Robert L. M. Underhill
Robert Lindley Murray Underhill | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 3, 1889, |
| Died | May 11, 1983 (aged 94) |
| Known for | Mountaineering |
Robert L. M. Underhill was an American mountaineer best known for introducing modern Alpine style rope and belaying techniques to the U.S. climbing community in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Family and Early Life
His father, Abram Sutton Underhill (1852 - 1942) was an attorney, banker and prominent Quaker. His sister Ruth Murray Underhill (1883 - 1984) earned her PhD. from Columbia University and was a social worker, anthropologist and author. Robert's long name was based on his maternal grandfather's full name plus his father's surname. [1] He received an A.B. degree from Haverford College in 1909. At that time, Haverford was an elite Quaker college for men. He received a PhD. from Harvard in 1916. He was an instructor in mathematics at Harvard in 1918, and a tutor and then instructor in philosophy at Harvard from 1925 to 1931. During that period, he was an active member of the Harvard Mountaineering Club. He began climbing in the Alps about 1910. His academic life's work was a study of logic.[2]
Mountaineering Accomplishments
He was a longtime member of the Appalachian Mountain Club and editor of its journal Appalachia from 1928 to 1934. [3]
On August 4, 1928 Underhill, accompanied by Miriam O'Brien and guides Armand Charlet and G. Cachat, completed the first ascent of the traverse from the Aiguilles du Diable to Mont Blanc du Tacul in the Alps. [4] This route involves "climbing five outstanding summits over 4000 meters in superb surroundings." [5] On this same trip, Underhill completed guided ascents of the Peuterey and Brenva ridges of Mont Blanc. His climbing partner Miriam O'Brien was later to become his wife, and a famous mountaineer in her own right.
Underhill and Kenneth Henderson were responsible for introducing technical mountaineering to Grand Teton National Park in 1929, the year the park was formed. They completed the first ascent of the east ridge of the Grand Teton.
In 1930, he returned to the Tetons, and was unsuccessful in a solo attempt on the North Ridge of the Grand Teton.
He was back for six weeks the following summer, completing on July 15 a first ascent of the southeast ridge of the Grand Teton, a route which now bears his name. On July 19, 1931, Underhill and park ranger Fritiof Fryxell completed the "remarkable" first ascent of the North Ridge of the Grand Teton, which is rated IV, 5.7 in the Yosemite Decimal System. [6]
Departing Wyoming, Underhill went on to California at the invitation of Sierra Club leader Francis P. Farquhar, for the purpose of teaching the techniques of roped climbing used in the Alps. Underhill began by instructing a group of Sierra Club members in those techniques in the Minarets, practicing on the slopes of Mount Ritter and Banner Peak. [7] After this introductory course, an advanced group led by Underhill and including Norman Clyde, Jules Eichorn, Lewis Clark, Bestor Robinson and Glen Dawson traveled south to the Palisades, the most rugged and alpine part of the Sierra Nevada. There, on August 13, 1931, this party completed the first ascent of the last unclimbed 14,000+ foot peak in California, which remained unnamed due to its remote location above the Palisade Glacier. After a challenging ascent to the summit, the climbers were caught in an intense lightning storm, and Eichorn barely escaped electrocution when "a thunderbolt whizzed right by my ear". The mountain was named Thunderbolt Peak to commemorate that close call.
Three days later on August 16, Underhill, Clyde, Eichorn and Dawson completed the first ascent of the East Face of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States. The route was extremely exposed, especially the famous Fresh Air Traverse. Steve Roper called this route "one of the classic routes of the Sierra, partly because of its spectacular location and partly because it was the first really big wall to be climbed in the range." ."[8] Porcella & Burns wrote that "the climb heralded a new standard of technical competence in Californian rock climbing . . ." ."[9] Underhill himself commented that "the beauty of the climb lies chiefly in its unexpected possibility, up the apparent precipice, and in the intimate contact it affords with the features that lend Mount Whitney its real impressiveness."[10]
He married mountaineer Miriam O'Brien on January 28, 1932, and they had two sons, born in 1936 and 1939. After World War II, he climbed with his wife in the Wind River Range of Wyoming, the Mission, Swan and Beartooth ranges of Montana, and the Sawtooth range of Idaho.
Legacy
The Underhill Couloir above the Palisade Glacier is a key part of his 1931 first ascent route on Thunderbolt Peak, and is named in his honor.
The Robert and Miriam Underhill Award is given annually by the American Alpine Club "to a person who, in the opinion of the selection committee, has demonstrated the highest level of skill in the mountaineering arts and who, through the application of this skill, courage, and perseverance, has achieved outstanding success in the various fields of mountaineering endeavor."[11]
Bob's Towers (13,040 feet/3975 meters) in the Wind River Range of Wyoming is named after Underhill, who made the first ascent with his wife in 1939. [12] [13]
The term "Bobs" has come into use as slang for the hiking poles (a.k.a. trekking poles) commonly used among modern hikers and is believed to be in honor of Underhill.[14]
References
- ^ http://www.ferristree.com/updtaes/john2.htm%7C Bombs & Bones: A Ferris Family Tree (retrieved September 17, 2009)
- ^ "In Memoriam", Henderson, Kenneth A., American Alpine Journal, 1984, pages 344 - 347 (retrieved September 17, 2009)
- ^ Roper, Steve; Steck, Allen (1979). Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. ISBN 0-87156-292-8. page 149
- ^ Milner, C. Douglas, Mont Blanc & the Aguilles, page 92 (Robert Hale Limited, London, 1955)
- ^ Rébuffat, Gaston, The Mont Blanc Massif: The 100 Finest Routes, Translated from the French by Jane and Colin Taylor, page 140 (Kaye & Ward, London and Oxford University Press, New York, 1974) ISBN 0-19-519789-5
- ^ Roper, Steve; Steck, Allen (1979). Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. ISBN 0-87156-292-8. pages 147 - 152
- ^ Farquhar, Francis P., History of the Sierra Nevada (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1965) ISBN 0-520-01551-7
- ^ Roper, Steve, The Climber's Guide to the High Sierra (San Francisco, Sierra Club Books, 1976) ISBN 0-87156-147-6
- ^ Porcella, Stephen P. & Burns, Cameron M., Climbing California's Fourteeners: 183 Routes to the Fifteen Highest Peaks (The Mountaineers, Seattle, 1998) ISBN 0-89886-555-7,
- ^ Roper, Steve; Steck, Allen (1979). Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. ISBN 0-87156-292-8. page 279
- ^ http://www.americanalpineclub.org/award/6%7C American Alpine Club: The Robert and Miriam Underhill Award
- ^ [1] Peakbagger.com: Bobs Towers, Wyoming - retrieved October 3, 2009
- ^ [2] SummitPost.org: Miriam Peak - retrieved October 3, 2009
- ^ [3]