The Postcard
A postcard that was published by Bamforth & Co. Ltd. that was printed in England. The artwork was by Fitzpatrick.
The card was posted in Jersey on Thursday the 27th. June 1957 to:
The Gang,
c/o Mr. J. Blackford,
'Oaken Hedges',
Fifth Road,
Newbury,
Berks.,
England.
The message on the divided back was as follows:
"St. Brelade's Beach.
Tuesday 25th. June.
Dear Gang,
Having glorious time and
grand food, with lovely
sunshine.
These beaches have
Bournemouth beaten by
a mile.
Hope you are all keeping
busy.
Have some grand people
staying at our hotel.
Best wishes to all,
Reg, Margaret & Boys."
Hermann Buhl
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, the 27th. June 1957 marked the death at the age of 32 of the Austrian mountaineer Hermann Buhl.
Hermann was born on the 21st. September 1924 in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria. He was innovative in applying Alpine style to Himalayan climbing. His accomplishments include the first ascents of Nanga Parbat in 1953 and Broad Peak in 1957.
Hermann Buhl - The Early Years
Buhl was the youngest of four children. After the death of his mother, he spent years in an orphanage. Before Scouting was banned in Austria, Hermann Buhl was a Cub Scout in Innsbruck.
In the 1930's, as a sensitive (and not very healthy) teenager, he began to climb the Austrian Alps. In 1939, he joined the Deutscher Alpenverein (the German Alpine Association) and soon mastered climbs up to category 6.
He became a member of the Mountain rescue team in Innsbruck.
World War II interrupted his commercial studies, and he joined the Alpine troops, mostly on Monte Cassino. After being taken prisoner by American troops, he returned to Innsbruck and earned his living doing odd jobs. At the end of the 1940's, he finally completed his training as a mountain guide.
Hermann Buhl in the Himalayas
(a) Nanga Parbat
Before Hermann's successful 1953 Nanga Parbat expedition, 31 people had died trying to make the first ascent.
Buhl is the only mountaineer to have made the first ascent of an eight-thousander solo. His climbing partner, Otto Kempter, was too slow in joining the ascent, so Buhl struck off alone.
He returned 41 hours later, having barely survived the arduous climb to the summit, 6.5 km (4 miles) distant from, and 1.2 km (4,000 feet) higher than, camp V.
Experienced climbers, upon hearing later of Buhl's near-death climb, faulted him for making the attempt solo. Regardless, his monumental efforts, along with spending the night standing on a tiny pedestal too small to squat upon, untethered, on the edge of a 60-degree ice slope, have become mountaineering legend.
(b) Broad Peak
The first ascent of Broad Peak was made between the 8th. and 9th. June 1957, by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Buhl of an Austrian expedition led by Schmuck.
A first attempt by the team had been made on May 29, when Fritz Wintersteller and Kurt Diemberger reached the forepeak (8030 m). This was also accomplished without the aid of supplemental oxygen, high-altitude porters or base camp support.
(c) Chogolisa
Just a few weeks after the successful first ascent of Broad Peak, Buhl and Diemberger made an attempt on nearby, unclimbed Chogolisa (7665 m) in Alpine style.
However Buhl lost his way in an unexpected snow storm, and walked over a huge cornice on the south-east ridge, near the summit of Chogolisa, thereby triggering an avalanche that hurled him down 900 m over Chogolisa's north face. His body could not be recovered, and remains in the ice.
Hermann Buhl's Legacy
Hermann Buhl is still considered by alpinists and mountaineering historians to be the most complete and advanced mountaineer of his time.
His ascents on rock and snow, solo and as a rope leader, his attitude towards the mountain and his physical elegance have been praised by contemporary luminaries such as Kurt Diemberger and Marcus Schmuck.
He was also an idol and hero for climbers of younger generations, such as Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
Buhl can be considered a pioneer of Alpine style mountaineering in the Himalayas, a style defined by light-weight expedition gear, little to no fixed ropes, and the relinquishing of bottled oxygen.
His expedition to Nanga Parbat was dramatized by Donald Shebib in the 1986 film 'The Climb', based in part on Buhl's own writings about the expedition, and starring Bruce Greenwood as Buhl.