You’re welcome.
Why? Because you’ll thank me if you get to Barry Blanchard’s reading Friday night, in Denver, at the Patagonia store. A Canadian alpinist and IFMGA guide, Blanchard (55), will read from his book, The Calling: a Life Rocked by Mountains, at 7:00.
The Calling spans Blanchard’s life as a tough-luck kid in Alberta, through his upstart fakery as an adolescent climber, to his initial successes in the alpine, to becoming an internationally certified mountain guide, and eventually to some of the hardest, boldest modern ascents in alpinism. From success on routes like the “Andromeda Strain” to brave failure on Nanga Parbat’s Rupal Face, Blanchard established himself as the standard in out-there alpinism in the ’80s and ’90s. Heirs to his ethic and craft include Mark Twight, Steve House, and Vince Anderson. House and Anderson indeed went on to succeed on the Rupal Face, earning themselves a Piolet d’Or award in 2005. Blanchard went for it in ’88, a testament to his vision of the “possible” and the future in climbing.
I scored an advance copy of The Calling several months back, initially interested in the “vertical porn” I assumed it contained therein. Certainly not disappointed by the tales of climbing, I was also deeply impressed by the bravery, quality, tenderness, and vulnerability of Blanchard’s writing. He not only crafts the occasionally gorgeous sentence, but he’s obviously reflected long-and-hard on his life, its meaning, what he’s done, and what counts.
Describing the hopelessness and despair of the struggles with depression, some his own, he writes, “A dark lake of sadness underlies human life and we skate on thin ice. Most of us break through at some point and it is solely human hands that bring us back to the surface. Hopefully we bring truth back with us, and share it.”
Blanchard delivers on his hope, offering a profound and rewarding experience by retelling many of his own. The climbing writing rollicks along, but it’s really the heartbreak, love, and raw humanity of The Calling that deserves a careful, attentive reading. Or listening, for that matter. See you there, Friday night, November 21, in Denver.
