Nanga
Parbat Pilgrimage: Hermann Buhl (translation by Hugh Merrick).
448
pages; Perfect Bound Paperback: £9.99. Black/White photographs.
‘My
thoughts, my dreams, my whole life were nothing but the mountains’
The author.
When
this outstanding autobiography was first published in Germany in
1954, by an act of serendipity I was in Innsbruck the following year,
the home city of Hermann Buhl and learnt from some of the locals,
that he was admired by them in that era, rather like George Best or
Zatopek were back in the UK. We were not used to climbers receiving
that kind of recognition but once we learnt about his other ascents
besides the Nanga Parbat climb we understood what the ‘gush’ was
all about, and in 1956 the publication of ‘Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage’
in an English hard case bound edition made his story widely known
both in Britain and the USA. A book which became an instant classic
despite its grammatical short comings, for its is brim full of cliché
and aphorisms, but it is also full of action and incredible
achievements, and none jarring romantic observations of the wonders
of the mountain environment as its subject, Buhl ascends up through
them in the ongoing yearly seasons. So I am writing about a book that
has inspired more than one generation of mountaineers by what
Reinhold Messner; one of Buhls keenest admirers reports with its
‘total alpinism’.
Buhl
was born poor in 1924, and his mother died when he was four and he
spent some of his early years in an orphanage. He was a frail child
and the older stronger children when he decided he was going to be a
climber, declared to him that ‘They’ll never make a climber of
me’. But he was not to be denied and fortunately for him two
factors helped him in his quest, the situation of Innsbruck with
mountains ranges surrounding its place in the Inn Valley, and there
was a junior section of the Austrian Alpine Club based there. It was
with the members of that organisation, some as young as himself he
learned ‘the ropes’ and made friends that remained and joined him
in his ever more ambitious ascents in the nearby limestone ranges
already replete with challenging ascents pioneered by previous
generations. In the Kalkogel, the nearest major climbing area to
Innsbruck during his novitiate, the Wetterstein, the Karwendel, and
further afield the Wilde Kaiser. During those early years Buhl was
limited very much by lack of funds, for his father was a poorly paid
working class artisan, and his friends came from equally materially
limited backgrounds. But just like the working class climbers in the
UK they became adept at ducking and diving, sleeping in hay ricks ,
unable to afford to stay in the climbing huts when visiting areas
like the Wilde Kaiser, but building up their expertise and moving up
through the grades of the climbs they tackled.
Surprising-
to me is that he managed to keep climbing through the early years of
the war, but he was only 15 years old at that start of that conflict.
Over those years leading up to his being called up into the Army in
1943 at 18 years, he had already achieved many major ascents with
climbs such as the Schusselkar east wall in the Wetterstein, this a
route with the highest grade of that era, a V1+. It was not until
British climbers started repeating some of these routes that
realisation was made of how imposing they really were. For instance
the Lalider North Wall in the Karwendel is 3000 feet in height and
was first climbed by Hias Aukenthaler and Hannes Schmidhuber in 1933.
Both these two were climbers from Innsbruck, with the first earning
his living as a chimney sweep. Ian Howell and myself learnt the hard
way that a route like the Schmid/Krebs on that face was not to be
dismissed lightly, as we had also found epic the Schmidhuber on the
Kleine Ochsenwand in the Kalkogel; both of these grade V1 routes were
also pioneered in the 1930’s.
When
first into the Army in 1943 it seemed Buhl enjoyed a cushy posting in
St Johann at the foot of the Kaisergebirge ,training in the Army
Mountain Ambulance School, but being such a dedicated climber, and
with a like minded fellow recruit, they bunked off and pioneered the
first ascent of the Mauk West Wall. The hardest climb then in the
Wilde Kaiser range, for which on returning to barracks he was
court-martialled, and the result of which was of him being
transferred to an infantry regiment. There follows in the book a
blank climbing history of the next three years; with war, bullets
flying and a prison-camp behind barbed wire. My memory from Innsbruck
friends is that he took part in the Italian campaign, and was
captured by the Americans, so it was the summer of 1946 before Buhl
was back to climbing. And as he makes plain in his book, this was
then in a country where everything was scarce, especially food, and
it really sorted out the dedicated climber from the mere dabbler. I
can empathise with that, for when I started climbing in the late
1940’s we faced a similar situation, maybe not as bad as the
Austrians but we were supposed to be feeling victorious as the
winners in the conflict? Readers might be interested that even in
1955 when I was in Austria it was still occupied, and Innsbruck was
in the French zone.
Post
the war, Buhl worked at odd jobs, but eventually he decided to apply
to become a mountain guide. In order to even qualify for taking the
tests for this, he had to spend two years as a hut porter, carrying
goods from the valley to an alpine hut. Which he undertook; but he
was also climbing as much as possible and eventually he qualified as
a guide. Soon he was notching up major ascent after major ascent, the
North Face of the Cime Ovest, the Royal Wall of the Civetta (the
Solleder/Lettenbauer) , Furchetta North Wall, Marmolada South West
(in winter) etc for he had managed, by initially crossing the border
illegally and then later when normal relations were resumed and he
had gained a passport, legally travelling to climb in the Dolomites.
In
1948 the Austrian Alpine Club received an invitation for four
climbers to visit the Ecole National e in Chamonix. Hias Rebitsch,
Luis Vigl , Erwin Schneider and Hermann were chosen for this. The
weather was bad that year in the Mont Blanc range, but Rebitsch, Vigl
and Buhl managed the North Face of the Grand Charmoz, with Heckmair’s
Direct finish, and Buhl and Vigl ascended the North Face of the
Triolet. After which no more climbing could be achieved for the
weather was truly atrocious.
So
Buhl’s life was set, climbing and guiding, and his ascents became
ever more impressive, he made some outstanding winter ascents, and
even more impressive solo, often achieved in inclement weather or at
night. The outing for which he was most known before his Nanga Parbat
climb, was his solo of the North East Face of the Piz Badile. This
began with him catching a train from Innsbruck to Landeck; then he
cycled the 100+ miles to Promontogmo via the Maloja Pass, and reached
the Sciora hut under the Badile that evening. Next morning he started
climbing at 6.00am and he gained the summit of the climb at 10.30am.
Four and a half hours for a route on which previous parties had
needed to bivouac, which stunned a group of well known Italian
climbers who met him on the summit, but he was not finished for he
then traversed this and descended the North Ridge of the Mountain, a
creditable route in ascent. He then descended to Promontogmo, mounted
his bike and cycled back to Innsbruck, but in fact he didn’t, for
he nearly drowned in the River Inn. Arriving in Landeck he fell to
sleep on his bike and ended in that fast flowing river. Fortunately
he could swim and the cold douche woke him as he was about to be
swept downstream. He then caught the train from Landeck back to
Innsbruck. If you have climbed the Badile, driven the Maloja Pass
with a 3000 ft climb back up from Promontogno to its summit, you will
I am sure like me feel that this outing was something else? Actually
carried out because of a lack of funds to travel otherwise, but sadly
resulting in his bike being damaged beyond repair.
As
possibilities to travel improved and Buhl was able to do so, he
notched up an impressive list of ascents; the Walker Spur of the
Grandes Jorasses, the North Face of the Eiger, this latter ending in
a fight for life, whilst caught in a blizzard, and with him in the
lead of a rope joined together of nine climbers who had met on the
climb by chance. By which time he had married, Eugenie and despite
his dangerous impecunious life style they were happy, for she was
also a skier and climber. Eventually they had two daughters and
though never well heeled somehow they managed mainly by Hermann
guiding; among the mountains of the Otztal Alps. He also was in
demand for film work although on one assignment he escaped serious
injury by a narrow margin, when the film crew he was with were not
paying attention to his rope and he fell dozens of feet down a
crevasse. It taught him to make sure post that experience that the
film crews he worked with had sound belaying methods. I think from
action packed to action packed climb, one of the observations I would
make is he was also fortunate in the support of his rope mates; Sepp
Jochler, Manfred Bachman, Luis Vigl and many others but most of all
Kuno Rainer. With whom he shared many of his most outstanding
ascents; the Grandes Jorasses North Wall, a new route on the
Laliderer North Face, a first traverse of the whole of the Chamonix
Aiguilles and much more. He seemed to complement Buhl; quiet, careful
and sound of judgement, and someone who had been badly affected by
his war experiences, being invalided out of the Army, due to
suffering a serious stomach wound.
No
mountain has more history than Nanga Parbat in the German speaking
world. Although the first attempt to explore the mountains approaches
was by a party led by Alfred Mummery in 1895; throughout the
1930’attempt followed attempt, and 31 climbers died during these,
and it became for the Germans ‘unser berg!’ Yet Buhl’s book
only takes up the last two Chapters to write about his successful
climb, alone for the last 4000feet. If you read the history of the
previous attempts unless you go to the mountain, and stand at the
Advance Base, above the sad memorial to the deceased climbers and
study the Rakhiot Face of the mountain it is hard to get a real
handle on why such as Willo Welzenbach, one of the finest
mountaineers of his generation could perish in such an environment. I
think it has become clear in the years since Buhl’s amazing climb,
why the Rakhiot route is such a challenge, because so much of the
ascent is at high altitude. It is three times the length of the now
‘popular’ way of ascending the mountain, via the Kinshofer route
on the Diamir face. Which makes Buhl’s ascent all the more
impressive. For Nanga Parbat, 26,620ft is unlike most of the other
8000metre peaks, for it stands out alone on the rim of the Karakoram
range, and the Rakhiot route faces west, open to the weather roiling
up from the Indus Valley below. The other faces of the mountain are
more sheltered; the Diamir and the Rupal which at 17,000ft is the
largest mountain face in the world.
If
you do read the history of those five German expeditions in the
decade of the 1930’s, they belie the belief that the members were
other than keen mountaineers driven by the mountains challenge,
unfortunately some commentators believe they were politically
motivated and government financed . In fact their organisers had real
problems raising the necessary finance, and members often had to part
underwrite the expeditions themselves. We have been in the UK so
fortunate to be able to apply for expedition funding and support from
the Mount Everest Foundation, but nothing like that existed in
Germany in 1953 and so when an unknown figure Dr Karl Herrligkoffer
appeared on the climbing scene in that country, and who was said to
be the step brother of Willy Merkl who had twice gone out to Nanga
Parbat, but not returned, announced he would organise a memorial
expedition to the mountain, the German climbing world became infused
with interest. Although Herrligkoffer had no mountaineering
background, he seemed to be a master at promoting his cause in the
media. Several of those who were invited to join his expedition
refused; Heckmair, Rebitsch, Harrer, Schneider but Peter
Aschenbrenner did agree and he was appointed to be the climbing
leader on the mountain. One thing that Herrligkoffer insisted on was
that all the participants had to sign a legally binding contract,
which Buhl did without much thought when he was invited to take part
in the expedition, something that in 1953 was not normal practice on
climbing expeditions?
From
the first on the mountain the climb did not precede well, and though
in other areas of life and sport, German organisation is noted for
its efficiency, it seems that the 1953 Nanga Parbat expedition did
not meet that criteria. A group of Sherpa’s who should have
participated in the climb, were not met and after much waiting for
instructions travelled home again. Local porters were recruited, but
some had never been high on a mountain like Nanga Parbat. The story
unfolds in Buhl’s book below 26,000 feet, then above that height.
Badly supported the astonishing facts are that, singularly
ill-provided with food and drink, he took off on his own after all
the other participants had more or less given up on reaching the
mountains summit. He climbed the final 4,000ft of a Himalayan giant
which had previously claimed thirty-one lives, undertaking some
technically difficult climbing over completely unknown ground at an
altitude normally precluding such physical effort, without the aid of
oxygen. He reached the mountains summit late in the day, after
seventeen hours of effort and was forced to bivouac on the descent.
Returning to CampV at 22,640 after forty-one hours out in the open,
he was met by Hans Ertl the camera man and Walter Frauenberger the
old campaigner who had only agreed to take part if Buhl was in the
team. He had done his best to organise and help with persuading the
Hunza porters to carry as high on the mountain as Camp V, and was
dubbed by them as ‘the kind sahib’. For the rest of this
strangely administered expedition it is a sorry tale, for by the time
Buhl reached Base Camp on his frost bitten feet, the climbing leaders
had already left for home with most of the supplies. For a
celebration dinner all that was left to eat was some noodles.
With
the passage of time Buhl’s completion of the Rakhiot route on Nanga
Parbat sensational when it was done, is now confirmed as one of the
greatest mountaineering -feats. This expedition was the first to be
headed up by Karl Herligkoffer, and in the years that followed his
name became synonymous with trips that ended in some acrimony and
legal argument. Buhl continued to climb and despite his frost bite
injuries in 1956 he solo climbed the East Face of the Moine
(Contamine route) and the Aukenthaler route on the Lalider wall. The
following year he made the first ascent of Broad Peak, with a small
four man party, becoming the first climber to make the first ascent
of two 8000metre peaks. Soon after this momentous event Buhl died
whilst attempting to make an ascent of Chogolisa. In a sudden squall
a cornice collapsed and he fell and was never seen again.
His
memorial, are his outstanding climbs and the memories recorded by his
companions who shared his climbing life. One I wish to record is when
in 1964 I met in Kathmandu’s Royal Hotel bar Erwin Schneider, and I
ventured to ask him ‘What was Buhl really like’. He smiled,
thought a moment and replied, ‘Beside his outstanding climbs he was
a fine singer and guitar player, so he was good company!’ For me a
wonderful portrait and this is confirmed in his book ‘Nanga Parbat
Pilgrimage’. If you have not read this I envy you the experience,
but if you did read it when it was first published in translation in
1956, I recommend you re-read it! Hugh Merrick the translator (he
also translated The White Spider) I met on occasion, besides the fact
that he had never then heard of the word ‘etrier’ and the march
of progress in climbing was passing him by, nevertheless his
translations were outstanding. I finish with thanks to Vertebrate for
re-publishing this book, which despite the passing of time is still
inspirational.
Dennis Gray: 2020
