Legendary Canadian alpinist Barry Blanchard just dropped his second book of climbing tales: The Echo – Stories From The Edge Of Survival. Recounting the second half of a lifetime of adventures, big expeditions, gnarly solo missions and that time he had to rig a safety line to Sylvester Stallone’s ankle (and messed it up the first time!).
Host Feet Banks connects with a true legend of the mountains and our first Order of Canada award-winning guest. Get more info on the book and tour here, and be warned: Feet and Barry drop a couple of F-bombs in this episode, so parental discretion is advised.
Feet Banks: Your stories are incredibly detailed. Did you work from journals, or do you just have a remarkable memory?
Barry Blanchard: After my head injury, the short-term memory wasn’t really there, but the long-term stuff stayed. I am cursed with a really long memory. A lot of it also comes from journaling at the time and from writing articles and stories over the years. Then there are the more than 10,000 film slides I have. I go back and look at them and I can remember being there and remember a lot of the conversations we had.
The attempt is to have a 360-degree view of myself and my life, some of which is reflected in the equipment, the mountain and the environment.
“Every time we got above the ridgeline we’d get zapped and thrown onto our sides in the snow.”
FB: In The Echo, you describe being caught in electrical storms on several mountains. What’s it actually like to be that close to lightning?
BB: Three close encounters with static electricity and lightning really stand out.
One was on Rakaposhi in 1984. As we got near the summit there was so much static electricity going into the rock that it was making a ticking sound. Every time we got above the ridgeline we’d get zapped and thrown onto our sides in the snow. We didn’t touch the summit because we knew the shock could pitch us over the front onto a 12,000-foot face.
Then there was Nanga Parbat, where we were right in the heart of the storm. The lightning and thunder were happening simultaneously. The power of those strikes reverberates in your chest. It’s like the explosive wave from avalanche-control bombs. You feel it in your lungs.
The third was in the French Alps. My partner said there was electricity coming off the top of my ice axe. Then you start seeing it off your fingers. Wildly, there were these big blue balls of electricity floating across the glacier. It’s all atmospheric charge being dispersed into the mountain, and you’re standing there wearing metal crampons and carrying metal ice axes.
Thankfully, the custodians at the Cosmiques Hut had left the light on for us because they were worried we’d be late getting back. God bless them.
“It’s all atmospheric charge being dispersed into the mountain, and you’re standing there wearing metal crampons and carrying metal ice axes.”
FB: How many times have you been in a situation where you genuinely thought, “I could die here”?
BB: More times than I care to remember. I’ve been well over that line. A friend of mine, Thomas Grandi, the World Cup ski racer, once described it really well. He said there’s a line between being in control and out of control, and it’s kind of a razor’s edge. Then, on the out-of-control side, there’s another line. On one side is genius and on the other side is madness…
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This episode is presented by:
The North Face
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About the podcast:
Live It Up with Mountain Life is a collection of conversations about life in the wilderness with the people who do it best. Discussions about adventure, conservation, missions & mishaps, and all the great stories and inspiration nature provides, host Feet Banks wades into the wilds with some of the outdoor world’s most intriguing characters.
