Book Review ... Gary Hemming: The Beatnik of the Alps

A man of the sixties. An entertaining, if somewhat disjointed book. A climber that was a media star, and known by alpinists all over Europe, but virtually unknown in his American mountains. A climber whose life and climbs crossed paths with: Robbins, Chouinard, Kor, Frost, Gallwas, Harlin, Briggs, Corbet, Mazeaud, Desmaison, Exum, Mauch, Burke, Wilson, and many others. Enigmatic. He inspired scenes in the novel SOLO FACES, and it is reported that Robert Redford wanted to film his story. Suicide? Drugs? Maybe serious psychological problems, bi-polar perhaps?

A hard book to get a copy of, I am happy to lend to a fellow Fossil. His stories still captivate, even a half-century later: missing out on the first ascent of Half Dome's North Face, first American on the Walker Spur, the ballsy rescue on the Dru, South Face of the Fou, I'll-fated love affairs, and almost coming to blows with Harlin en route.