SURPRISE SURPRISE - One Day as a Tiger - page 179

CHAPTER 23
SURPRISE SURPRISE
Google Alex MacIntyre and you find a few entries, but they don't do him justice.
Most links take you to the Alex MacIntyre Memorial Hut site, and tales of exploits
from clubs and individuals who have stayed there. [1] This is the hut at Onich that
Alex had brokered during his time at the BMC.
There are a few entries from more informed modern climbers paying homage to
the boldness of his style and the clarity of his ideas. The website UKClimbing.com
has a short history of the Colton-MacIntyre route on the Grandes Jorasses. A
video of a recent British ascent is followed by news that the amazing Ueli Steck has
soloed the route in two hours and ten minutes. (It took Alex and Nick Colton
twelve hours climbing at night with knuckle-breaking Terrordactyls and bendy
crampons. Front points often broke on crampons in the 1970s, or else the front
points would just bend until they were next to useless. That happened to us all
sooner or later - but not these days.)
There is also an entry on the Mountaineers Books website; it's a review of Shisha
Pangma , the topic Alex co-wrote with Doug Scott with contributions from all the
rest of the expedition. Shisha Pangma shared the first Boardman-Tasker Award
for mountain literature in 1984.
When we think of 'drivers for change' in the development of mountaineering
equipment, it seems to me that first and foremost it is the love of life - the need for
equipment that increases the margin of safety regardless of the inherent risk of the
adventure. Advances in every aspect of climbing - technical skills, clothing, ropes,
hardware, access, training - are a process of learning from experience and apply-
ing the lessons learned to improve ways of doing things. Change is rarely that
eureka moment of revelation. It is more usually a combination of shared experien-
ce and experimentation by individuals. Yvon Choiunard, Jeff Lowe, Tony Howard,
Rab Carrington - these are just a few climbers known for advances in the appli-
cation of ideas and technologies. All of them had remarkable climbing careers to
spark their innovations.
A thesis could be written about mountaineers who understand the relationship
between design, materials, manufacturing and the application of equipment. And
more significantly, about the need to develop the vision and mental and physical
ability to make proper use of that equipment. Over the years I have had several