Echo

Canadian Mountain Guide and alpinist, Barry Blanchard, was born in Calgary, March 29, 1959. Twelve years later three boys navigated the Bow River through the western side of the city on a raft of nailed together railway ties, Barry was at the helm steering the adventure. He found mountain climbing in the books of his high school library, some of which are still in his possession. A six-month trip to the French Alps in 1980 set the course of Barry’s life: to climb the steepest and most complicated faces of the world’s great glaciated peaks. Barry has enjoyed some success: the first ascent of The Andromeda Strain, 1983; the North Ridge of Rakaposhi, 1984; the first ascent of the apocalyptic North Pillar of North Twin, 1985; the West Ridge of Mt. Everest, 1986; surviving the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat, 1988; a solo first ascent on the North Face of Kusum Kanguru, 1991; an attempt on K-2, 1993; first ascents in the St Elias mountains; M-16, a first ascent -in winter on the East Face of Howse Peak, 1999; the third ascent of the Infinite Spur on MT Foraker, 2000; the first ascent of Infinite Patience on the Emperor Face of Mt Robson, 2002. More importantly Barry has enjoyed all of his outings, even the ones not included in the narrow definition of “success.” Barry moved to the mountains in 1982 to pursue his mountain guiding career (he is an internationally certified -UIAGM- mountain guide) and has included making Hollywood features such as K-2, Cliffhanger, and The Vertical Limit in his professional life. In 2024, Blanchard was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, a prestigious honor in Canada. Barry lives in Canmore, Alberta, with his fiancee, Nicole, and his two daughters, Rosemary and Eowyn and cats, Orion and Lemmy and dog, Strummer.

• Preface — Blanchard frames a life measured in rope lengths and relationships,  establishing themes of survival, partnership, and consequence. He signals a return to decisive moments where ethics and style matter as much as summits. 1. The Infinite Spur: Mt. Foraker — In 2000, Blanchard and Carl Tobin climb the Infinite Spur amid avalanches, radioing a search while watching two “Lads” flirt with death before all four parties fight through storm, knife edge arêtes, and long, cold bivies. They top out and navigate a punishing descent of the Sultana Ridge, the ascent doubling as a study in judgment, partnership, and restraint. 2. Everest Express I: Showing Up — A planned 1988 Everest team unravels to just Blanchard and Mark Twight, sending Barry into a day of powerful soloing on Yamnuska that braids ambition, Métis identity, and the discipline of risk. The chapter asks what it means to “show up” when plans, partners, and life change. 3. Everest Express II: Crossing Tibet — Bureaucracy, currency games, and culture clash mark the caravan from Beijing to the East Rongbuk, where the pair piece together acclimatization and a stripped down camp with help from the “Cowboys on Everest.” The approach becomes a seminar in patience, logistics, and reading a hostile system without losing the plot. 4. Everest Express III: Base Camp — Base camp fills with characters—French ace Benoît Chamoux, the Wyoming “Cowboys,” and a Canadian support team—as delays, illness, and evacuations test leadership and care. Pringles, punk playlists, and contingency carries keep morale alive while yaks, weather, and conflicting agendas complicate the climb before it starts. 5. Everest Express IV: The Unclimbed Northeast Flank — Inspired by Troillet & Loretan’s “night naked,” Blanchard and Twight launch fast and light, only to be turned by cold injuries, then battered by spindrift and wind as pulmonary and cerebral edema force a harrowing descent and a night in the Gamow bag. Twight returns for a last shot, but altitude, fatigue, and prudence end the bid short of the top—partnership intact, style intact, lives intact. 6. Aspiring Alpinist I: Conversations with Bonatti — Bonatti’s ethic shadows retreats on Temple and Kitchener and a fraught solo on Aconcagua’s French Route, where rotten rock, fixed lines, and a blizzard push Blanchard to back off. The retreat becomes a meditation on hubris, survival, marriage, and the cold clarity of going home.7. Aspiring Alpinist II: Kusum Kanguru Solo — In Himalayan quiet, a red panda slips through spray and moss as Blanchard scouts and then solos a severe, insecure line on Kusum Kanguru, coughing blood through a storm and threading a maze of flutings and ice. He tops out alone and descends into whiteout by judgment and luck, weeping at basecamp incense as gratitude replaces glory. 8. Aspiring Alpinist III: The Richard Cranium Memorial Route — Hollywood calls: Chamonix rigging for The Extreme Edge and a Frendo Spur run with Twight puts risk, wit, and friendship under cameras, even as personal lives fracture. The chapter toggles between set piece danger and the quieter wreckage of love, honesty, and growing up. 9. The Cell I: Heart — Post divorce grief pools in “The Cell,” a tiny Alberta cabin, where guiding days and late night calls with Raine keep Blanchard afloat and tethered to empathy. Identity, heritage, and the fragile pulse of a new start shape a humbler heart. 10. The Cell II: Pretending to Climb — On the Cliffhanger set in the Dolomites, he trades storm bivies for wire rigs, helicopter safety, and hard lessons about crowds, lightning, and stunt logistics. It’s still risk management, just with producers, union calls, and a different kind of consequence. 11. The Cell III: Elusive Happiness — A return to Chamonix brings lightning on the Gervasutti Pillar, friction in love, and Gervasutti’s hard truth: happiness is fleeting, born of tension, struggle, and momentary alignment. Blanchard begins to measure success by presence rather than performance. 12. The Cell IV: The Magic Line — K2 beckons: caches, storms, and funerals frame a long season where choices narrow and survival—his and others’—turns on patience and community. He leaves without the summit and with a clearer definition of “enough.” 13. Holding On: The Kangshung Face — A Vaseline-funded expedition to Everest’s Kangshung ends with a base camp–leveling avalanche and a re drawn line between ambition and acceptance. Team care, loss, and love (and Catherine) reset the center of gravity. 14. Letting Go: Curtain Calls — Ice with Guy Lacelle and film with Bonington celebrate craft, while later memorials for Guy and Alex Lowe crystallize the price of the life. Letting go becomes an act of love rather than defeat. 15. Howse Peak I: The Promise — With Scott Backes and Steve House, Blanchard aims at Howse’s dark architecture, threading mushrooms and snice under a self imposed “no bolts” purity. It’s a pact of trust, inventiveness, and resolve against a living wall. 16. Howse Peak II: The Hit — A storm and a fall shatter the push—knee broken, evacuation spinning into view—yet the climb’s finest leads and the team’s care become the true summit. Survival is paid for in pain, humility, and a longer view. 17. Holding On and Letting Go I: Infinite Patience — After years of tries, the Emperor Face on Mt. Robson finally yields, proof that patience can be a tactic, not a platitude. Birth and death in the family recast every risk. 18. Holding On and Letting Go II: Aging Alpinist — Revisiting classic testpieces and guiding hard days, he feels the edge soften: priorities bend toward daughters, students, and sustainable joy. Aging becomes another style choice—lighter on ego, heavier on care. 19. Holding On and Letting Go III: The Fall — A catastrophic accident—multiple skull fractures, ICU, and a long rebuild—strips everything to breath, balance, and memory. Community and family stitch him back together, strand by strand. 20. Holding On and Letting Go IV: Spindrift — Filming his recovery, returning to guiding, and reclaiming motion, Blanchard learns to trade ambition for presence without surrendering wonder. The rope still holds, now braided with lineage and gratitude. Epilogue — Looking back across thousands of mountain days and absent friends, he names love as the abiding summit: partner to partner, parent to child, guide to guest. The echo that remains is not the shout from a peak but the answer you give at home.

Blanchard writes in prose that is taut, lean, action-packed, and occasionally raunchy . . . Vicariously thrilling for armchair—and actual—alpinists. – Kirkus Reviews