Following on from another thread………

A nice interview with Peter Habeler.

http://mtnequipment.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/in-conversation-with-peter-habeler.html?m=0

Great start Neal. I didn’t know that Habeler had climbed with Doug Scott before Messner.

I went to many Scott lectures and after the Ogre someone asked him what he was thinking when he fell. He replied, well at first it was fun, like a giant swing, then I saw the rock wall approaching!

On a negative note, I can still see the picture of my hero Dougal Haston on the 9 O’clock News when his death at Leysin was announced. I was shocked then and am still!!

I’ve been trying to find some pictures online of the old Mayrhofen Penkebahn (before the new Gondola was built in ’95) but can’t find any decent ones sadly.

I do have a limited edition print from the day the old lift closed, we were on the second to last lift down off the mountain that day !

It was a proper old school quadruple cable car system where you had to change over half way up (where the current Gondola goes round a corner) and the view from the mid station hanging on a ledge above the town was fantastic.

I did find this while looking though. It’s a great picture, years of outdoor living has weathered him nicely (mini man crush !) 😉

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXzVNFrLzk0&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]
Good camera work of John Cunningham climbing on Ben Nevis in the 70’s.

Did Habeler act in the Full Monty?

Don’t suppose Habeler lives in a medieval castle on a mountain top (like some gothic horror count) near Merano like Reinhold does?? 😯

No 🙂 he runs a ski school in Mayrhofen.

Almost 25 years old now.

This is an absolute classic Ski Movie. Loads more clips on YouTube, but the Chamonix segment was always my favourite.

That john cunningham film is bloody great, thanks, never seen it before

That JC film is great. Made my hands cold just looking at it!

Edit. Used to have a poster of Glen Plake on my bedroom wall too 😳

The Glasgow Uni digital library doesn’t seem to be working at the moment (from my computer at least), but if you have a search for “SMCJ Glencoe” you’ll find links to historic Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal entries, dating back to the late 1800’s.

Some of the entries are brilliant!

Two classic vids there guys, thanks. Haven’t seen the Cunningham one before. Interesting that Chouinard produced the clip. So 1970s – no helmet on the bike or climbing!! Soloing on the Ben with spindrift flowing down!! Just wondered about continuity as he looks to be riding his bike with a single walkers-style axe and yet is climbing with two shorter black (?) axes with more curved peaks.

The Blizzard remains the classic ski video. Met Plake at London Ski show – quite shy and unassuming in the flesh!!

The Blizzard remains the classic ski video. Met Plake at London Ski show – quite shy and unassuming in the flesh!!

Me and brother saw him there too, years ago now. Probably mid 90’s I would think. Didn’t really talk to him as such, just got his autograph on my forearm 🙂
I did consider having a tattooist go over it at the time (but I’m 100% glad I didn’t now !! 😉 )

The video I’d like to get hold of is from the 100 Years of Scottish Mountaineering BBC documentary about 15 years ago, they re-enacted the 1st ascent of Tower Ridge in Hob nail boots and with hemp ropes etc. I’ve been searching for a digital copy for years, but never found one…

Ski outfits were still frighteningly bright at the time 🙁 The BoA video converted me from an Atomic man to a K2 man!! This year I skied on K2 skie and Atomic boots so ticked no boxes!!

Correct choice on the tattoo Neal!!!!

Bedroom wall nostalgia – posters included El Cap, the Ogre, the Hornli ridge, Haston and Scott and Ama Dablam. Rebuffat’s 100 Finest Routes and Classic Rock on the floor!

Just wondered about continuity as he looks to be riding his bike with a single walkers-style axe and yet is climbing with two shorter black (?) axes with more curved peaks.

As he was mates with McInnes and Chouinard, they could have been anything, take your pick (!). Looks like a short +ve curve (what would be a standard mountaineering axe these days) and a McInnes Terrordactyl.

The video I’d like to get hold of is from the 100 Years of Scottish Mountaineering BBC documentary about 15 years ago, they re-enacted the 1st ascent of Tower Ridge in Hob nail boots and with hemp ropes etc. I’ve been searching for a digital copy for years, but never found one…

Yep remember that, was it Cubby and a couple of other guides they dressed up? I was there on the Ben when they filmed it, perfect calm sunny afternoon. We’d just done Route One Direct & ambled up onto the plateau to watch them drop the “actors” onto the Tower from the helicopter (impressive!) and film the profile shots up the top bit. There was a queue of people coming up the ridge behind in modern kit all keeping their heads down…

We were staying in the hut that week and the kitchen end of it had been set-dressed back a few decades (not that it made much difference!) for the interior shots they used in one of the other episodes (Smith & Marshall maybe? can’t remember…)

That was the name I was trying to recall the good old Terrodactyl!!

Seeing McInnes on the TV recently (albeit in tragic circumstances) was good to see him looking healthy. He hardly seems to have aged at all!! From memory this picks had a big impact in raising the level of Scottish winter climbing.

Still giggling that on STW in particular we are enjoying a guy soloing without a helmet on either his bike or when climbing!!! How very dare he!! If McInnes was with him, at least the rescue was at hand.

Still have a terrodactyl in my cellar! Met March, Cunningham, O’Donovan on my winter MLC circa 1972. Prior to that four of us (on a McInnes winter course) climbed with Kenny Spence in Glencoe & the Ben.
Roped grade 3 stuff whilst Kenny just soloed up 😯

Still giggling that on STW in particular we are enjoying a guy soloing without a helmet on either his bike or when climbing!!!

Shhhh you’ll get ‘them’ started. Bike helmets were compulsory even then but I bet he wished had something more than a woolly hat at 6’10” 😉

Anyone recognise the climb? I was wondering if there was going to be an exit ramp or if he was going to solo the wall at one point!! Was 6’10” the spindrift? I bet that hurt a bit!!!

Am I being thick; but in the opening sequence isn’t he climbing Zero Gully except that the picture is reversed with Orion Face on the right and Observatory Ridge on the left ???

I thought zero to start and then confused about rock wall, ramp etc couldn’t work it out at all!!!

I think your right chickenman. Zero Gully at the start but flipped over. Not sure about the route later on. I was wondering if it was something on Orion Face. Maybe Orion Direct?

Climbers were hard in those days. I remember Hamish McInnes telling some story about him getting stuck and spending several hours bridged in a gap on the Buchaille, whilst someone went off to get a top rope or something. Anyway, they were proper hard in them days….

Well there are some pretty impressive climbers around at the moment in Scotland, not just the headline grabbers who might work something at the cutting edge for months and months; but a handful of folk who are ground up new routing on lines that were cutting edge only a dozen years ago.

Ski outfits were still frighteningly bright at the time The BoA video converted me from an Atomic man to a K2 man!! This year I skied on K2 skie and Atomic boots so ticked no boxes!!

Was never a K2 ski user, I was using 205 Atomic Arc Slalom Skis for all mountain stuff for a few years, but that was until ’91/’92 when Salomon launched the Force 9 and I was converted !
Those skis were amazing ! After skiing steep stuff on Slalom skis it was a revalation.

Still measured 203 though ! (And I’m 5’6″ 🙂 )

And Salomon SX92 Equipe Rear entry boots (same as Schmidt 🙂 )

I have recently came into the possession of a load of big (about 2″) glass slides of pictures of The Alps. Any ideas of what to do them? Some nice shots of Mt Blanc, Dru and Matterhorn, some with Mountain Huts, farms and tourists in what looks like Victorian era clothing.

Get them digitised and post them on this thread, they sound great !

Offer them to the http://www.mountain-heritage.org/

Good shout on both parts, any idea what I should be paying for digitising?
Looks like they traveled quite extensively. Some even follow the rule of thirds! Will post when I get them digitised.

Ah nostalgia!
My Terrors are happily thumped into a beam in the shed. Good for pull ups and I have been know to chuck one in the sack when going winter scrambling with a group.
My Galibier Peutery boots are still happily if rarely gong strong. Ditto the Scarpa Bronzos.
Actually my modern gear all dates from pre 93 when I left Capel Curig Brighams.