|
World War II brought recreational mountaineering to a halt in many parts of the globe, but the Andes remained insulated from the hostilities. Apart from location, two other advantages allowed the Marmillods to lead a relatively normal life, both in town and high in the mountains: they were nationals of a neutral country and they were a self-contained rope team.
|
 |
|
|
The Marmillods at Laguna de la Plaza, Sierra Nevada de Cocuy. Photo: E. Kraus |
|
 |
|
Pico Bolívar
|
During the war Sandoz Laboratories moved Frédy successively to offices in Caracas, Bogotá and Lima. Each city brought the family a new member, and Caracas brought Françoise, their second daughter, in May 1942. Four months later, Dorly became the first woman to climb Pico Bolívar (4979 m), the highest mountain in Venezuela.
Frédy found the ideas of the local climbers peculiar: "In order to goad the ambition of new andinistas, the Outing Club in Mérida placed a box on the summit of Pico Bolívar which contains the coat of arms of the twenty-three Venezuelan states. Each state was then invited to send a delegation to fetch the coat of arms. Also, a large bust of the national hero, Simon Bolívar, is supposed to be erected on this highest summit in the land. These manifestations of patriotism, meant to appeal to the South American mind, will probably be received in conventional mountaineering circles with mixed feelings!"
|
 |
|
|
Dorly on Pico Abánico, Venezuela. Pico Bolívar in background. Photo: F. Marmillod
|
|
In 1943 the family moved to Colombia, and in February Frédy and Dorly undertook a highly successful expedition to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Pico Simons (5660 m) was the last major unclimbed peak in the range, which rises into the glacial zone only fifty kilometers from the Caribbean coast. Two years earlier, American mountaineers Elizabeth Cowles and Paul Petzoldt had tried to reach the base of the mountain but gave up when they lost their way in a maze of canyons. Frédy and Dorly took a higher route and made the climb in four days round trip from their base camp near Lake Naboba, situated in the center of the massif.
Another notable ascent was the first traverse of Picos Colón and Bolívar (both 5775 m), the highest summits in Colombia. Dorly was the first woman to stand on top of them, and during the descent a new route was opened on the Southeast face of Pico Bolívar. Other ascents included Picos Ojeda (5490 m), La Reina (5535 m), El Guardián (5285 m), and Tairona (5000 m, first female ascent).
Finally the time arrived to leave: "We took down the tent, cleaned up the campsite, and stuffed everything into the packs, " wrote Frédy. "The sun rose and we were ready. Golden sunlight touched the ridges, the morning breeze swept away the mist, and the lake rippled awake and filled with light. Time to go! But we stood there silently, moved in the face of such beauty; we felt at that moment how much this place had enriched our lives. Neither one of us dared say 'Vamos,' which would tear us away from this enchanted domain."
The new arrival at the Marmillod household in Bogotá was Elvira Barrios, a mestizo girl. This illiterate teenager matured into an intelligent, loving woman who would nurture three generations of Marmillods. She was more than a hired nursemaid, cook and housekeeper. She became a full member of the family and a second mother to the children. She cared for the children while Frédy and Dorly were off climbing, and as such her role was crucial. Without Elvira there might have been fewer children or less climbing or both.
 |
|
Erwin Kraus
|
Mountain climbers were a rare breed in the northern Andes, so the Marmillods were delighted to meet Erwin Kraus in Bogotá. Born in Colombia to German-immigrant parents, Kraus was the first regular climber in the country. For his record of first ascents from the thirties to the fifties, he is recognized as the leading pioneer in Colombian mountaineering. In late 1943, Kraus introduced the Swiss couple to one of his favorite ranges, the Sierra Nevada de Cocuy, three-hundred kilometers northeast of Bogotá.
From the west, the crest of the Cocuy appears tame, a series of innocuous summits gently wrapped in white, perhaps undeserving of a mountaineer's time. From the east, however, the peaks buck ferociously. If the rock were not so poor these walls would have become famous long ago.
One visitor to the range wrote: "… the valley was dominated by enormous dragon's teeth. Whole ridges of vertical, slaty slabs were complemented by isolated, grey, mist-rending monsters. It was as though giants with cookie cutters had stamped these teeth from soft clay, propped them against each other in rows, and left them to weather in the winds."
The Marmillods too were struck by the Cocuy's countenance. "We walked along the foot of the walls with the oddest feelings, as if discovering a world that no human intruder had ever seen. The landscape was draped with an uncommonly rich alpine flora (surprising enough at this height), growing beneath the soaring, ice-flecked walls. The view from above is also unusually interesting; one looks down remarkably airy rock walls which plunge abruptly toward the ever-cloudy llanos (plains)."
|
 |
|
|
Ascent of Cerros de la Plaza. Pico Castillo in background. Photo: E. Kraus
|
|
This setting attracted another party of climbers during the dry season of 1943-1944. As the Marmillods and Kraus approached from the south, the rival Swiss team of August Gansser and Georges Cuenet were hiking in from the north. They converged on Pico Castillo (5123 m), the finest trophy in the range.
Located in the eastern portion of the range, heretofore unexplored because of the region's atrocious weather, Castillo is one of the most beautiful peaks in Colombia, its name ("the castle") indicative of the mountain's majestic form. As with many remote peaks, the key to Castillo lay not on its hanging glaciers or symmetrical ridges, but in forging a path over rugged terrain to its base. The Marmillods and Kraus found the quicker way and reached the virgin summit six days ahead of Gansser and Cuenet.
They also made the first ascents of Púlpito del Diablo (4711 m), Cerros de la Plaza 4957 m), and Grande Campanilla (4886 m). The most interesting of these was Púlpito, a weird rock wart rising one-hundred meters out of the Pan de Azúcar's summit glacier. From a distance this cubical block resembles a gigantic tombstone. A snow-covered staircase on the north face led to the flat-as-a-dinner-plate summit.
|
Púlpito del Diablo
Photos: E. Kraus
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
North Face
|
|
Chopping steps |
|
Summit |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Three Views
|
|
|
|
Campanilla Grande
Photos: E. Kraus
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
A few months later, Frédy and Dorly added to these successes by climbing two semi-active volcanoes in Colombia's Central Cordillera, Nevado del Tolima (5215 m) and Volcan Puracé (4750 m).
Lima, Peru was the Marmillod's last home during the war. The closest mountains of any interest lay in the Cordillera de la Viuda, a six-hour drive east of the capital. Nevado Rajuntay (5477 m), the highest peak in the range, was their first objective in Peru. Leaving their children Françoise and Mariette at home in the capable hands of Elvira, who had left her native Colombia to remain with the family, Frédy and Dorly made the ascent in three days round-trip from Lima. Access and route finding were straight forward on the virgin peak; they climbed up the South face and down the West ridge without difficulty.
A few weeks later, in July 1944, they traveled to the fabled Cordillera Blanca. Nevado Santa Cruz (6241 m), one of the highest peaks in the range, had been left untouched by the German-Austrian expeditions of the thirties. From a base camp high in the Quebrada Alpamayo, the Marmillods looked up at this massive pyramid and its precipitous, ice-armored rock faces. During the ascent of adjacent Quitaraju in 1936, Erwin Schneider had concluded that the best route on Santa Cruz might be the Northeast face and North ridge. The Marmillods found Schneider's proposed route too exposed to stonefall and avalanche, so they chose the lengthy East ridge instead. They headed for the prominent gendarme (ca. 5800 m) half way between the eastern saddle and the summit. After crossing the Northeast glacier, they climbed a face loaded with loose blocks until, a few meters below the East ridge, misfortune struck: a stone rolled over Frédy's foot, breaking two toes. By the time they reached Lima days later, the bones had fused together, and the doctor had to rebreak them before they could be set. Fortunately, they healed properly and never got in the way of rolling stones after that.
|
 |
|
|
Left to right: Nevado Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Chico, and Santa Cruz Norte. The East Ridge of Nevado Santa Cruz forms the left skyline. Photo: Leigh Ortenburger, from an Ortenburger family Christmas card circa 1960. |
|
Janine, the Marmillod's third daughter, was born in Lima in June 1945. Within three months the Marmillods were back in the Cordillera Blanca, where they made the first ascent of Nevado Milluacocha (5480 m). A few days after the Japanese surrender brought World War II to a close, they were ready to attempt Nevado Santa Cruz again. Reaching the East ridge without incident, they found themselves faced with a disappointing sight and a difficult decision:
"For several rope lengths we would have had to traverse enormous cornices of doubtful stability. We dared not risk our two-person rope on them. I had tried in vain to hunt up at least a third man for our trip, but in these countries, locating experienced climbers is an almost hopeless task, for their numbers have dwindled close to the vanishing point. The uncertain weather and the difficulties won the upper hand over our strong desire to continue the ascent."
After four years of exile, the Marmillods were eager for repatriation with Helvetia, longing to see friends and relatives, itching to renew their acquaintance with the beloved Alps. With the end of the war, they bid a tearful farewell to Elvira and sailed for Europe, destination: Basel.
Life was hard in Europe following the war, even for the neutral Swiss. But it didn't last overly long, for Sandoz restationed Frédy once again. In early 1947 the family sailed back to South America., destination: Buenos Aires.
And the Andes.
|
RSS feed Comments
