The Six Grand Challenges

枫叶红了 · 2010-07-30 07:38

Cima Grande di Lavaredo,是Italian Dolomites（意大利东北部白云石山脉的标志），见上图。虽然得名于三个最著名的尖峰，见上图。并以高峰和绝美风光而著称。然而由西向东，依次有
Cima Ovest di Lavaredo (Westliche Zinne) -2973m
Cima Grande di Lavaredo (Große Zinne) - 2998m
Cima Piccola di Lavaredo (Kleine Zinne) -2857m.
Punta di Frida - 2792m
Cima Piccolissima di Lavaredo (Kleinste Zinne) -2700m
Torre Minor (Allerkleinste Zinne)

线路图。
http://www.summitpost.org/area/range/150212/tre-cime-di-lavaredo-drei-zinnen.html

枫叶红了 · 2010-07-30 08:12

Matterhorn, 马特洪峰，位于意大利和瑞士边境。是地球上最美的山峰之一。Matterhorn是瑞士语，意思是草地，或草地覆盖的高山或山峰。

Monte Cervino (意大利语)
Mont Cervin (法语 ）

据Dr. Guex说，意大利语和法语中这座山峰的名称是个误称。在当地人们称这座山峰为Servin，意思是木头。意味着草木丛生的地方。

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150235/matterhorn-monte-cervino.html

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-03 09:57

Aiguille du Dru (or Les Drus)

法国境内阿尔卑斯山地的一处双峰，西邻Aiguille Verte。
The Petit Dru (3733 m) 以及Grand Dru (3754m).风光之秀美，攀登难度之高使这座山峰在欧洲登山史上有着重要地位。

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150757/aiguille-du-dru-or-les-drus-.html

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-03 10:38

Pizzo Badile

位于瑞士和意大利交界处，北侧的路线—North Ridge 是一条经典的线路。上图为Pizzo Badile 北侧

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-03 12:37

Grandes Jorasses

如果把Mt. Blanc 比做阿尔卑斯之王，那么Grandes Jorasses 则是当之无愧的王后。

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150262/grandes-jorasses.html

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-04 03:37

the Eiger,艾格尔峰，位于瑞士南部Jungfrau 地区。自从1934年以来，因其北坡的知名度，这座阿尔卑斯山上的高峰在每个登山季都吸引来大量的登山者。登顶该峰的线路的众多，但是对于登山者来说，没有一条线路可以轻而易举地完成。the Eiger北坡上对登山者最有诱惑的线路是1938年登顶的那条经典路线。

http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150228/eiger.html

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-08 03:44

Europe's Classic North Faces Gave The Author Six Grand Challenges

by Eric Perlman （艾里克•帕尔曼）

我把标题译成：艾里克 帕尔曼直面欧洲六大经典险峰

文章发表于1986年2月10日

Eric Perlman, 35, of Truckee, Calif., who has been scaling mountains since he was 16, set out in June 1985 to do something no American had done: to climb in a single season the six classic north faces of Europe—Cima Grande di Lavaredo, Matterhorn, Dru, Piz Badile, Walker Spur of the Grandes Jorasses and the Eiger. Perlman said early on that success was "a tremendous long shot, and almost everyone I know is betting against it." Yet he tried. Here is Perlman's chronicle of what happened—and what didn't happen.

（前记）Eric Perlman （艾里克•帕尔曼），35岁，加州特拉基人。16岁开始涉足高山运动。在1985年6月，他开始着手美国人从未尝试的挑战：在一个攀登季内攀登欧洲经典的六大山峰北侧—Cima Grande di Lavaredo（意大利东北部一处以高度和绝美风光闻名的山峰）, Matterhorn（马特洪峰，位于意大利和瑞士边境。是地球上最美的山峰之一）, Dru（位于法国南部阿尔卑斯山地）, Piz Badile（瑞士和意大利接壤处的一座山峰）, Walker Spur of the Grandes Jorasses（大乔拉斯峰上的沃克肋棱），the Eiger（艾格尔峰）。稍早些时候，在谈到这次成功的连续登顶时，帕尔曼说，“一次极其冒险的赌博，所有认识我的人都反对我去冒险。”但他还是出征了。下文就是他这次史诗般的传奇经历。

Part 1

Battleship clouds attack our wall, black and bristling, but we climb farther up the cold face and move deeper into a place with no retreat. Ice blocks as big as boulders crash down the wall and rake our route of ascent. Today is June 19, and we are halfway up the Cima Grande di Lavaredo in the Dolomite Mountains of northern Italy, the first of the six faces I plan to climb between now and September. My partner, Bill Anderson, 30, is retching from time to time, penance for last night's drinking with four iron-bellied Germans. Occasionally he is hit by abdominal seizures. We probably shouldn't have climbed today, but all we've done all week is watch raindrops spatter the grimy windows of mountain rest stops. When the sky cleared this morning—our first good day since coming to Europe seven days ago—we grabbed the chance and flung ourselves at the mountain.

大块的乌云如同横冲直撞的战舰，狠狠地撞向面前的岩壁。然而我们并未因此而后退，我们攀升到更为寒冷的地带。和巨石一般大小的冰块在岩壁上崩塌，滑下，这也使得我们攀升的线路有所和缓。这一天是6月19日，我们正在攀登Cima Grande di Lavaredo的途中，这座山峰位于意大利北部白云石山系，也是我计划在从现在到九月份的时间段内完成的六条北坡线路的首条。我的伙伴是30岁的比尔•安得森。由于昨晚他和四个酒量惊人的德国人的豪饮，此刻他正一阵阵的干呕。并时不时的感到腹部痉挛。或许我们不应该在今天开始攀升，但是在过去的一周里，我们能做的事情只有一件，那就是躲在休息站里望着窗户外面的雨滴从窗玻璃上淌下。早上天一放晴—这也是自七天前我们来到欧洲之后遇到好天气的第一天—我们就抓紧这个机会进山了。

But this morning's good weather is now long gone. On every rope length I face at least a 100-foot fall—there are so few spots to place protective hardware on this blank, rotten limestone. Aiming for speed, we don't even stop for food and water. Somewhere above us, swallowed in clouds, is the finish.

然而早上的好天气一晃而过。每一个节距至少会落下100英尺—在这种糟糕的石灰岩上，很难找到可以设置保护装置的位置。为保持上升速度，我们甚至没有时间吃东西，也没有时间喝水。在我们头顶某处，深藏在云中的就是峰顶。

The dim light of day begins to fade. Now the race is really on. We can't spend the night here, dangling in harnesses. We scramble up, hungry for the summit. At last, in a swirling fog, we make it. Our exhilaration is greatly tempered, though, because we're too late even to think about getting down tonight.

夕阳逐渐褪去，争夺时间的竞赛还在进行，我们不能悬在半壁上过夜。我们努力向上攀登，渴望着到顶。最后，在旋升的迷雾中，我们做到了。然而登顶的兴奋很快就消失了。天色已经很晚，我们无法在今晚下撤回起点。

We sip water and nibble raisins, our first and only food of the day. We congratulate each other for our first climbing success in Europe. Now all we need to do is survive. We stack stones into a 1½-foot-high wind wall—a bivouac circle with a floor of dirt, stone and snow. The hours flow like cold syrup. Sleep comes in two-minute segments between shivering fits. We have nothing but time to ask ourselves, What the hell are we doing here?

我们小口抿着水，一点点的咬着葡萄干，这是在这一天里唯一的一餐。我们互相祝贺在欧洲的首次成功登顶。现在我们要做的就是如何生存下去。我们把石头堆积成一英尺半高的挡风墙—在被墙环绕的满是石子和积雪的地上露营。时间过的可真慢，就像结冰的糖浆。在不由自主的颤抖把晚上的睡眠切割成一段段不足2分钟的打盹。在地狱一般的夜晚里，我们一次次的追问，我们来到这里究竟想做什么？

We're the only climbers for miles around. All the Europeans have the good sense to stay home—it's June, but still winter here. We've come a little early to get a jump on the climbing season. With first light we shake off the snow, sip water and begin to search for what is usually a well-marked route down. Today, markings are buried in snow. We have no clues, but we also have no choice. We can stay here and freeze, or march into the murk. We march, and we are lucky. After eight hours we're down. The gravestones of less fortunate climbers lie scattered at the base of the peak. Picking our way through them, we head for food and bed at the local alpine hut.

方圆数英里的范围之内，除了我们，再没有其他人。所有的欧洲人都很明智地呆在家里—虽然已经到了6月份，然而这里依然是寒冬季节。我们来的有些急迫也有些早了。晨曦初露，我们就立即抖落身上的雪，在喝了一点水之后，立即着手寻找下山的线路标记。所有的记号都埋在雪里。没有任何线索，然而我们别无选择。要么停在这里被冻僵，要么向黑暗进发。我们出发了，而且我们也足够幸运。8个小时后，我们返回起点。那些不够幸运的登山者的墓碑散布在山脚下，穿过这片坟墓之后，渴望着食物和睡眠的我们一头扎进本地人经营的高山小屋。

The hutkeeper's wife cries out when she sees us. In machine-gun Italian she asks, "Are you hurt? Where'd you sleep? I called for the rescue team." The team leader had told her conditions were too ugly to mount a rescue. "If the Americans are still out there when the storm clears, we'll come look for them," he had said. Retrieve the bodies is what he meant. The storm won't clear for days.

小屋的女主人一看到我们，就大声呼喊起来。她的意大利语语速奇快，如同开火的机关枪一样。她放声大喊，“你们受伤没有？去了哪里过夜？我给你们请了救援队。”救援队领队对她说，山上的情况非常糟糕，所以他们无法启动救援行动。他进一步说，“如果风暴停止时，美国人还在山里，那么我们将去寻找他们。”事实上他的意思是去寻找我们的尸体。而在未来的数日里风暴并没有将要停止的迹象。

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-08 08:20

Part 2

We take a train for Switzerland and head for our next objective—the Matterhorn. The next thing we know we're in the village of Zermatt, elbow-jabbed by 30 kinds of tourists. Zermatt is a lot like Disneyland, except the mountains aren't concrete and paint.

我们搭乘火车前往瑞士，目标是我们的第二个目的地—马特洪峰，接下来的事情就是在策马特的一个村里，一个举手投足就会碰到来自多达三十多个国家的游客的地方。策马特有点类似迪斯尼世界，只是迪斯尼的假山是用油漆涂抹过的水泥结构。

We steam up the trail toward the perfect pyramid tower of the Matterhorn, barely believing that European weather could be so windless and clear. Bill and I check into a funky hut at about 10,000 feet. We eat, drink and try to sleep in the huge community bed (20 mattresses laid side by side), then roust ourselves at 2 a.m. We stomp toward the big front door when—crash...two Italian climbers burst in. They say they left at midnight to beat us up the north face, but the snow up there is thigh deep and rotten. They tell us the route is impossible and get back into bed.

在我们踏上开往外形酷似金字塔的马峰火车时，在时下的欧洲会有这样的天气—没有风暴的晴朗天空完全不抱希望。我和比尔住在一间小屋，这间小屋所在地的海拔约10000英尺（3048米）。吃喝一番后，我们试图在巨大的公用床上入睡（20只床垫并排铺成）。凌晨两点左右，我们醒来。我们跺着脚，前往大门。突然，门开了，两名意大利登山者闯了进来。他们说，他们为了在北坡的线路上领先我们登顶，是在午夜出发的。但是在哪里，雪深至大腿，情况非常不妙。他们认为路况恶劣，攀登几乎是不可能的。然后他们上床休息了。

Hoisting our packs, we head out the door. Thirty seconds up the trail, snow begins falling from a thick, gray sky. Maybe it's just a passing flurry. The flurry turns into a furious whiteout. Our headlamps cut barely four feet into the swirling gloom, and after 20 minutes of wallowing up to our knees, we decide to join the Italians in the community bed.

我们背起背包，依然出门了。前行不到半分钟，灰色的天空开始降雪。或许这只是一阵短暂阵雪。然而阵雪很快变成激烈的白芒。头上的头灯只能前照不过4英尺，在一片令人眩晕的黑暗中，跌打滚爬20分钟后，我们决定返回并加入意大利人的睡眠行动。

Two feet of powder falls in six hours. The next morning the hutkeeper says that this freak storm has made the north face unclimbable for the next three weeks. We wade down to Zermatt and check out our other climbing objectives. All are in worse shape than the Matterhorn. We go swimming on the Riviera and hit some French rock-climbing spots to stay in shape.

六个小时内的降雪深达2英尺。第二天早上，小屋主人说，这场不寻常的风暴将使马峰北侧在未来三周内不可攀登。我们返回策马特，查看其余线路。所有的线路上的情况都只是比马峰的情况更为糟糕。于是我们前往地中海北岸的the Riviera（里维埃拉，就在戛纳附近，）在哪里游泳，间中还在法国的几个攀岩点上进行训练，以保持状态。

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-08 14:30

Part 3

Finally, a good long-range forecast sends us back to the Matterhorn. It is now late July, and at the hut would-be climbers are packed 30 to the bed. But we have come prepared with sleeping bags, stove and tent, and pitch camp a few hundred yards away. While the rest of the climbers snore and squirm, we watch the stars and then snooze. At 2 a.m. we brew tea and shove in calories; by 3:15 we're on the glacier. We pass four Swiss climbers on the initial ice fields.

直到7月晚些时候，终于，一段不错的长期天气预报让我们再度返回马峰。在哪里的小屋里，已经有30位试图攀登的登山者。但是这次，我们准备了睡袋，炉具，还有帐篷。并且把营地扎在距离小屋几百码以外的地方。在其他的攀登者在屋里翻动或打鼾时，我们在外面望着星空，然后小睡了一会。凌晨两点，我们泡了茶喝，然后吃东西以增加热量。到3点一刻的时候，我们已经在冰川上了。在刚开始的一段路上，我们超越了4名瑞典登山者。

As daylight colors the east, we come onto the massive Matterhorn couloir and discover two horrible truths: 1) For all its beauty, the Matterhorn is a decomposing rubble heap of steep, rotten rock; and 2) there's no way to prevent loose rocks from peeling off underfoot and crashing down on the helpless climbers below. Fortunately, the Swiss move slowly, and a margin opens between us. Still, every time some 50-pound chunk of death plunges down toward the Swiss, we cringe. The ice is only a couple of inches thick, so our ice screws catch only a few threads before hitting underlying stone. That'll hold about 40 pounds. Worse, the rock is so shattered and rotten that pounding in a piton is like jamming a stick into gravel—it doesn't take much to pull it out.

东边的天光放亮时，我们进入马峰大峡谷，并且沮丧的发现两个令人恐惧的情形：1）尽管风光秀丽，然而却充满陡峭的岩壁，以及易碎的岩石。2）无法阻止那些松动的因风化而破碎的石块，它们很容易被踩落，并猛撞向下方无助的登山者，从而对他们构成威胁。幸运的是，瑞典人上升的速度很慢，在我们和他们之间有着足够的缓冲地带。虽然如此，每当重约50磅的大块石头致命地冲向瑞典人时，我们依然感到恐惧。冰面的厚度只有几英寸，我们用的冰螺丝只有为数不多的几圈螺纹紧固在冰上，而头部就已经触及下面的岩石。这只能承受40磅的负载。糟糕的是，易碎的岩壁使得敲入的岩钉就像挤入碎石的木棒一样—很轻易地就可以被拔出来。

The climbing terrain goes from rock to ice, then back to rock. We pull out ice axes, strap steel-toothed crampons onto our boots and climb with these for 100 feet, then take off the ice gear and scale the rock. Then we put it all on again for another few hundred feet. On, off, on, off. After more than 16 hours of climbing, we scramble onto the summit. We allow ourselves five minutes to shout at the westering sun, then we hightail it, full speed, toward a tiny wooden shelter halfway down the easy side of the mountain.

在攀升的线路上，地形从岩基过渡到冰雪，然后又过渡回岩石。我们抽出冰镐，穿好攀冰鞋，上攀了约100英尺，然后脱下攀冰装备，开始攀岩。之后又依靠全套攀冰装备上升了数百英尺。如此反复，16个小时的连续攀升后，我们爬到了峰顶。我们只为自己预留了五分钟的时间来对着西去的夕阳大喊。然后我们开始全速逃亡。前往一处设置在这座高峰上难度较低的线路半途中的小木屋庇护所。

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-08 16:02

Part 4

Two down and four more peaks to go—not much of an accomplishment after six weeks in Europe. We had better get good weather from now on, or we'll never make it.

两处成功登顶以及还有四条未完成的登顶线路—在来到欧洲六个星期之后，这些谈不上什么成就。我们需要更多的好天气，否则一切就泡汤了。

Next stop is Chamonix in eastern France, the mountaineering capital of Europe and base camp for two more objectives—the north face of the Dru and the monstrous Walker Spur of the Grandes Jorasses. We head for the Brasserie Nationale, a bar that is the unofficial headquarters for English-speaking climbers in Chamonix. There we learn that our recommended local guide/adviser has been killed the previous week by falling ice and that conditions have been as miserable here all summer as everywhere else in Europe. Dean Hobbs, 33, a lanky climber from Bishop, Calif., tells me he's looking for a partner.

接下来，我们停留的下一个地方是法国东部的Chamonix（夏蒙尼），Chamonix（夏蒙尼）是欧洲登山之都，也是前往Dru 和大乔拉斯的大本营。在这个小镇上有一家啤酒馆，这家酒馆是说英语的登山者们在Chamonix（夏蒙尼）的非官方会所。在哪里，我们得知为我们推荐的本地向导在上周因崩落的冰块而丧生。而这里的状况和欧洲其他地方一样糟糕。33岁的Dean Hobbs（迪恩•霍布斯）来自加州的Bishop市，他告诉我他正在寻找一个伙伴。

Rain falls on Chamonix for a week and a half. Wind, fog and snow also take their turns. We make frequent trips to the Chamonix weather board, where maps, upper-air charts and three-day forecasts are updated every four hours. It's stupid. Yesterday's forecasts called for sun, yet today we are sloshing around in rain suits to read tomorrow's predictions. They are always wrong. Day after day we return to study the forecasts.

接下来的一周半的时间里，风暴，雾霭，降雪依次轮流登场。我们时常出没于夏蒙尼的天气中心。在哪里，地图，气象高空图，以及三天天气预报每隔四小时就会更新一次。简直愚蠢透顶。虽然昨天的预报指今天会天晴。然而我们今天却穿着雨衣在这里晃悠，以获得明天的预报。天气预报总是容易出错。我们只好一天天的继续研究天气报告。

Finally it looks like a good weather window is opening. Clear tonight, clear tomorrow, with thundershowers to follow. If we move fast, maybe we can zip up the Dru's north face and get down before that storm hits.

终于好天气似乎要来了，预报中将有一个好的天气窗口，今晚到明天白天将会放晴，然后是雷阵雨。如果我们动作够快，我们或许可以完成Dru'的北坡，并在风暴来临之前撤下来。

We rush back to camp, pack and catch the last aerial tram of the day to a point from which we can walk to the start of the Dru the next day. The tram hauls us up into a cloud so thick we can't even find the start of the trail. We wait at the tram station for the cloud to lift. It hangs close until just before dark, then explodes into a snowstorm. Climbers come fleeing out of the backcountry. Snow bullets pepper the metal roof and blow through the walls and cracked windows.

我们立即冲回大本营，背起背包，并且搭上了那天最后一班开往攀登Dru起点的缆车。到了那个点以后，我们可以在第二天开始攀升。缆车把我们带到云中，从空中望去，我们几乎看不到登山线路开始的位置。我们在缆车站等待云层的散去，直到晚上，下垂的云层爆发了，一场暴风雪来了。登山者们从四面逃来。弹雨般的飞雪落在金属屋顶，穿墙入室，几乎要把玻璃击穿。

The next morning dawns cold and clear, but our climbing route is covered with snow, brittle and white—too hazardous to try. Bill and I ride the tram back down to the valley in silence. He has had enough. He's finished. Once down, I take him to the train station. Four peaks left, only six weeks to go, and now no partner. I glance across the valley at the Dru and curse its snowy face.
第二天拂晓，天空寒冷清冽。然而我们计划中的线路上满是积雪，白茫茫一片，危险丛生。在无声的沉默中，比尔和我搭乘缆车返回山谷。他已经受够了。他要结束他的这次远征。再一次，我送他来到车站。（对我来说），还有四座未登的山峰，以及六周的时间。然而现在，我没有伙伴了。我的视线越过山谷停留在the Dru，我无法不诅咒该死的被雪覆盖的the Dru北坡。

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-09 13:41

Part 5

But suddenly it's melting! All that fresh snow is dripping off the north face in wet, black streaks, and even though it looks sloppy, it may be climbable within a day! I race back to town and into the Brasserie, where I find long Dean Hobbs, all 6'2" of him, with his legs draped over a chair. "Dean, old buddy," I cry, "let's go climb something big."

然而，突然地，雪化了。虽然看起来北壁的线路泥泞不堪，然而最近的降雪已经化作一条条黑色的泥带，从上面滴下。或许可以在一天内爬到顶。我迅速返回小镇，在Brasserie（啤酒馆）里找到Dean Hobbs（迪恩•霍布斯）时，身高6英尺二吋的大个子的腿正舒服地搭在椅子上。“迪恩，我的老朋友。”我朝他喊道。“我们上山吧。”

"Sure," he replies.

“那当然。”他答应了。

Our plan of attack is risky. We know a storm is predicted for the following night, but the forecasts have been consistently wrong and we figure we'll punch it—get as far as we can and hole up if the weather does happen to turn nasty. We hop the tram in the morning and cross the glacier to the foot of the Dru. Big Dean and I are an unlikely pair. We're both red-haired and strongly built, but my chest barely reaches his belt. I take two steps to each one of his, but we move at the same speed.

我们的攻顶计划确实有些冒险。据天气预报，下个晚上会有风暴，但是迄今为止，天气预报总在出错。但我们估计可以避过风暴—我们将全力攀升，如果风暴突然发作，那我们就躲起来。早上，我们跳上缆车，越过冰川，直接进抵the Dru脚下。大个子迪恩和我看起来很不协调。虽然我们都有一头红发，也都够强健，但是我的胸部高度勉强和他的腰部齐平。虽然我需要两倍的步频才能赶上他，但是我们速度一致。

Dean leads up the Dru. He grovels and flails like a gaffed fish up a soggy chimney, and I can tell already that it's going to be a long day. A hundred feet of un-roped snow climbing puts us on a snow-covered terrace. A pair of Frenchmen in colorful headbands and soggy shoes string ropes to retreat. "Too much snow and ice," they say, shrugging.

迪恩领先向上。他时而匍匐，时而跃起接着扑下，就像一条上钩的鱼在水浸的烟囱里挣扎。正如之前所说，我得承认，这将是漫长的一天。100英尺无保护雪攀之后，我们来到一处被雪覆盖的梯台。一对裹着亮丽头巾的法国人，鞋带湿透，他们准备下撤。“太多雪，太多冰了。”他们耸了耸肩，对我们说。

A hundred feet more of snow climbing leads to ice-plastered granite. I grab a 70-pound block set in snow and heave myself upward on it. The block pulls loose in my hands! I teeter with it, unroped. "Run," I yell at Dean below. He dives out of the way and I let go of the block and leap aside. It careers down the route, striking sparks as it falls.

又是一百多英尺的雪攀，然后是结了一层厚厚的冰块的花岗岩。我抓住了一块从雪中露出来的70磅重的大石块，藉此牵引我向上。突然，我感到它松了。没有保护的我随着石头开始摇摆。“快闪开！”我对下面的迪恩喊道。他为落石闪开通道，我也松手跳到旁边，石块沿着我们刚才的路线滚落下去，火花四溅。

Obviously, this mountain is not as solid as it looks. Eventually we reach a stretch of dry granite. I break out a secret weapon. Tucked inside my heavy plastic mountaineering boots are a pair of high-friction, precision rock shoes. Dean is glad to let me lead. It's faster, and with the rock so badly plastered in ice and snow, we'll need every minute of daylight we can get.

显然，这座山并不像看起来那么坚固。谢天谢地，我们终于来到一大片干燥的花岗岩上。我把我的秘密武器拆了出来，在厚重的塑料登山靴里面是一双摩擦力强大的攀岩鞋。迪恩很高兴让我打头。现在上升的速率快了很多。由于山上的岩石表面结满了冰雪，我们必须抓住白天里的每一分钟。

Dean and I race upward. All day we hug the ice-encrusted stone. We chop fingerholds in the ice with a hammer. We kick at the snow for footholds. Hope flares as we see the top, three rope lengths—just 150 yards—above us. But then it starts to snow.

迪恩和我努力向上攀登。整个白天里，我们不停地爬在冰包裹着的石头上。在结冰的岩面上，我们用锤头砸出手指的着力点。把积雪踢开以让双脚有落脚点。当我们望见峰顶时，登顶的希望闪烁起来。距离峰顶只有三个绳距—约150码（450英尺，137米左右）的高度。然而，开始下雪了。

The rock grows instantly slick. My smooth-soled climbing shoes will soon be like roller skates. It's time for one last burst of speed, and just as the face turns into a sheet of wet glass, we hit the top. We are able for a moment to get to the lightning-scarred metal Madonna marking the summit, then the falling snowflakes thicken and we can't see 20 feet in any directon. But Dean stays cool. As last daylight fades, he rappels 70 feet down through the gloom and finds a perfect ledge—dead flat and wide enough for two. It's tucked under a steep sloping wall, and some earlier climbing team has already built a wind wall of rocks.

岩石立刻变得奇滑无比。脚上那双软底登山鞋很快就像溜冰鞋一样。是时候开始最后的冲刺了，在岩面变得如同沾水的玻璃前，我们冲上了峰顶。就在我们冲上被闪电击伤的圣母玛利亚雕像-峰顶标志时的那一刹那，雪已经越下越大，积雪变得很厚，视线也变得模糊，周围20英尺以外的一切都无法看清。然而，迪恩很冷静。在天光褪尽之前，他在一片昏暗中完成了70英尺的绳降，并且找到了一处完美的岩架—非常平整而且足够容纳两人。这个位置就藏在陡峭的岩壁下方，而且早先到过这里的登山队已经建好了石头垒成的防风墙。

We've brought the works in our climbing packs—sleeping bags, extra clothes, food. This should be fun—a camping trip on top of the Dru. We munch some crackers and settle in for the night. Snow-flakes drift down on us, but we stay warm and dry and peaceful....

在登山包里，有睡袋，干净衣物，食物。在the Dru的最高处露营应该是件有趣的事情。我们大吃一通饼干，然后准备在这个位置过夜。大片的雪花落在我们身上，但是此刻我们却感到温暖和干燥并且安静下来，…

Then at 1:20 a.m. a crack of thunder explodes just above our heads, rolling and roaring with deafening force. Lightning stabs all around, so hard and bright I can see the burst through my pulled-down hat, sleeping bag and bivouac sac.

到了凌晨1：20。一声炸雷就在我们头上猛然爆发。震耳欲聋的惊雷在耳边盘旋不去。闪电把周围照的通亮，我发现我的帽子，睡袋，露营包被击的烂碎。

A howling, snarling lightning cloud is surging at us out of the west. It swallows us in its sizzling mass. Climbers die from lightning strikes every year in the Alps.

狂暴的乌云从西侧冲击着我们，并完全把我们吞没在咝咝作响的云海中。在阿尔卑斯，每年都有登山者因雷击而亡。

Ka-whomp! Oh, my God, I'm hit! I've been kicked in the head by cruel light. There's no escape. Lightning engulfs the summit spire. Electricity fires up the bitter-cold air. We cling to our tiny ledge as if it's a life raft. Hunched small as mice, we wait.

咔~轰~的一声。天哪，我被雷击中了。令我痛楚的闪电击中了我的头部。无处可逃。闪电环绕着整个峰顶。强大的电流把寒彻骨髓的冷空气照的通亮。我们像老鼠一样蜷缩在我们藏身的岩架上，就好像躲藏在救生筏里一样。除了等待，别无他法。

Ka-whomp! I'm hit again. This time a slap in the knee where it touches the wet granite wall. Thunder bellows. The lightning reels across the summit. Another flash burns our eyes, but not our flesh. The air pressure is changing. The storm is moving on.

咔~轰~的一声。天哪，我又被雷击中了。这一次是接触到潮湿的花岗岩壁的膝部。雷声轰鸣。令人晕眩的闪电跨过峰顶。另一个闪电几乎要烧灼我们的双眼，还好没烧到我们的肉体。气压在变化。风暴就要离开了。

Dean and I lie terrified, breathing in staccato bursts. Sometime before morning the adrenaline subsides, and we slip into restless sleep.

迪恩和我躺在地上，惊恐万状，在一阵阵的惊雷声中，屏气静息。就快天亮之前，我们终于安定下来，进入梦乡。

The next day dawns nasty and gray. Snow buries the descent route. It takes the entire day to climb down the Dru.

第二天黎明时分，天气糟糕透顶，天空一片灰暗。降雪掩埋了下山的路线，我们花了一整天的时间才攀下the Dru.

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-09 15:56

Part 6

Dean and I get back to Chamonix and say goodby. He leaves, I go into the Brasserie Nationale, which is jammed with loud-talking Brits. They suck their cigarettes and talk up their latest climbs. A message board in the back corner is crammed with climbers' messages in 10 languages:

迪恩和我返回夏蒙尼，我们互道再见。他离开了。我又来到the Brasserie Nationale（国营啤酒馆），里面挤满了高谈阔论的英国人。他们叼着雪茄，谈论着他们新近完成的登山活动。酒馆后面角落里的留言板上填满了用十种语言写成的短信：

"Used rope for sale...." “有售二手绳… …”

"Beginning climbing partner wanted...."“约伴登山…”

"Whoever stole our tent, we're going to use your face for crampon practice...." “偷了我们的帐篷的那个混账东西，我们会用自己的鞋钉帮你擦脸。…
”
Tacked to a corner I see: "Eric Perlman, let's climb—Marc T"

用大头钉钉在角落里的一张纸上，我看到：“艾里克•帕尔曼，我们一起登山吧—马克 T”

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-10 09:44

Part 7

Marc Twight, 24, a hot young climber from Seattle, has been building a reputation for bold solos on big, dangerous peaks. Back home he and I had talked by phone about climbing together in Europe this summer. We had never met, but I liked his phone style—cocky, aggressive and bright. I wade through the rain to the appointed meeting spot and find a man with a spiky black beard and a white streak dyed down the part line of his black hair. This is Marc Twight. This should be interesting.

24岁的Marc Twight（马克•托艾特）是西雅图人，，在他独自一人完成了几条难度很高的线路之后，成为灸手可热的登山新秀。在国内时，我和他在电话中讨论过这个夏季在欧洲的结伴登山。我和他之前从未碰面，但是我喜欢他的讲电话风格—自信，积极，和他的谈话令人愉快。在一片泥泞中冒雨赶到约好的地方时，我看到一个怒须张扬的男子，一头乌发在天光映衬下，轮廓闪亮。这就是Marc Twight（马克•托艾特）。接下来的行程应该非常有趣。

A new storm dumps 3½ feet at the upper elevations. Every helicopter rescue service in the Alps is swamped with business, plucking the snowbound and injured off the peaks. When the snow finally stops, every Alpine route we want is an avalanche trap. My patience wears out. "I don't care if we have to dig, swim or tunnel, let's go get something done," I say. Marc agrees with a grisly cackle. We load up a rented clunker and motor across 200 miles of sweltering Italian cornfields, arriving at the base of the Piz Badile in twilight. The entire top half is blanketed in snow. It gleams and shines and makes me sick. The Piz Badile is a rock climb. The first ascent, in 1937, was a three-day epic of storm and exhaustion that took the lives of two Italians. For us, wet snow on the granite slabs could triple the climbing time. Or maybe this time the route really is "impossible."

刚刚停息的暴风吐在高处的积雪深达3英尺半。阿尔卑斯山区所有的救援直升机疲于奔命，倾力于把被大雪困在山上的以及受伤的登山者从半山以上撤下来。当降雪终于肯暂停时，我们幻想着能前往的所有高山线路之上，陷阱密布，雪崩的威胁时刻悬在高处。我再也忍耐不下去了。“我不在意我们是否必须要挖坑自救，游泳逃难或开凿救生隧道，让我们找点事情做吧。”马克大笑着同意了。我们租了一辆旧车，在意大利闷热的田野里狂奔了200英里，在黎明前来到The Piz Badile脚下。大半被雪覆盖的峰顶熠熠发光，让我的胃一阵阵的痉挛不已。The Piz Badile是攀岩圣地。在载入史册的历时三天的暴风和两名因体力衰竭而遇难的意大利人的牺牲之后，人类的首登在1937年完成。在我们看来，花岗石板上湿滑的积雪将使攀登用时增大到3倍。又或许在这个时候，其上所有的线路都是不可能被完成的。

The next day we drive toward St. Moritz to examine the Piz Badile from another angle. The face looks just as snowy and grim...but wait! A thin ribbon of black rock threads through the wall of white. It looks close to the line of the climbing route. But when we arrive at the alpine hut at the foot of the Piz Badile, European climbers laugh at us. They say that this route won't be climbable for at least a week, and maybe not until next year. I look at Marc. He turns down his Sony Walkman, which he wears permanently plugged into his ears, and says with a sneer, "I'd rather be forced back by bad conditions than wimp out and never try." He turns the volume back up.

第二天，我们驱车前往St. Moritz（圣莫里茨，瑞士东南部的一个小镇，据说是度假胜地），期望换个角度再看下是否有其他途径。the Piz Badile的陡壁看起来多雪而冷漠…等等，看！在白茫茫的峭壁之上，有一条细细的黑岩面整个贯通下来。而且看起来似乎距离攀登线路不远。（然而似乎我们高兴的太早了），当我们来到the Piz Badile山脚下的小屋时，在哪里的欧洲同行对我们的想法大笑不已。他们说，哪条线路至少在一周之内是不可用的，说不定要到明年才可以攀上。我望着马克。他关小了经常塞在他耳朵里的SONY随身听耳塞的音量，不屑一顾地冷笑道，“我宁愿因恶劣的状况而被迫返回，也不愿意做个胆小鬼或者从未尝试就想放弃。”说完，他又恢复了SONY的音量。

We rise at 3 a.m., peer out and immediately go back to sleep. Dense, wet fog obliterates all visibility. We wait a day. The next morning at 3 a.m. the sky is clear. We hurry up the trail, cross snow-fields, top a granite ridge and see the face up close. We can't believe it. The gleaming slabs of white have disappeared, just in the last two days. The wall is wet, but it's rock, not ice. We stuff our ice tools deep in the pack and hit the climbing surface hard and fast. Running water splashes down almost every crack. Snow and ice fill the gullies. But morning sunshine sweeps the face and dries the rock before our eyes. Strange as he looks, Marc is a swift, skilled climber. Even loaded with bivouac gear and extra food, we devour the altitude so fast we howl with laughter as we race up the rock. Seven hours later we finish the route. How could we climb this monumental face so fast? With a mystical grin, Marc reveals the voodoo totem he has been carrying—a beige teddy bear dressed in climbing harness. "This is Hermes," he says. "He brings good luck."

凌晨三点，我们醒来，朝外望了一会，紧接着就返回梦乡。又厚又湿的大雾中，能见度几乎为零。接下来的白天无事。次日凌晨三点，天放晴了。我们立刻出发，穿过雪地，上到花岗岩脊。接近山壁之后，我们几乎不敢相信。就在过去的两天里，岩板上闪闪发光的的积雪消失了。虽然还有些湿，但却是纯粹的岩面，而不是冰面了。我们把攀冰的装备塞到包的下面，向上快速冲击。每个裂缝都有流水溅起，缝隙里仍然有冰雪，但是，在我们眼前，朝阳的照耀下，冰雪在消融，岩面在变干燥。看起来有些怪异的马克是个敏捷的训练有素的登山者。虽然我们背着露营用品以及额外的食物，但我们还是在大笑和怒吼中互相攀比，并飞快的上升。7个小时后，我们登顶。在谈到究竟为什么我们如此迅速地完成了这条里程碑式的线路时，马克神秘地露齿一笑。他一直随身携带有一个voodoo（伏都教，西非的一种原始宗教）教的图腾—一个穿着全套登山服的米黄色泰迪小熊。“这就是我的赫耳墨斯，”他说，“他总能带给我好运。”

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-12 05:19

Part 8

Back to Chamonix we go (Hermes, too, of course), and back to the Walker Spur of the Grandes Jorasses. As usual, preliminary inquiries tell us we're nuts—the route is "impossible." We'll go for it the next day.

回到夏蒙尼，同样也回到大乔拉斯峰（著名的）the Walker Spur（沃克肋棱）之后（当然，“赫尔墨斯”是和我们一道回来的）。和往常一样，经过初步咨询得出的结论是，我们是疯子—（在眼下这个时侯）完成the Walker Spur（沃克肋棱）这条路线是不可能的。我们将在次日前往一试。

A two-hour hike across the Mer de Glace glacier puts us at the Leschaux hut, an oversized aluminum Kleenex box perched on a hillside in full view of the Walker Spur. We arrive early and study the face with binoculars. It's huge, the biggest one yet—1,000 feet higher than Yosemite's El Capitan. And it is heavily laced with snow and ice.

横穿the Mer de Glace（大冰川）的徒步用时2小时，之后，我们来到the Leschaux hut（一处高山小屋），外形就像一个超大的铝制Kleenex纸盒的这处小屋所处的山腰位置，可以把整个沃克肋棱尽收眼底。我们提前到达小屋位置，透过双筒望远镜研究沃克肋棱峰面的地势。高高耸起的沃克肋棱确实也是一庞然大物，和Yosemite's El Capitan（加州中部约塞米蒂国家公园里的埃尔卡皮坦山，是内华达山系的一部分）相比，还要高出1000英尺（304.8米）。我们注意到，沃克肋棱之上，交织着大量的冰雪。

Climbers arrive in pairs and threesomes throughout the afternoon. By nightfall the hut overflows with bodies. The ruckus begins at about 12:45 a.m. as eager early climbers, rushing to dress and pack, step on each other and clatter across the hut. There is no point trying to sleep. We rise, guzzle tea and head onto the glacier by headlamp. It's tricky picking through crevasses when everything is gray.

到了下午，三个一组的和两个一组的同行们络绎不绝陆续抵达小屋。黄昏时分，小屋里的登山客们摩肩接踵，几乎人满为患。午夜12:45。小屋开始热闹起来。渴望成为最早开步的登山客们匆忙地穿衣，背包，陆续出发，小屋里处处人声鼎沸。被闹醒之后的我们，毫无理由再继续入睡，于是我们也起身，豪饮豪食一番后，拧亮头灯，踏入冰川。在朦胧的天色下，选择冰裂隙然后通过是件需要技巧和经验才能做好的事情。

A pair of Swiss climbers reaches the bottom of the wall two minutes before us. We pause and watch while they set to work. There's no sense crowding on a wall as big as this, not with the constant risk of being hit by rockfall from climbers close above. But as we wait, streams of other climbers arrive from the glacier—all hot to jump on the Walker Spur. There must be a dozen of them, with more on the way. Their headlamp beams spear the darkness, crisscrossing in confusion. Some climbers try to elbow us aside and take our place at the head of the line. This is typical European Alpine courtesy. We elbow them back and attack the short ice wall with axes and crampons. We cross the ice, gain the rock slabs above, slip off our crampons and commence the marathon to the top.

一对结伴的瑞典登山客只比我们早两分钟到达峭壁之下。在他们两人开始做上升前的准备工作时候，马克和我停顿下来并向四周观察。在如此一个庞大之峭壁之下，一窝蜂式地汹涌而上的做法实在没什么好处，这么一说并不仅仅是由于如此一来，接踵而上的登山者被先行一步的登山者引起的落石击中的风险大大地增加。然而在我们观察态势之时，从冰川里走出的其他登山者源源不断地涌了过来—他们中所有的人都恨不得一跃就攀到沃克肋棱之上。起码有12人，还有更多的人还在通往这里的路上。他们的头灯光束刺破黑暗，在空中交织辉映。有些人甚至试图把马克和我挤到一边，并占据我们在排队等待行列里的领先位置。难道这是典型的欧洲阿式登山礼节？我们报以回挤，用冰镐和冰爪完成一段短暂的冰上攀升，到达高处的石台。收拾好攀冰器械后，我们开始通往峰顶的马拉松式的漫长征程。

The Walker Spur is more like a race than a climb. A continuous stream of multicolored ropes and laboring bodies stretches a thousand feet down the face. Faster teams overtake and pass the slower, then tire, pause to rest and are passed themselves. We are able to keep the No. 2 position, just behind the front group of Swiss. They are quick, skilled climbers and drop no rocks down on us, bless their hearts.

与其说正在攀登沃克肋棱，不如说是被卷入一场竞赛。在眼前的岩壁表面，正在上升的队员和各式的绳子连绵不绝，前后拉开的队形长达1000英尺。快队超越慢队，停下来歇息的队伍又被后面的队伍超过。我们一直保持着第二的位置。紧随在领先的瑞典人组合之后。他们动作迅速，训练有素，而且一直没有踩坠落石。非常感激他们，他们真是好人。

Marc and I are 1,200 feet up the wall when daylight comes. A cold morning wind rakes over us and numbs our fingers. We keep on with the steady routine of the climb. Reach, pull, step, reach. The hours roll on as we make our moves in this game of gymnastic chess. We climb as hard and as fast as we can, but the summit never really seems to get any closer to us. This baby is huge!

天亮的时候，马克和我在岩壁上攀升了1200英尺。寒冷的晨风如鞭抽打着我们的身体，手指几乎要被冻得麻木了。我们一直在持续地攀升。展臂找点，伸手抓牢，牵引身体上升，再舒臂，伸手。在这种不停地重复的脑力和体力动作中，时间在流逝。我们全力以赴，然而峰顶和我们之间的距离似乎从未缩短。沃克肋棱的确和巨大的挑战同义。

Climbers now stretch continuously 2,000 feet down the face below us. This isn't a raceway anymore, it's a superhighway. This is the end of the traditional European August vacation. Every Alpine hot rod in Chamonix wants to lay some rubber on this rock as a crowning finish to the climbing season. Never mind the snow and dicey weather, the gang's all here. At least we aren't lonely, but that isn't necessarily a good thing.

此刻，在我们下方，登山者的行列拉长到2000英尺。现在这条线不再像条赛道了，它更像一条高速公路。这个时间段是欧洲传统的八月假期的末段。每一个慕名来到夏蒙尼的登山者都渴望把自己的痕迹留在沃克肋棱之上，并将此视为他们在这个登山季节里最后能完美收宫的标志。这些人对沃克肋棱之上的积雪以及恶劣的天气完全不管不顾，而此刻，他们就在这里。虽然籍此，我们至少不会感到孤单，然而，这并不见得是件好事。

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-12 13:47

Part 9

Dangers multiply as we begin to catch and pass teams which had slept on the wall the night before. Many of them have now been climbing two days and tired climbers tend to be sloppy. Above us, two Welshmen bellow and thrash like cattle in quicksand. They kick a continuous rain of snow and rocks down the route. They are the most hazardous pair on the mountain this morning.

当我们开始接近并超越那些昨晚已在山上宿营的队伍时，遭遇危险的可能性开始增大。他们中的许多人已经连续攀登两天，感到疲乏的登山者的警觉性也在降低。在我们上方，两名威尔士人就像被流沙困住的野牛，他们愤怒地叫骂着，攀登动作也非常夸张。他们踢落的积雪和石块就像骤雨落在他们身后的线路上。这两个家伙也是我们在这个早上遭遇到的危险性最大的小组。

Marc and I move up toward them like commandos. We hide behind outcrops and slip into corners, creeping ever closer. At last we strike—but only with soft words: "Excuse us, gentlemen, may we pass? No, please don't move aside; stay just as you are. Well, perhaps you could take your boot off my hand...." Mission accomplished, Marc and I flee upward.

马克和我接近这两位仁兄的时候，就像战争中的突击队员。我们借助地势掩护，忽而藏身在岩架之下，忽而滑入折角深处，即使在非常接近他们两人之时，我们依然在小心地爬行。终于，我们开始冲刺，但是是以柔和的话语为先锋：“先生们，不好意思，打扰下下，我们可以从你们旁边通过吗？不，不，不，不需要让路，只要在原地停留一下就可以了。 麻烦你把靴子从我的手上抬起，噢，太棒了。非常感谢！… …”任务完美完成，马克和我飞快的向上而逃。

Amazingly, we see that the sun is sinking in the west. Can it be? We have been climbing nonstop for 17 hours. Our punctured hands are dripping blood on the rock. The last light is almost gone. But there's the summit just ahead! We turn on the speed in a last desperate burst.

猛然间，我们惊讶地发现，太阳西斜。天哪，我们已经不停地攀升了17个小时。鲜血从被刺破的手上滴下，一滴滴地落到岩石上面。落日的余晖将尽，峰顶依然在远处，我们再次开始冲刺。

Daylight disappears. The stars return. We strap on our headlamps and finish the climb as we started—our puny little beams cutting through the threatening gray. We pull ourselves up onto the final snow cornice, we shake hands and check off another win.

夜幕降临，星光照耀。我们把头灯在头顶扣好结束了今天的攀升，就像我们凌晨出发时那样—头灯微弱的光束在一片暗藏危险的灰暗中打开一个缺口。我们置身于最后的雪檐之上，互相握手庆贺，并策划下一个目标。

We see now that the back side of the Walker Spur is solid snowfields. A hundred yards below us we see more than a dozen headlamps. A crowd of climbers is digging snow trenches for shelter from the wind. We join a group of six, pulling off our helmets to use as snow scoops. Soon we have a big enough pit for all. Four more exhausted climbers stumble down to join us, 12 for the night. We stuff ourselves into the trench like zucchinis in a crate. Two Americans (us), two Swiss, the two Welshmen, five Spaniards and a Mexican all lie down together in the snow pit, shivering and snoring while the winds scream across the trench rim inches overhead.

现在我们可以看到的是，沃克肋棱的背面是坚固的雪原。我们立足的位置以下100码的高差内，超过12盏头灯在闪烁。一队登山者们正在挖掘雪沟，以建立防风庇护营地。我们加入了一个六人组，脱下头盔当做雪舀。不久我们挖成了一个足够容纳自己的雪坑。四个疲惫不堪的登山者踉踉跄跄地下来，加入到我们的行列，准备一起过夜的人数达到12人。我们投身于防风雪沟时，就像把南瓜塞进箱子里。一起躺在雪沟里的12人中，有两个美国人（马克和我），两个瑞典人，两个威尔士人，五个西班牙人，还有一个墨西哥人。当寒风从距离头顶不过数英寸的壕沟边缘咆哮而过时，挤在一起的寒战不已的12个人已经入睡，时不时还可以听到鼾声四起。

"Hermes didn't help much this time," I say to Marc before we sleep.

“这一次，赫尔墨斯没有帮到我们多少。”在入睡之前，我对马克说到。

"I didn't bring him."

“他确实和我一起上来了。”

I shiver awhile, mulling that one over. "Well, bring Hermes next time. We need all the luck we can get."

在不时的颤抖中，我仔细地斟酌着,“是啊，下次一定还要带上赫尔墨斯，我们需要所有我们能有的好运。”

"I will, I will."

“我一定会牢记。”

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-12 17:21

Part 10

We have saved the worst for last. From bottom to top the north wall of the Eiger is 5,250 feet of towering nightmare. The ascent route snakes 10,000 twisted feet back and forth through loose rock, boilerplate ice, rotten snow and falling debris. Throughout the 1930s, European climbers marched boldly onto the Eiger and died one after another. Outraged citizens called for a ban on Eiger attempts. Foolish young men must be protected from themselves, they said. Then, in 1938, the Eiger's north face was at last climbed by two Germans and two Austrians in four brutal days. Hitler gave them a parade and claimed the triumph for the German Reich. The climbers replied calmly that they did it for themselves.

我们最终得以从绝境生还。（当然这是后话了。）高差达到5250英尺（1600米）的艾格尔峰北壁高耸入云，凶险异常，如同噩梦。登顶的线路曲折蜿蜒，徘徊在疏松的岩石，冻结成硬块的冰层，糟糕的积雪以及坠落的碎片中，绵延长达10000英尺（3048米）。在1930年代，欧洲的登山者们冒着生命危险尝试这条线路，他们前仆后继，无一生还。愤怒不已的当地人要求禁止任何人攀登艾格尔峰北壁。他们声称，那些愚蠢的年轻人必须放弃尝试以保护他们自己。直到1938年，在艰苦卓绝的四天攀登之后，两名德国人和两名奥地利人组成的登山队终于完成艾格尔峰北壁线路。希特勒声称这次攀登时德意志帝国的胜利，并举行盛大游行以庆祝这个登山队的胜利登顶。然而，队员们平静地回答，他们登山只是为了他们自己。

Today, at the same time we are riding up the mountain on the cogwheel Jung-frau railway, a helicopter is plucking a team of stranded climbers off the face. A storm has trapped them for three days. Taking their cue, we purchase a sort of helicopter rescue insurance policy. For $10 each we become members of the Swiss Air Rescue Club. The logic is inescapable: Nonmembers pay up to $1,000 for a bailout by chopper; members pay nothing.

这一日，在我们乘the cogwheel Jung-frau railway（少女峰齿轨铁道线，1912年开始营运，线路全长9公里，轨距1米，现如今是一条电气化线路，起点在瑞士的Kleine Scheidegg克莱纳谢德格，终点为Jungfraujoch少女峰。是一条著名的观光线路）上的列车上山的同时，一架救援直升机正忙于把在北壁上被困的登山者撤下来。此前的风暴把他们困于山上长达3天。有鉴于此，我们购买了一种直升机救援保单。每人支付10美金后，我们的团队成员都加入了瑞士空中救援俱乐部。不可回避的逻辑就是：每接受一次直升机紧急救援，非会员需支付最高达到1000美金的费用，会员则不需要支付任何金额。

Marc brings Hermes the teddy bear, and we believe that his presence has increased our team strength incalculably. We also have a grizzly bear with us now, one Allen Bradley, 25, a strapping climber from Boulder, Colo. Allen showed up in Chamonix with such an intense desire to do in the Eiger that we decided to expand our team.

马克和他的赫尔墨斯-那个泰迪小熊同行。我和他坚信赫尔墨斯与我们同行，将极大地增强我们团队的优势。另外，我们的团队还有另一位灰熊，25岁的Allen Bradley（艾伦•布拉德利）。这位体格魁梧的登山者来自科罗拉多州的Boulder（博尔德市）。在夏蒙尼时，艾伦表现出的对攀登艾格尔峰的热切期望使我和马克决定扩大我们的团队。

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-13 11:00

Part 11

We pitch camp at the foot of the wall, sleep a few hours, then get up at 2 a.m. for takeoff. The night is so bright that I turn off my headlamp and move by starlight. For all its beauty the snow is disgusting to climb. We had hoped for firm ice, the quickest terrain. Instead we have fluff and wet slop, which is the slowest. The initial Eiger rock slabs are supposed to be easy, but they aren't today. Our feet skitter and our fingers slip on the icy ooze. We don't break out the ropes because there's no place to put in protective hardware. Tied on to ropes, if one of us falls, we will all die. Unroped, if one blows it, he blows it alone.

我们在陡壁脚下扎营，小休了数小时后，在凌晨两点起身，出发。虽然是夜半时分，但是明亮的夜晚仍然让我关掉了头灯，在星光下前行。雪景虽然美丽，但对我们来说却不胜其烦。我们原以为会在坚固的冰上攀升，这也是攀升最快的地形。然而我们误估了形势，脚下是松软而湿滑的山坡，而这种地形下的攀升是最慢的。在艾格尔峰上，刚开始攀登时的岩板地段本来是相对容易的，但今天显然并不如此。在结冰的软泥上面，我们的手脚打滑。但我们并没有拿出绳子来。这是因为在这样的地带，找不到可以设置保护的锚点。而如果系在绳上的某人滑坠，那么我们将全部因此丧生。反之，在无保护的情况下，如果某人搞砸了，那么他也只是搞砸了他自己。

We do have one slim advantage: Marc had tried to climb the Eiger last year. Bad weather and snow conditions turned him back then, but he is vaguely familiar with the first half of the route, and he is packing a grudge.

但是我们依然有着细微的优势。去年，马克曾尝试攀登艾格尔峰。恶劣的天气以及积雪使他中途折返。但是前半段线路只给他留下了模糊的记忆，这也使他恨恨不已。

With Marc's half-remembered sense of direction and a half-franc postcard for a map, we alternate leads up the face. We grab anything, kick everything, fighting and scrambling our way up the wall. Armed with sharpened ice axes, one in each hand, and wearing razor-point crampons on his boots, Allen hacks brutally at the ice and shouts with laughter. By contrast, Marc leads with cool precision. By further contrast, I lead like a pit bull—sink in teeth, lockjaw and don't let go, ever.

依靠马克模糊记得的方向感，以及一张用半个法郎买到的明信片地图，我们轮流在前面引路。我们拼命攫取任何可以够到的位置，奋力踢开一切障碍，向前，向前，继续向前攀升。挥舞着一对尖锐的冰镐，伴以剃刀般锋利的冰爪，艾伦一边横踢蛮砍，一边放声大笑。相比之下，马克打头时则尤为精确和冷静。和他们相比，我有点像一只比特犬—求胜的意念统领全身肌肉和骨骼，并且从不放弃任何取胜机会。

The climbing is slow, but we make steady gains. Then the rising sun hits the frozen face, and it suddenly becomes a melting hell. Rocks, snow blocks and ice-pellet shrapnel begin exploding around our heads in the tepid warmth of the sun. We are getting close to the Death Bivouac, where two Eiger pioneers froze to death in their sleep, but pinned down in this withering hail of debris, we may never make it that far.

虽然攀登速度不快，但是成效卓著。当结冰的壁面上闪烁着朝阳的光泽时，一切骤然改变，落石，雪块，阳光投射到的地方，头顶上方逐渐解冻而溅落的冰渣，如同弹片一般锐利，纷纷袭来，彷佛炮弹在头顶炸响。一切的一切都让人怀疑，这里是正在融化的地狱。前方不远之处就是the Death Bivouac（死亡营地），艾格尔峰攀登史上有两位探路先驱在此处宿营时，全身冻僵进而不幸遇难。受困于冰雹般乱飞的碎片，我们或许无法抵达那个位置。

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-13 14:08

Note:

the death bivouac

In 1935 two young German climbers from Bavaria, Karl Mehringer and Max Sedlmeyer, arrived at Grindelwald to attempt to climb the face. They waited a long time for good weather and when the clouds finally cleared they started. The two climbers reached the height of the Eigerwand station and had their first bivouac. On the following day, because of the greater difficulties, they gained little height. On the third day, they hardly made any vertical ground. At night a storm broke and the mountain was hidden in fog; then it began to snow. Avalanches of snow began to sweep the face and the clouds closed over it. Two days later, there was a short moment when the clouds cleared and the mountain was visible for a while. People obtained a glimpse of the two men, who were now a little higher and about to bivouac for the fifth time. Then the fog came down again and hid the climbers. A few days later the weather finally cleared, revealing a completely white north face. The two climbers were found later frozen to death at 3,300 m, at a place now known as "Death Bivouac".

1935年，两名来自巴伐利亚的年轻的德国登山者Karl Mehringer 和Max Sedlmeyer 来到瑞士的Grindelwald（格林德瓦）试图攀登北壁。因天气恶劣他们在此地停留了很长时间，当天空放晴后，他们出发了。他们攀到Eigerwand车站的等高的位置后，在哪里第一次扎营。次日，由于困难重重，他们只获得非常有限的上升高度。第三天，他们几乎完全没有进展。晚上风暴爆发，艾格尔峰完全被浓雾笼罩。随后开始落雪。雪崩开始狂扫整个北壁。浓云完全把整座山峰遮蔽。两天后，云遮雾挡的天空短暂地出现云缝，艾格尔峰在那一霎那能为人所见。人们得以瞥见这两名德国人。他们正准备第五次宿营。宿营点的高度比之前的地点略高一些。然后浓雾再起，德国人的身影完全看不见了。数日后，天气转好，白雪皑皑的整个北壁一览无余。后来，人们在海拔3300米的位置，也就是现今为人所知的死亡营地—The Death Bivouac 发现了他们的遗体。他们两人因全身冻僵而遇难。.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiger

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-14 04:57

Part 12

Marc and Allen want to wait until night falls and refreezes the face. If we do that, we won't sleep before midnight. I want to risk it, to hurry from protected alcove to alcove, then make one mad dash through the worst of the falling projectiles—and pray. We try this foolhardy plan. It works without injury. Risk is as much a climber's tool as a rope.

马克和艾伦打算等到夜晚来临，冰壁再次牢固地结冰后，再做打算。但是如果我们依此而行，在午夜到来之前，将无法入睡。我想冒险一试，或许我们可以借助峭壁上凹入的孔穴保护，迅速通过这段糟糕的落物飞溅的地段。祈祷成功！我们开始尝试这个很有挑战性的计划。我们成功了。无人受伤。（事实上）冒险就和绳子一样，都是登山者的工具。

We reach the Death Bivouac by nightfall. We stomp the snow into semiflatness and zip into our sleeping bags. Marc fires up the stove for fresh water from snowmelt. Even with our bodies crammed into crannies and our legs dangling free in the air, we're glad to be here. We're proud of what we did today. We face tomorrow with hope—and with a certain horror.

黄昏时分，我们抵达the Death Bivouac（死亡营地）。我们把雪地踩成半坡状，并挤入睡袋。马克打着炉子，融雪取水。虽然身体挤入雪沟，但腿仍然在空中摇摆，即便如此，我们依然对能来到这里感到高兴。我们为今天的进展感到骄傲。对明天充满期待—当然也有几分恐惧。

The next day we move slowly. Every pitch (rope length) of rock is coated with ice. And every pitch of ice is vertical, bulging, fluted and fragile. It takes hours to climb a distance that might take minutes in better conditions. We push as hard and as fast as we can, nursing a hope that we'll make it to the top today. Marc and Allen are particularly eager to push on because they ran out of food this morning. But then the afternoon sun strikes the face, and the bombing begins again.

次日，我们的进度慢了很多。在每个绳距的距离上经过的岩石表面都结满了冰。同样，每个绳距上经过的结冰地带上，垂直的冰面凹凸不平而且易碎。数小时才能攀过的高差，在地况良好的环境下，只需要几分钟就可以完成了。我们倾力而行，在今天登顶的欲望逐渐升腾起来。马克和艾伦尤为强烈，他们在今天早上吃完了背包里的食物。然而到了下午，当阳光照到眼前的岩壁时，（落石，冰渣等等的）又一轮狂轰烂炸开始了。

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-14 14:24

Part 13

I lead across the long Traverse of the Gods to the edge of the dreaded ice field called the White Spider. I turn the corner of a rock wall, take one look and fall back, trying to disappear into the wall. It's a bowling alley out there! Hurtling masses of ice blocks and big stones are rocketing down the face.

我率先通过被称为the Traverse of the Gods(有登山者称这段线路为阿尔卑斯众神之路，因地质恶劣，线路之凶险，令登山者胆寒).以进抵the White Spider（白蜘蛛，艾格尔峰北壁上部的一部分，得名于此处冰原向四周辐射状分布的充满冰雪的裂缝形态酷似一只白色的蜘蛛的肢体，1938年首次完成艾格尔峰北壁首登的四人组中的Heinrich Harrer后来记载这次成功的登顶过程的书籍名字就是the White Spider。WIKI记载，上世纪40年代他曾在西藏停留，并著有Seven Years in Tibet（在西藏的七年）一书）的边缘。转过一处岩壁，我在一瞥之后，匆忙折回，力图让自己藏身于这处该死的岩壁里面。毫无疑问，我闯入了保龄球赛道！无数冰渣和落石如同千万枚火箭弹前仆后继，自上而下，向我的头部一路狂奔。

I shout back to the guys to take in the rope. "Hey, reel me in! Get me out of here!"

我回头冲着他们大喊，期望着他们收回绳子：“救命啊，快，快，把我拉回来！”

No! Stay there! We're going for it!" Allen yells back.

“别动，留在那里，我们很快过来！”艾伦大声回答。

"Oh yeah? Come look!"

“那好，过来再说吧！”

Marc moves to my hiding spot, peeks out and sees the death zone ahead. "You want to go out there? Go ahead," I say.

马克来到我藏身的位置，向外张望，并观察到上方的死亡地带。“你想去那里？去吧！”我对他说。

He changes his mind instantly. We reverse three rope lengths to the last flat spot—a ledge where the team before ours got plucked off by rescue chopper. We lay out our sleeping pads for an afternoon of sunbathing and rock-dodging. Marc plugs into his Walkman and dandles Hermes on his knee. Allen watches a moment, perplexed by the sight of a grown man fondling a teddy bear. Then, he ventures a guess. "I'll bet that teddy bear reels in women like a fly rod."

他立刻改变了主意。我们后退了三个绳距，回到我们最后停留的那个平台点上—峭壁之上的一个岩架上面，在那个位置，在我们之前到达这里的一个登山队被救援直升机从此处救走。我们躺在垫子上享受下午的日光浴，庆幸自己躲开了落石的袭扰。马克打开他的随身听，并且逗弄着放在膝盖上的赫尔墨斯。艾伦观察了一会儿，饱受眼前的景象所困惑，一个成年人深情地爱抚着他的泰迪小熊。然后，他开始大胆地猜测，“我打赌你想用这个小熊钓女孩子。”

Marc flushes. His secret has been found out at last.

马克的脸红了。他的秘密终于被发现了。

Allen laughs. "I'll bet they go, 'Oohhh, how cute,' and think you're the sensitive type."

艾伦大笑着，“我打赌她们会走过来对你说,嘿，太有意思了。然后觉得你是哪种很敏感的类型。”

"It works," says Marc, embarrassed. He turns up the tunes on the Walkman.

“确实如此。”尴尬不已的马克把随身听的音量放大。

We split my remaining few rations and stare at the thousands of feet we've just climbed and the thousands of feet still to go. Retreat is impossible. We're trapped in this deadly place with less than half a meal left. Every hour we wait the inevitable weather change creeps closer.

我们分享了我的背包里剩下的食物。凝视着下方已经完成上千英尺的高差以及头顶之上仍然需要攀上的数千英尺的高度。在这个时候，下撤是完全不可能的事情。我们在这个该死的地方被困，只剩下不足半餐的给养。在我们等待时的每一个小时里，令人不寒而栗的天气变化都在悄悄的逼近。

Smack in the riptide of all this danger and uncertainty I suddenly find myself enjoying the deepest peace of the whole expedition. This is what I came for: this keen edge of life, this time when we are tempered in battle and honed by hard choices. Each of us has his own limit, but sometimes it takes a struggle and the threat of death to discover it.

当汹涌而来的风险和不确定成为过去，而我忍不住再次回味时，我忽然发现，我非常享受在经历险境时那种深刻的平和。这也是我一直在追求的东西。极端的生活方式，这样的时刻—当我们在争斗中使自己变得温和，被艰难的选择所磨砺。我们每个人都有自己的极限，但是，有时候，这种极限只有在奋斗和面临死亡的威胁之时才能被发现。

We rise before daybreak and hit the route hard. The White Spider's bowling alley is frozen and silent. A thousand more feet of ice-coated gullies snake through rotten rock, then end at an ice wall. Our ice tools punch through this, and we rise step by splintering step. We pull onto the summit ridge and...there it is! The sixth and last journey's end! We rush upward, grinning. Then a few yards from the top, I pause. I stop, realizing that I don't really want it to end.

黎明前，我们起身，开始奋力攀升。白蜘蛛冰原上的保龄球道结冰后安静下来。一条长过1000英尺的被冰覆盖的沟壑在易碎的岩面上延伸，直至一处冰壁下面。我们的攀冰装备一次次地贯穿下面的冰层，我们也一步步地小心上升。我们逐渐接近峰顶边缘。然后…，终于，前面就是顶峰了。第六个目标的终点，最后的旅途终点，就在眼前了。我们面带笑容。奋力冲刺，在只剩下几码的距离就到顶时，我忽然停顿下来，我忽然意识到，我不想这么快就把整个过程结束。

But the rock and snow have finally run out. There's only the sky to climb. I run onto the summit and I shake my ice axes at the sun. What's next? Endings are only the flip side of new beginnings.

然而，头顶之上除了天空，已经没有冰雪和岩石可攀。我在峰顶之上狂奔，对着太阳炫耀我的冰镐。明天我将在哪里？相对而言，一个终点只不过是另一个过程的起点而已。

The end

枫叶红了 · 2010-08-14 14:25

note 2

the white spider

As Harrer explains, the Spider is a key point in climbing the Nordwand: Reaching that ice field, one is very tired, but cannot rest and must proceed. The White Spider acts much like a funnel – any rock- and ice slides are channelled over the ice field which the climbers must pass.

据Harrer所介绍，白蜘蛛是攀登北壁的一个关键节点：攀到此处后，人们往往已经不堪疲惫，但是决不能在此地休息，而必须继续攀升。白蜘蛛的功用非常像一个漏斗，所有的落石和滑落的冰块都被这块冰原的上方的通道导引而来，攀登者则必须通过这个地带。

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Spider