Brian on the Trolltind Wall. French Route, 1971. Photo: Ben Campbell-Kelly

The Trolltind Wall, Juy 1971.

Climbing Big and Little Walls

My first fifty odd climbing years - Brian Wyvill

Some photographic memories of the wonderful climbs and people who enhanced my life so much through climbing. Memories of my many climbing partners welcome - please send photos etc. to: brian@brianwyvill.com. I start with this write up at the beginning of my Alpine climbing career.

The Romsdal Valley 1970

In the summer of 1970. as a young physics undergraduate, I left London and hitch-hiked in company with my elder brother, Geoff to Norway. It took us 8 days and numerous adventures. For several days we split up, as catching a ride for two was much more difficult than being alone. I caught up with Geoff in the Romsdal valley, and fell in love with those mountains. I was very determined in those days. A determination that, to some extent, made up for lack of skill. I learned a lot in a few short weeks, and we came back having climbed the Romsdalhorn, west face of Vengetind, Kongen, Sondre Trolltind, and a host of shorter rock routes. In some ways that was best summer ever. Of course all of those routes had guidebook times making them easily doable in a day. In our case just about every outing involved an unplanned bivouac, mostly on the way down. After that I ony went for big routes, that were mostly impossible for me! At least I "planned" to get stuck on them.

The Race for the French Direct

That first year I was in Romsdal, two experienced and talented climbers, Ed Ward-Drummond and Ben Campbell-Kelly took two and a half days to reach a point half way up the French route on Trollryggen before being compelled to retreat by bad weather. Having made an earlier attempt in April with Dave Pearce, this was Ward-Drummond's third attempt on the French Direct. One wit described the escape traverse to the East pillar from the middle of the Troll wall as the most popular route on Trollvegan.

The French route had stood unclimbed since 1967, when a French team climbed a beautiful directissma up the center of the steepest section of the cliff. The team spent 21 days fixing ropes to within 600 feet of the summit. By that time, routes on El Capitan had been done in one continuous push, Alpine style, or perhaps more accurately 'Big Wall Style'. Particlarly the North America wall, climbed in 1964 in ten days in one continuous push bottom to top by Royal Robbins, Tom Frost, Chuck Pratt and Yvon Chouinard. In contrast the French team were climbing on a different type of granite, taller than El Capitan and full of giant loose flakes, and in a very rainy windy climate. They came down nightly and rumour has it had lovely evenings visiting the cinema and out partying with the locals. In the climbing world style is everything, and before the move to free climbing big walls, even first asents, were better done in one continuous push. Thus there was strong competition to claim the first continuous casent of the French Direct. More recently there is similar competition to tbe the first to free big routes.

Given a taste of the Troll wall on his earlier attempt, Ben Campbell-Kelly had the the proverbial bit between his teeth. Luckily for me, I got recruited as a suitable younger, and perhaps more maluable partner to share the experience. Ben was the mastermind and a seond big brother to me. He designed and built the first big wall pulley, complete with a cam to stop the bag sliding back down. So in 1971, only a little more experienced, I returned with Ben, and we were lucky enough to climb the French direct in 8 days, the first contiuous ascent of the route. The article in Mountain Magazine says most of what is left.

I should say that Ed Drummond was pleased that the route had succombed and instead of trying the French route again, he went on the wall the next year to do his own fabulous new route, Arches Wall with Hugh Drummond.