The print., March 11, 1981, Page 5, Image 5

The adventures
of Jim Bridwell
By Steve Lee
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Jim Bridwell, one of the five
best climbers in the world,
described two of his many
mountain climbing expeditions
and illustrated his lecture with a
slide show Friday .
Bridwell has climbed moun-
tains, cliffs and peaks in
Europe, South America,- the
continental U.S. and Alaska.
He has climbed with many
world-class climbers, including
Joe Brown, Ron Kouk (lately
of “That’s .Incredible” fame),
Royal Robbins and Yvon
Chouinard (inventor of much
of the modem climbing equip­
ment extant in the world
today); tp name a few.
With 19 years experience in
climbing, Bridwell is good at
what he does, and “Wide
World of Sports” knows it.
Yesterday he left for Alaska to
do a climb that they will be film-
ing for future use on the air.
This is not the only time
Bridwell has been asked to do a
spot on television. In a movie
entitled “High Ice,” starring
David Janssen, Bridwell and
some of his cohorts were called
in to do stunts and to set up the
rigging for the camera crews.
Now you know how all those
fantastic shots were filmed.
Furthermore, he hopes to
■ work with Mike Hoover,
I Academy Award winner on a
I climbing film called “Solo.”
I Hoover has also done' two
I spots for “Wide World of
■ Sports,” and was the
I cameraman for “Eiger Sanc-
■ tion,” with Clint Eastwood.
As if that weren’t enough,
I the Mountaineers Publishing
I Company. of Seattle, the
I largest publisher of moun-
B taineering books in the world,
■ wants him to write his
■ autobiography
and
a
■ documentary-style book on his
I adventures while climbing
B Cerro Torre in Argentina.
About his expedition to
■ Argentina, he said, “I thought
■ about if for a long time,” 10
B years to be exact. It cost him
B several thousand dollars to get
| down there with all of his
equipment and his partners,
and to get across the country to
his base camp. Previous to his
assault on the mountain, there
had only been three major
ascents without fixed ropes.
To use fixed ropes means to
anchor the climbing rope at
both ends, rather than letting it
hang free as in most climbs, in
order to keep it from flying
around in the fierce winds that
abound in the area. The wind
can sometimes reach 300 miles
an hour. “Sometimes the wind
gets so bad that a rope can get
worn out in only five days,”
Bridwell said.
The whole adventure sur­
rounding his Cerro Torre climb
was filled with problems and
setbacks. To start with, after
landing in Argentina, he and
his friends rented a bus to
transport them and their gear
to Cerro Torre. The engine
“gave up the ghost” out in the
middle of the Pampas with no
help to be found.
Finally , another bus came by
and gave them all a lift to a
town a little further down the
road, where Bridwell arid com­
pany rented a truck on which
the shocks promptly broke.
After sliding off of the road and
into a ditch a few times, the
group made it to their destina­
tion—a small town at the base
of the mountain .
There they met an Italian ex­
pedition, which was both a
curse and a blessing, for at any
given time they were invaluable
as a source of aid or advice, yet
without batting an eye would
steal bits of equipment as occa­
sion granted.
After hiking to the base of
the peak, a snow storm came
and forced them to leave some
equipment in a snowcave while
they sought shelter in the town
below. Returning to the site of
their buried equipment, they
dug a hole about 40 feet square
and four feet deep in search of
it. They lost all $2,000 worth of
it. “As far as I know, it’s still
there,” he said.
Disgusted, his partners came
Staff photo by Brenda Feltman
Jim Bridwell took time to answer questions after his slide
show.
back to the U.S., and Bridwell
found a new partner, one
Steve Bowen. Bowen was an
expert ice climber, s0 he led the
climb whenever there was any
ice on the route. Bridwell led
on the rock.
With some difficulty, they
summited the peak and started
down. At one point Bridwell
slipped and fell 150 feet, stret­
ching his rope 30 feet. A cou­
ple of well tied knots were the
only thing that saved him. He
broke three ribs, and dislocated
some joints, and cut and bruis­
ed up many other parts of his
body. He was in deep pain, but
he had to get down off of the
mountain immediately because
a heavy storm was moving in.
Bridwell’s hands were so bat­
tered from ' his accident and
from exposure that he did
nothing but rest for about a
week after the climb.
Altogether, Bowen and
Bridwell did over 5,500 feet of
climbing.
Of technical merit is the fact
that. Bridwell wore a wetsuit to
•climb in. He was testing the
Vapor Barrier Theory (heat
loss through sweat, very
basically) to see if a wetsuit
would help him retain his body
heat, yet keep him warm. He
was satisfied with the results
and said he didn’t think it
would be too long before there
are some major breakthroughs
in mountaineering clothing as a
result of the testing going on
these days with wetsuits.
Contrasting the old days of
climbing to the present times,
Bridwell said, “We can thank
the ‘New Wave’ climbers for all
of the equipment that gets
stolen now. In the early ’60s
and ’70s, we used to be able to
leave ropes, packs and other
gear at the base of a climb and
not worry about it, but now if
you leave anything it’ll get
stolen by social degenerates I
call ‘New Wave’ climbers.”
The beauty of sign language comes to life
By Steve Lee
Of The Print
little boy, Stack has been com­
municating through signing
“One of the most beautiful every day of his life. In fact, he
forms of communication is sign was hired by KGW Channel
language, for it requires total “8” News to sign on each
concentration on the part of all broadcast for nine years, until
parties involved, and the eye this past September when he
appeal is in itself a wonder­ came to work for the College.
ment,” said a student in the
As a result of his being with
College’s intermediate sign Channel “8” News, Stack had
language class.
the opportunity to make many
This beautiful language educational films about sign
comes to life on Tuesday nights language. These films are used
in Clairmont Hall. Between 15 in. his classes as instructional
and 20 students are actively aids.
learning the art of signing,
When asked why they are
tutored by Henry -Stack, a deaf taking the class, students’
Iman highly skilled in signing.
responses included: “We have
I This is Stack’s second term a deaf son and we want to
las sign instructor for the Col- communicate with him better”
lege. From the time he was a (Hans and Marianne Witzen-
burg); “I’m going to be a doctor
and sign language will broaden
my ability to communicate with
my patients” (Thad); “I know
some deaf people”; “I want to
further my education.”
They also volunteered much
about the difficulty of the class.
“It’s easier to sign than to read
sign. In a foreign language, for
example, it’s easier to hear and
understand the language than
to speak it.” In answer to that
statement, Stack said that he
often has to help his students,
because “signing is difficult to
the untrained, eye.”
The average person doesn’t
take sign language, which says
something about the caliber of
i
student who does. It takes a
special type of person, with a
special love for people, to put
in the time and effort to learn to
communicate in sign language.
Stack says, “You have to have
a strong feeling, and notice
small things.”
One thing many people may
have wondered about is
whether deaf people in dif­
ferent regions of the country
have any kind of an “accent” in
their signing. The answer is
yes, to a limited extent. Stack
says that deaf people in
Oregon may do a few signs dif­
ferently than those , in
Washington, but the difference
is so slight that it doesn’t pose
much of a problem.
In fact, a person familiar with
sign language can be more at
ease in a foreign country than a
person speaking a foreign
language with his voice. France
is a good example, since many
of the signs used in American
Sign Language (ASL) were
originally developed by the
French (FSL).
Stack will be teaching ad­
vanced sign language next
term. The class will meet on
Tuesdays from 6:30 to 9:30
p.m. in Clairmont: In a book by
Beryl Lieff Benderly, singing is
called “dancing without
music.” Think about it.
Page 5
Wednesday, March 11, 1981
centimeters
SN: OL0055
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