Of interviews and ‘famous’ folks

My dad made me go and interview Greg Child way back when. To be honest I was petrified of the thought, Greg Child…GREG CHILD!!!!..

Parents have a wonderful way of pushing you into new spaces of growth and confidence. I tried to talk my way out of it, but deep down I knew he was right, why couldn’t I interview world famous climbing personalities. After all, Greg Child’s only human like you and I.

In the end Greg was just wonderful, a real nice guy, and encouraging of my efforts as a young and aspiring journalist. The whole experience boosted my confidence and inspired me not only to write something worthwhile on the man, but set up a precedent for many years, to interview at least one ‘big time’ climber a year.

It also paved the way for my own book writing career, with my first publication including essays from top climbers around the world. Here is the original Greg Child article from way back when in 2002…

As my tiny car hurtled on through an enormous storm between Johannesburg and Witbank, I felt a bit like that crazy journalist you've seen in the movies, off on some crazy mission to get that ultimate story. Adventure packed indeed my journey seemed to be turning out, as my boot started to fill with water, dripping from the rust infested cracks in the roof of my trusty wheels. Only a couple of hours earlier had I hastily packed some essentials onto the backseat (the more waterproof section of my vehicle!) and left the bright lights of the city, making for the country dorp of Waterval Boven. My subject? None other than the legendary Greg Child.

If you haven’t heard of Mr Child as yet, then you'd better catch a fast wake-up, as he is rightly attributed the worldly-throne of our generation's most accomplished all round climber. In the past twenty years he has set new routes up El Cap, Shivling, GIV, the Nameless Tower and Mount Hunter (to name a few), not to mention climbing both Everest and K2 from the Chinese sides. Recently, he has been on a tour of South Africa, giving slide shows and testing out our crags and faces. My intention was to catch up with him in Boven, where he was climbing for the weekend.

Greg and I meet in the evening within the stone walls of the climbers lodge, run by climbing fundi Gustav Janse Van Rensburg and his wife Alex. Wasting no time, we got down to the beers, the whiskey and the forthcoming discussion.

My first question was about the Blue Mountains, the place where Greg had started climbing. He explained that the mountains form a sandstone escarpment about two hours drive from Sydney. Thousands of routes from 20 to 200 metres high can be found on these walls. It is in many respects the birth place of Australian climbing. The area has forests of eucalyptus trees that emit a vapour creating a blue haze, hence the name. At a boy scout camp, Greg had seen some climbers on a nearby face. "I saw this as a logical extension of hiking", he explained. He and a friend then bought a book (and not a particularly good one!) on how to climb, and taught themselves. "We were the kind of people you are terrified for when you meet them on the face", he recounts with a smile, "and only one of us could remember how the knots went!"

It was from these humble beginnings that Greg's passion for rock climbing was born. "Himalayan climbing was a side-track from that", he reasons over a shot of Jamesons. And quite side-track it turned out to be! He has to date no less than fourteen Himalayan expeditions under his belt. Aside from climbing Everest on the Nepalese/Chinese border, and Shivling's East Pillar in India, most of Child's Himalayan climbing has taken place in the lesser known, and more remote part of the Himalayan mountain chain, the Karakorum. My next question was why had he devoted so much of his time to this particular war infested, inhospitable area on the Pakistani, Chinese border.

"The Karakorum represents all the Himalayas has to offer in terms of climbing ", he comments. "From the first time you see it, (walking up the Baltaro Glacier) you see so much potential." Tremendous climbing variety awaits the keen mountaineer in the Karakorum. Child explains this concept in the form of a rising curve-from hard, technical routes often involving aid climbing on the lower peaks, such as the Nameless Tower, to quality mixed routes on the higher peaks such as Gasherbrum IV and the Lopsang Spire, topped by some of the most challenging Himalayan giants such as Hidden Peak and K2 (the mountaineer's mountain). In contrast, Greg comments on the boring angle, the lack of cool climbing moves, and the generally bad rock on Everest's North Ridge. "There's nothing aesthetic about Everest, he dictates," it's a pile of s$#t really; but it is the biggest pile of s$#t."

A well-known and much discussed grumble about the Karakorum area is the difficulties experienced with the local people and porters, known as the Balti people. I asked Greg if they were really as troublesome as the world had come to understand them as. He explained that once you understand them as a people and culture, then working with them becomes less difficult." They are a very poor mountain people in a poor country", he comments, "and so you need to have the knowledge of how to approach them. Most of all, you have to LIKE them".

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The sun sets and the kitchen fills with busy bodies cooking and preparing for the meal of the evening. People gather round our table and our chat disintegrates into more of a discussion, as I start to wrap up the interview. And what better topic for an open table than South Africa and SA Climbing.

The familiar character of Ed Feb hurls harmless abuse at the now somewhat "mellower" Greg Child, and makes clear his intention of getting our guest convincingly intoxicated before the night is up. Greg harbours no illusions that he has been witness to the 'White South Africa' during his visit, and how very apparent it is to the foreigner, the concern of the white South African, hiding behind electric fences and fancy alarm systems.

I ask him what he suggests South Africa as a 'developing climbing nation', should look to do and achieve in the future, to enhance our sport and help it grow. In response Child comments that preserving the climbing sites is extremely important to the growth of our sport. He feels the acquisition and purchase of land by the M.C.S.A. is one of the best ways for a country to achieve this. "And they're paying for bolts!" he exclaims. Child was of the opinion that our mountain club was one of the most active in the world... This naturally sparked off a whole whack of discussion in the room!

In closing I inquired what we can expect from Greg Child in the future. He confides that if he is to return to the Karakorum again, the project he has in mind is a secret one. Apart from two literature projects involving assisting Lynn Hill with her autobiography, and a book on the kidnapping of climbers in a former Soviet State earlier this year, Greg finishes of in classic style by commenting: "In the meantime I'll just go cragging".

An Interview by 'The Souch'

Image: The ultimate famous climbing face: Ed Hillary