William Pendleton House (1913–1997) was an American climber who was a key member of the 1938 American K2 expedition.[1][2][3][4]
Bill House | |
|---|---|
| Born | 30 May 1913 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Died | 18 December 1997 (aged 84) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Yale |
| Occupation(s) | climber and forester |
| Known for | 1938 American K2 expedition, first ascent Mount Waddington |
Bill was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on May 30, 1913. He was a Graduate of Yale Forestry School and whilst at Yale he was the President of the Yale Mountaineering Club.[5]
Mount Waddington (1936)
editThere had previously been sixteen unsuccessful attempts on Mount Waddington[1] before the first ascent was made in 1936. At the time it was Canada’s highest unclimbed peak at 4,019 m (13,186 ft)[6], House was a key part of the successful team.
On July 4, House, Fritz Wiessner, Elizabeth Woolsey and Alan Willcox reached the head of the Knight Inlet. For the next twelve days they ferried loads to their base camp at Icefall Point on the Dais Glacier. While on the glacier, they were joined by another expedition led by members of the British Columbia Mountaineering Club and the Sierra Club. The House/Wiessner team agreed to allow the others a first chance at the summit but that group failed to find a route up the south face.[6]
On July 20, Wiessner and House first attempted the line of a great couloir that comes directly down between the main summit tower and the northwest peak. It was an excellent line for quickly ascending but they were unable to traverse onto the south face proper due to poor rock conditions and were forced to retreat to base camp. By 3 am the next morning they were already climbing up a couloir to the right of the face. Good weather the past few days had cleared most of the snow away from the ledges making for good climbing conditions. Following the left branch of the couloir, they reached a snow patch in the middle of the face. The final 1,000 ft (300 m) of the south face then presented a fierce hurdle of "sheer forbidding-looking rocks" as noted by Wiessner. While Wiessner initially started in boots, he quickly changed to rope-soled shoes and gave his ice axe and extra rope to House. Wiessner led several pitches up technically difficult rock including several overhangs. After traversing east across the face they rested on a ledge just below the southeastern ridge, a full 9 hours since leaving the snow patch on the south face. After climbing a short chimney they finally reached the small snowy mass at the top, 13 hours after their start in base camp. They aborted their earlier plan of descending the shorter north face and retraced their ascent line, reaching their tent on the Dais Glacier at 2 am. The ascent to the summit and back to base camp had taken over 23 hours.[6][7]
K2 (1938)
editHouse was also a key member of the 1938 American Karakoram expedition to K2. On that expedition he made the first ascent of House's Chimney which he free-climbed and was subsequently named after him.[1][2][3] House reached the ice traverse at the top of the Abruzzi Ridge 24,700 ft (7,500 m), between camp 6 & 7,[8], which was about 400m below the expedition's high point of 26,000 ft (7,900 m)[9] [10] a little above camp 7.
Other significant climbs
editIn 1937 House, Wiessner and Lawrence Coveney made the first ascent, using modern climbing techniques, of the Devil's Tower, Wyoming. The only previous ascent had been achieved by creating a ladder of wooden pegs hammered in cracks. The 1937 ascent was largely unaided, Wiessner led almost the entire climb free, placing only a single piece of fixed gear, a piton, which he later regretted, deeming it unnecessary.[11]
-1934 new route on Jagged Mountain, San Juan Mountains, Colorado[12]
-First Ascent "House" route, South Colony Lake Cirque, Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado
-1934 second ascent of New Hampshire's Pinnacle Gully[12]
-Avid at "buildering", nighttime climbing on sides of buildings
-Developed own pitons for alpine climbing
-Key role with Quartermaster General in production, design, and testing gear for 10th Mountain Division. Namely aluminum pitons and instrumental in the first nylon climbing rope.
House died on December 18, 1997, in Peterborough, New Hampshire.[13]
References
edit- ^ a b c Bates, Robert H. (1998). "William P. House, 1913-1997 - AAC Publications - Search The American Alpine Journal and Accidents". American Alpine Journal: 408–409.
- ^ a b Green, Stewart (April 10, 2019). "K2: How to Climb the Abruzzi Spur Route". liveabout.com. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
- ^ a b Fedarko, Kevin (2003-11-01). "The Mountain of Mountains". Outside Online. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
- ^ Kauffman, Andrew J.; Putnam, William L. (1992). K2: The 1939 Tragedy. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers. p. 25. ISBN 0-89886-323-6.
- ^ https://www.mickconefrey.co.uk/media/pages/books/the-ghosts-of-k2/d2c9af476d-1709546973/sample-chapter-the-ghosts-of-k2-1938.pdf
- ^ a b c Chic Scott (2000), Pushing the Limits: The Story of Canadian Mountaineering, Rocky Mountain Books, ISBN 9780921102595, p. 111-112.
- ^ Weissner, Fritz H. (1937). "The First Ascent Mt Waddington" (PDF). Alpine Journal. #49: 49–57. ISSN 0065-6569. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
- ^ Houston, C.S. (1939). "The American Karakoram expedition to K2, 1938" (PDF). Alpine Journal. #51: 54–69. ISSN 0065-6569. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
- ^ Rueth, Eric (9 February 2018). "K2 1938: The First American Karakoram Expedition". American Alpine Club. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
- ^ House, William P. (1939). "K2 – 1938". American Alpine Journal. #3 (3): 229–254. ISSN 0065-6925. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
- ^ Roper, Steve; Steck, Allen (1979). Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. p. 141. ISBN 0-87156-292-8.
- ^ a b https://www.bigwallgear.com/p/mystery-mountain-part-2
- ^ "POB November 2020".
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