Beyond Good and Evil

North Face, l'Aiguille des Pelerins, Chamonix, FranceLong before I was a ski alpinist I was a climber. I still am. Actually, I love all the games we play in the mountains. For various reasons, I've always been an average player in these games but, like many of us, love to read about the elite and their antics in the alpine.

In my era, the guys who really captured my imagination were John Bouchard, Mark Ritchey, Jeff Lowe, Michael Kennedy, Greg Child and Mark Twight. A little later it was Alex Lowe, Doug Chabot, Steve House, Kevin Mahoney, Stephen Koch and Marco Prezelj. There're countless others, of course. All of them making significant contributions to the sport we love by pushing the boundaries of difficulty and exploring the limits of endurance. All these guys are alpinists and it's their accomplishments in the cold alpine world that interested me the most.

Back in the early 90's, Mark Twight and Andy Parkin spent several seasons attempting and finally climbing a modern mixed route above the l'Aiguille du Plan in Chamonix called Beyond Good and Evil. By all accounts it was a milestone in difficulty and vision about what's possible in modern climbing. It continues to capture the imagination of climbers world wide. Millet recently released a great little film about the route and it's mystique featuring Twight and Parkin reminiscing about their efforts on the wall and great footage of two modern climbers scratching there way up this imposing line. Definitely worth a look.

Click on the title above the film to take you to a full screen view on YouTube.