Georges Joseph

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Biografie:
Joseph Georges (le Skieur).
The death of this distinguished guide took place in September last. One of a family of nine, he was born on April 23, 1892. Called up for service in the 1914 war, he became a qualified guide in July 1919.
In 1921 he made the first ascent and led throughout of the W.N.W. arete of Mont Collon with M. Myrtil Schwartz and Joseph Georges (de Martin), a difficult and dangerous expedition. The same year he met I . A. Richards and Miss D. E. Pilley (later Mrs. I. A. Richards) and there followed a long and happy partnership. With them he made in I 92 5 the first complete traverse of the Bouquetins, an expedition not repeated in its entirety until 1942, and in July 1928 the first ascent of the N.N.W. arete of the Dent Blanche, Joseph's brother Antoine being the second guide. At that time this arete was truly ranked as 'one of the last great problems of the Alps; most of the previous attempts had been stopped by the great vertical wall which blocks the arete in its upper part. Joseph's forcing of this, after a series of desperate explorations, was a remarkable achievement.
In 1932 he accompanied Count Xavier de Grunne's expedition to the Ruwenzori massif where his name is commemorated in the Col Georges. For reasons of health he was compelled to give up guiding at a comparatively early age and was laid to rest in Evolena cemetery on September 6, 1960. A full obituary note by Dr. I. A. Richards will appear in our next issue.
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 66, 1961, Seite 163-164

JOSEPH GEORGES (1892- 1960)
Joseph GEORGES DE PIERRE, of La Forclaz above Les Hauderes, was known as Le Skieur, because as a young boy he had made himself a pair of skis from a magazine picture and was for some time the only skirunner in the Val d 'Her ens. There was a gay originality and initiative about his climbing and a mastery which impressed all who went with him. He had a modest but justified confidence in his powers and his judgment, which enabled him often to make ascents no one else would start for and this without any rashness.
He was a compact, lightly-built man who on a path gave little sign of his inexhaustible strength. A simple-seeming, friendly face; but with piercing eyes which looked through and beyond you. On rock or ice, if they became exacting, he was suddenly released or possessed but always with the shrewdest professional care for the safety of the party. His Carnet opens with two premonitory entries. The first (1919) is an ascent with Cornelis Tromp of the Dent Blanche, his neighbour peak, the scene of his chief triumph. The second is an admiring account by high officers in the Diablerets Section of the S.A. C. of a swift solitary ascent of the Za par devant which, they happened, from the Douves Blanches, to catch Joseph making. He was highly reticent about them, but there is little doubt that Joseph like Klucker was fond of lonely reconnaissances. At 11, he nipped off (he confessed to this) leaving Canon Girdlestone, his employer, sketching at the Pas de Chevres, and traversed the Mt. Blanc de Seilon. A few years later, having been taken over the Col d 'Herens and told to go home via Si on, he filled in the time by a solitary high level exploration of the Zermatt glaciers, leading him somehow back to Bricolla. These were the errors of ignorant youth; he came to have the gravest suspicion of crevasses. The itch to see 'how it might go' could catch him out. On the North-east ridge of the Jungfrau in 1923, a rotten gendarme (since fallen) pushed him on to a solitary second ascent. Ours, next day, was the third. On the Boussine arete of the Comb in de Chessette (I 92 5 ), to quote from his Carnet, “Joseph left me to reconnoitre and found the rocks so difficult that he had no option but to continue to the summit”. When he got back to me, from the first ascent across the South flank, a rainstorm drove us down to our bivouac. 2 A similar threat probably explains his ascent with W. G. Standring of the North-west face of the Scheidegg Wetterhorn. Starting at 10.30 a.m. for a look at ground neither had seen, Joseph decided at a certain height that it would be safer to go on than to climb down that limestone in a rainstorm. Looking through his Carnet one is struck by the return of certain themes: climbs seized between storms, infectious enthusiasm, cheerfulness, skill as a teacher, thoughtfulness, companionship, an amateur readiness to linger on summits to sundown, quickness and imperturbability in crises, mounting good humour through times of stress. Of a descent (with night out) of the Ferpecle ridge (1921) G. M. Bell recounts: “During the whole time of 32 hours he was unfailing in helpfulness and good humour.” Jean Gaspoz, as leading guide, had been disabled and Joseph had taken command: “His quickness and attention prevented an accident caused by a stone from assuming fatal proportions.” In the night Bell fancied he saw a guardian angel taking care of Gaspoz. The idea of Gaspoz having “un ange gardien” was somehow ever after a source of inextinguishable mirth in Joseph.
The fifth entry (1919) is already prophetic: “Il possède, entre de qualités qui en font le plus agréable camarade de course, une connaissance de la montagne ( tant en ce qui concerne la neige que pour le rocher) qui lui acquerrait bientôt la reputation d 'un des meilleurs guides V alaisannes. Puisse cette prophetie se realiser au plus vite.”
(G. Colladon, ingr.) It was to be. In 1921 he made (with Myrtil Schwartz) the first ascent of the North-north-east arete of Mt. Collon, “24 heures d' efforts ininterrompus”. Joseph had a low opinion of this as a reasonable route. Later in the year (with Dorothy Pilley and I. A. R.) he made the first ascent from the Arolla glacier of the Pte. Sud des Bouquetins, with first descent of its East face. Next year (with R. B. Graham, R. S. T. Chorley and M. H. Wilson) the traverse of the Dent d'Herens with descent to Breuil by the Col des Grandes Murailles to the Mont Tabor glacier. Joseph used to recall, wanderingly, how, in the steep couloir, seeing a stone coming straight for him “J' ai saute en pleine pente” to alight on one foot on a pebble stuck in the ice slope.
They returned over the Matterhorn (no other parties that snowy day) and back by the Quatre Anes to the Bertol. He was happiest on ground he had never seen before, and the Montanvert peaks and glaciers that year (1922) were as often as not in cloud. It was characteristic of him that when his party was taking a needed poor weather rest-day, he could not resist taking John Pilley over the Grepon with “a stiff storm on the summit”. Thenceforward he was to range widely, visiting most parts of the Alps.
In 1924, the Graians: the North ridge of the Grivola, then all ice, gave him perhaps his biggest feat in step-cutting, 6 1/2 hours.
In 1925 (with I. A. R.): first south to north traverse of all the peaks of the Bouquetins; (with Dorothy Thompson) down from Mt. Blanc via Mt. Maudit and Mt. Blanc du Tacul to the Torino after bad weather “no other party on that day”. At the Aiguille du Gouter Cabane the night before: “at 9·30 p.m. Joseph descended alone to search for 3 people calling for help About 1.30 a.m. he returned, laden with rucksacks, having brought a chilled and exhausted party up on the rope in complete darkness, the lantern being blown out ten minutes after he left the hut.”
In 1926: the Dent Blanche with a novice he was teaching (J. H. Hannah) “in spite of the opinion of the local guides that it would not be possible for a week” and the Zmutt arête under similar conditions .
. . . “When his own client is settled in Club huts, he lends his help to any caravan present.”
In 1927 (with R. Ogier Ward): first ascent of the Mer de Glace face of the Aiguille de Leschaux with descent to the glacier de Frebouzie and Col des Hirondelles. In 1928 (with his brother Antoine Georges, Dorothy Richards and I. A. R.): first ascent of North arete of the Dent Blanche. “Bricolla, 1.0 a.m. Col du Grand Cornier, 5 a.m. Surplomb, I0.30 - 1.30 p.m. Summit, 5 - 5.20 p.m. Foot of S. Arete, 7.15 p.m.”
With this “a hope shared with J. G. for many years was realised and his genius found its full expression”.
In 1929 (with Dorothy Thompson and Meyseiller Marcel as porter): Brouillard arête, Mont Blanc; untracked, unknown ground, “arêtes on Mt. Blanc de Courmayeur covered with iniquitous snow”. Later, a big sampling of Dolomite climbing with Winifred Murray, Joseph going off by himself to do the Kleine Zinne by the Zsigmondy Kamin, Winkler Thurm by Winklerreis traverse (in 30 minutes), Fünffingerspitze No. 3 by Sudwand, in between neighbouring climbs. In 1930 (with the same): spring climbing in Corsica. July (with Ella M ann): Bregaglia; Il Galla direct from South col Ago di Sciora in much snow. August (with W. G. Standring): North-west face of the Scheidegg Wetterhorn. August 24 (with J. M. K. Vyvyan): “Charmoz-Grépon, including the first ascent (as an experiment) without artificial aids of the Grand Gendarme on the Grépon, by a chimney and flake on the Nantillons side. 26th: “starting from the Tour Rouge (with porter Junien of Chamonix) we traversed the Grépon from the Mer de Glace side to the Nantillons, descending by the couloir Charmoz-Grépon, climbing the Grand Gendarme and passing on to the summit by the Cheminee Knubel.” Sept. 5 (with J. M. K. Vyvyan and A. E. Foot): Mont Blanc via Dames Anglaises, Aiguille Blanche, Grand Pilier d'Angle, left Gamba at midnight, reached Grands Mulets 7 p.m. Then come gaps in his Carnet. Entries are filled in later and many ascents are no doubt missing. He cared little about it. In 1932 he was triumphing with the Comte de Grunne and the Mission Scientifique Beige on the Ruwenzori peaks from the Belgian Congo side. In 1933 (with Molly FitzGibbon) he did the first complete traverse of the Hörnli ridge of the Eiger, from Bonern to the Mittellegi and repeated the North-west face of the Wetterhorn. In 1934 (with Molly FitzGibbon) he repeated the Bouquetins traverse. In 1935 (with Molly FitzGibbon and G. R. Speaker); the Ryan route on the Plan. In 1933 (with Dorothy Thompson and Meyseiller Marcel); Mt. Blanc by the Bionnassay, descent by the Peuterey (first combination of these aretes) “nearly 34 hours” climbing delayed by the treacherous conditionunexpected recent snowfall at the Grand Pilier d' Angle and the icy condition of the rocks above the Col de Peuterey which involved
abandoning the ordinary route.') 1935 (the same); Mt. Blanc by the Innominata; icy conditions, Grands Mulets 9 p.m. In the following years Joseph's detachment from his Carnet, and perhaps his shyness of it shows. His friends can testify that it was·rarely available. By 1942 his health was failing. And with that he withdrew as firmly as he had advanced, turning to farming and to the building of a model chalet for his sisters, for whom he would seek in Aosta the choicest of traditional ribbons. He never married.
Three more notes from the Carnet:' Joseph Georges being not only a model instructor but a perfect companion with whom one would wish to climb indefinitely,' (H. W. A. Freese-Pennefather, J. M. K. Vyvyan, Quintin Hogg). “I have never enjoyed any two days of my life more than these last two; and this is entirely due to him” (Godfrey Nicholson), from an absolute beginner, after the Petite Dent de Veisivi and the Za en face. The last entry: “Tout le long de ces journees, la joie et la bonne humeur et la jouissance de la montagne ont forme un lien solide entre nous” (E. and E. Aebi, La Forclaz, Sept. 1942).
I. A. RICHARDS.
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 66, 1961, Seite 381-384


Geboren am:
23.04.1892
Gestorben am:
06.09.1960