottom. Fun!

On the subject of the 1963 Everest Expedition, a personal anecdote. I read Hornbein’s book over and over in the 70s when I was a teenager, marveling at the pictures and their accomplishments, and saddened at the loss of Jake early on. (I think I may have even permanently “borrowed” the book from a local library I’m sorry to say).
Anyway, somewhere in the book there is a reference to them hauling 60 pound loads up to whatever camp… and I really wanted to see what that was like. Not much snow and ice near our house in Phoenix, Arizona, but there were some rocky hills maybe a mile or two away. So I loaded up my Camp Trails frame backpack with bricks, rocks, and books until it showed 60 pounds on our bathroom scale, then a buddy and I walked up one of the nearby hills. Yep, it was damn heavy.
Fast forward decades later and I’m sitting in a theater in Boulder, Colorado for a mountaineering event and benefit honoring Jeff Lowe. I happened to sit behind a couple of older gentlemen and immediately knew they must be important figures in the history of our sport, based on the snippets of conversation I could catch. When another older guy came up and said to one of them, “Hey, Tom, good to see you!”, it clicked. It was Tom Hornbein.
I leaned forward at one point in a lull in their conversation with an “excuse me…” and told him my story of hauling the bricks and books up a hill in Phoenix… and how impressed I was by that ‘63 expedition. He was very gracious as I remember.
I think he still lives up in Estes Park, Colorado???

EDIT: I just Googled Tom and it appears, sadly, that he passed away a couple of years ago. 

The one time I climbed Baxters we did the complete ridge. WF you can find anything you want if you look for it. I certainly have never seen in my lifetime the political stupidity over health care that we experienced in 2020. In the 60s Certainly  in Vermont there was no hoopala about getting your shots. 

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

The one time I climbed Baxters we did the complete ridge. WF you can find anything you want if you look for it. I certainly have never seen in my lifetime the political stupidity over health care that we experienced in 2020. In the 60s Certainly  in Vermont there was no hoopala about getting your shots. 

Hey Nick… I hope you’re feeling better. I am very slowly on the mend. I wasn’t going to say anymore on this subject, but it is a big topic and important for some of us. Your previous post sent me back to my own childhood. Yeah I remember Lining up for the polio vaccine which I think was in a series of sugar cubes?  I don’t know if we actually ever got any other vaccines— maybe a couple, no big deal. But These are not those times. 

The food we ate was not chemicalized. When we bought artichokes at Safeway, we had to soak them in saltwater for an hour so all the bugs would crawl out. Apples had worms. They just did. We didn’t have plastic bags. And even if you ate the most crap food available – – say a Bob’s big boy, it was minimally processed and I am guessing next to no poisonous additives. Our dairy delivered milk in glass bottles fresh from the cows who had received no growth hormones or routine antibiotics.

I read an interview with a well-known doctor who said that he would rather treat anyone over 60 today than a younger person because of the hopeless pollution their bodies have received their wholelives,. We simply had more years living in a healthy world.

There are exceptions to everything I have said.. We did grow up with leaded gasoline, for instance. And our dentists used loads of high mercury, silver fillings in our little teeth.  But when I’m having it out with Tony for what he views as extravagant and privileged shopping ie Whole Foods, I feel like screaming. I do not love Whole Foods. I’m pissed that I have to drive an hour and pay ridiculous money just to get an artichoke with worms.  Or to buy a piece of meat from an animal that was allowed to graze outdoors in the sun.  

I’m getting ready to start my herb garden this morning.   

I received a Facebook message from Hank Levine yesterday. Slowly, slowly, these various names are coming into focus.  I listened to a great podcast with Randy Leavitt last week.  I didn’t realize he also surfs. What a magnificent group this Climbing crowd is and especially on into old age.  

Wow!  Missed a few messages on my trip up to Vermont on Friday and climbing at Petra yesterday with my 22 yo UVM daughter and 16 yo son.  Is there anything better than climbing with your kiddos and just laughing and having fun?!?!?

We were supposed to drive back to NY today but with the storm we're happily staying put until tomorrow!

Lori:  I actually did a fellowship in Corneal transplants and surgery and I can tell you that about 5% of my practice is taking care of folks over 60 who developed "Shingles" in one of their eyes.  Extremely painful, often lifelong loss of vision, and they often develop glaucoma as well.  No scare tactics, just true experience (and 5% might not sound like a lot but I see thousands of patients per year).  And that's not to mention their facial/forehead neuropathic pain that is chronic and so hard to treat.  Two shots of Shingrix could have prevented it.  As soon as I turned 50 I got those shots.  But I'm all for independent choice so, of course, do your own research and make your own decisions.  

And someone was talking about Grimsel Pass.  I did a trip there to climb Foxie and Via Franz, ands bunch of others. Such insanely great climbing!  My partner and I did the two extensions to Via Franz and ended up doing 27 pitches with one pitch at 5.9 but mostly much much easier.  Random bolts placed 5 to 10 meters apart.  Hiked into the base on a glacier in the dark, climbed all day up to around 3,000 meters, and then out that evening. One of my most fun days out in the last few years.

Time to go play in the new snow!

Ah yes the 60's when the environment in general and the food chain was so pure.  Just a couple of little nits - DDT and a host of other pesticides.  Alar on the apples.  Crop dusting.  Mosquito spraying.  Massive air pollution in urban areas.  TV dinners.  Better living through chemistry.  Dow. napalm.  Agent Orange.

But at least smallpox and polio had been pretty well eradicated - gee I wonder how that happened...

Buck, I know of a couple people who got shingles and it was absolute hell for them. I got the shingles vaccine about five years ago and am very glad I found out about it!

I remember my dad wearing a paper dust mask while spraying our vegetable fields with DDT but heck, he made it to 76...   On the good side we had the enclopedia Brittanica and used it. we learned how to read and write and study history. Hated it at the time but we did not have TV so escaped having our brains rotted.  I got the shingles shots two years ago. kicked my butt but worth it. aparently we are in the middle of the biggest snow storm of the decade.. I feel the urge to go out and have a drive about.... 

To be sure, the actions that have already been taken by this administration are unusually damaging, and the first 'hundred days' have felt like an eternity. After many elections, one Party or the other has found themselves in the political wilderness, and the Democrats have very much put themselves there this time around.

The pendulum will swing back, however. In the meantime, I’m limiting my exposure to the steaming hot sewage that is coming out of Washington these days- the media’s hyperbolic hand wringing is only exacerbating this drama. I’ve found peace of mind in focusing on other projects, climbing, hiking, and thinking in geologic time. This, too, shall pass.

apogee wrote:

To be sure, the actions that have already been taken by this administration are unusually damaging, and the first 'hundred days' have felt like an eternity. After many elections, one Party or the other has found themselves in the political wilderness, and the Democrats have very much put themselves there this time around.

The pendulum will swing back, however. In the meantime, I’m limiting my exposure to the steaming hot sewage that is coming out of Washington these days- the media’s hyperbolic hand wringing is only exacerbating this drama. I’ve found peace of mind in focusing on other projects, climbing, hiking, and thinking in geologic time. This, too, shall pass.

While I hope that you are correct that "this too shall pass", I do not at all share your assurance that it will. I very much fear that we have attained, and crossed over, a fundamental breaking point in our always fragile 'democratic social compact'. As a ( very amateur) student of history, who has spent a good amount of time studying the development of authoritarian regimes, I see much actually happening that underlies my concerns---none of it based upon 'hyperbolic hand-wringing'.

As far as the Democrats having "put themselves there", I think that you are very much over-simplifying what is happening. While I agree that the 'Democrats'---or, at least, prominent Democratic politicians and spokespeople, have made various political mistakes and have taken stances on some issues and policies that have not been well-received by many voters, as I posted previously, I think that our current dire situation is more the result of long-term trends--economic, social, environmental ( and not just in this country) that were/are beyond their control.
Again, I hope that I am wrong and you are right, but certain damage already done is likely irreversible. And whether or not each of us 'pays attention' to what is happening, that doesn't change the fact that it is happening!!!! And by not paying attention, you are contributing to letting it happen.

Terry E wrote:

Buck, I know of a couple people who got shingles and it was absolute hell for them. I got the shingles vaccine about five years ago and am very glad I found out about it!

Yup, I came down with shingles during the covid pandemic and it sucked big time.

I hadn't been vaxed for it previously, but did the jab once I recovered,

highly recommend it if you had chickenpox as a kid.

Carry on... 

Recovering from shingles right now. Very mild case, was less than awesome. 

In a lighter vein . . . guess who?  A good friend and excellent bouldering companion. 

John Gill wrote:

In a lighter vein . . . guess who?  A good friend and excellent bouldering companion. 

Rich Goldstone

Bingo. Where you been Ol' Guy?

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

I got the shingles shots two years ago. kicked my butt but worth it. aparently we are in the middle of the biggest snow storm of the decade.. I feel the urge to go out and have a drive about.... 

Buddy of mine (tower climber, bunch of FAs) was doing a river trip in China when he got shingles. He was in debilitating pain for years from it. He turned 50 on the trip and already has his Shingrix shot scheduled for the week he got home. Poor guy. 

You getting all snow up there in the Northern Kingdom?  Down here in Boston we got six inches of the white stuff last night, and then it turned to rain and it's been raining pretty good all day today. We're going to wind up with four inches of mashed potatoes. If this had all been snow it really woulda been the snow of the decade here. 

GO

Edited to add:  I got my Shingles vaccine right when i turned 50. Worst reaction I've had to a vaccine. Both shots knocked me on my ass for a day. I was and still am so grateful for the opportunity to get them. 

Alan Rubin wrote:

While I hope that you are correct that "this too shall pass", I do not at all share your assurance that it will. I very much fear that we have attained, and crossed over, a fundamental breaking point in our always fragile 'democratic social compact'. As a ( very amateur) student of history, who has spent a good amount of time studying the development of authoritarian regimes, I see much actually happening that underlies my concerns---none of it based upon 'hyperbolic hand-wringing'.

As far as the Democrats having "put themselves there", I think that you are very much over-simplifying what is happening. While I agree that the 'Democrats'---or, at least, prominent Democratic politicians and spokespeople, have made various political mistakes and have taken stances on some issues and policies that have not been well-received by many voters, as I posted previously, I think that our current dire situation is more the result of long-term trends--economic, social, environmental ( and not just in this country) that were/are beyond their control.
Again, I hope that I am wrong and you are right, but certain damage already done is likely irreversible. And whether or not each of us 'pays attention' to what is happening, that doesn't change the fact that it is happening!!!! And by not paying attention, you are contributing to letting it happen.

Before the war the US government had the OSS do an intelligence report on Hitler. I copied parts of the report's summary (The report is online, can't remember where) and posted it on a website - everyone, everyone assumed I was writing about Trump. So, Alan, I share your pessimism. It took the threat of jail to get Nixon to comply - would that happen here?

WF---I am very curious about the report you mention---and, even without reading it, am somewhat dubious about it's authenticity. It surely couldn't have been produced by the OSS, as that organization didn't exist prior to the war. And, again, prior to the start of the war, the isolationist US had very little in the way of a foreign intelligence capability--though both the military services and the State Department did have some intelligence services.