Gripped

The Climbers

- Climbers. The Climbers The Lover, The The Climbers The Climbers, Jon Popowich

Jim Herrington Foreword by Alex Honnold Essay by Greg Child Mountainee­rs Books

One of my favourite books is by Marguerite Duras. I purchased my now well-worn copy at a used bookstore i n Whitehorse, Yukon in the days around an expedition to the Saint Elias Range many years ago. In the earliest pages of that semiautobi­ography, she writes of a comment she received from someone, upon seeing her much later in her life: “I’ve known you for years. Everyone says you were beautiful when you were young, but I want to tell you I think you’re more beautiful now than then. Rather than your face as a young woman, I prefer your face as it is now. Ravaged.”

The celebratio­n of the often ravaged, weathered face; the topography of eyes, noses and mouths, the shadows that crease or conceal, and l ike glaciers cutting into stone, the years and experience­s and history that shape it – this is the subject of Jim Herrington’s outstandin­g new book

The result of a nearly 20- year photograph­ic pursuit, is a collection of stunning black-and-white portraits of climbers who were active during the 1930s to 1970s. Herrington is both a climber and an incredibly skilled photograph­er of reputation, having photograph­ed significan­t A-list acting and music talent for many years. It is fortunate for us then that he turned his lens to this project, which is both art, labour of love, and historical archive. Many of the climbers featured are in their final years; some have now been gone for a while.

The photos alone are themselves a collection of stories; these are the images of proud faces, worn faces, faces – like that of Riccardo Cassin – right near the very end of life. But the book contains outstandin­g words as well. A foreword by Alex Honnold, is a short ref lection on the intersecti­on of climbing history and its culture, and the many things we climbers hold as references. Greg Child provides a well-written and informativ­e historical essay that summarizes a lot of 20th- century climbing, including the lives of those featured in the photos and the many others who were also active in and around these characters. And Herrington’s own writing describes the context for the project, his style and approach, his inf luences from climbing and his love of photograph­y. These written passages are wonderful and set the stage for what are truly breathtaki­ng images.

was the well-deserved winner of two awards at the 2017 Banff Mountain Film Festival – the Mountainee­ring History Award, and the Grand Prize. It succeeds for three reasons. It is a historical document, capturing the stories through the faces of the many bold figures of our sport. Second, it is an incredible collection of photograph­y of inarguable quality, skill and craft – these are master portraits. Lastly, Herrington has approached the whole project with a distinctiv­e aesthetic informed by his own youthful and ongoing inf luences – photograph­ically, climbing-wise, and culturally as a whole. Bearing his fingerprin­ts without intrusion, it celebrates the past yet is timeless.

The master French photograph­er Henri Cartier-Bresson once said, “As time passes by and you look at portraits, the people come back to you like a silent echo.” This type of book, this type of photograph­y, does not come along often. Do yourself a favour and buy it; you won’t regret it. It is my belief that like the faces and images it contain, will become its own historical reference point in the future.—

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