The Great Climb : The Old Man of Hoy (BBC Outside Broadcast)

Old Man of Hoy (Image courtesy visitscotland.com)

On 8-9 July 1967, 15 million people watched one of the most audacious BBC Outside broadcasts ever undertaken - the climbing of the 'Old Man of Hoy'. A team of six climbers was filmed ascending a spectacular 450-foot sea stack off the Orcadian island of Hoy in a live broadcast that has been likened to an early example of what we now know as 'reality television'. The programme featured three pairs of climbers: Bonington and Patey repeated their original route, whilst two new lines were climbed, by Joe Brown and Ian McNaught-Davis, and by Pete Crew and Dougal Haston.

Map courtesy Wikipedia.com

As academic Paul Gilchrist has described the groundbreaking event: "It connected an armchair audience with the elite of a sport subculture intent on conquering one of Britain's most spectacular geological treasures".

The leading Scottish climber and Ullapool GP Tom Patey had originally approached the BBC with the idea, and convinced them that the photogenic sea stack would make for compelling television. The BBC, taking a huge risk --decided to commission an unprecedented adventure -- for climbers, viewers and broadcasters alike. The producer, the highly experienced outside broadcast specialist Alan Chivers, was certainly nervous, admitting publicly that the whole idea represented a "bigger headache than anything I've done before". It was certainly one of the hardest things ever attempted by BBC engineers. Sixteen tons of equipment were ferried 450 miles from the Firth of Clyde to Hoy in army landing craft. The last three miles of ground to the cliff edge overlooking the Old Man comprised trackless blanket bogs that had to be traversed. The solution -- back in those innocent, environmentally unaware 1960s - was to pile all the equipment on giant sledges and drag it over the fragile terrain -- something unthinkable today, especially as it has left traces visible to this very day. The broadcast, regrettably, was thus ground-breaking in more ways than one.

B.B.C crew arriving to film the climb (Photo by Beryl Simpson)

Nevertheless, the result was a televisual triumph, remembered even by many non-climbers to this day. The spectacular shots, combined with the tension, and the natural chemistry between the climbers (equipped with new-fangled radio microphones) proved irresistible viewing. The 'performers' (comprising the crème de la crème of British climbing such as Patey himself, Dougal Haston (soon to find greater fame as the one of the first Brits to top Everest), climber-broadcaster Ian MacNaught-Davis, top rock climbers Pete Crew and Rusty Baillie - plus the inevitable Chris Bonington) put on a cliff-hanging show on the bird-infested, brittle sandstone of Orkney that captured the imagination of a largely sofa-bound Britain.

The Hard Way - Annapurna South Face 1970

This entertaining film directed by John Edwards and released in 1971, documents the first ascent of the very difficult and steep South Face of Annapurna, a huge Himalayan wall that the right team could achieve the seemingly impossible.

The ascent of the South Face of Annapurna in 1970 was one of those breakthrough ascents - both technically and psychologically. Chris Bonington assembled the cream of British mountaineering like Martin Boysen, Mike Burke, Ian Clough, Nick Escourt, Tom Frost, Dougal Haston, Mike Thompson and Don Whillans for the ambitious attempt. The documentary is punctuated by wry observation, understatement and cutting humor from a by-gone age when the game of taking huge risks was matched by a determination not to take it too seriously. The summit triumph leads to unexpected tragedy, a common theme in the Himalaya, but never told more poignantly as in the classic film.

The Hard Way was awarded Best Climbing Film in Trento Mountain Film Festival 1971.

Hillary & Tenzing: Climbing to the Roof of World (1997)

This tevision special directed by Margaret Percy is based on the true story of Tenzing Norgay, a sherpa from Nepal, and his quest to climb the highest mountain on Earth, Mount Everest, which he could view from his backyard while growing up. After his close and association with the Swiss in 1952, Tenzing eventually became part of the British crew to climb Everest, where he meets Edmund Hillary, his eventual New Zealander partner who he made history with by becoming the first two men to reach the top of Mount Everest in 1953.

The documentary is unique in its chronicle of Hillary and Tenzing's successful ascent of Mount Everest, specially the aftermath of controversies that nearly tarnished the feat with some rare and captivating footage of the expedition which includes previously unseen material filmed on the expedition, and interviews with surviving members of the team and members of the (then considered) rival Swiss team.

Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2

A BBC documentary which explores the history of climbing K2, the mountaineers mountain, from the early days to the summit with historical footage photographs & re-enactments.

The 2001 documentary was produced by Mick Conefrey, who followed his quest further with his book with the same title in 2015. (cover below)

Some of the people featured in this documentary include legends like the Duke of Abruzzi, Lino Lacedelli, Achille Compagnoni, Pete Schoening, Charlie Houston, Bob Bates, Ed Webster, Bill Putnam, Dudley Rochester, Bob Craig, George Bell, Tony Streather, Dee Molenaar.

Untrodden Karakoram (1961 Royal Air Force Expedition)

There are two kinds of expedition: the all-out attack on a high mountain ending in complete success or complete failure, and the exploratory expedition where an unknown region is visited and convenient peaks climbed. The first type is most deeply ingrained in the imagination of the public, who are almost incapable of understanding the second where success or failure is far less easy to define. As with the 1955 expedition of the R.A.F. Mountaineering Association to Lahul, the R.A.F. team in 1961 did not do everything they intended. They did not climb K6, but at least contributed to human knowledge on this peak. But with two 22,000 feet and two 20,000 feet summits attained, a glacier system opened up, and a good map, they have no reason to be disappointed with their results.

The choice of the Hushe Valley which runs northward from the Shyok at Khapalu may seem strange, for many parties have been up it on their way to Masherbrum, but it happens to lie in a pocket between the better known and better surveyed areas of Haramosh, Baltoro and Siachen, which has been overlooked by previous expeditions. Moreover, in spite of its accessibility, only one party— from Harvard in 1957—had previously penetrated the South Chogolisa Glacier, while no climbing party has ever been to the Aling. With K6, Peak Baltistan, of 23,890 feet in the area, and probably many mountains of 21,000 to 22,000 feet, the 1961 party had enough reasons to explore Hushe.

The film, Untrodden Karakoram captures the tedious and rewarding efforts of the less glorified yet, important and informative exploratory ventures, over one that aims for the summit and therefore as if establishing its virtual superiority.

Watch the Film here: