Voice of Adventure —
Geoff Powter interviews Barry Blanchard and Kevin Doyle

Friday, November 6
Max Bell Auditorium
All tickets $30

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This year’s Voices of Adventure interview takes a closer look at the crucial importance and complex chemistry of climbing partnerships by inviting one of the great rope teams of the last century up onto the stage. When Barry Blanchard began climbing with fellow Calgarian Kevin Doyle in their late teens, their string of groundbreaking ascents here and abroad changed the face of Canadian alpinism. Blanchard went on to become one of North America’s best-known and accomplished climbers, and Doyle continued a quieter reign as one of the most naturally talented alpinists in the history of the sport. The pair have stayed best friends, and their tales of their climbs in the Rockies, the Alps and the Himalaya highlight just how far a great partnership can take people.

Barry Blanchard is one of North America’s best known mountaineers and one of the founding fathers of difficult alpine routes in the Rockies. With climbing experience throughout Asia, the Alps, the Andes, and Northern Ranges, Blanchard developed a passion for hard alpine routes in winter conditions. Over the past thirty years, he has specialized in lightweight alpine expeditions in the world's highest ranges. His notable first ascents include Andromeda Strain on Mount Andromeda, M16 on Howse Peak, and Infinite Patience on Mount Robson.

Among Blanchard’s proudest climbing achievements include, “a six-day ascent of the North Ridge of Rakaposhi (Pakistan) with Kevin Doyle and the late David Cheesmond, the first ascent of the North Pillar of North Twin (Canada) with Cheesmond, and surviving an alpine-style attempt on the Central Spur of the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat (Pakistan) with Mark Twight, Ward Robinson, and Doyle”.

Blanchard is an internationally certified (UIAGM) mountain guide and has worked as a climbing advisor and safety rigger on a number of Hollywood films including Cliffhanger, K2, The Last of the Dogmen, The Edge and Vertical Limit. He is also the recipient of 2002 Bill March Summit of Excellence Award. He lives in Canmore, Alberta, with his wife, climber Catherine Mulvihill, and two daughters.

Blanchard refers to Kevin Doyle as the unknown master of alpinism and the most naturally gifted climber he has ever known. Born in Calgary, Doyle began climbing during his teens. The first time Blanchard and Doyle climbed together, Kevin slammed his finger in his trunk. Says Blanchard of their bouldering adventure,“in spite of his injury, he climbed magically, continuing past my highpoints. I’d try again, and imitate, and get higher by following the spots of blood.” This began the partnership that saw Doyle and Blanchard challenging each other on rock, ice and in the mountains. Says Blanchard, “to the tune of 200 days a year for the next three years.”

A six month trip to the French Alps in 1980 set the course of both their lives to climb the steepest and most technical faces of the world’s greatest peaks. Doyle, together with Blanchard, climbed 11 alpine routes while in Europe, returned home to climb in the Rockies, and to climb The Nose and the Salathé Wall on El Capitan. In 1982, they climbed the North Face of Mt. Kitchener via Grand Central Coulouir V (5.9 A2 A15). Says Blanchard, “Once the ice ran out, Kevin licked his bare fingers and allowed them to spot freeze onto the rock for more contact strength. Then he cranked the moves into the upper couloir and ripped his fingers from the holds, leaving behind some skin.”

In 1983, Doyle and his partner TP Freisen made a first ascent of 300 metre Gimme Shelter (V1 W17), cited as being the hardest waterfall route in the world for nearly ten years. (And, a route that Jeff and Alex Lowe had retreated from.) A few weeks later, with David Cheesmond, they put up a route on the 1830 metre North Face of the South Goodsir Tower, facing one of the most violent storms either had ever seen in the Rockies.

In one trip to the Alps, Doyle completed such a long list of climbs that would take most alpinists a decade to achieve – including free climbing the Comici Route on Cima Grande, the Bonnati Route on the Grand Capucin, the first Canadian ascent of The North Face of the Eiger. He then completed a solo climb of the North Face of the Matterhorn in six hours. A week later Doyle was on high on the Croz Spur of the Grandes Jorasses in a storm, where there was 46 metres of ice that was only 2.5 centimetres thick so, without anchors he kept climbing. Says Blanchard, “he knew he would never be able to equal that performance again in this lifetime, so he quit climbing. How poetic is that?”

Blanchard says Doyle was, “dragged out of the mothballs” for a few trips to Rakaposhi in 1984, Everest in 1986, and Nanga Parbat in 1988 – and apparently outperformed all of his climbing partners. Although Doyle does still climb, it’s no longer the “one” thing in his life.

Climber, writer, and psychologist Geoff Powter has hosted the Voices of Adventure interviews since 1998. He was editor of the Canadian Alpine Journal for 14 years, president of the Canadian Himalayan Foundation for seven years, and has been a frequent contributor to adventure magazines including Explore, Hooked on the Outdoors, Climbing, and Rock & Ice. His mountain writing won him a National Magazine Award in 2002. He has also appeared on CBC Radio and television, ABC-TV’s “Nightline” and USA Today TV, discussing the psychology of risk and his book Strange and Dangerous Dreams: Journeys Along the Fine Line Between Adventure and Madness, published in September 2006.

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Photo courtesy of Kevin Doyle