<![CDATA[imschatten: Visual Storytelling

<![CDATA[imschatten: Visual Storytelling - 50RP Stories Blog]]>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[The Buoux Coincidence]]>Mon, 27 May 2024 11:27:19 GMThttps://www.imschatten.photo/50rp-stories-blog/the-buoux-coincidence

50RP team on a trip to France. Buoux for the first time. Hell yes, finally! Such a historic spot.

We arrive on a winter afternoon. Rather than packing to climb in the waning sunlight, we shoot off for a walk; to take a look at the different sectors and find the renowned classics. The main goal is obvious: get to Au Bout du Monde, the sector that’s home to La Rose et le Vampire, Chouca, Le Minimum, Il Était une Voie, La Rage de Vivre. I have a camera, my smallest setup. I know La Rose is signed at the start and I want a photo of the route name.

We keep walking and the crags seem to never end. Smooth, gentle features shape the immense faces, making it clear that to climb here, you need to know your footwork and movement. Bordered by multipitch lines, some sectors start high off the ground so we can’t take a look at the established routes and futuristic projects there without going up.

The climbers are few; probably owing to the time. We’ve been walking for quite a while and we’re not sure anymore which climbs we’re passing now. We don’t have a guidebook. I come up to two guys, just about to give their project the last go of the day. I ask the belayer about the guidebook. He doesn’t have one on him, but he tells me Au Bout du Monde is a short walk further along. “There are some Americans there”, he adds, probably as a clue for me to know I’m at the right spot when I hear the accent.

Soon we come to probably the last sunlit piece of rock in the whole area: this must be our crag. As we turn a corner from behind a big boulder, I (walking first) find out who the “some Americans” are: the first person I see is Chris Sharma. The party at the crag is actually mixed: there are French climbers as well. It doesn’t take us long to figure out: there are the legends Marc le Menestrel and JB Tribout, who’s about to belay Chris. I stop to watch his try.

Chris power screams on a long move and misses it by millimeters. Before he got on the rock, the locals had advised him to wait a little longer, till the sun leaves the wall; that’s when it becomes cooler and the holds are easier to see. Chris admits he should have waited, with a smile on his face. He gives the long move another try or five.

Watching Chris succeed on the move, Marc and I get talking. First about the routes in this sector and beyond, many of which are his masterpieces. Chouca, Le Minimum, Rêve de Papillon - these are just some examples of king lines opened by Marc, sometimes accompanied in the process by his brother Antoine, also an excellent climber.

The Iwa to Yuki (Rock and Snow) cover from December 1986: Marc on the iconic traverse of his Buoux route Rêve de Papillon.

The essence of the 80s: hard routes, beautiful rock, flashy leggings, colour-matched gear and a life revolving around climbing...

Marc le Menestrel doesn’t really need much introduction. He is one of the few climbers who have added extensive and fascinating chapters to French and world climbing history. Apart from the routes mentioned above, Marc is known for adding many classics to the excellent walls and boulders of France, as well as doing outstanding repetitions, like the solo ascent of the ultra classic Chimpanzodrome in Saussois. He belongs to the leaders of the French free climbing movement, which was developing around the same time that redpoint was in Germany.

Marc has made many magazine covers; here are two examples.

LEFT:
Japanese Climbing Journal, June 1987

RIGHT:
AlpiRando, May 1987

Accompanied by photos from Marc’s archive, though brief, our spontaneous chat is a beautiful insight into the 80s climbing vibe.

Marc tells me about the time he met Kurt Albert and Wolfgang Güllich - it was in Pfalz (Güllich’s home area), when Marc was just 14 years old. He remembers Wolfgang to have been rather distanced and timid; a comparison to the French star Patrick Edlinger comes to mind. Kurt, on the other hand, was somewhat more gregarious. He praised Marc’s climbing, who was flattered.

14-year-old Marc climbing in Pfalz. During his 1982 trip there, he met the German climbing elite and impressed Kurt Albert with his skill.
LEFT: leading Gorilla Dach, RIGHT: seconding Superlative (one of Güllich's most famous routes opened in his home area)

Marc and Kurt have gone on to become friends and Albert has earned himself a spot in Marc’s heart. They met in Germany - Marc visited Frankenjura every summer for a few years - as well as in Siurana, while Marc lived in Spain.

It’s no doubt the two got on well. For both of them - the professor of decision sciences and the mathematician - climbing and thinking constituted the very essence of being. In Marc’s words: “Climbing and thinking have been with me always. They are two main pillars upon which I have been developing myself.”

The funky belay techniques of the 80s.
LEFT: Marc belays someone on Superlative in Pfalz using the camping chair technique (no need to wear a harness for that one). Credit: Marc le Menestrel archive.
RIGHT: Kurt Albert also had a no-harness way - just holding onto the rope is enough, right? (Disclaimer: make sure you did your morning portion of 200 pull ups beforehand. Credit: Nina Quark archive.
Don't try this at home - or at the crag for that matter.

The tone of Marc’s voice when talking about Kurt says a lot; that’s why I wanted to let him say it himself - see below for an excerpt from our randomly recorded chat. Enjoy.

“The friendship that I experience around climbing is certainly part of the meaning of climbing. With nature and sport, friendship is one of the 3 equally important dimensions of climbing.”

Thank you, Marc, for this spontaneous exchange. It was a real pleasure to meet you, and in Buoux itself!

ADDITIONAL SOURCES:
ADDITIONAL QUOTES: https://www.metoliusclimbing.com/beth-interviews-marc-lemenestrel.html
IMAGES: Marc le Menestrel collection, Nina Quarg collection
MAGAZINE COVERS: AlpiRando May 1987; Climbing Journal (Japan) June 1987; The Iwa to Yuki December 1986

]]><![CDATA[Immo's First Car]]>Mon, 27 May 2024 11:25:53 GMThttps://www.imschatten.photo/50rp-stories-blog/immos-first-car

Hills, mountains and rocks are in Immo Engelhardt's blood. He's a proud owner of his grandparents' photo album, with images from the mountains dating back to the 20s and 30s. He was a hiker and a hill walker from a very young age, and started climbing in his mid-teens.

Aid climbing in steep terrain

Of course back then, that is from the early 60s, it was aid climbing - as well as an incredible number of games made up on the spot and implemented for a day, often not repeated before. If they practiced any particular ethics in climbing, it was freedom and playfulness: having the best time possible.

Doing silly things is fun and fun has always been on Immo's agenda. Here are two non-climbing snapshots from his trips.

Although Immo comes from Nürnberg, his first experiences on rock weren't in the Frankenjura but in the Dolomites instead. The reason was simple: nobody treated the comparatively short Franconian crags as "real climbing" back then; so Immo's uncle took him to the real stuff to show him what it's all about: into the mountains.

Immo soon joined the German Alpine Club (Deutscher Alpenverein). Although he remembers that the tendency among some members was to commit themselves to the consumption of alcoholic beverages more than to climbing, he still joined at times - in climbing you need a partner after all.

One of the club events

But what did a climbing day in Franken look like back then? Enthusiasts of the trending ecopoint movement will probably be amazed - and maybe even a little jealous. Immo recalls there were more train connections than today so getting to the villages nearest to your crag for the day was somewhat easier. From there on, a journey on foot would follow. The choice was simple: either the closest crag to the station or a long approach, possibly extending into hours. With heavy steel gear, it was on the adventurous side. At the crag, they'd climb 2-3 routes, then the journey back would begin... which means all of the above in reverse, of course.

You wouldn't really have visited some crags unless you or someone from your climbing partners had a car.
Immo had no motor vehicle back then but enjoyed visiting Franken by any means available to him. One weekend, he joined a DAV meeting in a hut not far from the town of Egloffstein (which consisted of drinking on Saturday and climbing on Sunday). During the travel, an elderly lady (not a DAV member) started a conversation with him. It went more or less like this:

"What are you up to?"
"Visiting the Frankenjura for the weekend."
"Without a car?"
"Well, yes."
"I have a car in my backyard, it's after the grandfather. Nobody drives it anymore. You could have it if you want."
Immo thanked her, saying that it would probably wouldn't have started if it's not used and it wasn't worth it for the weekend.
"No, you can have it. You can keep it."

It turned out to be an old convertible Fiat 500. Just as expected, it took some work to start it. The floor was rotten, completely through in places, owing to the constant humidity in the car that stood outdoors for too long. Needles to say, it lacked MOT (TÜV) and wasn't insured anymore.

The clutch barely worked, but Immo managed to drive off and fill fuel up. Later, when he came to a red traffic light, he would drive in circles across the whole street to avoid having to stop (and start again!). Back then there was so little traffic in the country side that he got away with it.

The little vehicle needed some help at times

After the adventurous weekend, Immo started preparing the car for an MOT, but he was doing it on a budget. Lacking money for the special filler, he used cement and wooden blocks to hold the floor together.

On the day of the Fiat's technical examination, the mechanics' first attempt to lift it ended with "we're going to break through the floor". The second attempt was successful: they readjusted the lift in a way that the second time round it was under one of the covered up wooden blocks. The block held. "What do you want, it's nicely welded", came from Immo.

He waited for the TÜV sticker to be safely on the car before he pushed it for the engine to start (which was still the only way). Upon leaving the garage grounds with a signed document, the rear part of the exhaust fell off. Immo didn't stop to pick it up; he'd rather keep his paper. He was soon stopped by the police: as loud as the car now was, it was really easy to spot.
"What do you want from me? I've just gotten my MOT and everything was fine", Immo said - and somehow got away with this one, too!

LEFT: preparing the Fiat for holiday
ABOVE: meadow cruise in style

The Fiat 500 ended up being a very loyal companion on Immo's adventures. It went far beyond the less accessible Franken crags. It made it all the way from Nürnberg to Chamonix. Another time, packed up to the very top with people, food and gear, it drove into the Dolomites and back. All the above achieved with the impressive power of 13 hp. Sure, it needed a quick repair from time to time, but that was always easy to perform. To provide good access to all parts located at the bottom of the chassis, Immo used to just flip the Fiat on its side.
The rest is history.

At the campground. You can spot the Fiat getting a quick repair if you look closely.

When its time came, Immo brought his four-wheeled companion to the scrap yard. Thanks to the bodywork done on the car using heavy concrete, Immo got more money out of the deal than anyone could with the same model in the original state; scrap yards pay per kilogram.

]]>