 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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stanton, was reading "The White Spider" t'other week (about the ascent of the Eiger's north face) and it got me spurred on to find out about the highet peaks in the world. When it said Elbrus was the highest peak in continental Europe I was staggered.
Good pub quiz fact I be reckoning.
Wouldn't fancy going there on a hol though – fast descent to the bottom, bit of Vodka for the apres and then a kidnapping or two before you're either sold off as a slave or murdered for your £20 jeans!!!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Just going back to the Eiger for a moment
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An inexperienced Italian pair, Claudio Corti and Stefano Longhi run into extreme difficulties above the second ice field. Corti becomes the first man rescued from the face from above, when German guide Alfred Hellepart is lowered from the summit on a steel cable. The injured Longhi is not so lucky, and dies of exposure before he can be rescued. Franz Mayer and Gunther Nothdurft, two highly skilled German climbers, are also killed after leaving the stranded Italians.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiger
Fromn the book "The Climb Up to Hell"
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The Eiger's formidable history includes one of the strangest episodes in the annals of mountain climbing -- the 1957 expedition of the Italians, Corti and Longhi, and the Germans, Nothdurft and Mayer. One man alone, Claudio Corti, returned from that expedition, and he did so only with the help of some fifty of Europe's finest climbers, assembled virtually overnight in a spectacular rescue attempt.
Corti and Stefano Longhi were climbers who depended more on strength and endurance than on skill and knowledge. Nothdurft and Mayer were among the best European mountaineers, but they attacked the Eiger north wall almost whimsically, in the midst of a vacation, with inadequate preparation or planning beforehand. Neither team knew the other was making the attempt.
This is the story of that climb, of the meeting of the two teams during the Italians' third day on the mountain, of Longhi's eventual death, swept off the cliff face in a gale after nine incredible days and nights of holding on, and, finally, of Corti's rescue, strapped to the back of a climber, the two suspended at the end of a narrow cable and delicately pulled back up over the cliff by the rescuers on top. This is also the story of the suspicion which clouded the survivor's return - a mystery solved only recently when the bodies of the two Germans were finally discovered.
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http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=306
Anybody know what was solved by the discovery of the two Germans bodies?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| DB wrote: |
Anybody know what was solved by the discovery of the two Germans bodies? |
The location of the bodies. The surviving Italian, Corti, could or would never explain what happened on the face. He spent a week there and they'd been helped by the Germans. The Germans went on and summitted and died of exhaustion near the summit. The discovery of their bodies years later established that and put paid to the rumours that the Italians had been involved directly in their deaths in some way.
This incident and the 1996 disaster on Everest would be two of climbing more dark episodes with rumours and disputed accounts. Both exposed issues in mountaineering of their day.
In 1957 there was a reluctance locally to go to the rescue of climbers attempting such an dangerous route and the rescue party was basically an international one. This raised questions about rescue services that are still contentious today.
In 1996 climbers and guides from commercial operations were involved in Everest attempts, "Adventure Consultants" lost 2 clients and 2 guides and "Mountain Madness" lost a guide. Three Indians died at the same time after being met on the mountain by a Japanese party, at that time the Indians were already dying but the Japanese group passed by without offering any aid.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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ise, hi Ian 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Thanks ise.
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| ise wrote: |
This incident and the 1996 disaster on Everest would be two of climbing more dark episodes with rumours and disputed accounts. Both exposed issues in mountaineering of their day.
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If you like this kind of ripping yarn stuff take a look at Rene Desmaison and Serge Gousseault epic climb of the face nord des Grandes Jorasses directe.
René Desmaison - 342 hours on the Grandes Jorasses
Desmaison accused Maurice Herzog, mayor of Cham, of slowing down the rescue effort as pay back for a mediatic rescue attempt made by Desmaison, Hemming and Mick Burke in the 1960s. Desmaison recently died aged 77.
Too give you an idea of out there this route is it has just been repeated, for only the 8th time, in 35 years
http://bealplanet.com/news/news_complete.php?idnews=108
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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We have our very own elbrus on 
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FAQ
