Notes from the Top
Brief Encounters with Three Alpine Climbing Legends by Brandon Pullan
On April 17, an avalanche on the northeast face of Howse Peak in the Canadian Rockies took the lives of David Lama, Hansjörg Auer and Jess Roskelley. The three were attempting to climbed M16, a 1,000-metre VI WI7+A2+ that was first climbed in 1999 by Barry Blanchard, Steve House and Scott Backes, but never repeated. To free the route using mixed climbing skills would have been historic and one of the biggest and hardest mixed climbs in the world. The crux is the steep headwall above a rolling glacier and snow slopes, and below a corniced ridge that feeds long gullies. There had been more snow than usual this spring and the Icefields Parkway, which Howse Peak rises above, was scheduled to be closed on April 18 for avalanche control. We’ll never know what risk assessment Lama, Auer and Roskelley undertook, but as a result of being in some of the harshest terrain on the planet, all three of the climbers had a higher tolerance for extreme risk than most alpinists.
I met Lama at the Banff Centre in 2015. I interviewed him on the now-gone Basecamp podcast, a show where I interviewed climbers from around the world. We talked for an hour and then we went for a walk along the centre’s trails. His enthusiasm for Canada’s mountains was infectious and led me to the Whyte Museum to continue work for a Rockies history project. I stayed in touch with Lama and would send him photos of unclimbed Rockies walls from time to time.
Just over a year later, I met Roskelley in Canmore thanks to our mutual friend, Ian Welsted. The two had finished a day of climbing when we met for a beer. I’d heard of a climber’s get-together at another bar, but it turned out to be a private wedding function for another climber. Not knowing we weren’t allowed, I walked to the bar to order a beer. As I did, I noticed Welsted and Roskelley being forcefully removed from the party. Then I had three big, intoxicated and angry climbers surround me. They yelled, “Get out,” and dragged me around the bar before throwing me out the back door. It was when one of them poured a beer over my head that I knew it was time to go. Welsted and Roskelley were watching from an opened front door when I stumbled out, humiliated. We had a good laugh. In 2018, Roskelley and Scott Coldiron climbed a new route on A Peak in Montana’s Cabinet Mountains. They
climbed it from Nov. 18 to 21 and named their new 800-metre alpine route Canmore Wedding Party AI5 M7. Roskelley said it was one of his best days in Canmore and that he always told that story.
In September 2018, I touched base with Lama in Innsbruck, Austria, at the World Championships. He introduced me to Auer, and the three of us watched the bouldering finals. Lama was a competition prodigy who won the lead and bouldering titles during his first competition year at age 15. After the event, we grabbed a beer and I got to grill Auer with questions about his climbing and his free-solo of the 37-pitch The Fish 5.12+ on the Marmaloda. He gave few details, but was more than happy to offer his expertise on the local mountains.
At the 2018 outdoor retailer trade show in Denver, Lama told me about his Rockies plans this spring. He said that he and
Roskelley had some big objectives in Alberta and they hoped to head to Alaska after. I found out the three were in Canmore when I got a text from a friend while I was in Skaha. “Dude, why are Lama, Auer and Roskelley in Canmore?” my friend texted. “They’re literally sitting next to me at the bar. I want to get a photo with them.” For most climbers, Lama, Auer and Roskelley were of legendary status and they left local climbers everywhere feeling starstruck. Back in Canmore, the three of them visited a Bow Valley Mountain Club presentation where Brette Harrington and Geoff Powter were speaking. Powter talked about risk and reward and whether big alpine routes were worth it as Lama, Auer and Roskelley listened on. A week later, back in the same place, Powter and I stood where Lama, Auer and Roskelley had sat only a few days before. Powter and I were speechless about how the three were buried in avalanche debris only 90 kilometres away.
The day before Lama, Auer and Roskelley left for Howse Peak, I went for a bouldering session with Auer at the local gym. “I’m looking forward to getting home and going on more non-climbing trips with my girlfriend,” he said. “It’s so nice and worth it to leave the gear at home.” He said he liked Canmore and was friendly with everyone, offering his beta to others. I was having trouble with a move and he said, “Lower the right hand, twist this heel hook and be dynamic.” Sure enough, his advice worked. As I left, fellow climber Adam Campbell said, “Not a bad day when you get to boulder with a legend like Auer.”
The last time I saw Lama, Auer and Roskelley, they were walking down main street in Canmore. They left the next day for Howse Peak. They died a few days later at the base of one of the most extreme walls in North America.
I’ve written about dozens of friends who’ve died in the mountains, so many I’ve lost count. The deaths of Lama, Auer and Roskelley hit especially hard. Maybe because they died close to home or because we lost three of the best in one day. But, I think, it’s just because we’re all just so sick of losing our friends to the mountains. Be safe out there.—BP