Voices
For the Want of a Down Jacket
Video Transcript
Background Description: A close up of a blue patch next to the zipper of a faded red winter jacket appears and then the title, “For the Want of a Down Jacket: Climbing Mount Monarch.” A beautiful colour view of a mountain appears with various peaks all the way up and snow.
Martin Kafer speaks: Wow, what a mountain! I spotted Mount Monarch’s daring rock pyramid on the flight out from the ’65 Summer Camp at Ape Lake. We need to climb this mountain and soon.
Background Description: We zoom in on a colour shot of a triangular peak from the same mountain.
Kafer speaks: Particularly since the rugged nearby peak of “The Queen” is as yet un-climbed. Exploring new peaks is our passion.
Background Description: Another vertical shot of another peak appears. A cut out photograph of a man in outdoor clothes and a dark hair is superimposed.
Kafer speaks: Esther and I invited our good friend Dave Boyd to join us for this adventure.
Background Description: We see an image of a float plane landing in a lake.
Kafer speaks: In late August, Roger Dane flew us to the lower Success Lake on his small float plane. We bushwhacked our way onto a steep moraine between the two lakes.
Background Description: We see two people from behind as they cross over ice with a rope between them towards a rocky wall.
Kafer speaks: To our great dismay we noticed recent boot prints in an area presumed not to have been visited for years.
Background Description: Two people are seen making their way over snow and ice on the side of a rocky incline.
Kafer speaks: Skirting the fantastic icefall of Anarchist Glacier, we arrived at the col between the Queen and the Throne in a howling wind.
Background Description: Inside a small space two people are seen standing by a small gas stove with a pot that is being heated.
Kafer speaks: After five hours of cold and wet toil we were snug and comfortable in a spacious snow-cave. Next day the weather was clear, so we climbed the Queen’s west bridge.
Background Description: We are shown an image of a mountain peak with a long ridge to the top, cloud to the right and a person standing looking at it from a snowy ledge.
Kafer speaks: As expected there was a cairn on the summit. From there we had a good view of the intimidating East Ridge and face of Mount Monarch.
Background Description: A peak appears with many rough edges and a slipped patch of snow ready to avalanche.
Kafer speaks: It didn’t look safe so we decided to try a new route instead. A tricky descent of two thousand feet on hard snow led us to the south ridge.
Background Description: A couple of people are seen resting on a plateau with a vista of a snow-covered mountain range in the background. Another mountain peak with snow appears, a person looks on in the foreground.
Kafer speaks: After some nightmarish route finding we were stopped cold by an overhanging deep gap. Not having enough hardware, rope or time to tackle this formidable obstacle, we returned to our cave.
Background Description: We see the snow-covered ridge of a steep jagged mountain.
Kafer speaks: Despite the intimidating look and awful ice bulges, we decided to give Mount Monarch’s East Ridge a try.
Background Description: A view from behind shows two people walking up a steep and narrow ridge of snow with more snow and rock ahead.
Kafer speaks: A 4 hour trek over knife-edge snow ridges and snow plastered gendarmes led to the bottom of the hanging glacier on the face. For every rope length steps had to be hacked into the hard sixty degree ice.
Background Description: A long distance shot shows two people with a long rope between them as one is up a steep snow face ahead of the other.
Kafer speaks: Our new hollow ice screws were a great help for solid belays.
Background Description: An image of two people standing on a narrow sloping ledge by an ice wall. Icicles hang over their heads. In the background is sky and a view from high above a mountain range.
Kafer speaks: After many hours of step-cutting by-passing the overhanging final bergshrung two fairly tricky rock pitches led to the north ridge. We were greeted by a cold wind. But on we went over a wild mixture of steep snow patches and delightful rock pitches with a wobbly shoulder stand thrown in.
Background Description: Martin and Esther with a smile towards us are sitting on a peak overlooking mountains.
Kafer speaks: We reached the peak at 6 pm. In the last rays of the evening sun we admired the grand view, including Mount Waddington, which all three of us had climbed in 1962.
Background Description: A climber is standing atop a peak overlooking mountains in an older colour photograph.
Kafer speaks: Returning back along the ridge, we finally had to admit that a bivouac was unavoidable.
Background Description: A photo with the hanging glacier appears as before looking ready to avalanche and then another view of it appears from the side of the mountain with its jagged ridge.
Kafer speaks: By 8:00 p.m. we had descended as far as the last rock ledge above the hanging glacier at about 11,000 ft. We tied ourselves into the rocks and spent the next eight hours gazing at the stars, dozing fitfully and shivering in unison.
Background Description: A close up of the ominous hanging glacier appears.
Kafer speaks: Oh, how I wished I had a warm down jacket that night.
Background Description: Two people from behind are making their way across a glacier towards a mountain with no snow; clouds are above
Kafer speaks: With stiff fingers we carefully belayed each other down the icy slope and over the long ridge. We reached the cave tired and hungry, but with a great feeling of achievement. That same winter Esther made two down jackets for us. We are still using them today.
Background Description: A modern photograph shows Martin by a bush modeling his faded and quilted red jacket with the blue patch on it.
Acknowledgements: ‘For Want of a Down Jacket’ was created by Martin Kafer during a February 2009 Centre for Digital Storytelling Workshop organized with the North Vancouver Museum and Archives as part of the Virtual Museum of Canada’s project, ‘Climbing to the Clouds: A People’s History of BC Mountaineering’. The story for this vignette was provided by Esther Kafer. Dave Boyd contributed a selection of photographs. Music by the Swiss Trio.
