The PCS Quiz #3 Answers

1.	Prior to the discovery of Mt. Everest, what was the highest mountain in the world?

Mt. Everest

Its status as the world's highest mountain was not contingent upon its discovery.  A trick question to be sure.  It's amazing how many it fooled.

2.	Herman Buhl was one of only two mountaineers to have been in the first ascent party on two of the 8000-meter peaks.  Who was the other?

Kurt Diemberger

Because of an error in the phrasing of the original question, everybody in the original contest got credit for this one.

3.	Check the two peaks he climbed (from the previous question):

Broad Peak, Dhaulagiri

4.	Check all of the following statements which are true about Reinhold Messner's 1980 ascent of Mt. Everest:

He climbed without bottled oxygen, He fell into a crevasse

Reinhold Messner's 1980 solo oxygenless ascent on the north side of Everest was a phenomenal mountaineering acheivement for its time, and remains very impressive today.  On the first day, shortly after leaving advanced base camp, he fell 8 meters into a crevasse.  But luck was with him and he was able to climb out.

Messner followed a partly new route over the North Col and across the North Face.

5.	Check all of the following which are 8000-meter peaks:

Falchen Kangri, Chomolungma, Chogori, Sagarmatha, Gasherbrum I

Falchen Kangri = Broad Peak (8047m)
Chomolungma = Everest (8848m)
Chogori = K2 (8611m)
Sagarmatha = Everest (8848m)
Gasherbrum I = Hidden Peak (8068m)

Gasherbrum IV (7985m) comes up short by about 50 feet.

6.	What is the meaning of the "K" in K2?

Karakoram

7.	In the 1953 American Expedition to K2, a rope team composed of six climbers (one in a stretcher) began sliding down an 80-degree ice field high on the mountain.  Miraculously, the last person on this team jammed an ice axe behind a rock and held the fall.  Who was this climber?

Pete Schoening

8.	What happened to the person in the stretcher (from the previous question)?

He was later swept away by an avalanche

The climber was Art Gilkey

9.	"It is one of the most unattractive mountains imaginable.  In the alpine sense there are few, if any, difficulties.  There is little call for climbing skill or generalship."  Which mountain is the first American ascensionist refering to?

Aconcagua

The quote was from James Ramsey Ullman

10.	In Minus 148, the story of the 1967 first winter ascent of Denali, what did the title refer to?

The minimum value on the wind chill temperature chart

This value was believed to have been exceeded at Denali Pass during that trip.

11.	In 1970, in an attempt to fend off the criticism and doubts over his 1959 ascent of Cerro Torre with Toni Egger, Cesare Maestri made the first ascent of the southeast ridge.  Why did he call it the Compressor Route?

He hauled a 150 lb air compressor up the route with him to drill past blank rock

12.	In No Picnic on Mt. Kenya, Felice Benuzzi tells the story of his and his two friends' escape from a WWII Italian POW camp in order to attempt an ascent of Mt. Kenya.  What did they use as a map for the climb?

A label from a can of Kenylon brand meat and vegetables

A label from "a can of fruit", "a can of peas", or just "a can of food" was not accepted.  Only one person also correctly noted that they used a picture copied from a book in addition to the Kenylon can label.

13.	Name the two mountaineers, for whom a mountain literature award was named, who disappeared from the (then unclimbed) Northeast Ridge of Everest in 1982.

Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker

14.

In 1970, following a three month long siege, a large expedition succeeded on one of the largest faces in the world by placing four men on the summit, including Reinhold Messner and his brother Gunther.  Nearing the end of the desperate descent, Gunther was killed in an avalanche.  In 1984, three Japanese climbers disappeared from this same face.  And in 1988, Barry Blanchard, Mark Twight, Kevin Doyle, and Ward Robinson attempted an alpine-style ascent of the route, but nearly died after dropping their only ropes -- they survived largely because they found ropes and gear left by the Japanese.  Name this 15,000' face and the mountain on which it's found.

The Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat

15.	According to Greg Child, in the pre-monsoon season on Everest in 1995, were there more FAX machines or espresso machines in Everest's two main basecamps?

FAX machines

According to Child, there were 6 FAX machines versus 2 espresso machines.

16.

In 1990, Takeyasu Minamiura reached the summit of Pakistan's 20,000' Nameless Tower after spending 40 days soloing the first ascent of a 30-pitch A4 wall on its northeast buttress.  Not long after summitting, he began to wait for a rescue (which arrived six days later), perched on a 16-inch wide ledge only 150 feet below the summit with no ropes, stove, food or water. All he had was a knife, a down jacket and a radio.  "I could die at any time, all I needed to do was lean a little bit forward."  How did he get himself into this predicament?

He crashed attempting to paraglide off of the summit

After tossing off his haulbag, Takeyasu attempted to launch his parapente from the summit.  Unfortunately, there were insufficient headwinds and his parapente snagged on the rock and he crashed back into the face.  Although uninjured, he was stranded.  After radioing for help, he could only sit and wait for a rescue.

17.	In 1977, Chris Bonnington and Doug Scott made the first ascent of the Ogre (23,000') in the Karakoram.  What had happened to Scott to make the epic six day descent through a blizzard all the more difficult?

He broke both his legs abseiling (Brits don't rappel) from the summit

18.	Has the Ogre seen a second ascent?

Yes

It was repeated in 2001 by Thomas Huber, Iwan Wolf and Urs Stoecker

19.	In 1852, the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India arrived at a carefully measured and calculated height for Peak B, aka Peak XV, known later as Mt. Everest.  The height was determined to be 29,000', but this wasn't the figure that was made public.  Why?

They thought nobody would believe it, so 2 feet were added (29,002')

20.	Which geographer and mountaineer participated in both the 1951 first ascent of Denali's West Buttress and the 1961 first ascent of Nepal's Ama Dablam?

Barry Bishop